Lulu & Co. is on vacation until November!

Just popping in to say that my {etsy shop} will be on vacation until November. I'm still receiving your convos sent through etsy, but replying to those will be a little bit slower than usual. 

I'm in the home stretch of a huge fundraiser featuring
Elizabeth Smart to benefit abused children, so thank you for your patience!

While the shop is closed, I'm only accepting orders from charity auction winners. If you are the winner of a charity auction gift certificate, please list that on your conversation's subject line when sending a message about your hat order!!

Thank you so much!!

non-stop

Sorry about this poor neglected blog but we've just been going and going and going all over the place...soooo......what better way to catch up than with a bunch of camera and iphone hodge podge pics in random order.

First up, oh my the littles were sooooooooo cute for a photoshoot we did last weekend when the stars lined up and we were able to meet up with the talented DeAnn Arnold for pics. She works fast - I love that! She captured some great shots, but I'm keeping most of those top secret for now. I think we have our Christmas cards taken care of *wink*.

I co-hosted a shower for one of my dear friends Segi who is getting married in January - I'm so excited for her!! Love the fall theme!

I'm not sure how we pulled it all off but we were also able to attend Shabella's birthday party.  Shabella is Segi's niece and she is cute as can be!  My littles adore Shabella and wish we didn't live so far apart.

Shabella had the cutest Mickey Mouse birthday party so we dressed the part ;)

See what I mean??! So fun! 
Happy 1st Birthday, Shabella!

My two favorite guys enjoying a little R & R after a busy weekend!

Ever have those moments when you look at your littles and you think, oh my, when did you get so grown-up looking????  Yup, I have one of those almost every single morning at carpool...

Speaking of carpool...Hudson and I have a 45 minute span of time between the time we drop off Grace and the time his school starts. What to do, what to do? Sometimes I have the bright idea to try and snap a couple of pics...you can see how well that plays out! ha!

Seriously mama, you think that is going to make me smile?

Oh, but he knows how to melt my heart...

Lance was a bit under the weather so he didn't get to go, but a couple of weeks ago, Noonie and I took the littles to a special 1-day showing of E.T.!!!  It was in honor of the movie's 30th anniversary.  Wow!  I remember watching E.T. as a little girl...

It was a late movie in the middle of the week so I wasn't sure how Hudson would do, but he was GLUED to that screen the entire time!! He loved E.T.!!

We also managed to squeeze in our church's fall carnival...

Wheee!

I can do it, I can do it, I can do it...

I did it!

Hudson's turn...

And somewhere in the middle of all that I got my hair cut, highlighted a bit, and I'm trying to decide if I like to wear it wavy or not??

The littles have a strange attachment to any type of critter I put out front. Remember last year's cat??? This year it's an owl...

Mama look! I'm just like the jack-o-lantern!
Hmmm...I can see the resemblance!

Check out the cute pants Noonie made for Hudson!! Love that newspaper fabric!!  And don't even get me started on that sweet little face ;)

And that's a wrap!
Hope Fall is treatin' ya right!
 

no tricks, just treats.

I like to start every October with a little bag o' treats for the littles...the Boo peeps will be floating their way into some hot cocoa tonight. 

A peek inside their goody bags...yes, the same bags we've used for the past couple of years!

So excited to receive a special treat just before heading out to school...

Silly little monkey!  Love him!

Halloween Lalaloopsy girl - yay!

Friendly monster books...

More Lalaloopsy stuff...can you sense a theme, here???

Halloween jammies are a must and this way they get to enjoy them all month long!

Remember {this} little sneak peek? I think this little top turned out so cute!!
Thanks Noonie!

Happy October!

Matryoshkas, Boo surprises and Canton

Oh my, I don't even have words to tell you how much I love this little MJ matryoshka dress!! May just be my favorite one ever. Of course I'm quite partial to nesting dolls, but I think it's the vintage style I love most...

Yesterday, my dear friend Heidi and I had a girls day out at Canton. It was pouring down so we didn't get to venture out in the fields where you find the real treasures (boo!), but I did come home with some fun finds, including this fun jack-o-lantern stake that three people tried to buy from me before I could even get it to our car!!

...and this adorable little shirt for Hudson, a modern take on old western wear. I love to find fun boy clothes like this, but I'm not so good with boy clothes, so if you have any favorite lines, please share them with me! Please and Thank you!

