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The past couple of months have been full of busy times, let’s recap…

Andrew went to Homecoming…his last one :( Which he went to with “the guys”.

Andrew turned 18!

We surprised him with a party with his closest buds, here was the first wave of friends. Others came throughout the night.

And then he went and got a tattoo! This is what it looked like the day he got the tattoo, the shading looks different now, especially in the middle. I’ll have to get a recent photo.

Roller blading with friends and cousin Emma.

Happy Halloween! Karli dressed GOTH for a school party. Her friend’s costume was so cool!

Then she decided to go with a pink tutu for trick or treating with a sweater just because it was chilly and raining a bit. Chase wore an old baseball uniform. I love when they get older and will just wear whatever instead of wanting a fancy expensive costume. They just want the candy :P (That’s Karli’s friend there in the middle.)

Chase turned 11! Two different cakes, one on his actual birthday and then one for his party.

We took him and his buddies to Sky Zone and they had a blast.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at our house and Chase helped me clean the turkey. Yes, he just balances on the countertop like that. Weirdo!

After dinner we played game after game of Scattagories with the kids…Tori was my helper!

I can’t believe Christmas is in 8 days! We are ready for the most part. We actually have everything wrapped too. No more waiting until the last minute. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!! HO HO HO!!

Rather than writing out a whole long thing about how busy I have been since the kids have gone back to school, let’s just pick up where I left off. I thought I would share some photos from the past couple of months. So what’s been going on?… Andrew just filled out his college apps last week and has been thinking a lot about what he wants to major in. Blake is playing football for the junior high and doing amazingly well, making touchdowns and surprising me with how hard he has been working. He has had a lot of homework this year, but I keep him on track. Chase has been playing football as well and he has been a piece of cake when it comes to school. Just call him Mr. Independent. Karli is on her 4th year cheering at only 9 years old and her just started her 4th year of dance with this year being her first year dancing competitively. That means more time at the dance studio as well. I am so proud of her, she has really become a confident dancer this year. She needs a little more pushing when it comes to school so between her and Blake I feel like I am back in school myself at times. As for Ken and I we are happy to be back working all day without interruptions. I turned the big 4-1 last month and I tell you what, I have been getting to bed before midnight for the first time in a long time. 6:30am just rolls around all too soon and 6 hours of sleep just doesn’t cut it anymore. Getting old stinks :( Ken and I also celebrated our 14th anniversary earlier this month and we are now one of those couples who have been married so long we lose track of how many years it has been. We are lucky we can just take the year and add 1 to it since we got married in 99′. Other than work and kids I’ve been enjoying some of the new fall shows and reading Twilight again. Not sure why…I just had the urge to read the series again.

Some random photos…

Karli and Chase getting munched on by some camels.

We don’t do this often enough…A fun night with friends.

Our little cheerleader

Chase almost had to get stitches but was saved by Dermabond (glue) instead. He cut the back of his foot open while riding his Ripstick in the garage.

Blake had to dress up at school the day of one of their football games. He actually picked out a pink tie, I was surprisingly happy. He was all like…I’m not too cool to wear pink. Or maybe it was I am cool so I can wear pink? Not sure.

It’s here! Back to school, which means back to work for me :( The kids were ready with their thinking caps on bright and early this morning. HAHA…not even close.
This year we have one son graduating high school, one son graduating junior high, and the other son graduating grade school. It’s going to be a busy year!

I’ve been wanting to purchase products from Lush for quite some time now. Many times I have visited their website and added items to my cart and end up not buying them. I am funny about wanting to see certain things in person first. Especially when it comes to spending $6 on a bath bomb. I want to know how big is it, how does it smell, etc. After browsing around videos on YouTube one day I thought I would check out where the closest Lush store was located. Ann Arbor at the Briarwood Mall was the closest, which isn’t all that far from me, so I decided to make a trip to check it out. I was excited to finally be able to see these fun products in person.

The store did not disappoint. They had so much to pick from it was hard to not go crazy. I stuck to purchasing some bath bombs, a bubble bar, a couple of fresh face masks and their firming cream.

If you’ve never heard of Lush or tried their products you should know that everything in their store is handmade with all natural products. The face masks are actually made that day (can’t be purchased online) and must be kept in the refrigerator. The only downfall of the face masks is that they are only good for 2 – 3 weeks. I’ve used the face masks several times already and I really like them a lot. I purchased the Ayesha and The Sacred Truth face masks. Ayesha is a tightening face mask and is it primarily made up of kiwi and asparagus. The Sacred Truth is a moisturizing mask that is made up of shea butter, eggs, and papaya. The firming cream “Lovely Jubblies“, which is packaged and sold as a breast cream, is great for under your eyes or anywhere on your face really. The sales gal said you can use anywhere on your body, but at $26 a pop, I plan on reserving it for just my face and neck. I can notice a difference when I use the cream, totally worth the money.

The bath bombs I bought are Twilight, Sex Bomb, Big Blue, Avobath, and Enchanter. I purchased just one bubble bar, French Kiss. The bath bombs smell so good and they leave your skin so soft. The fragrance isn’t overwhelming at all and the smell lingers on your skin. The bubble bars are a bit more expensive than the bath bombs. I just used it Friday night and I wasn’t that impressed. For me it had the same results in regards to fragrance and skin softening affect as the bath bomb so I would rather buy one of those since they are a few dollars cheaper. The amount of bubbles it produced wasn’t impressive either. Also all of the bath bombs I have used so far change the color of your bath water where as the bubble bar did not. I do remember the sales gal telling me to mix a bubble bar with a bath bomb, but whoa! Talk about an expensive bath.

Believe it or not I had never been to an Ulta store either until this day. I usually buy my makeup products from Sephora, Walgreens, or Target or I make online purchases. It was fun browsing around Ulta and I picked up some things that I have wanted to try for awhile now. I have to admit I love watching YouTube videos where people give their opinion on products. There are so many different brands and products that I would love to try but hearing someone else’s feedback sure helps narrow down the list. I always have a running list on my phone of things that I want to try out.

On this trip I purchased a mixture of brands.
I LOVE:
Rimmel Lash Accelorator, Extreme Black – no clumps, goes on smooth, and long lasting.
Maybelline Eye Studio Master Shape Brow Pencil, soft brown – perfect color for filling brows and love the little brush.
Physicians Formula Super Beauty Balm Powder, Medium – love the coverage, but I would love it even more if they had a shade a tad darker.
Urban Decay, Triple Threat Travel Pencil Set – goes on super easily and doesn’t smudge, lasts all day.

JUST OKAY:
Benefit Bella Bamba Blush I feel like the blush isn’t dark enough for my skin, but okay for a natural look.
Urban Decay De-slick Makeup Setting Spray – not convinced that it works just yet.
EOS Lip Balm, Honeysuckle Honeydew – smells good, adorable packaging, but doesn’t last long on my lips.
Benefit Erase Paste, Medium – I’ve yet to find the perfect concealer. This one works well on blemishes, but not so well under my eyes. Others claim its a great brightening product for under the eyes, I don’t agree.

WASN’T IMPRESSED:
Benefit Besties – a sample portion of Some Kind-A Gorgeous foundation faker and That Gal brightening primer. I just don’t see results with either of these two.