Life seems to never stand still for too long in our house, and every time that it does decide to stop and smell the roses, a life changing event happens.

For the 7th time in our 5 year marriage we have moved yet again, and this was the 2nd 1200 mile move for us... in a 12 month period!

We have LOVED Texas! Seriously, I consider it to be home. We love our friends there, we love the people and the culture there. And I LOOOOVVVVEEEEDDDD the humidity! I know, I know. No one likes humid hot days, but this girl sure does! 

However, we have been waiting for this job opportunity in Las Vegas, NV to present itself to us for a long time. Brett has had his eye on this job ever since he started flying helicopters, so there was no doubt in our minds when it came to deciding to take it and move again. We will miss Texas and everything we have come to love here, but we are excited to be taking this step in our lives. 

Anyways like I said this was another major move for us, so I thought I would share some tips I have learned the hard way along the way. We have used moving truck services 4 times now and feeling pretty comfortable in the system. All of our other moves were close enough that we were able to make a few smaller trips back and forth. EXCEPT for the time we had to move in a matter of days and we literally threw everything in boxes and stuffed it all in a 16 ft horse trailer! ( I do not recommend this method )

Here are some tips that hopefully you find helpful:

Moving Tip #1

Start gathering boxes and start packing the moment you know you will be moving. Having plenty of time helps ease the stress and gives you time to purge, sell or throw away all the junk that you no longer use or need. Which will decrease the amount of stuff you take with you.

PURGE!! If you have the time, have a yard sale! Even if you sell all your items for a dollar, that's a few extra dollars you have to put towards your moving costs. I have done this every time we have moved and its been a great way to get rid of my items that I have a hard time parting with. The last time we moved we sold our old bathtub (vintage clawfoot) at our yard sale that we had leftover from our bathroom makeover. We got $250 bucks for it!

Moving Tip #2

Try and negotiate a price with the moving trucks, but don't be pushy with it. No one likes to deal with a pushy customer. But when we were getting ready to move from Utah to Texas we had called up all the moving truck companies to get quotes. We were limited on our budget and ruled out the companies that drive your stuff for you because they were way too expensive. 

Now mind you that this next part all came about unintentionally but it worked out for the best and we tried it out again this time around. 

We had made a reservation with Budget Rental because they seemed to be the best overall deal (that and I was getting an employee discount from my boss who owned a few trucks).

We were offered a 16 ft truck, a travel limit of 1200 miles for 3 days for somewhere around $1800. We thought this was a pretty good deal. Then we called Penske to see what their best deal was. At first their offer wasn't going to be able to beat Budget, but when we said we were going with someone else, they asked what we had been offered, Penske turned around and offered us a 24 ft truck with 1200 miles for 4 days for $1400. Great! We thought.

So we called up Budget Rental to cancel our reservation, when they asked us why we wanted to cancel we told them the deal we were offered. They then offered us a 24 ft truck with unlimited miles, for 6 days and they would give us a dozen moving blankets with a moving dolly for $1000. SWEET! 

So we called up Penske to cancel our reservation. When they asked us why we wanted to cancel we told them the offer Budget made us. They then offered us the golden egg! 24 ft truck, unlimited miles, 6 days, 2 dozen moving blankets, a furniture dolly AND a car carrier all for $900 +tax !! 
Budget was not able to match it so we stuck with Penske. We were able to knock off almost a $1000 off the original price!! And because we are only a family of 3 right now this worked perfect for us because we were all able to ride together in the rental truck while towing our Jeep Grand Cherokee behind us, saving us money on our fuel costs too!

We negotiated the same way this time around between Budget and Penske and the offers started out with Budget offering us a 24 ft truck and car carrier for $1256 + taxes. Then we called Penske and they were able to offer us a 26 ft truck, car carrier, hand dolly and 4 dozen furniture pads for $1034 and that included taxes. So it wasn't a screaming deal like last time but its still a good deal in my book.

Now we learned a few things while we were unintentionally bargaining. 

