October Phone Dump

Here is the collection of randomness from my phone in October:

• My sister-in-law sent me this pic from Pinterest -- the website I've still never been on!  If I ever have kids, this is definitely what their room is going to look like:

maps + bright colors = two of my favorite things

• Date night at Voltaire - a new restaurant in the West Bottoms.  I randomly came across it on the Urbanspoon app and we decided to check it out.  SO glad we did.  It was amazing!  Easily in our Top 5 favorite restaurants in KC!  It might of had to do with the delicious appetizer (below) that was so good we ordered two!  But really, everything we had was great!

 

• Silly Willow.  Her favorite spot to lay is at the bottom of the steps, with one leg up on the bottom one!   

• I stooped down to an all-time low of cheapness.  I randomly decided one Sunday afternoon that I would just spray paint my already cheap plastic blinds to "lighten up" the family room.  (They were brown and I wanted them lighter - like tan or gold-ish.)  Well, of course it turned out awful, and I probably wasted more money on spray paint than I would have on new blinds!  Needless to say, they went in the trash can, and I made a trip to Home Depot for nice, new wooden blinds.  Even though they're still dark, they look SO much better than the cheap little plastic ones!

spray painting blinds in the garage

• We had some seriously amazing sunsets in late September / early October.  The first two pics aren't even edited.  The sky really looked that awesome.  It was crazy beautiful!

•  I found my future wedding dress on Instagram.  Love it!  (Side note:  When I showed it to Christa, she said, "You realize your boobs aren't going to look like that, right?"  Ha! I love her honesty. :) )

• October was unseasonably warm.  I think the warmest it got was 86!  My mom met me at a park near where I work one Friday afternoon so I could have lunch and play with the kids.  Such a nice break from the office!

• Matt and I went to see the movie "Rush" one evening in the middle of the week -- and we were the only ones int he theater!  That definitely calls for standing up on the seat for some pictures.

• Date night at a new place in KC called Novel.  They turned a house in to a restaurant!  We were really excited to try it out, and were both a little disappointed.  The food was just okay.  But the dessert was amazing! 

• The moon AND the sun were out at the same time on my drive to Matt's one evening.  I didn't get a good shot of the sun behind me, but you can see the full moon was up and it was still light out!

• I got a new nephew!  Hudson Lawrence was born on October 17th!  And his big sister is so proud!

SO tiny and SO cute!

• After visiting Hudson at the hospital, we went out for pizza.  Hunter decided to show us all how big he was and how old he is about to be.  It's so adorable.  You ask him big he is and he grins and stretches out his arms as wide as he can! 

2 fingers for the almost  2 year old! 

• I tried on some new coats at Costco.  The purple one was actually a little girls size XL and the sleeve were just a little too tight.  The short black coat was too big - they didn't have any smalls, so I opted for the long black one!  I've never had a long coat like that before, and I already love it!  It keeps my butt warm! (Oh - and Hunter got a new coat, too.) 

Hunter's new puffy coat!

• Is it normal for your toes to look like this after running a marathon?  I sure hope so.  Because those are my toes.

• We had some really gorgeous weekends in October.  One Saturday was too nice to sit inside, so I spent some time with Hunter at the park!  One of his favorite things to do is to "help" dad mow the yard.  Which consists of Tony carrying him around in one arm and pushing the mower with the other.  I had to drag him away to get him to go to the park with me!

• One of my good friends from college is about to have her first baby!  We celebrated the coming of her new baby girl with a beautiful shower for her.  Of course I waited until the day of to get get my gift, but it turned out I wasn't the only one!  I saw another friend  in there doing the same thing, and when I checked out, the gal working the register told me I was the fourth person that morning for that registry!  Glad I'm not the only last minute shopper! I got her a diaper bag filled with travel wipes, toys, medicine dispensers, and the cutest little banana toothbrush I've ever seen! 

Top left:  she's holding up the toothbrush, and the diaper bag is on the table

• I don't remember what exactly I was looking for at Wal-Mart, but this ring (it's fake, don't worry) caught my eye and I just loved it!  And for $8, I almost bought it!  It looks real, right? ;)

• My sister-in-law made these adorable Halloween decoartions out of milk jugs!  Aren't they awesome?!  They look so cool at night and were supposedly super easy to make.  Another Pinterest success for her!

• It literally is impossible to watch a movie with this on your lap:  

How can you not pet her!?  Those eyes just kill me...

• I got a sneak preview of Hunter's puppy dog costume for Halloween.  My brother brought him over before going to some "Enchanted Forest" thing for kids. He wasn't too sure what to think at first, and definitely was not a fan of the hood, but at least he kept the costume on! 

• After searching all over KC, I finally found these new TOMS in my size.  I love them, and actually ended up with two pairs -- these and the same shoes in Chestnut suede!

