Happy Halloween!

I LOVE Halloween!  I love the decorations, the fun costumes, the cute children's books and movies.  And of course all of the Halloween candy.  This year was my baby's first Halloween and my toddler's first one where she really gets it and can actually say, "trick or treat!"

I love the picture above, how it captures a day in the life of the counselor mom right now.  A little chaotic and nothing perfect by any means.  Can't get my toddler to ever look at the camera, and my poor baby can't even sit up yet and we won't dare take the paci out of her mouth.

We were lucky to have my family volunteer to watch our baby so we could take Luna trick or treating with her friends, but we got a call that Belle was crying frantically, so my husband went back to get her and this is how our trick or treating ended up, with baby happy next to her momma and Luna strolling down the street.

We had so much fun!!  Luna did not want the night to end.  I can't wait for next year with both girls walking from house to house!  The holidays are going to be so much fun with these two!

Halloween Goodies

With trying to move my blog over to a new hosting site, it's been a challenge, so please excuse me for not posting anything for awhile.  AND my precious newborn is now teething ridiculously and it's taking a lot to get her to go to sleep now.  But I am not going to bore you with more posts about teething woes like I have before (but if you are interested, feel free to read all about my teething suggestions here).

Now, on to more exciting fun like Halloween!

I found some cute Halloween DVD's and books on Amazon that my little toddler loves.  What's more fun this time of year than getting into the spirit of Halloween, Fall colors, Pumpkin spiced everything and cooler weather?

These books have been a hit at our house and are on sale now on Amazon:

For babies and toddlers  Five Little Pumpkins (5.99$)



For Preschoolers:
Little Critter: Happy Halloween, Little Critter! (Starting at 2.50$)

This one is close to our hearts because we have a little Dachshund at our home and tells a great story like the Ugly Duckling: The Hallo-wiener (6.99$)

Or there is the always popular Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Halloween book:

Haunted Clubhouse (Disney Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) (6.99$)



And one more for the school aged kids, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything (6.99$)

Halloween season isn't complete until they've seen a few Halloween cartoon specials and movies.  My little one just LOVES the new Doc McStuffins Halloween episode that aired last week, and it's so cute how she is finally into Halloween this year!
Spookley the Square Pumpkin (6.95$)



It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Remastered Deluxe Edition) (11.99$)

Coraline (5.99$)

 

Story Re-Do

Recently, my little toddler pulled out my husband's old Little Red Riding Hood book to read before bed. It looked like such a cute board book, with a cute little girl on it, but then it got to the part about the big bad wolf wanting to eat the grandmother, who tried to hide in the closet.  I guess I had not read this story in awhile, and forgot about that scary part.  Not a good thing at this age when they are learning about fears and having nightmares about scary things in the dark.  I stuttered on the story, but all was good when I changed the story up a bit to make it about the wolf wanting to eat the pie. Now she had no worries about big bad wolves that are going to show up and try to eat us.  Not something I was wanting right before bed time!



Not to mention that the other day my husband was reading some Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes about the old woman who lived in a shoe and wanted to 'whoop' all of her kids, or when Rock A Bye Baby and the cradle falls and down comes baby, or Jack who breaks his crown.  Times have sure changed.  I know we can't protect our kids from everything and they need to learn reality, but those Grimm stories and fables can be a little scary for a young child!

But then today I came across these GREAT new stories for children to read that change up the traditional fables.  It's from a company called My 1st Story and they have re-written Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstock, The 3 Bears, Humpty, and the 3 Little Pigs.

Check out  Lil' Riding Hood & Wolfie (12.99$):

 

How cute is that?  Through the woods goes Lil' Riding Hood, on her way to Grandma's house. And what's that scent that awakens sleeping Wolfie? Why it's a freshly baked pie! So off he goes to Grandma's house where Wolfie will learn that sharing is best. In this beautifully drawn storybook, My 1st Story reintroduces the magic of this timeless fairy tale classic with an all new contemporary theme and story line.

So adorable! And even cuter is the stuffed doll that you can order: Lil' Riding Hood Plush (14.99$).



Or this precious Jack's Beanstalks one:



And the cute Beanie Plush!



Perfect for holiday shopping.  Check out their website that has all of the fun interactive stories for kids to look at and games too.  Happy reading!

Blog Changes

Sorry to disappoint but this isn't a post about counseling, my children, your children or anything mom related, but a post about blogging.  I am having to decide what to do about hosting my blog and if I will go forward with Wordpress or move it to another site.

It's just amazing to me that the world of blogging has become so huge.  Just a few years ago there were just a handful I would read, but now I have a whole list and it's hard to keep up with them all.  I started a personal blog when I first got married awhile back, about our travels and new life together.  I thought it was fun using my Mac's blog options, but then realized that I had to subscribe to Apple's web hosting and it was pricey.  So I moved it over to a free hosting site called Weebly.  My personal blog has become more about our children and is mostly for family and friends who don't live nearby to see what our little girls have been up to.  It's pretty weak and mostly just pictures, but I figure since it's such a small audience, it doesn't really matter.

But for this thecounselormom blog, I have been using Wordpress.org which for those that don't know,  is a HUGE web hosting platform.  There is wordpress.com which is a lot like blogger and does it all for you, but wordpress.org allows you to basically design it the way you want and place ads on it.  But since I am not an HTML guru and have no idea what I am doing, I've been thinking of moving my entire blog over to a new self serve blog service, like blogger or wordpress.com.  And the best part about it is that they are FREE!  And less complicated and you don't have to get a company to host it.

Most big blogs out there are wordpress.org like Pioneer Woman, and Younghouselove and since I am not that fancy and not that popular, I am thinking it's time to make the move.

Do any of you have opinions on blog platforms, preferences?  Blogger vs wordpress.com?