Bee Funny Friday Follow ~ Week 11

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Family and Life in Las Vegas and Crazy About My Baybah are back with this week's edition of the Bee Funny Friday Follow, because being funny is what it is all about!! We hope that you will join in the fun and post pictures and/or stories about something funny that happened during the week. Something fun to get the weekend started.

Here are a few simple guidelines we encourage you to follow:

1. We would love you to link up and post it the link on your blog.

2. Following the hosting blogs in the # 1 and # 2 spots in appreciated.

3. Post pictures and/or stories on your blog about something funny that happened during the week.

4. Put our Bee Funny button in your post to share the fun.

5. Visit as many blogs as you can, and let them know that you are there from Bee Funny Friday Follow. Follow the ones you like, and we are sure you will get follows back.
6. But most of all, Bee Funny! Because Beeing Funny is what it is all about!

Bee Funny is open to family friendly sites ONLY, all others will be deleted.

Funny is NOT:
Skipping your hair appointment in an effort to save money.

A last minute impulse to color your hair from a box.

Finding out your regular hairstylist isn’t available for at least 6 days.

A salon bill that negated why you were trying to do it on your own in the first place.

Paying for an even worse color than what you went in with.

Looking like a stripper or a grown woman trying to look like they are 15 again and not having the body of either one.

Crying in your car on the drive home.

Waiting at least 5 days before my original hairstylist can even see me…

Funny is NOT:
A sick baby.

A sick baby who won’t take a nap.

A sick baby who won’t take a nap but lets everyone know he is tired by a body full of sass and crab.

Funny is:
This guy…(taken prior to getting sick)

Hey hold on ladies - where are you going?

Okay, well I will catch you later!

Oh well, who is ready to party??

At least I can still laugh at something today.

Spooky Tutorial ~ Kristen @ Dear Piper

I am SO excited about today's Spooky Tutorial. I love Kristen's Blog. She is so talented and creative. Not to mention she has a beautiful daughter named Piper. What I love about this tutorial is that even someone like me, who isn't the craftiest (okay at all crafty) can do this!


Trick or treat??

Hey There, I'm Kristen from Dear Piper and I'm so happy to be sharing in this little Monster bash!

Halloween is absolutely my favorite time of the year! This year is extra special... Piper gets to offically go trick or treating! YAY!

In honor of Piper being a witch for halloween, here's a little DIY trick or treat bag for your own little witch or spell caster!

What you'll need:
1 Plain shopping/gift bag. Color of your choice!
1 piece of scrapbook paper-at least the length of your bag.
Green and black felt.
glitter glue

halloween ribbon 1 or 2 options.

halloween themed confetti

hot glue gun or any craft glue

scissors

decorative scissors

I purchased everything I didn't already have(glue,glitter glue,felt,ribbon,paper) at my local Jo-ann fabrics for under $5 bucks!. Everything but the bags were on clearance! Go me!

I picked out these papers at the craft store and decided to use my halloween themed paper for the witch legs!

Cut 2 stipes off your sheet of paper. Make sure they are at least 2-3 inches wide and at least the length of the entire bag.

Then take your stripes and decorative "wavy"scissors to give them a fancy edge and trim off a little stripe like I've shown above. You don't need to make them wavy, it's all about your preference. So don't worry if you don't have those particular scissors.

Now we need to make some felt boots.

I had to draw a boot because I couldn't find a stencil or shape anywhere to trace. Feel free to blog up this image and trace my boots to help you out!

Cut each boot out and cut a skirt out of your left over felt material. Before you start glueing your peices, make sure your legs are not wider than the top of your boots. If they are just take your fancy scissor and trim til they fit well under the boot.

Lay your boots on yor bag to measure where to cut your legs, and take out any excess paper on the top before you start glueing!

Now start glueing your peices to your bag. Legs first. Marking your bag with a pencil is a big help in positioning your pieces.

Once your legs are glued on, glue the boots and skirt on. Cut little pieces of extra felt (green) to make the boot buckle, and make some bows to embelish the boots some more!

Now let's embelish the rest of your bag.

I cut another stripe of green felt for the skirt, added some confetti bats and a thin squiggle of silver glitter glue to embelish the skirt a little bit more.

Now that we're almost done, take your extra peices of scrap paper, the wavy stripes, and glue them to the top of both the back and witch side of your bag.

Get your ribbon out! Knot one end of your ribbon and start wrapping the rest along your handle.

& repeat on the other side of your bag.

And Voila!

You're little one is going to have one of the best trick or treat bags in the street this year!

Stop by and Check out more "Spooky" tutorials for Halloween Next month over at Dear Piper.

Or just say BOO!!!



See! I told you that was a Spooky Tutorial you would love. Head over now to Dear Piper and let Kristen know you are coming from Family and Life in Las Vegas for 4 extra entries into the giveaway of your choice.

Just comment with "I Haunted Kristen's Blog with a spooky comment" on the giveaway of choice. (4 separate comments)
(Divide them up, use them all for one giveaway, it is your call!!)