• In order to get a screaming deal like we did, it matters where your truck is coming from and where it is headed. Now all these types of moving companies are linked together as a franchise. So if there is a location that is in need of the size of truck you are using they are going to give you a better deal because they need more trucks where they are at. Does that make sense? We made our original reservation through our local dealer but it wasn't until we called the customer service line from the website that the deals started rolling in. We feel they were able to give us a better deal because they were the corporate end and not 3rd party. 
• Book online from the very beginning, online offers already discounted rates. That way your bargaining starts off at an already discounted price.
• If you are a AAA member you automatically receive 20% off.
• Ask your customer service rep flat out, "Is that the best you can do?" or tell them that your are shopping with a certain budget in mind and tell them what it is. They will try their best to accommodate your needs. 
• Also, call every week until a few days before your move and just double check to make sure you are getting the best rate possible. Prices may drop depending of the inventory of trucks and equipment.

Moving Tip #3

Use towels, blankets and sheets to wrap your picture frames, mirrors or anything of the sort in. It saves you money from having to buy bubble wrap I have bought bubble wrap in the past and I have always saved it for the next move, but it is expensive! So sheets and towels are what I like to use best because you have to take them anyways, so you might as well make them useful.

For the larger items I like to use this method and I wrap them by laying out the blanket and putting a frame down at one end of the blanket fold over like a burrito and add another frame. I keep doing this until I have used the entire blanket. Making sure there is enough padding in between frames. I then duct tape it like this to secure it and make sure that no sliding occurs. I then place them in boxes to keep them from getting smashed. It works well and I have yet to have a damaged picture or mirror.

Moving Tip #4

Do not buy boxes!!! I think it is such a waste to purchase boxes. I find all of mine at Liquor Stores, Grocery Stores and all my wonderful friends who gave me tons of boxes that they had. Craigslist is also another great way of finding boxes, I was able to pick up over 50 nice moving boxes for FREE from a women off of Craigslist who had purchased all the boxes and then wanted to get rid of them!

                     Azure was buried in there somewhere ;)

When we made the trek from Utah to Texas a friend gave us some AMAZING boxes from her last move. They are wardrobe boxes and if I was going to spend any kind of pretty penny on boxes it would be for more of these.

You can find these at Staples (online), Home depot or Lowes or just about anywhere that advertises that they sell moving boxes. They cost anywhere between $8 and $15 a box. Now ours were given to us by friends, after we used them we lent them to a friend that was moving across town and we plan to use them again. So they have been used several times but they are in perfect condition. We have 7 boxes and were able to hang all of our clothes in these without taking them off the hangers plus we were able to put some light weight items in the bottom of the boxes.
And I totally scored thanks to Craigslist Cathy who also gave me 4. However, I was a hanger bar or 2 short than boxes and I had been looking to buy a couple new ones (just the bars). Home depot was out, so I went to the Cubesmart and asked if they sold them, the super-girl at the cubesmart storage she said they didn't sale them but that she had a ton of bars and no boxes so she gave me 3 for free!!! She saved me about $10! THANK YOU!

Seriously, I don't know if it's because we have the most AMAZING friends or if we just got lucky, I think it's cause our friends rock, but all of our friends supplied us with boxes, bubblewrap AND packing peanuts!!!! We are so blessed to have people who love us this much... that or they couldn't wait to see us leave so they were trying their hardest to get us out of there! ;)

Moving Tip # 5

Be organized. Now I don't mean you need to go all Martha Stewart crazy here. Just some simple organization can go along way. I like to label my boxes (duh, I label everything) , but I have found that if you use recipe index cards as box labels it makes it much easier to see what is in the box. (it also works in hiding all the pictures of liquor and beer, no we are not alcoholics, no we do not drink, the stores just have sooo many boxes and they are more than willing to give them to you when you ask) 

 

I Label them with the room in bold letters, then the contents of the box under that. If I only put the room on the box I would always forget what box I put what in, then if I needed to find something I had to open all my boxes to find it.

