One of the perks of having a sister who works at Disneyland is that she can take us in sometimes. We definitely appreciate it as it costs jars of pennies to go in these days. It’s crazy how costly it is now compared to 12 years ago when I was able to have yearly passes as a college student. Therefore, we welcome anytime my sister is able to take us in and show us around.

It was a busy afternoon at Disneyland, so we only rode one ride and focused on watching the shows. When we have gone in the past, we just rode rides and forgot about the shows, so it was nice this time to focus on the shows. I was especially excited to watch Fantasmic, which I hadn’t seen in over 10 years.

Considering it was way past their bedtime, the girls mostly did well. Soul did have one melt down during the day where she cried as she walked, but as soon as she had dinner in her belly, she was fine! I never knew my little girl got the case of the hangries (hungry that it makes you angry) too.

I love Disneyland! I was such a big Disney fan as a kid. I even had Lion King decals up in my room until my second year of high school and I even had a Mickey Mouse phone. It was all because I used to dream of being a Disney animator, but obviously, that never happened. I’m glad that my girls get to experience a little bit of that Disney magic now. Disneyland is still very much a very captivating place. Are you a fan of Disneyland?

P.S. True is so cute because she wanted to match me! And sorry if you’re seeing this post twice. I started writing it the other day and never finished and then published on accident.

on true: dress and pants, c/o panache box. shoes, new balances. jacket, thrifted. on brave: shirt and pants, c/o panache box. shoes, c/o old navy. jacket, thrifted. on soul: dress, vintage. leggings, target. shoes, converse. on glow: sweater dress, c/o old navy (worn here). leggings, target. shoes, freshly picked.

My birthday is coming up in a week and a half and Ben has been asking for a wish list of sorts, but I’ve been kind of stuck. I’d really like a clean house (though I’m really the only one who could do this) and to finish up some plans we have for our kitchen (get some subway tile put in). Then necklace and boots are just extra “fun” things to wish for  (I did send him a couple other “fun” wants in an email too). At this stage though, it feels somewhat irresponsible to wish for these kinds of things and it seems money is better spent on things for the house. What kind of birthday wish list person are you… something practical or something fun?

1) cute black cropped boots. 2) necklaces by alyson fox. 3) subway tile in the kitchen, photo by 1st option.

For her birthday adventure, we took our baby (and the bigger babies) to the zoo! This girl is obsessed with animals and calls them baby, so we knew her attention would be absolutely captivated by all the animals at the zoo. Her favorite were by far the pandas; she didn’t want to leave them! We let her bring her “baby” along and she was so cute hugging that thing everywhere and ooh-ing and ahh-ing at all the animals.

All the animals are just so amazing. We marveled at the uniqueness of every single one. Like giraffes, they’re gorgeous creatures, but when you really look at their face, it’s kinda freaky looking (to me). Bravey’s favorite were the spider monkeys. No surprise there since her favorite is Spider-Man. We saw most animals at the zoo, but we did end up getting year passes, so you can be sure we will be back again for another visit.

We ended the day grabbing pizza locally before making the long drive back home. It was the perfect way to celebrate our littlest loves 2nd birthday!

on me: dress, handmade by me. shoes, new balance. on true: dress, c/o panache box (I want it in my size!). shoes, salt-waters. on brave: dress, little esop. pants, c/o panache box. shoes, old navy. on soul: dress, vintage. shoes, salt-waters. on glow: birthday dress, handmade by me. shoes, salt-waters.

I’m behind in blogging this, but this month I was part of the October 2013 issue of Family Fun Magazine. This is such exciting news for us for and I am so happy to be part of it. Not only did I write a little article about our home/family inside (and our creative messes), but I also photographed the images for the article and they chose one of my pictures for the cover! Seriously, it still feels so surreal and I’m so honored to be part of such a great issue.

We took the girls to the grocery store to pick up our copy and to show them that they were on the cover… they thought it was cool for like 10 seconds and then they moved on to the My Little Pony cards they were seeing down the aisle. Go figure! That’s kids for you. If you wanna pick up a copy, I’ve seen them at grocery stores, Michaels, and Barnes & Nobles. I think my mother-in-law cleaned out all of San Antonio, Texas, so you probably won’t find any there.

A little project we did awhile back is also in the October issue of Ladies Home Journal. Feeling very honored to be among other creative individuals on this page.

I’m very thankful for these opportunities and I’m thankful for all of you who take the time to visit here and take notice. If you made your way over here from those magazines, well, it’s nice to “meet” you and I hope you’ll stay awhile! When I started blogging, I never imagined the opportunities that come because of it. I just wanted to join in for the fun and community. I don’t even think of myself as a “blogger.” I’m just a gal, who likes to make things (for and with her kids), and happens to blog about it. It’s been so great so far and really, all of you are a big part of this journey, and I am very, very thankful! Many, many xoxo to all of you!!!

Spring Minestrone with Turkey Meatballs. I made this for dinner club with ground turkey instead. All the soup was pretty much gone the first night, so it was really lacking in this bowl when I took a picture of it.

Fish Tacos. Don’t mind the messy looking taco. I promise you though, it’s really good! I’ll share my recipe soon.

Week of 10/21 – 10/25

Monday: Crab cakes
Tuesday: Mom’s Pot Roast
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Sloppy Joes with Sweet Potato Fries
Friday: Sushi/pizza night

I’ve never made pot roast, so I’m excited to do so for the first time in the crock pot. Anyone have a particularly good recipe to use?

This week was a crazy week. Full moons. My hormones raging. The girls being kids. Life being life. Everyday I’m learning how to find the right balance. Sometimes, I’m way off and those days turn out wacko and some days I get it just right, and all is mostly well in our household.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

I’m always amazed at True’s tenacity for reading. She goes to at least one full chapter book (sometimes two!) a day!

Read the article on Removing Children from the Internet. It has some good points to think through. Ben and I had a good discussion on it and how it relates to us.

This pumpkin doughnut looks amazing!

Baby sister’s boyfriend, Andrew Ho, had his work featured on the Huffington Post. That is such a big deal!

I’ve been seeing a lot of ways to doctor up pumpkins in the blogosphere, but I think this by far is the prettiest way.

I think someone who wears a size 6 should get these cute fringe boots.

I asked Soul the other day if she wants a nice new mom or to keep this crazy mom. She said, “I want my crazy mom.”

We tried cookie butter for the first time ever!!! That jar is dangerous thing to have in our house.

I’m hoping next week is feeling a little more balanced for us, particularly for me because I’ve just felt really crazy all week! Anyone feeling like that too lately?