Halloween 2013

Have you tucked those kiddos in bed yet and raided their candy?

I've never been the biggest fan of Halloween, I like the dress up (duh!) but beyond that I'm not really a fan. However, it was really fun walking around the neighborhood tonight with the kids. Watching Ava collect candy, she was really excited. 

My husband's job gave them a half day today, paid! Love his employers so much. I mean who does that?!? Seriously so thankful for his job, it's such a blessing. 

Meet Princess Sofia and Mr. T! We've been planning this Mr. T costume for months. I think he pulled it off nicely. 

I mean right! 

Ava has been wearing her Princess Sofia outfit for at least two weeks now. We went trick or treating a little earlier tonight so that we could go back home and pass out candy for the kids. When we ran out of candy I heard Ava say to Orion, "Dad let's give them some of my candy, it's good to share with your friends." 

Oh melt my heart! That girls spirit is amazing. And I love hearing that she's learning and getting it when we talk about sharing and giving to others here in the Worley House. 

How did you spend Halloween? What did your kids dress up as? Next year we're totally rocking a family costume I've decided. 

How Our October Is Shaping Up.

Holy Smokes! It's the end of October, seriously where did the month go? You already know October is my favorite month for a variety of reasons. Our month has been filled with the usual dance class, church activities, family nights as well as the day to day shananigans that happen round here. With some fun extras thrown in because, well... it's Fall now and the start of holiday season. 

So here's goes, what our October looked like. 

First of all these crazy, love able, keep me on my toes kids have been waking up at 6 am on the average day. Naptime seems oh so far away when this happens. But we make it through, because they sure are cute. 

We carved, painted, mod poged, and glittered some pumpkins this year. Oh yes! An assortment we did, they are all sitting on our front porch. 

 She's excited. 

I turned 31 this month. My husband got a baby sitter, and we ran as quickly as we could out for my birthday dinner. Ahh.. I love date night. It was extra special to spend the evening together for my birthday. 

Every year my husband's work throws a huge Harvest Festival bash on the campus for the entire community. We've gone the last few years and let Ava play games and collect candy. This year she really loved it. 

She told me to call her "Princess Sofia" for the rest of the night. I almost died! 

We made our way to the Pumpkin Patch this past weekend. We've gone to the same one for the last couple years. It was hot, it was sunny and this was the best family picture we got. I'll just go with it. 

Ava & Zane on a hay bail, priceless. Ava being loud and singing, while Zane just stares, totally typical for them. 

As October comes to a close, I'm looking forward to November for so many reasons. My parents and Grandparents will all be here this year for Thanksgiving. I'm so looking forward to it. My husband's birthday is also in November too, so more fun just around the corner. 

How was your October? What fun things did you do?

5 Questions for the Blogger: Alissa from Rags to Stitches

You'll know my next guest from my weekly Coffee Date link ups with her blog Rags to Stitches!  I met Alissa for the first time when I attended the SNAP conference last year, we only met briefly and exchanged business cards. It wasn't until I went home that I looked up her blog and was hooked by her honesty about life and motherhood. 

Once upon a time she sewed beautiful bow clutches (which I own) she's also a wife, mother, blogger and the brain behind Pollinate Media Group. Take some time today to get to know Alissa better! 

Thank you Alissa for sharing today! Now, I need a pumpkin spice latte. 

Connect with Alissa here:

FACEBOOK // TWITTER // PINTEREST

Meal Planning for Your Family

I've been planning meals for my family for a long time now. I've done it a few different ways till I found what works for us. I suggest you take tid bits and figure out what works for your family as well. I'm always interested to see how other families do things to save money and make the function of their home work. 

We don't eat out much, only because at this stage of the game eating out with kids is stressful and not fun at all. So I'd rather eat at home and save the eating out for date nights. Eating at home and planning our meals is one of the biggest ways we save money. 

Every two weeks I sit down with the grocery adds, my day planner, coupons and plan out our meals. There are staples that we always get (bread, milk, eggs, etc) and then there are those things that we get for our weekly meals. 

I like to search blogs, cook books and other sites for meal inspiration. There are meals that we have often, and then I like to find two or three new ones to try from stuff I've found through blogs, cook books and other sites. 

From there I do my grocery shopping. Using the ads I like to see what's on sale, I don't mind going to a few different stores to get the best deals. On average I save between $30-40 dollars on my grocery bill, Here's a few more tips to help save money on your grocery bill.

*Shop what's on sale- buy produce that's on sale that week. Plan your meals around a few staple items that are on sale. For example, if pasta sauce and garlic bread are on sale make one meal that will incorporate that. You get the idea. 

*Use coupons on top of your sale items if you can- not in a crazy stock pile kinda way but in a way that combines sale items on top of coupons. This is the best way to maximize savings. 

*Take advantage of BUY ONE, GET ONE sales- grocery stores in my area have these sales all the time and I'm sure if you do a little searching you'll find some in your area too. When they do I take advantage of them and plan my meals around them, and stock pile my freezer. 

Confessions of a Target Shopper.