I like to put 1 label on the top of the box and 1 on the side of the box. I also use an index card and write FRAGILE on it if needed. Because lets face it, men (which are usually the ones carrying the boxes when helping) are not gentle unless they see it in BIG BOLD LETTERS (and even then they can be....).

 

Moving Tip #6

When packing your dishes, buy a package of foam plates from the dollar store and put a foam plate in between each dish. Liquor stores have great sized boxes for dishes.You should also ask them if you can have some of the box dividers that comes with some of their wine bottles.These work great for glasses, vases, Christmas ornaments or anything small and breakable. You also want to wrap each item in newspaper or tissue paper just for added protection if you have really nice dinnerware.

When packing kitchen platters or pyrex dishes, I wrap them in bathroom and kitchen hand towels, with a sheet of bubblewrap in between each dish.

• Use egg cartons for necklace transporting. This works EGG-cellent in keeping your necklaces from getting tangled with each other!

Moving Tip #7

Get one of these Sterilite Clear File Bins (Family Dollar $3 or Walmart $5) and when packing up your food items, set some aside for the drive. Snacks, treats, fruit that won't go bad if not in the fridge, water bottles, and anything your family would enjoy snacking on in the car/moving truck while driving. My MIL did this for us one time and it fit perfectly under the moving truck seat so it wasn't in the way, and when anyone needed a quick fix I could easily pull it out. It was organized and less bulky than any other way I would have done it and since it was clear we didn't have to dig around looking for what we wanted to munch on. I now do this for ALL of our roadtrips and camping trips.
This will also save you money by using what you already have so you're not spending a lot of money on junk food and convenient store food which only gives you a sugar high then slams you into a food coma... which is dangerous behind the wheel ;)

We also use all of our coolers for the cold food and fill with ice to keep them cold. We pack the coolers in the truck last so that we can monitor the ice levels if we need to refill. It also works nicely if we have yogurt or fruit that we want to munch on during the drive.

Moving Tip #8

Find a small box/bin/crate and use this as your supply station. Before you start put things into boxes gather any items you might need for packing. Scissors, Pliers, Hammer (removing nails), nail hole filler, container to put all the nails in, Duct Tape, Packing Tape, Permanent Markers, Pen, Newspaper or Tissue Paper, Bubble Wrap, To Do List, Apron, Recipe Index Cards, and anything else you think you might need.

This helps you stay organized and will make it so that you don't accidentally pack something that you later need. You also won't forget where you put the roll of tape when your hand is holding down the flaps of a box and you are stuck looking for the tape.
Then when you are done taping up all the boxes and done packing you can take the box and put it with the others.

Moving Tip #9

Take tip #8 and do with with all your cleaning supplies. This way you can clean the house easily when it is free of all the boxes and clutter. You also want to put your laundry detergent with your cleaning items in case you need to do a quick load at the last minute. This is also a good idea if you use liquid detergent, if its packed last and loaded in the truck last you know where it is so that it doesn't get smooshed or tipped over and leaking all over your stuff. Trust me on this one. I learned the HARD WAY! 

Another great thing about doing this is that when you get to your new home, the first thing you can pull out is the cleaning supplies in case it needs a quick scrub, then you don't have to dig around the truck to find the box of lysol. 

Moving Tip #10

When you arrive to your new home, put together all the beds FIRST. That way you don't have to sleep on the hard floor when you are too tired at the end of the day. Next, unpack the food.... you WILL get hungry.

Moving Tip #11

Get a folder, binder or clipboard to keep track of any important papers (like rental agreement, hotel reservations, roadtrip games, restaurant coupons for eating on the road, utilities contact information, phone numbers of land lords, internet, electricity, etc.) you might need while driving or as soon as you arrive to your new home. 

Moving Tip #12

If you are driving the rental truck yourself or in our case all together in the rental truck while towing our car. We like to pack the car with all the items we may need to get to at rest stops. Like our suitcases, pack n play for Azure if we are staying the night at a hotel, extra diapers, cooler with cold drinks, blanket and pillow. That way we don't have to open up the truck to get things out when we stop.