Also don't forget - 2 entries per day per vote on both Top Mommy Blogs and Picket Fences!!

And keep your eye's peeled - I will be handing out extra entries EVERYDAY. On Twitter, On The Blog. You won't want to miss your extra chance to win some of your favorite giveaways.

Happy Haunting!

Don't forget to enter some of the 20 Giveaways that are going on until October 9th before you leave. See the Side Bar for links to each Giveaway!!

Toddler Talk Thursday ~ Week 9 (Discipline)

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Welcome to the ninth week of Toddler Talk Thursday! Where Family and Life in Las Vegas, Crazy about my Baybah, and My Life as a Sippy Cup Mom talk all things Toddler! Thank you for your patience with last weeks “break”. As all of you know, sometimes life gets a little busy.

Toddler Talk Thursday was created as a place for moms and dads of toddlers to come together over a weekly topic and share ideas, go-to toys, or products. It is a great way to meet other bloggers of toddlers. Each week the topic will be different; we invite you to link up, share your weekly Toddler Talk!!

Each week the hosts will travel around to each blog that links up, and pick an idea, story, or picture they think was a great example of that weeks topic. In order to qualify for this you need to blog about this week's topic, and follow the hosts. Comments letting us know you are participating are always great too. If we choose your blog, we will link back to your post the following week.

Our highlighted blogs this week are:
Mommy Madness
Love that Brock begs to paint everyday!

Through My Eyes
Love the idea to try and use yogurt as finger paints.

Milk and Honey Learn and Grow
Love the Ivory Soap Painting



This week’s topic is Discipline.



I struggle with how to discipline my Squish. Every time I tell Squish “Not for little hands.” Or “Mommy said that isn’t safe.” He laughs at me and thinks it is a game.
We have tried implementing timeouts (1 minute because he is 1 year old) in the pack and play. But as soon as I take him out, he goes right back for what he was getting into.
We have tried distraction, taking him to a different area, but over and over he goes back to the things he knows he shouldn’t be in.

Another thing we aren’t having much progress in is gentle touches, not hitting or pulling, and no throwing. I say “Ouch, that hurts Mommy; you don’t want to hurt Mommy right? “See like this”, and I will show how to touch on him or with his hand on my face/hair. Or more recently he loves to throw his books, toys, anything he can. And he is strong so it hurts if it hits me, or I worry he will break his toys or hurt himself. I tell him nicely, “We don’t throw our books, we read them.” Or “That is a floor toy; please keep it on the floor.” But he just smiles and continues the behavior, which leads to the time outs that I can’t tell are working or if he even understands him.

As my first child, even having worked as a daycare teacher, this is an issue I struggle with daily. I would like my son to grow up respecting the environment and people around him, while at the same time still enjoying life as a boy.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Next weeks topic will be: Halloween – Post anything related to Toddlers and Halloween. Also we would love to hear from you what topics you would like featured on Toddler Talk.Sorry - Just feeling deprived of Squishy picture posting! :)

Link Up Suggestions
1. We ask that you follow all three hosts. That way you can keep up to date on future Toddler Talks.
2. Please link up with the URL of your Toddler Talk post, so we are looking through other posts to find it.
3. Please grab the Toddler Talk Button and display it in your post or on your blog.
4. Stop in to other blogs that are linking up. Leave a meaningful comment if you visit, and follow if you would like.
5. This link up is for families that have toddlers. Raising a toddler can be fun, crazy, exciting, and exhausting. Sharing what works for you could give other families another way to do things.
6. Have Fun!


Please – Before you Link up – This is NOT A BLOG HOP!! IT IS A MEME FOR PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS OF TODDLERS. If you aren’t going to post specific to this weeks topic, than don’t link up.

If people continue to treat this as a hop – we will no longer have a link up, and you will just need to leave a comment with a link to your post. I am sorry, but it just isn’t fair to those who actually do participate.

Ghost Post ~ Jennifer @ The Martha Project

I was so excited when Jennifer of the blog The Martha Project agreed to do a guest post for Mommy's Lil' Monster Bash.

Jennifer is super creative, super crafty and super honest. I love reading her blog and you're going to want to follow her on Twitter, because she is hilarious.

She also loves Halloween. I don't know if I can just say love. She MIGHT just have a slight obsession. Which is all right with me!

If You Haunt it, They Will Come

I never intended to become a Halloween freak. My neighborhood made me do it. Don’t get me wrong, I have always been a big fan of the day. I even went trick or treating into the years of my life when this happened:

"Trick or Treat!”

“Um, aren’t you a little old to be going trick or treating?”

“I’m just tall for my age, I’ll take a Butterfinger, thank you.”

We moved into our house in June. Halloween was the first Holiday for us. I went out and bought the 5 bags of candy decorated for fall. And sat on the porch waiting for all the children to come.

But they didn’t come. I think the first year we had maybe 10 treaters and my rear end grew by 4.5 bags of candy. I asked my neighbors what the deal was and they said this:

“Oh, yeah. We don’t get a lot down here b/c the kids cut the cul-de-sac.”

