Livin' the Crazy Life

Man, what a slacker I am!

Sorry for the missing posts this week- I've been doing tons at work, and just been enjoying my evenings with my guys. :)

Regardless: here's a quick catch up on my life. Because we all know that blogs are basically online diaries that we share with the world :):)

 Sunday we had a youth dinner after church. Monkey decided that eating his roll with a fork was the best thing for him to do. Whatever floats your boat, love.

My momma moved some stuff around at her house, so I inherited this super adorable little cart. The top is fo' realz marble (fancy fancy!), and is basically perfect for my to set my Kitchenaid mixer on. We got it for a wedding gift, but since we don't have a lot of counter space, I don't usually keep it out (so I don't use it very often). Hopefully things will change now! 

One of our forever-old businesses is closing down this weekend, and they are having super-blowout sales right now. I went yesterday with my momma, and picked up five shirts, an entire bolt of fabric (spirit week supplies!), and two pairs of shoes for $12! These shoes are totally my jam, and I only spent $2 on them. Heart eyes all day!

Also, because it officially feels like fall (and for Miss C), here's my #ootd for today. Love me some mustard and scarves. It's hard to tell here, but the scarf is a thicker one and is hunter green. <3 <3

Okay, so: Thursday should probably be a recipe of something or other.. Maybe I'll whip something fun up tonight.

Friday shall be my ever favorite Friday Faves, because why change a good thing?

Also. Next week the crazy begins, because my StuCo is hosting a Haunted Hallway at school. Plan to see a creepy crafty post! :)

Friday Favorites

Seriously, it's been one of those weeks. Again. I definitely need to remember a few of my favorite things, so here we go!!

Obviously, one of my favorite things is still the pumpkin everything. Luckily, my kiddos are just as big pumpkins lovers as I am! Also, those super cute little skulls? Since my sister is taking Halloween for her wedding, I think we are going to do a mini-Halloween party for the boys the day before (I'm taking it as a personal day, so I can do a big fun breakfast with them!). Think all of the North Pole Elf arriving parties, but more Halloween. ;)

This cutie. In his dad's hoodie. I can't even.

I made chickpea tacos a few nights ago- so, so good! I just pan cooked the canned chickpeas with taco seasoning (in place of the meat). Suuuper fast meal, and still delish!

The boys and I got creative this week as well. I have been wanting to make a handprint decoration for a while, and finally settled on making owls. They need a little touchup, but I still really like them! Plus, now I will have proof that they were really this tiny!

Reading is totally a favorite of these two. Especially Eric Carle books this week. (I can now recite Brown Bear, Brown Bear in my sleep... which might be better than my husband singing Frozen songs to himself while he's at the computer... hahahaha!!!!)

One night we opted to pack up a picnic dinner and spend the evening at the park because the weather has been so great. The park is Monster's favorite place to be.. other than Mawmaw's.

And. It's. Legging. Season!

Listen, I love leggings. Not as pants (I like my booty to be covered), but I love them. These super cute ones were a gift from my mom, and she is my favorite (Not to mention the fact that she also scored some pumpkin spice Oreos for me!!). My students always make comments when I wear crazy leggings, but I'm cool with that.

Here's to cooler weather & better days this weekend! <3

As always, linking up with Andrea!

Neighbor Love

So, I'm going to try something new. Not new for the rest of the world, but new for us.

Neighbor Gifts.

Truth: We don't really know our neighbors. We've lived in our home for five years this fall, and we've had the same neighbors the entire time. I mean, we talk to them when necessary, but nothing over the top.

Since my boys are getting older, I know that the time is coming that they will be having friends over and playing outside more. I'd like to use the next few years to work on getting to know our neighborhood a little bit more, just so that I know I've got some extra eyes on the kiddos (we have a creek that runs through our backyard, and I have two little boys that I guarantee will want to explore it. Extra eyes will be needed).

In the spirit of loving on everyone around us, I decided to put together little gifts for our three neighbors (left side, right side, and across the street). Super simple and cheap, but still pretty adorable ... if I do say so myself.

The first thing I did was to type up a simple little note. I knew I wanted to give something fall themed, duh, so I tried to find a scripture that was fall-ish. Enter: 1 Thessalonians 5:18. I typed up the note and scripture on Google Docs (oh, hello tons of fonts that I can use on the Internet without having to download!) & printed it on yellow paper.

I then looked for a printed paper I liked, but didn't have any in my scrapbook stash that fit what I was looking for, so I just printed a leaf coloring page & used colored pencils to make it work. Does anyone else find coloring to be super stress relieving? Just me? Oh.

