Of Halloween Past

It's hard to believe this is the 7th Halloween since I've been a mom. And as we gear up for a night of trick-or-treating tomorrow night, I thought I'd take a trip down Halloween memory lane. (By the way, as a mom and a teacher, Halloween on a Sunday night blows. Just sayin'.)

Apparently I didn't take the camera along in 2004 and 2006 because try as I might I couldn't find any pictures. I know Claire was a lamb one year, but for the life of me I can't remember any of the other costumes. Oh well...I wasn't going to win MOTY anyway!

Halloween, 2003. Cole was 9 days old. An angel seemed most fitting.

Halloween, 2005. Cole was a chicken. This was one of my favorite costumes ever. His dad wasn't nearly as impressed. Little Miss was a giraffe. Can you spot her? She's the one that looks really pissed off...

Halloween, 2007. Cole was a dragon and Claire was a puppy dog. This was the first year they both really "got" Halloween and we had a great time taking them around trick-or-treating.

Halloween, 2008. Grandma went all out on Cole's costume. I had 2 other costumes for him to choose from, but when I asked he said he had already told all his friends he was going to be a tractor. Grandma outdid herself. It even had working headlights!

Claire decided she wanted to be a cheerleader when she discovered 2 pom-poms in her closet. We even teased and sprayed her hair. She especially loved the tights.

Halloween 2009 proved to be a tough decision on the part of the Little Miss. She had decided upon a dinosaur, which was a pretty awesome costume. And as we took the obligatory pictures 20 minutes before leaving to go trick-or-treat, she burst into tears and said she wanted to be a princess. Had she said anything else, it wouldn't have been possible to make something so fast. But because she really IS a princess, with a closet full of princess dresses, a quick change was made. And everyone was happy.


Cole wanted to be a race car driver, which ended up being very easy. We stuck him in a snow suit and snow boots and borrowed a cousin's racing helmet. Done.

This year? The Little Miss wants to be Dorothy. Does she know who Dorothy is? Um, no. No she does not. All she knows is she has a pretty blue and white dress with matching hair bows. And she is happy.

The boy wants to be a cowboy. But I am sure that will change about 10 times before tomorrow night. Wish me luck!

If you want to see even more Halloween pictures, get some great blogging tips, enter for a chance to win a Canon camera, or just tell Tiffany and Kat how pretty they are...just click here to visit the girls of SITS. And then tell John Deere Mom sent you. Because I really want to win that camera.

These are a few of my favorite things

Merry SITSmas, everyone! I hope you are enjoying a warm, cozy day in front of the computer. I will be away from my desk from 6:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. while I am busy educating the future of our country. But, I hope you all enjoy this bloggy love fest while I am gone. I promise I will make my rounds when I get home this afternoon,

For now, please enjoy a few of my favorite things from this most wonderful time of the year.

Watching the kids play in the snow. Oh, and Picnik for making this shot even better than it was originally.

Wrestling the kids into decent clothes for the Christmas card. Don't worry, Tiffany. The cheeks are as chubby as ever. The pics in the header are last year's. Get your chubby cheek fix here!
Take 1.

Peppermint mocha. Enough said.

The annual embarrassment that is Elf Yourself. Good times.
Satellite radio that gives me Christmas music 24/7. LOVE it. I would listen to Christmas music year round if I could.

One of my favorite Christmas albums is this one.

Speaking of Harry Connick, Jr. Let's take a moment. Couldn't you just suck on those lips all day long?

Ahem.

Let's move on, shall we?

No list of favorites would be complete without some of my favorite saucy blogs. So here are a few of my favorites...in no particular order.

Blah, Blah, Blah Blog

Z's mom

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Texas Word Tangle

Shriner's House of Fun

Oh, and one more thing...

Whew!

What a fantastic day over at SITS. When I published my SITS post last night, I didn't think much about it. I had a l.o.n.g. day in the classroom. Picked the kids up from daycare..got them snacked and settled. Threw in a load of laundry, got things picked up a bit, and sat down to check my email. Lo and behold I had 30 some messages just from SITS girls. I swear it was like Christmas...only I guess it was Sitsmas. It's amazing how little comments from strangers can turn your day right around. It was so fantastic to check out new blogs, leave them comments, and yes...even add more blogs to my ever-growing list of favorites. A big thanks to Heather and Tiffany for organizing such a comment love fest!

I also have to say how many people I have met through SITS and didn't even realize it. I have all of these blogs I read nearly everyday. Not just on my blogroll...Lord, that hasn't been updated in for.ever. But in my favorites...my "bookmarked" blogs..you wouldn't believe the strong of orange Bs there are. But I love every single one of them and love sitting down in the evenings to catch up on the daily happenings in the blogosphere. One of these days I will put them all in my blogroll. You know, in all my spare time.

The Secret

Once upon a time there was a blogger. A relatively new, naive, innocent, countrified blogger named John Deere Mom. She had a few fans...devoted readers if you will. Readers like Deb, Teachergirl, Cupcake, Kat, Heather, Christy, the list goes on and on. Actually, it doesn't. It pretty much stops there.

BUT, that all changed on June 5, 2008 when I was the featured blogger (the second one ever, mind you) on a fantastically pink leopard print blog called The Secret is in the Sauce. An interesting tid-bit? I THINK I am the only blogger to also have a picture featured. Yes, it was the Russian Peasant in all her glory. Tiffany can't get enough of the Russian Peasant. And really, who can?!

SITS, to those of you IN on the secret, is a wonderful community of women (well, mostly women) bloggers interested only in recognizing awesome blogs and encouraging comment lovin'. And they have featured some awesome blogs. I have added more SITS featured blogs to my reader in the past few months than I have time for! But, I make time for them because that's what SITS is all about.

If you haven't yet checked out SITS, what are you waiting for? You will find new, wonderful blogs to read and when you are the featured blogger, your Sitemeter account won't even be able to keep UP with the demand. You will have more readers than you ever imagined. Here are just a few of the blogs I have found and continue to visit on a weekly basis:

Caroline
The Blarney Spot
Maternal Mirth
One Crazy Chick

On Tuesday, SITS is hosting an all-day Blogathon with crazy give-aways and surprises planned all.day.long. This is one day when I kinda sorta wished I was a stay at home mom. Ha. That will pass soon enough. Like when the kids wake up and start arguing. I won't be THAT sad to have to work. But for those of you who can take part in the SITS mania tomorrow...HAVE FUN!!