Moving Tip #13

Disassemble as much furniture as possible. Our dining table is really easy to take apart. It saves a lot of space in the moving truck to not have a table in the way. We also take apart the crib, take the mirror off the dresser, and take apart our bed frame.

Moving Tip #14

When loading the truck... Get your TETRIS on!!! But first be sure to sweep it out, they should be clean and tidy when you pick them up, but you want to make sure you are not harboring someone else's dirt and dust. When you start to load the truck with boxes you want to make sure you pack things tight enough that when you take corners or go over bumps, your stuff doesn't shift and bounce. But don't pack it so tight that you are smashing boxes to fit into a space. The goal is to get from point A to point B with as little damage as possible.

Moving Tip #15

7 dinners, easy clean up & cooking all for under $30.
Plus we have all the food in the fridge that needs to
be eaten before we move. 

A week or 2 before moving day, prepare some freezer meals or freeze leftovers from previous meals; so that the week of moving you can throw a quick dinner in the crockpot or oven so that you do not have to eat out every night. If using your crockpot, get some crockpot liners for easy cleanup; and for meals cooked in the oven, use those tin pans you can find at the dollar store. They usually come in a 2 or 3 pack! That way you can pack up your kitchen, spices and all, and maybe just leave your crockpot out and a hot pad or two. And with the left over foam plates you have from packing your dishes you can just use paper goods for the days leading up. This is also convenient for when you get to your new house, you can easily have dinner in the crockpot or oven. Now I love eating out, don't get me wrong. I am always looking for an excuse not to cook. But when moving money gets tight.... really tight. So by doing this can easily save you a $100 dollars or so by not eating out every night.

Moving Tip #16

Bribe friends, family and strangers off the street to come help you with food, drinks and cookies!

*Other than me injuring my back the week before moving day, leaving me on bed rest. This move went smooth and efficiently.

Goodluck on your next move and if there are any moving tips that you use, that maybe I hadn't thought of or mentioned....
I would love to here them!



BTW HUGE shout out to my Mom and SIL for driving all the way to Vegas with a 1 month old to help us move in, and also for spending 4 hours on your hands and knees scrubbing the nasty floors! You guys are the BEST!

Vacation Organization

Happy Turkey Season everyone!! 

I feel like I haven't blogged in ages! It's crazy how time just whizzes by in the weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving. 

It has been a whirl wind around our house ever since. 

Brett has been working LOOONNGGG weeks, I say weeks because we don't see him throughout the week, only on Sundays. Gratefully he was able to have 2 Saturdays in a row off. I couldn't tell you the last time I remember that happening!

We also have been trying to plan our Thanksgiving. About a month or so ago, Brett informed me that he was able to take a WHOLE WEEK off of work for Thanksgiving, December is going to be crazy busy at work and he isn't going to get anytime off.

A WHOLE WEEK people!! Let me just tell you the last time the hubbs even had more than just a weekend off........ ummm.......... 

NEVER!

(since he became a pilot anyways)

Wait! There was that time we decided to make a move cross country in 20 days, he had a week off of work then. But cleaning, packing, 2 1/2 days of driving and trying to find someone to rent your house 1,280 miles away is NOT a vacation! 

Sorry for my ranting... On with the point.

Since we decided we needed to take advantage of this rare opportunity, and we have been dying to see 

San Antonio since we came to Texas. I am SOOO excited to tell you that we are making it happen!

  AND I may even tell you that SHAMU is involed! 

YAY!

As long as in the next few days we don't learn that Azure needs knee surgery! 

Follow up on that bit later.

Now I will admit that we have not been on a real family vacation. This will be the 1st real family vacation with all 3 of us and only all 3 of us. We also have a very limiting expense budget for this trip.

Brett and I agreed that we would use the $ we would have spent on each other at christmas and put it towards this trip. And since I have had Azure's Christmas shopping done since....... September and only spent $38!

 black friday shopping! 

