Last Pumpkin Patch Post I Swear (until next year of course)

We spent my birthday weekend with my family in Santa Barbara. It was the first weekend with the whole family at the new SB house and it was awesome. The house is fantastic! On Sunday we started the day with a trip to the Santa Barbara Art Museum for their annual Dia De Los Muertos Family Day. I ran into an Melinda Gandara from my UCSB days and it was so great to see her! She is so amazing and has been such a blessing for Hermanas Unidas UCSB. (See one of her speeches here!)

As usual the event was packed. The kids participated in a few of the crafts they had available. 

Then we headed into the museum to look at the art. Oh how I love art museums.

And of course I made the kids pose in front of the Siqueros mural. It still takes my breath away when I see it.

After the trip to the museum we headed back to the house and headed to the Lane Pumpkin Patch. The new house is close enough that we could walk! Well we all walked, Louie hitched a ride from Tata in the wagon.

I think we got through the corn maze this year in record time. We let Louie lead us for awhile (she is a Girl Scout after all!) but she lead us right into a dead end.

So we let Poppa lead and eventually.....

 We made it out!

Mom was very happy to get some photos of all her grandbabies. We love it when we have Chone with us for the weekend!

Besides our trips out and about, we hung out at the house and we did our nails, ate amazing meals, gave everyone walkie-talkie names, introduced the neighbors to our talking dog, made banana splits, drank beer wine and capri-suns and we toasted. Over and over and over again we yelled "CHEERS!" Because we had so much to celebrate. New houses, new ages, new jobs, new girl scouts, good grades, and good luck on exams.

37 is looking to be a great year. 

Younique 3-D Fiber Mascara: A Skeptics Review

If you are on social media then you must have seen a post somewhere from someone talking about Younique 3-D fiber lashes. For a while there it seemed like every other post on my Facebook feed was about this stuff. It started when one high school friend started selling it, then another. Then a 3rd and by then my interest had kind of been peaked. When it comes to the latest in make-up trends and the latest "it" product to be selling I am a huge skeptic.

Huge.

I tend to roll my eyes at anything that says it can make something longer, or bigger.

Then my friend Angela sent an email out telling us that she was going to get in on this mascara craze and would be one of the first to sell it in the U.K. (Did I mention Angela lives across the pond?) Now Angela is one of my best friends. She is super smart, gorgeous, and is the type who will tell it like it is. Then she asked if I would review the product on my blog. I said yes because really I was dying to try this stuff out. I mean how can anything make my lashes longer? My lashes are as long as they are going to be. The only way that something could make my lashes longer is if they actually added something to my lashes, and that's crazy!

 Or is it? 

My package arrived the day before my birthday! Great timing Ang! I received this cute black box with 2 tubes inside. The only other thing I needed to grab from my makeup kit (aka my caboodle) was my eyelash comb.

So inside the box are 2 tubes. One is the "Transplanting Gel" and the other is the "Natural Fibers" as well as a pamphlet with instructions. I recently had watched a youtube video about how to apply this stuff and it took the lady like 9 minutes and you know "ain't nobody got time for that!".

So I set aside 10 minutes to try it out. Here is what I'm working with in the lash department.

I start with curling my eyelashes because I that is how I roll. Then I started with my first layer of transplanting gel. It looked like regular old mascara. Then I pulled out the "natural fibers" and I was like "what is this??" It looks like a hairy caterpillar. Then I realized what this product does. The gel is the base for these fibers to stick to. It is going to actually add something to my lashes.

Now the lady on the YouTube went through about 5 or 6 coats of this stuff and that's why it took her so long. I added gel, then fibers, then gel and then fibers and then gel and then I stopped because....

All I needed was 2 light coats and a few swipes of my eyelash comb and my lashes were longer than I have ever seen them. Here they are 5 hours later.....

I have to admit that I am amazed that...

1. this stuff not only works, but works really well.
2. it takes maybe 15 seconds longer to do than my regular mascara does.
3. It lasts all day long and comes off easily with simple soap and water.