Ah, Target where all mommies go for a little me time, am I right? Somehow walking those aisles with my red cart and sometimes iced coffee in hand for an hour can do so much for this little spirit.

I've also been known to bring a snack or pick one up in the cafe'. 

* That Dollar Spot, man gets me every time? Does it you? Somehow I always seem to find things that need, and some I don't probably need. 

* Also, for the longest time Ava thought the "Dollar Spot" was the toy section! Sneaky, sneaky mom. 

* I've been known to hide random things on shelves while I'm walking around the store "deciding" if I need to get it.

* Sometimes I stalk clearance items for a few days ensuring that I'm getting the lowest price. This has worked for me on a few occasions. 

* I can get lost for hours in the clearance clothing section, and searching the end caps. 

*Generally, when I walk into Target all sense of time just goes out the window completely. 

So, tell me what are some of your confessions as a Target shopper? Do you have any funny secrets to share? Tell me in the comments below, I wanna hear them. 

Stylish Finds from Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart is not a place I like to go often, actually I avoid it as much as I can. But when your car battery dies one morning and it's the closest place to get it fixed you find yourself wandering around with your two kids.

And, you stumble upon some awesome things that just might surprise you about good ole' Wal-Mart. And, apparently everything cool and stylish is in black, white and cream.

Can't say I blame them. I also found some awesome baskets, and other storage items I loved as well. Here's a few finds from there that I love.

Stylish Finds from WalMart by worleyhouse featuring olefin area rugs

Olefin area rug / Better Homes and Gardens mirror / Grey accent pillow / Cube footstool / Accent chair / Trestle desk

That desk is awesome. I'm contemplating it for my new office/guest room space. This chevron ottoman is pretty cute too. And that chair I'd love it for my master bedroom. 

What are you loving? What stores have surprised you lately? 

Carving Pumpkins with #PumpkinMasters

Carving pumpkins is always on the list for Fall activities for many families, ours too! I also love painting pumpkins as well so we do a mixture of both a lot of times. Pumpkin Masters sent me a box of goodies to help get me started in our carving adventures. 

Couple things that I love about these pumpkin kits, the carving tools are safer than using kitchen knives, plus they come with all sorts of patters to use as guides. They have all sorts of kits; one for kids, surface carving kits, punches that you can use too. Pumpkin Masters kits can be found at your local grocery stores, craft stores and Target.

We chose to do the surface carving kit, I loved the swirl pattern one. So we cut out the design and taped it to the pumpkin like the instructions said. 

Even though these tools are safer than kitchen knives, I would still caution supervising your children with these kits. 

Once you have your design all taped on, using the tools trace the outlines of the swirl design. Then using your carving tool, carve the surface of the pumpkin. 

Hubby got in on the carving action as well, especially when my hand started cramping with all the swirls in the carving pattern. Ava loved the feel of the pumpkin after we did the surface carving. 

She proudly placed it on the porch with all of our other pumpkins.

Pumpkin Masters is having their very own carving contest on Instagram & Twitter. 

Simply tag your images with #pumpkinmasters2013 see full contest rules here.

Have you carved pumpkins yet this year? Would you like to WIN a Pumpkin Masters carving kit as well? If you'd like to be entered to win a carving kit of your own leave me a comment below telling me what your fave Fall activity to do with your family is! I will choose a winner Tuesday! 

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Giveaway from Purdy Things

Happy Friday Everyone! Today is a great day, today is my birthday. To celebrate I'm partnering with the shop Purdy Things and telling you about one of my new favorite things! 

You all know I've been drinking crazy amounts of water! I drink water all the time, and I'm convinced if you wanna get more water into your system find yourself a pretty water cup! It'll change your life, and it'll make you wanna drink more water. FACT! 

I've been loving lately this mason jar tumbler from Purdy Things. Becky lives here in Arizona and she makes these awesome 24 oz tumblers from mason jars. They are awesome, and here's a few reasons why;

• They hold 24 ounces! That's a lot of water!
• They fit in my car cup holder- perfect for running my errands and staying hydrated!
• They have fun, colorful, sweat proof cozies around them. 
• I love the re useable straw.

Wanna win your own awesome mason jar tumbler? To enter the giveaway please visit the Purdy Things Etsy shop and tell me which is your favorite mason jar tumbler in your shop, that you'd choose if you won. This entry is mandatory, all other entries are optional. Visit her shop here. For all entries use the Raffle Copter below. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway will run from now until Monday night. Winner will be announced via email.

All entries will be verified, one winner will be chosen.

I was provided product by Purdy Things Shop, but all opinions are 100% my own. As always I only review products that I feel are a good fit for myself and my readers. 

5 Questions for the Blogger: Jen from I Heart Organizing

Today's '5 Questions' comes from one of my favorites! I've been following Jen for quite some time now ever since she was featured on Young House Love! I love her organizing style, and love for bright colors. Plus, she's a Midwest gal so I already feel connected to her! 

Enjoy, getting to know her a bit better.



