Halloween Wreath

A friend posted a Halloween wreath online that was soooo cute! She mentioned she paid $60 for someone to make it for her. I sent the picture to some of my friends and asked them if they thought we could make the wreaths! Everyone was game. I think all the supplies to make the wreaths were about $20 each. We had a fun afternoon chatting, eating some yummy food and crafting! 

All our supplies came from Hobby Lobby and Michael's. We made big bows, tied on little chalkboards, wrapped some lights around the wreath and added different little touches. I stuck some tiny little colorful spiders and some whispy black feather type things. G is REALLY into ghosts, so I added a ghost bulb. 

I really love how it turned out! 

Monday Thrive September 18

1) I am thinking I should just change the name of this weekly post to Monday Tantrums! Why is it Monday is just full of tantrums? They start as soon as he wakes up until bedtime. I know the weekends are different than during the week. Art is home, our schedule isn't the same, but good lord it can get bonkers on Monday. It usually starts with G waking up upset his da da went to work. He will be bawling saying oh no my da da gone to work noooo noooo. It is very sad! He loves having Art home. 


2) I am still raising money towards the birthday boxes for foster children. I would love your help if you can help me reach my goal!

I wrote a whole blog post about it here. Thank you to those of you who have donated. You can make a donation HERE. 

Adriana use to talk to me about becoming a foster parent. Foster children were always so special to her. Her goal was to become a foster parent once she was 40. Help me honor her memory by raising money to provide these children with a birthday memory they can cherish during a difficult time.


3) It's been a year ago since my dad had open heart surgery.  I remember where I was driving when I answered my sisters call telling me my dad would have open heart surgery.  We were all so upset. On the one year anniversary of that day those feelings came flooding back. It was so scary and so out of the blue! He seemed so healthy until a couple days before. Thankfully it's a year later and he is doing well! 

That same day Adriana had come over to the house for the afternoon. I can remember what we talk about, sitting out back with her, drinking coffee like normal, and her being sad we were going to be gone so long. The past few days have been a lot of emotion. I am so thankful my dad is doing well. I was able to spend 2 months with him last summer and a month with him this summer. I miss my friend so much! Sometimes I can't believe she is actually gone. We won't ever sit out back at my house and laugh about nonsense. 

4) Over the past few weeks I have put a lot of thought into my future with selling BeautyCounter. I have decided at the end of September I will no longer be selling BeautyCounter. I LOVE their products, believe in the company and will continue to use the products.

If you would like to order products October 1 forward Christi-An Bowler is fabulous! She posts on FB and IG often about sales, product tips, new items etc.  If you are a Band of Beauty Member your membership will be moved to Christi-An automatically.  Thank you again for your support over the past year.

5) Happy Birthday to my dad! Today is his birthday! I wish I was in ND to celebrate with him. 

Let's Have Fun!

I hope G doesn't ever stop trying to have fun anywhere! As adults we have to "grow up" and stop having fun the majority of the time. Stress from daily life consumes us and we forget to have fun.

A trip to the dollar store is usually 30+ minutes. When we enter the store G grabs a basket. He has to carry a shopping basket with him every.single.time. He knows he gets 1 thing. He will grab something he "needs" and puts it in the basket. When he finds a different item he "needs" he takes the old one out of the basket and puts it back. This just cracks me up! At 2 years old he learned he only got 1 thing, so he couldn't have 2-3 things. 

In the picture above he grabbed 2 swords. He took one to Chris. He told him FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT. They had a sword fight right there in the aisle. Yep, I am that crazy mom who lets the kids play with the toys. I don't allow them to break things. I don't see any harm in them testing things out. Let kids be kids! They can touch things that aren't breakable! 

Have some fun this week! Stop stressing and soak in the enjoyable moments! 

Bowling

A couple weeks ago I took G and Chris bowling. This was G first time bowling. I wasn't sure what he would think of it. We had 3 longer days of Chris in the afternoon, so I tried to do something fun with them. I like to take them places on long days, so we can get rid of energy. 

The little bowling shoes were ADORABLE for G. I wanted to steal them. 