(sniff sniff)

We will be spending 6 days away and with our limited $ we have been working our behinds off in creating magic for this trip. Some of those tricks involve camping 2 nights. Its way cheaper than a hotel, and we have been feeling really deprived from camping this year. It's just too darn HOT in the summer. 

We also are planning on eating out for only 2 meals the WHOLE week! The nights that we are in a hotel I plan on taking the crockpot and a few freezer meals. 

Lunches and snacks will be prepared ahead of time for on the go. 

Breakfast will be provided by the hotel, but for those mornings that we will be camping I have prepared freezer breakfast burritos & bacon, egg and cheese mcmuffins that we can warm up over the fire. MMmmmmm....

For all of this to go down I had to put my OCD pants on (which is more common than not, lately).

For example, I will confess to my siblings that I am now the mystery cup thief. 

Growing up in my house back in the day we had a running joke that we liked to call the vanishing cup. If you left a glass empty/full unattended for a second, it would find its way magically (by mom) to the dishwasher. 

For example, you could think you are alone be alone in the house, get a cup from the cupboard, go to the fridge to get the milk and when you turn around the cup had vanished and could be found in the dishwasher!! 

NO JOKE!

hahaha.....

 There have been several occasions where Brett's glass has gone "missing" because he left it out. I HATE clutter and to me anything out of its place or in sight is CLUTTER!

I'm being serious, the older I get the crazier I become! But its a good crazy... until I am hauled off in a straight jacket.

Anyways, to prepare for this vacation, I made my lists. Lists are a must in my everyday life, otherwise I get distracted and forget what I am doing. I'm like a monkey, show me something shiny and its over from there.

Well I thought I would share my lists with y'all just incase you have a vacation coming up. You can download  and print them off so I have done all the planning and organizing for you!

Here are what MY lists look like...

Having a typed up Itinerary dates back to my parents. I remember my Dad always had his "lists" and a vacation Itinerary was always one of them. 

To me it is essential if you're heading on a sight-seeing vacation. Knowing the hours of operation of the places you want to visit ahead of time lets you fit more into your days. You are also able to visualize and plan things by location, cost, length of time you plan on spending at that spot and so on. It is also a good idea to check out locations websites to find out what they allow you to bring with you, any discounts or coupons offered, and if kids are free. In our case since Azure is under 2 she is FREE with everything!!!

Here is a blank copy...

Since we do not have the luxury of eating out for every meal. A menu is crucial for many reasons. 

#1: it prevents me from giving into the temptation of just eating out anyways. If I'm going to put the time and effort into prep work, I'm not going to "waste" it. 

#2: my hubbs is... a MAN, and when looking for something to eat, I can guide him/hand him an already planned out meal; instead of the usual opening the fridge/pantry/cooler and waiting for something to smack him in the face. 

I know you all know what I am talking about!

All meals I will have prepared ahead of time whether it be that they are a freezer meal meant for the crockpot, or sandwiches already assembled. To make it so that the food stays fresh and organized; here is what I do.

 I do not put condiments on anything. I have been gathering ketchup, mustard and mayo packets anytime I have had the opportunity. 

I wash all fruit and veggies and put them in single serving containers. That way when needed I can reach into the cooler and they are ready to go.

I make my own trail mix (hubbs doesn't like nuts). I mix whatever I want into a large ziploc bag. In this case my "Surprise Mix" contains: dried tropical fruit, yogurt raisins, mini marshmallows, dried berries, white cheddar goldfish, and m&ms. Weird combo, I know, but everyone LOVES it!

Since I am a soda girl, Dr P is my drug. And Brett likes Gatorade. That is what I bring. I also bring our water bottles that we can refill any chance we get. And since Seaworld does not let you bring in any drink that has a plastic cap, straw or anything harmful to the animals; it is another good reason why water bottles are great. I also got juice boxes for Azure and will just transfer the juice to her sippy cup.

The day before we leave is my food prep day. Unless its a freezer meal, then I have it assembled already!