Then I took those two, put them together, & mounted them on orange construction paper. Tada!

While doing some grocery shopping, I picked up three small pumpkins for $1.00 each and found some yellow and white chevron ribbon on clearance for $1.50.

Once I got home, I added everything together, and here's what I ended up with! Pretty adorable, and for less than $2.00 each, I got a gift!

Now, I've already got some ideas cooking for Thanksgiving and Christmas gifts... more on those to come!

How I Manage the Crazy

This was like, the busiest weekend. Followed by a bunch more busy weekends.

Evidence: Here's my calendars for September & October.

I know that it looks insane, it is, but really... I don't feel ridiculously overwhelmed. I mean, once in a while, yes.. but overall, I really love doing the things that I do. I mean, there's even a few free days in there! ;)

Once upon a time, I color coded everything. Especially in my planner. It looked a little like a bag of Skittles threw up everywhere, and made my head hurt... and got super annoying whenever plans changed. Now, I just pencil it in - literally - and go on about my day.

Anyway- how do I make the crazy work? Coffee. Making lists. Checking them twice. Basically, I'm Santa. ;)

Throughout the week, I'll have multiple lists going- Home, School- Classes, School- StuCo, School- Book Fair, Youth Group ... I think those are my main ones. Remember way back when I said I was using a Mead Notebook to keep all those in? It's still going strong and makes my life a million times easier, because everything is all together where I need it.

I also take a ton of notes. I think it goes along with the list-making, but seriously... if I write down some information, I'm more likely to remember it AND I'll know what in the world I was talking about whenever I wrote it down. Not that I would forget anything.

I've mentioned before that I make dinner schedules, and I really do. They're just simple pages with dinners written in, but I always have my planner out, too- it makes it so much easier to know that I have a volleyball game to go to, so I need to plan pizza or something quick for that night. Plus, this makes it more likely that I won't make the same seven meals every week... though really, that would probably be even easier. ;)

Anyway, I know that was a lot less entertaining that listening to me ramble about my weekend and seeing pictures of my kiddos, but it'll be okay. Tomorrow is a super cute and easy craft that can spread the love in your neighborhood!

Who I Would Invite to Lunch

Although I am linking up today with Andrea (as always), I wanted to start off with a few other things:

1. Thank goodness for coffee! Our local McDonald's is offering free medium coffees to teachers every Monday in September. Talk about a life saver! Today, I walked out of the house without my lunches for the week, but was still able to stop and get my coffee before I left town. #win.

2. Chili Recipe. Listen, some people like runny chili, and I am not one of them. I have always felt like I made thick chili, but the hubs still normally requests a thicker version. I made chili over the weekend, and it was a hit (minus the corn). Here's the super simple recipe:
-1 can black beans
-1 can chili beans
-1 roll turkey burger
-1 can great northern beans (secret ingredient!)
-1 chili packet
-1 can corn (which can totally be left out, which I will be doing next time)
-1 can rotel
-1 can diced tomatoes

1. First thing- Drain everything except your rotel and chili beans. For real.
2. Smash your northern beans. No joke. Makes the chili so so so much thicker & doesn't impact the taste at all.
3. Brown your burger. Draining it is up to you.
4. Dump everything into a soup pan and cook it for about an hour. I usually throw in some garlic and chipotle pepper, but go with your own taste preferences.

When I make chili, we make a chili bar: rice, tortilla chips, PB&Honey sandwiches, guacamole, cheese... the works. Delish.

3. Who would I invite to dinner if it could be anyone? Hands down, my Grandpa Tom. He passed away in February (a week after my birthday and a week before Monkey's), and I miss him something fierce.

 This is a mug that he also had... I like to drink out of it on the days when I miss him most.

I've always been super close with my grandparents - my parents had me young, so I've had all four of them for my entire life. Especially with my sister's wedding coming up so soon, it would be really nice to have one more big family dinner with him there.

I was going to make that a super long, detailed explanation... but I can't. Unless you want me to be bawling, it's not happening... so instead, enjoy these pictures of him instead. <3

Family Pictures

Remember way back when I showed the ideas I had for family picture outfits? Well, those happened on Saturday. Here's some of my favorites... along with some of the hilarious outtakes. ;)

We always have my mom take our family pictures (mostly because I am impatient and don't like to wait for pictures, lol). Sometimes it's hit or miss if we get a good one, but I usually find one I love. [There were several this time around.] Another plus of having her take them? We get all of the goofy ones, which are sometimes my favorite.

Tomorrow: how my house does chili!