I put bumpers up and got a ramp. G grabbed a ball all on his own. He had a blast for about 5 rounds, then he was done. Chris got to bowl the rest of the time for both of them. I think we will wait a year or so before we take G again. It was a little slow for him. lol

He actually got a strike! I am sure I would bowl much better with bumpers and a ramp too. It was just adorable to watch him! 

Chris did good! He had a lot of fun. Watching him fling the ball down the alley was hilarious! I gave him pointers once and then I just let him do his thing. I wanted him to have fun and not worry about getting every pin down. 

Monday Thrive

I have decided to put Monday Thrive on hold for July and August. I really want to focus on spending time with my family while I am visiting them. I have some blog posts scheduled for while I am gone. I just don't want to stress about making sure I get a blog post up. It's been more important to me to have descent content instead of slapping something together to post. 

I did want to remind everyone about the fundraiser I am currently doing. I am currently raising money to give 30 foster kids birthday boxes. I wrote a whole blog post about it HERE. My cousins became foster parents in June and Adriana talked about being a foster parent one day. Foster parents are truly amazing people! Not everyone can be a foster parent, but everyone can give to foster children. 

I would love it if you could help me reach my goal of giving 30 birthday boxes to children who deserve to celebrate their birthday! The majority of these kids have had rough lives and need to see there is good in this world! You can help me that good!

You can donate HERE. 

Please help me reach my goal! 

Fun at the Zoo!

We recently bought a yearly pass to the Oakland Zoo. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend $120 for a yearly pass. I thought I will take G once to see if he likes it then we will decided. I started to add up just how much one day would cost us to go to the zoo. It would cost us over half of what a yearly pass would cost just for the 3 of us to go. I decided if we went twice to the zoo the yearly pass would pay for itself. 

We went to the zoo this past week. G had the BEST time! He ran around the zoo like crazy. We took some of our friends with us. We spent 3 hours there looking at the animals, riding the train and carousal. 

G LOVES goats! He has loved goats since he was just tiny. I think we spent the most time with the goats. He was running around the goat area like crazy. He loved petting and brushing them. 

We will be spending a lot of time at the zoo this summer! We packed snacks to eat along the way and enjoyed our time. 

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are my own. The post Never Miss a Monday appeared first on Because Chocolate Can't Get You Pregnant. 

Valentine's Play Date

I had a little Valentine play date party for G and a few of his friends. It turned out to be a lot of fun and really cute. I bought donuts from Krispy Kreme. Finding donuts that were not fried in peanut oil became my mission. I did not want to make donuts. I knew Dunkin Donuts didn't use peanut oil; however, they are over an hour away from me. 

I checked with our local little donut shop. They use peanut oil. I called Krispy Kreme headquarters to verify what type of oil they used. They use a vegetable oil to fry their donuts right on site. Perfect! There is a Krispy Kreme not far from our house. 

G and I headed there early before his party started. He of course needed to eat some of the donut as soon as we got into the car. I made a fritta and sausage to go with the donuts. I figured everyone would need something other than donuts. G wanted nothing to do with the other food. He just chowed down on donuts. 

I made cute little crafts for us to do. I bought some canvas from Michael's. I used painters tape for the LOVE. The plan was for the kids to paint the canvases, take the tape off and see LOVE. 

I bought the valentine plates and napkins at the Dollar Tree. 

After everyone enjoyed some food we pulled out the paints. The kids had so much fun painting on the plates and canvas. 

Then it was time to start to burn off some of those surgary treats! The kids played for a good 2 hours. Around 1pm G told everyone nite nite and headed to bed. He crashed for about 3 hours. Once he told everyone nite nite everyone decided to head home for nap time. It really was a cute day and a lot of fun! 

Grief

I recently an article called Stifled Grief: How the West Has it Wrong. I feel I have had to deal with a lot of grief over the past years. I dealt with a lot of grief when I had multiple miscarriages. Sometimes that grief lasted a long time and other times it went away quickly. 

I remember when Adriana lost her mom. Her grief was so strong even months after losing her mom. She would talk to me about it often. It was hard for me to understand what she was going through. One conversation I remember us relating it to my miscarriages. I told her it wasn't the same thing as losing a mom though. She said it is similar because you loved that baby and wanted it so much. Part of me felt it still wasn't. Losing a mom that you have loved for years just isn't the same as having a miscarriage. There are such different parts of grief. 