Our camping meals I have prepared already. Breakfasts are already cooked, wrapped in tinfoil and frozen. Then all we have to do is throw them in the fire for a couple minutes to heat up. Hobo dinners I will have put together, wrapped in tinfoil. Then when it is time to cook, all I have to do is throw them in the fire and watch them cook! And for easy clean up in the hotel with the crockpot, I like to use Reynolds slow cooker liners. I use these on a regular basis at home too.

When using a cooler, I hate things being wet from ice. So I saw an idea somewhere that if you freeze your milk or a milk jug of water, you can use that as an ice pack. I'm going to try this out. But since I have frozen food that needs to stay frozen for a couple of days til I can transfer to a fridge I will also put everything in individual freezer ziploc bags and use ice.

This week I also made a batch of cookie dough. On my food prep day I can easily throw a batch in the oven to take with us.

When we normally camp, we each have a mess kit. We will be taking these and will also use them in the hotel. I put these together last summer. They each include a durable plastic plate, matching cup, coleman cutlery set in a mesh drawstring bag. Easy to clean, afterwards you put them in the bag and hang to dry.

Here is a blank copy of  the MENU....

Next is my Supply List...

I'm missing a few things on the list, but you get the idea.

And since I hate clutter, I will be using bins, containers and totes for all loose Items. Just like I enjoy having a clutter free home, I enjoy having a clutter free car.

Here is a blank copy.

And because I pack EVERYONE'S bags...

Yes I pack Brett's bag. Otherwise who knows what he would bring, if anything at all!

And to save space/make it easy. I put all of mine and Azure's individual outfits in ziploc bags with the day of the week labeled on the front. That way there is no digging through bags searching for a missing sock or lost jammies. Though I do not do this with Brett's bag, I have to draw the line somewhere with my craziness!

I also am not packing any "extra" clothing, I figure if worse comes to worse I can use the hotels coin laundry mat. That is when those free laundry samples that come in the mail come in handy!

All these lists I will have with me during the trip, including brochures, tickets, maps and any other info.

This might not be new info for you, you are all so much wiser than I am. But this is what I do and what works for me. I have used this method with other trips, times away or anything that involves planning.

Hope y'all have a Happy Thanksgiving and if you find my printables desirable feel free to use them, and don't forget to leave me a comment if you like them! :)

Tips for Frugal Halloween Costumes

Since the beginning of time....


Or ever since I can remember, I have been smitten by Hallow's Eve! It has always been my favorite holiday (except Christmas, but I mean is that even a debate?!).

Growing up in a large family, being a daughter of a farmer and a homemaker, we had to get creative when it came to Halloween. Credit given to my mom and her frugal-ness and sewing capabilities we had a plethora of fun costumes to choose from. It was like its own little holiday, getting to retrieve the garbage sacks full of Halloween stuff from the attic every year! But when I got to Jr. High I decided to take it into my own hands! And that, ladies and gents is when it all started!

So if you're like me and hate buying the prepackaged costumes (because of the price, not because I don't think they are cute, cause I do...well, most of them) read my tips that have worked for me over the years. Because I have found great joy and thrill in making and "throwing together" homemade costumes every year.

Here are some from the past, wish I had ALL of them to show you, but that would just take SOOOO long!

Queen of Hearts and Ace of Hearts
- 2007 Brett and I were engaged

Disco Dancer and the Disco Ball (Preggo belly)
- 2010 Pregnant with Azure

Chef, Waitress and Crab in a Pot
- 2011 Azure 8 mo old

Cutest crab you will ever see!

Here is a break down of what I spent each year:

Queen of hearts:  

Tutu: Dollar store with a deck of mini cards hot glued on. $1 (already had the mini deck)

Large Card: Dollar store, Pinned to shirt

Tiara and Heart Wand:  a princess set from the Dollar Store, can't go wrong with a Tiara wearing a tiara!

Heart Necklace: Was given to me as a Bday gift from my bff. FREE!

Brett's Joker Hat: FREE! My mom always made us skiing hats back in the day and this was one of them that we borrowed.

Large Ace Card: 2 poster boards from the Dollar Store

Grand Total: $5!