While I was in Canton, another one of my BFFs Segi dropped off the sweetest little boo day treats for Grace & Hudson...

Lance was with the littles at swimming lessons {thank you for taking such good care of them so I could enjoy a girls day!  love you!} and I forgot to call him and tell him to check by the front door after Segi called to tell me - oops!  So when I remembered right before bedtime, it was an even funner surprise for the littles!

Oh my, they were so excited!! The whoppee cushion and funny glasses were their favorites...and let's not even talk about the sugar rush...yes, we caved and let them consume copious amounts of pop rocks and sour candy just before bedtime -
A+ Parenting, I tell ya!

But you know what they were even more over the moon about????!!! The invitation to Shabella's first birthday!!  The littles are crazy about Shabella, Segi's niece.  She is the cutest little thing with big gorgeous eyes and hair TDF!! Love her and can't wait to celebrate with her next weekend. And yes, I have your Mickey hat ready to go for the big day, Miss Shabella!

Thank you, Aunt Segi!!
♥ Grace & Hudson

I'm slowly pulling out the halloween decor, just making little tweaks here and there, but it sure is making the house look festive! {yes, I need to change out my chalkboard!}

Totally random, but here goes...

I L.O.V.E. popcorn balls - could seriously eat my weight in popcorn balls - and that's a scary amount!  So last week I went to Walmart {mistake #1} because they had popcorn balls {they skipped out on us last year}.  I was so excited to open the bag and bite into the sweet crunchy treat when the smell stopped me dead in my tracks.  Oh my, I don't know what it was - if they were bad or treated with some sort of disgusting preservative like McDonald's pink slime, but the stench was horrendous.  Gag!  The taste was okay {yes, I opened 5 more just to check...} but I couldn't get past the smell.  So maybe I have given up popcorn balls for good *tear*.

Speaking of other gross things...turkey legs.  Chomp, Chomp.  They gross me out.  Something about walking around Canton seeing big and little people chomping off big hunks of turkey off a stick - GAAAG!

Okay, off to finish some hat orders and then meet a handsome little fella for a Lego playdate in his room ;)

Bye for now!

wishin' for fall + family pics + preschool homecoming

This sweet picture of the littles is *exactly* where we are season-wise. We long for Fall {Grace} but reality is, it is still very much Summer-like {Hudson}. I long for that ooomph that crisp, cool mornings add to your step. Soon enough...I hope!

I've started pulling out the Fall/Halloween decorations because I like to enjoy seasonal stuff for as long as possible.  As soon as I set this up in the kitchen, Hudson declared the tree and the cat spooooooky...

These little paper straws {value section at Michaels} make me happy. And don't even get me started on sprinkles. *swoon*

But it is this cake plate that I look forward to pulling out every year.  I just love those little silhouette kids.  LOVE!

I don't know about you but my littles flip-flop like fishies out of the water when it comes to deciding what they want to be for Halloween.  So this year I made them promise in blood that once ordered there was no going back.  I tried to sway them to some cute ones at Target, but alas, these won out.

I wish I could sew really well and then I would make their costumes like my dear friend Angel did {here} - love those!  But at least, these are really pretty and non-scary so I'm happy.

Today, Hudson's preschool had a little Fall Homecoming for the parents.  They had coffee and pastries and yummy fruit.  Each classroom had artwork and projects displayed...can I say I just *love* this kind of stuff!!!  Preschool arts + crafts...hmmm, maybe I missed my calling - ha! 

Last week they were learning about pets and they each brought a stuffed animal "pet" from home.  Hudson picked a duck to take to school.  I love how they worked in shapes to create their pet masterpieces!

One fish, two fish...so perfect for his {class}!

This week is all about apples.  One of my favorites...Ten Apples Up On Top

And my most favorite...
They were practicing their cutting skills by cutting apples to make their own applesauce for snack today - yum!

These little hands sure make my heart melt...

After cutting a couple of pieces with his plastic knife, he figured he could just snap the pieces in half much faster - he he...that's my boy!

Love you so much, Hudson!

Speaking of Fall...we've got Family Pictures around the corner. Yikes! Family pics stress me out, all that trying to keep everyone dressed and clean and happy and smiling and......I'd much rather be snapping the pics - ha!

But here's a little sneak peek at what I'm working with...

Shhhhhh...I still need to add a he'd rather die   matching   coordinating outfit for the hubs.

Happy Hump Day!