Now that I have lost Adriana this is a whole new level of grief. I struggle with how long do you grieve and exactly how do you grieve at times? The article on Stifled Grief is really great. There are no guidelines on how a person is to grieve. I also never understood the grief she was going through after she lost her dad and mom so close together. She missed her mom horribly. I honestly thought time would heal her heart. Now I understand no amount of time can heal you after you lose someone. 

"Grief changes who you are at the deepest levels and while you may not forever be in an active mode of grief you will forever be shaped by the loss you have endured."

It is hard to believe that Adriana is gone. I have dreams often she comes back. Sometimes she comes back telling me she just had to get away for awhile. Other times we just pick up like she never left. It's only been 7 weeks yet it feels like 6 years. I really miss her! I miss her funny texts, snapchats, our conversations, our love of Chipotle and tacos, I miss texting her to set up a time to get together or sharing funny G stories with her. I miss sharing the bargains we found. There is just so much I miss. 

Wednesdays are hard days. I usually saw her every Wednesday. There are some days I just want to pop over and see her. Some days I go to text her only to see the last text I sent her "are you ok?" Ugh I hate seeing that one. 

"The reality is you will grieve in some capacity for the rest of your life. Once loss touches you-you are forever changed despite what society tells you. Stop looking at the expectations of an emotionally numbed society as your threshold and measuring stick for success. Instead, turn inward and look at the vulnerable reality of a heart that knows the truth about loss."

Our Beloved Adriana!

Last Thursday my phone rang around 7:30am from our friends that we use to share the nanny with. Britt said Adriana hasn't shown up and I need to take P to school anyway you could come over? I said sure give me 30 min and we will be there. I had talked to her the night before. 

Adriana phone was going straight to voicemail. We didn't think anything of it at first because she has overslept. We figured in an hour or two she would come. Britt asked how long I could stay and I said until noon. At noon still no Adriana and still phone turned off. This was getting weird. I remember looking out the window thinking Adriana isn't coming today. I figured she would be back on Friday. 

I had sent Adriana a text. After an hour it wasn't read. I thought maybe something happened to her phone, so I at 1pm I sent her a FB message. I got a weird message from someone 30 min later claiming to be a family member asking if she really had died. I called Britt shaking reading her the message. Britt says that can't be real. Who would send something like that. I looked on FB to find Adriana sister info. I called her and left a voicemail stating she didn't show up for work. Adriana's sister called me back with the worst news. There was a domestic dispute and Adriana boyfriend ran her over killing her. I felt like the world was moving but I was frozen. It was the worst news I think I've ever gotten. I then had to call Britt to tell her the news. 

In the Spring of 2015 I met Adriana when I was looking for someone to watch G. We ended up joining a nanny share. It was the first person/place I felt comfortable with leaving G. I had a lot of anxiety about who would watch my baby. I was so worried someone wouldn't treat him right. Adriana took him from me that day and held him. She was so loving with him from day 1. I never worried when he was with her. I knew she loved him and was treating him right. I loved that she would send me text message throughout the day. 

After I stopped working he still went over there for a couple hours once a week. He loved his Nana! She loved it that he called her Nana. He thought the other babies were Nana's babies. He would say Nana then make a crying noise. Adriana and I spent a lot of time together and became close. At least once a week we did something. I got to know the real Adriana not just Nana. 

I went to spend some time with Adriana's sister, brother and niece earlier this week. It was weird to be at her house at first. Then we all started talking and sharing stories. As they were going through things they kept pulling out things I gave her. She saved little cards, pictures, clothes....so much stuff that I had given her was around her house. It really helped me spending time with them. I realized our friendship was just as special to her as it was to me. 

I haven't experience grief like this. I haven't ever lost a friend so tragically. My heart has been so heavy. I just want to wake up from this terrible dream. 

Adriana loved to do make up! This picture is just her. A big smile! 

She loved my little G so much! 

Adriana loved Sarah Jessica Parker. Last year she did a photo shoot similiar to one SJP did. 

She loved food! She would always say I don't know how you can eat that way. I have decided to just be fat and love food. That always made me laugh. 