Disco Ball and Dancer:

ME: 

Boots: $4 from the DI, spray painted silver (already had the paint)

Sequin Skirt and Top: Both from the DI, think I paid $2 for each

Disco Ball earrings and Necklace: Borrowed from a Friend... FREE!!

Brett:

Bell Bottoms: Borrowed

Shirt: His white dress up

Vest: From his hot wife's closet!

Necklace: Also stolen from his wife!

Grand TOTAL: $8!

Chef, Waitress and Crab in a Pot:

Me:

Everything I had in my closet except the apron, $0.97 @ Walmart!

Brett: Apron and Hat both $0.97 @ Walmart!

Azure:

My sister found a hat at KID2KID that was from some restaurant for $2. It had the eyes and tentacles on it. So I took them off and hot glued them to a sweater Azure already had. Glued the eyes to a CARS winter hat I found at Walmart which also came with red mittens for $5. She had red pants; and the red socks were $1 @ TARGET. Kitchen Cart: Borrowed from Brett's mom. And the pot... From my kitchen cupboard!

Grand TOTAL: $10.91!

Tips for Frugal Halloween Costumes

• Think ahead. Try and come up with what everyone will be dressing up as early on in the month (or year, that's how much I love it!). That will make it so that when you are at the store and you see a random item that would go perfect with a costume you can get it; and save the headache of trying to make 1 trip, last minute to Walmart and be stuck wearing an XXXL banana costume cause it was the only thing left. Or my least favorite, wearing NO COSTUME AT ALL?!!! gasp!

• Hit up the 2nd hand/ thrift and dollar stores! You can never go wrong there, as you can see with my costumes from the past.

• Make a list of what everyone's going to be and what their costume needs, and keep it in your purse at all times. When you are out shopping you can refer to the list. I have to do this with everything in life or I can't remember a thing. If I didn't do this Azure would be wearing an orange wig, hot pink coat, 1 rain boot 1 flip flop and a church dress! No Joke!

• Remember, you don't have to be "crafty" to do a homemade costume. It really is EASY! It just takes a little imagination and a little trust in yourself.

• Make a budget, it helps with getting creative! My budget this year was $20. This is the most I've ever spent on costumes but I think I still rocked it.

• Check your own closet, I guarantee you will find at least 2 things you can use!

• Once everyone chooses what they want to be (or if you still have the luxury of choosing for your kids) find a pic on the internet so you can envision the goal. 

Now for this years inspiration....Are you ready?!...........

Azure

Brett

Me

Hahaha... don't you just love the dancing oompa-loompa?! 

I'm going to let you in on a little confession of mine. When I was pregnant with Azure, Brett and I were looking for ideas of what to be for Halloween that year. I saw a picture of a toddler as an oompa-loompa and I told Brett that when our (unborn) child was that age they were going to be an oomp-loompa! That was 2 years of waiting for this moment! Wow! It feels good to get that off my chest! Though I'm a little embarrassed that you all know now how weird I am!

Anyways...
To achieve this years fun I hit up my local Goodwill while out one day and with my "list" I was able to find EVERYTHING I needed. I did a happy dance of course! And even better, it was all in my budget of $20!

Purple Women's Blazer
$5.29

Blue Medical Scrubs
$3.99 each

White pants and Brown Long Sleeve Shirt
$2.29 and $1.79

Women's Long Sleeve Striped Shirt
$3.79

 

 I was happier than a nerd at comic-con when I got home that day! Laying out all my treasures (after washing them first of course) and beaming in my success of the day. I then got out my sewing machine and went to work.

I cut off the legs on the pants and gave them a new hem
I took the women's striped shirt and cut it up, making leggings wrist cuffs and a collar for my little oompa-loompa. 
Made suspenders from white elastic from my sewing junk, hot glued clamps on, and cut brown felt circles.

Grand Total: $7.87!

For Violet Beauregard all I had to do was add a red belt from my closet, and come Halloween I shall stuff myself with a pillow, and color my hair blue!

Grand Total: $7.98!