Jen and I could for sure share a bowl of popcorn over our love for mindless t.v. I consider myself an addict!

Thanks Jen for sharing with us today. If' you haven't yet checked out her blog I encourage you to do so! You'll want to organize your entire home this weekend!!

Connect with Jen here:

FACEBOOK // TWITTER // PINTEREST

Watch Me Grow Zane: Five- Nine Months

My little Zane is growing so fast, and I realized it's been a loooonng time since I did an update about him. Like really long, like the last time he was three months old and now he's almost ten months. 

He's growing so fast, and honestly this whole second kid thing has gone by like a blur. It's a good thing I'm writing things down or I would probably forget them since I feel like as soon as he hits one milestone he's onto the next.

He's already got seven teeth! He started getting teeth at 5 months old and now has seven. 

He's currently wearing size 3 diapers, and wears 9 month clothing some 9-12 month stuff too. We were so generously given many boy baby clothes by one of my husband's co-workers that I haven't had to buy him much of anything till now. I've gotten him a few special outfits here and there for events such as his baptism back in May. 

At his 9 month well baby visit he weighed 27.5 pounds. 

He's always been very active from the beginning. Rolling over from tummy to back at just a month and a half old. Crawling at six months, and now just this past week at 9 months he started WALKING! Walking I tell ya, it's crazy. Ava didn't walk until just a week after her first birthday. So it's quite the difference with Zane. But, I should not be surprised by this because he has been almost exactly different than her in almost every area.

He's eating really well and still breast feeding. I've been able to breast feed him longer already than I did with Ava, and I'm thankful that I'm able to produce still when I wasn't with my first. 

 This glider chair is so very special to me. I remember when I was pregnant with Ava I thought that I didn't "need" a rocker/glider. So I didn't register for one and I didn't buy one. A month before she was born I decided that I wanted one, so I bought one in the most neutral color that I could afford at the time and I'm so glad I did. 

It's become the back drop for these "Watch Me Grow" monthly pictures for both my babies. I've spent many nights already with Zane in this chair rocking, and nursing him. I don't think that I can ever let it go once they are bigger. It's so special to me. It probably doesn't go anywhere else in my house besides a nursery but I think I'll keep it forever. 

Lunchtime Favorites with Lean Cuisine #HonestlyGood

• This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Lean Cuisine, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #HonestlyGood #ad http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.”
• Early on in my health journey counting calories and keeping a food journal really helped me stay on track. It helped me recognize portions and what were the right portions to be consuming. It also helped me to re train my brain about portions and lose weight. 

Everyday when I'm home with the kiddos it can be really easy to just eat badly. Let's be honest here, so I love to have healthy, low calorie options for myself. So while Ava is having mac n' cheese, grapes and cookies I like to choose healthier options. 

Lean Cuisine has come out with some brand new options that fit just that called Honestly Good. What I love about these meals is that they are made from 100% all natural ingredients and preservatives.

When I was out running errands at Target I picked up a few of these meals to have on hand through out the week. Some of their awesome flavors include; Honey Citrus Chicken, Lemongrass Salmon, Pineapple Black Pepper Beef, and Pomegranate Chicken. 



One of my favorites was the Lemongrass Salmon. It has brown rice, lots of veggies and one of my favorites, salmon. Coming in at 320 calories per meal this is a great option for lunch time. 



If you're looking for healthy options that taste good too, these are great options. I love having these types of meals on hand during the week for lunches, or when we have busy days when I need to grab something quick they are perfect!



Have you tried these yet? What are your favorites? What are some of your healthy "go-to" options? 

Holiday Cards with Minted

You know I love holiday cards, and it's never to early to start thinking about your holiday cards right?! This year I've been so impressed with Minted, I recently ordered business cards from them and I was really impressed with their customer service and fast shipping. 

My favorite card that I got from friends last Christmas was from Minted, so I wanted to check them out this year for my own holiday cards. Let me tell you, they do not disapoint! They have some new foil pressed cards this year that are just gorgeous, and perfect for a glitter loving gal like myself! 

What! You don't have your pictures taken yet for your holiday cards?! Me neither, but Minted has a solution for that too! You can choose your cards now, pay for them and upload a picture later and have them printed! How genius is that! Seriously it is! 

Plus, it's the perfect way to take advantage of their Early Bird Sale and get 15% off your order.

Use code: EARLY2013 

at check out till 10/14

Here's a few holiday cards that I'm loving from their holiday card collection, I kinda like this one since we live out of state and many people we'll be sending cards to do not live where we live. It's fun & whimsical. 

Remember me telling you about their new foil pressed cards? Below is one of my faves from that collection. It's simple, but I like simple too.

If you love the chalkboard look they have some options for that too.

And I really love that you can personalize your cards with different shapes like the one below. You can also do a different background on the back option of the card as well. You can also import your addresses in and they will address them for FREE. Minted makes it easy for you.

Shop Minted's Holiday cards here and take advantage of their 15% off till Monday.

for all my Phoenix locals info about my holiday mini sessions can be found here.

*contains affiliate link.