What? So you’re trying to say that our cul-de-sac candy doesn’t count as much as the straight street candy? I could see they were right. Just beyond our cul-de-sac the treaters were out and walking right past our little section.

Yeah, that didn’t work for me. I needed more treaters and I was going to get them. But how?

And this my friends is how my neighborhood turned me into a Halloween freak.

The 2nd year I thought that this might work:

It did not.

The Next year I got the Martha Stewart magazine and saw some home made tombstones in it. I figured I would add some of those and I got a fog machine too.

Did this work? Not much.

Determined to get some treaters down our street, The next year I really ramped it up.

I thought it would be cool if I added a spider web tunnel over my walkway. So I did.

And added some black lights a lot of spiders, bats and a few skeletons. This year a newspaper found my house and I got interviewed so guess what? I got me some treaters this year. Yep, I did.

Hmm. Now what about this porch? I mean I got a spider tunnel that should lead to a spooky porch. So next year the porch got some spook added.

And the yard got a few more tombstones each year and I added a fence.

This display has grown to my whole fenced front yard including gate that goes across my driveway, 3 fog machines, a mausoleum, many different figure props, and the big draw, the candy chute. The candy chute is something I made so that candy gets dropped down this pipe from inside my house and comes out the skeleton’s mouth on the outside.

And now basically I’m at the freak level. But the question is? Do I have trick or treaters?

YES I DO!

Last year I made 250 treat bags. If you haunt it, they will come.

-This is just a small sampling of pictures. It has grown to my whole front yard on both sides.

Please visit themarthaproject.com for more pictures and information on how my Halloween freak manifests itself. Boo! ~Jennifer

Wow!! That was so amazing. She really took Halloween to a new level. If you go over and "Haunt" her blog, and leave a comment saying you're from Mommy's Lil Monster Bash you can have 4 extra entries into any giveaway.

Just comment with "I Haunted Jennifer's Blog with a spooky comment" on the giveaway of choice. (4 separate comments)

(Divide them up, use them all for one giveaway, it is your call!!)

And keep your eye's peeled - I will be handing out extra entries EVERYDAY. On Twitter, On The Blog. You won't want to miss your extra chance to win some of your favorite giveaways.

Happy Haunting!

Don't forget to enter some of the 20 Giveaways that are going on until October 9th before you leave. See the Side Bar for links to each Giveaway!!

Mommy's Lil Monster Bash ~ Weisenbach Recycled Products Giveaway 20

Anytime I find a company that is eco-friendly and provides greener options to everyday products I am already using, I get pretty excited. Weisenbach Recycling was one of the original green companies, making the switch to soy ink and recycled paper in 1989. Today they still are market leader for "recycled products, energy efficient and environmentally preferable items; plus printing, custom molding, assembly, and manufacturing of recycled products from various materials."

Weisenbach Recycling participates in Green Halloween, and they offer many Green Halloween products on their online store Recycling is Cool.

Fun treat alternatives for the kids!

Cute buttons for adults. My favorite "Halloween Tip #2 Free Trade Chocolate counts as a Vegetable."

They have generously donated this fabulous recycled glass pumpkin which is a perfect holiday decoration you will love to display every year!
"Make others green with envy when they see your unique hand-crafted recycled glass pumpkin. Each of these gorgeous pieces is a one of a kind treasure. Empty wine and spirits bottles are melted, hand-blown and shaped into the perfect piece to herald Fall and Harvest time. Graceful lines and amazing detail! Each one is individually sculpted by a fabulously talented glass artist. Approximately 6" in diameter. Beautifully hand crafted by our glass artists in Columbus, Ohio. The glass is collected locally and crushed at our Columbus facility. 100% post-consumer from beer and wine bottles."- Recycling is Cool Webpage.

To Enter just fill out the Google Docs form, there is no need to fill out the form on both site, it will automatically do that for you. But do remember to check out both sites for extra entries!

Mandatory: Name, Email, Something you learned while visiting Weisenbach's webpage.

Extras: Follow Weisenbach's Recycled Products on Facebook, Subscribe to Recycling is Cool newsletter. (Lower Left Corner)

Extra Entries from Family and Life in Las Vegas: (These will be manually added to the Google Form)

• Vote for Family and Life in Las Vegas on Top Mommy Blogs and Picket Fences. (2 entries for each vote) (can be done daily)
• Follow Family and Life via GFC, Facebook, and Twitter. (1 entry for each)
• Subscribe to Family and Life in Las Vegas via email(Upper Right-hand Corner)(3 entries)
• Tweet/Facebook this Giveaway and leave a comment with the link. (2 entries)

" #win a Recycled Glass #giveaway during @FamilyNLife & @Sippycupmom Monster Bash! end 10/9 http://tinyurl.com/2utyhvj RT"

Good luck! This giveaway will end on October 9th!

The winner will be announced October 10th!

Be sure to head over to
The Life of A Sippy Cup Mom for even MORE entries!

Remember you only have to fill Google Docs out ONCE between our 2 blogs!