For Willy Wonka I dug through my scarves and found one for the bow-tie and one to add some frill! I just need to find a top hat and make a cane!

Grand Total: $5.29!

Making this years GRAND TOTAL: $21.14!

I went over budget a little but I'm still proud of it all and can't wait to dress up!


*Come back and visit  next week for pictures of us all dressed up!

And an extra bonus, I found this cute Elephant costume size 2-4 for $7 which retails at $27.00 in stores! I already know what I want to do to make this costume even more Azurific!

I have next year planned already :)

                                

                                      I'm thinking Zoo Animals and
                                          a Zoo Keeper!

               

                  Good thing we have a whole year
                    to get her used to wearing it ;)

HAPPY HAUNTING EVERYONE!

*Update: Here is how it all turned out....

I'm leavin on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again...

Now this was the first time traveling by flight with little miss RaeRae, and let's just face it.... I was TERRIFIED!!! She is a very happy girl, but confining her in any way (she sat on my lap) for 2.5 hours turns her into the HULK! She is a very curious, adventurous, independent girl. So I was really nervous to how she would react; and I was very much prepared to be kicked off the plane for disturbing the peace. :)

So to prepare myself; I read blogs, asked friends, studied flight regulations on traveling with children and packed my suitcase like a BOSS! This is where all those hours wasted playing dr mario in college paid off! Taking only 1 carry-on and 1 personal bag for 2 people, was a challenge. Diapers for 4 days alone took up a good portion of my beloved space.

These were some of the items I packed in my purse to keep the tot busy: 

School toolbox (because I hate random loose items) containing: Crayons, coloring pad, sticker booklet, and gel window stickers.

 I don't think we would have survived without the stickers! Especially when we had a window seat!!! I tried to save the stickers for when her patients had run out, save the best for last! It totally worked!

Take & Toss sippy cup with straw hole. Cut ordinary straws in 1/3's . This is a great fine motor activity that requires focus... aka sitting still and quiet!

Pom Poms and plastic container with a hole cut in the top of the lid. Another great fine motor activity!

 All of these were homemade and/or found at the $ store!

I let her go crazy with the stickers! Putting them on the window, tray, herself, myself, anywhere that entertained her!

I brought along her puppy blanket, her lovey, so that she would have familiarity and something to comfort her when she was tired or upset. She never slept on the plane, but it did keep her company.

I also packed a variety of snacks that she loves and that would otherwise be somewhat of a novelty. I had chocolate covered raisins & teddy grahams. I also packed her a lunch (my child eats ALOT, snacks are never enough for her..... I'm afraid she gets that from me!) containing a pb&j, string cheese and oyster crackers. I brought her a sippy cup of milk and had apple juice in my purse to refill. And the

TOP SECRET WEAPON

used in controlling the happiness of my child?! 

Dum Dum suckers!!!! 

They were my saving grace! For several reasons:

#1 Cabin air pressure. The constant swallowing eased the pressure in her ears. 

#2 Mouth full = quiet child.

#3 It was a novelty! I don't give her candy very often so she was thrilled to have a sucker! 

*Just make sure you bring plenty of wipes on the plane.... 

I hate sticky fingers.... Unless they are served on a platter at Wingers. MMMmmmmmm..............

Things to do before getting on the Plane? 

These will depend on you and your tot. Every situation is different. 

•  Make sure you put a fresh diaper on right before boarding. It is ridiculous to try and change a diaper in the claustrophobic bathrooms on the plane. 
• Let your child run around as much as possible once you get to the gate. Let them get their wiggles out! 
• Show them the airplanes outside and explain to them what is about to happen. And also explain what they should expect on the airplane i.e. sitting nicely on mommy's lap, no screaming, flying high in the sky...
• When boarding the plane stop in the outside gap between airplane and tunnel, so that they can see the body of the airplane, this helps them realize that what they see in the sky and on the tarmac is what they about to go on. 
• Breathe!

And if all this fails you..... Pray that you sit near a dear old lady that will put on a barf-bag puppet show for your little one!