My friend I will miss you so much! 

Widmer World A Must See!!!

If you live in Nor Cal next year add Widmer World in Pleasanton to your list of places to visit! It is adorable! We went to visit Widmer World on December 23 with our friends. George loved it! He is so good about waiting in line to get into places. They also had Santa, so George was so excited to see Ho one more time. The line to tour the back yard was about a 15 minute wait. It was well worth the wait. 

This place has their entire backyard set up with numerous Christmas displays. One display had Dept 56 houses, another had all Disney characters, santas, snowmen etc. It was a huge backyard for California standards and it was jam packed! The owners said it takes them at least 2 months to set up the entire backyard. 

Menu Monday

This is my last week where I am working 1/2 days. On Thursday I return to full work days. The thought of going back to work full time makes me want to throw a tantrum like a 2 year old. I have LOVED working 1/2 days. It just works for me. I get sooo much done, I feel happy and it's the perfect balance for me. Unfortunately Art hasn't won the lotto, so I will be returning to full time. 

I have enjoyed making dinners at night. I have been putting stuff in the freezer for when I return to full time. I plan to start using them next week. This week I will cook dinners Monday thru Wednesday, Thursday use the crock pot and Friday possibly go out to eat or eat leftovers. 

Cheese Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

Split Pea Soup - recipe on the blog next Monday
Stew
Steak & swiss chard

We have got to use up our freezer stash. We have soooo much food in there! I have a lot of soups, raviolis, sausage, meatballs, gumbo, shepherds pie, and who knows what else. Next week will be all about cleaning out that freezer. 

Holiday Style Link-Up: Holiday Traditions

Growing up we had Christmas traditions that we followed almost to a "t" every year. I LOVE traditions and I love the holidays. Christmas Eve at noon my mom would make homemade pizza and we would open presents from my parents. Christmas Eve night we would go to my grandparents for a big dinner, open gifts from my grandparents, cousins and aunt. Christmas Day we would rush out to the tree to see what Santa left in our stockings. Around noon we would go to my great grandma house where all my Grandma Fischer brothers, sisters and their kids would come over. Great grandma had 10 kids, so there were a bazillion people at her house. Everyone stopped by her house even if it was just for a little bit. The young kids went to the basement to play while the adults talked upstairs. It was a LOUD German house. If you needed something you had to SCREAM. lol  I love those memories.

My brother and I didn't really ever believe in Santa. When my sister was born we decided she NEEDED to believe in Santa. We love it that she thought Santa was real and played it up. Poor little Lacey was soooo upset when she found out Santa was fake. 

Even now as an adult when I still eat pizza on Christmas Eve. Even if I spend lunch time alone I eat pizza. It is my families tradition and I am not going to stop eating pizza on Christmas Eve. Today Art is working and I am eating leftover pizza from last night. I decided to order pizza for dinner last night just so I could have pizza for today. 

Lacey and I started a tradition I am not sure how many years ago making a gingerbread house every year. We buy the kit and put it together sometime around Christmas. Sometimes we were putting it together on Christmas Eve, but when we are together it is our tradition. We do not want other people to help us decorate our house either. We will allow our mom to put the icing on the house because she has A LOT of experience icing cakes. 

Christmas 2011 pictures above

This year it didn't work out with all my health issues eating up all my PTO time at work to travel to North Dakota for Christmas. I am hoping next year we can either be in North Dakota or my family can be in California with us thawing out. 

I am linking up my Holiday Traditions Post with More Pieces of Me and On the Daily Express. 

Holiday Party Part 1: Casual Holiday Style

My friend Caryl over at More Pieces of Me is having a holiday link up party! This is her first link of party, so I wanted to support her by participating. 

This week is casual holiday outfits. The outfit below I would wear to church on Sunday, casual work Christmas party or a holiday party at my house. To dress it up more you could add a sparkly tank & heels. 

Tank & Tights: Target

Jacket: JcPennys

Skirt: Lane Bryant (borrowed from my aunt)

Shoes: Lucky from TJ Maxx

Necklace: Jane.com

Bracelets: J Crew Factory & Zuni

Link up to the fun & check out the other outfits!!