A goulish of a good time!

Removed Angel Brick makes a good prop.

Halloween is a big deal in our house... Not so much because I love it but because it makes my husband so darn excited.

Our girls get to pick out their costumes early on in the season and my husband starts on the hunt of how to make our house as scary as possible. He gets so excited he becomes the bigger child in our house, and it's fun to watch him and the girls get excited about it all.

We never really celebrated Halloween in our household as a child, there were never crazy costumes made or decorations as my mom and dad didn't really make much ado about it all. My fondest memories of Halloween come from the awesome grade school teachers who let us have end of day parties where we decorated the classroom as much as our age group could and we danced and sang a lot of "C'est L'Hallowe'en" as we attended French school.

But we've amassed a nice collection of great Halloween shots from the front of our work in progress front porch. The front façade has had it's Angel brick removed, the porch completely remodeled and all that needs to be done is change the landscaping... but it has always left for a fun backdrop and made for a spookier back drop. ***please note the following pictures might be a little gruesome for some and don't keep looking if gore scares you***

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2011

Let's get Honest, Jessica Alba!

"We live in a different world than we did 30 years ago, they don't make products the way they use to." that was one of the reason mother of 2 and co-founder of Honest Company, Jessica Alba explained the reason she was compelled to start her own company.

Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Alba. She was in town promoting and discussing in the most "honest" way why we need to be using products that are safer for our kids and ourselves in this generation being bombarded by chemicals every day.

Let's be honest we are all parents, we are so worried about what our kids are eating, playing, saying, learning and most of all what is touching their sensitive skin. Jessica Alba was recalling a story where her mom had recommended a laundry detergent for her to use when her first child was born and it caused Jessica to break out into a rash. This made her start the Honest Company.

With her lovely co-owner Christopher Gavigan they talked about 1700 different chemicals that you won't see in an Honest product. But they had us eating out of the palm of their hands when Christopher grabbed a baby that happened to be in the room. This wasn't a company feeding you script, they were actually parents who really enjoyed children. And it came off that way as well.

Jessica Alba more famously known for her roles in such films as Fantastic Four, happened to be of so genuine and polite. Exceptionally coiffed for a busy mom may I add... she did admit to being extremely tired trying to balance both careers. This was a refreshing comment for me, as a fellow mompreneur I can completely relate with.

You see celebrity on TV pushing everything under the sun, but this didn't feel like that. These were 2 very genuine people concerned about everything.

I am excitedly preparing myself to read her book, The Honest Life, and my kids already are using the Honest Strawberry toothpaste and the baby wipes. The cold season is coming and I am officially stocked with the natural lip balms which my kids will get a ton of usage out of. But most of all, it was nice to meet the most personable Jessica Alba.

Squat-it like it's HOT!

Exercise!

I don't like to talk about exercise because I am not winning the battle to get it done. I have a ton of girl friends who are moms and are kicking fat's ass. I am not one of them.

It's hard to admit but after giving birth to 3 babies this might be the heaviest I have been post baby for all of them. I had lost a lot of weight after my 3rd was born, I even got to a weight lower than I was pre-baby... but then life happened (poor excuse, I know) and I got off the bandwagon so bad that I am now here.

I can tell you everything the weight loss gurus do about how it's about taking care of yourself, if working out then you have more energy, you live longer, you do this better, you do that longer, sex is this, playing with your kids is that... but the truth is I don't know how to schedule working out because if I get a free moment in the day it's being spent taking care of my business or the kids. And now adding writing back to the mix (ohhh and how I missed the writing.)

But my size, way to big to write down, isn't going away any time soon and well I don't want to be that person. I don't want to disappoint myself to the point I feel like weight is my failure. I am looking for all ways to try and do more at home where it doesn't take huge moments out of my time to be with the kids if I am not working my tail off.

So welcome the squat challenge, it trolled across my facebook a while back, and I started it then and got distracted again... but today I vow to do it. For me, for my jeans (they cost a lot they should have a say if I can get into them) and well for my girls.

If you want to join along with me, I'd love the company. Share your progress with me, I'd love to know when you did them in the day, morning or night, did you do them in one sitting or during the day?

Wish me luck, my ass deserves it.

Overwhelming October!

Fall has been here for a bit over a week and October has graced our front doors, but October seems like the Overwhelming month to me.

You relish September, because the idea of school starting and signing the kids up to all kinds of programs, but it's not til October arrives and your calendar is chalk full of plans, because you assumed that you'd have all the new program figured out and October would be a fine time to bring back extracurricular activities.

We are all planning Halloween, as a mom it's double important, I have to go around the whole city to find the most perfect costumes for my girls, my husband becomes crazy excited about decorating for Halloween, and this year we are toying with the idea of a Halloween party. But add Canadian Thanksgiving to the mix and there are 2 major events on the ballot.

I have 2 events to attend, work related projects and a mini jaunt to another city. All while still balancing mom-hood and being an entrepreneur. Sadly I also think I will be missing the majority of Toronto Fashion Week. But I had a banging end to September and am looking forward to what October has to bring.

~Cheers!

Over at SuburbanTourist, I was asked to give my take on Fall. It's a fun little piece with thoughts from a bunch of different bloggers.

And ViewTheVibe did a feature on my husband and I, also another cute read. Hope you enjoy.

Otherwise I can appreciate a beautiful Fall day, the crisp air, the flush cheeked girls running on the street playing with the neighbour kids and the cutest little layering outfits on the kids.