• I've decided I want to learn to sew.  The whole making my own Halloween costume was a nightmare, and made me realize that sewing wouldn't be a bad tool to have.  So I'm planning on taking some classes at JoAnn's to learn.  And while I'm at it, I think I'll give knitting and crocheting a shot, too!

• One morning I hopped in my car to get to work ... and it wouldn't start.  Dead battery!  I had left the door open the night before when I came down to the garage in the dark to throw a bag of Goodwill donations in.  Oops!  So over lunch, Matt brought me back to try and jump it.  We gave it a shot, but no luck.  The battery was completely corroded.  So remembering what my dad did when I was in college, I sent Matt to the store across the street for a bottle of Coke.  It did the trick!  We dumped it on the battery and it instantly ate all the gross stuff off and jumped successfully.  I seriously can't believe people actually drink something that does that to a car battery.  Imagine what it's doing to the inside of your stomach!  Eeewww! 

We totally look like we know what we're doing.  (We just googled it. )

Halloween (with the kids)

(Halloween with the adults HERE)

I've worn the same outfit on Halloween every year since my mom got me those Halloween print leggings and I got that light-up t-shirt at Wal-Mart.  And that was in 2009.  This year was no different!  Still going strong on year 5!  I used to have an orange belt I wore with it, but that ended up in the Goodwill pile a couple of years back.  My new addition this year was the headband that Matt's Aunt Mimi made for me!  Matches pretty perfect!

  (Is it just me, or do I look 12 years old in that picture on the right?  Yikes!)

My niece and brand new nephew came over to visit after work since I wasn't going to get to trick-or-treat with them this year.  And since I also missed Hadley's 3rd birthday party over the weekend, I gave her her birthday presents:  some books I got from Groupon, a dog sweater that was in one of the grab-boxes from Harvest of Talents (she loved it, haha!) and a matching headband, courtesy of Aunt Mimi!

                                                                   Isn't he the sweetest little Jack-O-Lantern!?

Hadley is just obsessed with her new baby brother, Hudson.  She is always kissing him and hugging (aka choking) him around the neck.  She's also a fan of petting his eyes and pulling his ears...in a very loving way, haha!  The poor guy already instinctively puts his little hands up by his head to protect himself when he hears her voice!

 Once Hadley and Hudson left, we drover over to Tony and Christa's house for a Hallowen / Hunter's official 2nd Birthday party!  Chili and cinnamon rolls on Halloween is a tradition they have that I have come to love!  And Hunter got more cars and more trucks.  I had to bribe him to come to the dinner table with a little fire truck.  The kid was in hog heaven!  

After dinner, the kids got in their costumes and we set off to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood.  

Cousins Tucker and Lane were honest to God the cutest little Mario and Luigi's I've ever seen.  Allie was a dolphin trainer -- such an original costume idea!  Brody was a pretty awesome looking vampire, and Hunter was an adorable little puppy dog.

 

Matt and I were ... not dressed up. :)

 

It didn't take too long for the little kids to wear down.  And Brody eventually didn't feel good enough to walk anymore.  It couldn't possibly have anything to do with him eating hardly any dinner, right?  But miraculously, he felt fine when he got home and dug right in to the new candy.  His night, as you might guess, ended up with him throwing up in the hallway, haha!  Live and learn, buddy. ;)  (In his defense, he was already kind of sick before that night got started.  I'm sure the sugar just added to it.)

Brody wasn't feeling well and needed a ride in the wagon.

  Allie was still wanting to trick-or-treat some more, so I agreed to walk with her so a few more houses and over to a big "haunted house" someone set up in their back yard.  She literally sprinted up to the houses.  So funny!  I learned I am already a little over-protective of her -- and she's not even mine!  I watched maybe a little too closely every time she walked up to a house by herself...and made sure I could see who was coming to the door.  She's only 11!  

 

I went in the haunted house with her -- the girl who proclaims to "never get scared."  I made her pose for this selfie in a mirror on the way through.  Once we thought we were close to the end, I told her to turn around and act scared.  I at least wanted to get a couple of pictures from inside.  And to my surprise, I did it at just the right second.  see the guy creeping out around the corner in the pic on the right?  He put a mask on and jumped out and DID in deed scare her right after I took the picture, haha!  It was perfect! 

It was such a fun Halloween with family and the kids.  But the night ended in some tears for poor Allie.  Apparently a group of her friends got to go trick-or-treating way later than she did-- and by themselves.  Are you serious!?  Who lets an 11 year old go out by themselves on Halloween in Kansas City!?  No.  Way.  Not happening.  I told her I wouldn't let her go by herself until she was 15...maybe.  And even then I would still probably stalk her from a block behind, haha.  She's lucky I'm not her mom! ;)