My only concern was that my lashed looked "clumpier" than I liked but after a few more applications I am starting to get the hang of it and my lashes look better each time.

Besides the mascara being amazing Angela has even more reason for getting involved in the company. It was the company's mission statement that convinced her to give it a go. The Yonique focus is "to uplift, empower, and motivate women all over the world." Angela has a "day job" that allows her to have flexibility and independence, and even though she never saw herself in direct sales this opportunity to be part of a company that teaches women how to run a business is exciting.

So now I am a believer and new lover of the Younique 3-D lashes.

 The mascara is available in the US now and will be available in the UK on November 1st. If you want to buy the products or just learn more about them you can head over to Angela's website at www.AngelLashesUK.co.uk. Here you can check out all the products and even contact Angela with any questions. Or just to say hi, she is super cool and you should totally be her friend.

Head to www.AngelLashesUK.co.uk to order yours today.
 Tell Ang, Punk Rock Mom sent you. 

Homeschool Week 10: Dear Diary

Language Arts: We finished the book and the novel chapter study. I forgot how sad the ending is. All that time on the island, surviving and thriving and to just get rescued and well I won't ruin the ending but sad. Now that they book is over I am hoping that we jump into another book right away with a more involved novel study. I really loved how last year we were able to do one that incorporated all different subject.

Math: As math gets more complicated Phi is really hanging in there. She is still going to tutoring on Friday after class but this past week she did not get much done because the tutor did not know how to do the math. Let's say I am glad this is a free tutoring program. I am proud of her, she is working hard and it is starting to show. The work is getting harder but she is really staying on top of it all. She is learning how to expand out complicated multiplication problems and is doing really well.

Social Studies: We started a new chapter. We have moved on from Native Californian tribes and have moved into the 1500's and the First Europeans in California. We studied different expeditions Europe like Hernan Cortes, Juan Cabrillo and Drake. We talked a lot about why the expeditions were sent and what they did. As a project for this Phi had to make up a diary entry as a person who was going across the ocean on a expedition for a year! She had to list the things she would pack. She picked books, notebook, food, compass, maps and a picture of her family. She added sketches of each item. To add a little craft project to this one we decided to make a cover for the diary and to make it look aged. She crumpled the paper, burnt the edges and then stained it with coffee grounds. It was fun!

Science: We also started a new chapter in science. We are done with microorganisms and have moved on to minerals. This week we started by learning different ways to identify minerals. We talked about color, cleavage and fracture, luster, streak and hardness. She is going to be doing some experiments with her class next week.

Pumpkin Scavenger Hunt

Sick of Pumpkin Patch Posts yet?

Last Wednesday we spent an hour or so at the pumpkin patch at night. You know to get that "fall" vibe. That same day I read the post "Pumpkin Patch Scavenger Hunt" on the blog 365(ish) Days of Pinterest. She had this super cute print-out for a pumpkin hunt that I hoped my girls would like. After we walked around the patch, climbed the hay bales and posed for pictures in every cut-out background we could find I gave each kid a handout.

They loved this idea and were excited to start.

Off they go. Once they found the biggest pumpkin they started checking off their lists.

Next was a search for the tallest pumpkin. Found it.

After looking through a big pile of little pumpkins Phi and Louie are confident that they found the smallest one.

Next up, the ugliest pumpkin. Yup that one's pretty ugly.

And after some searching they decided that this was the weirdest pumpkin in the patch.

Time to look for the longest stem. They found a few and after comparing them this one was the winner.

Next up gourds. This was easy. There was a whole table of them.

Anywhere you looked there were hay bales.

Corn stalks were a little harder to find but they found them and some corn.

The final search was for the perfect pumpkin and of course this was the hardest one. They looked for a perfectly round and orange and they found it.

The girls loved this activity so much more than I thought they would. It made a short little trip to the pumpkin patch exciting, something they will remember and most likely the start of an annual tradition.

You can download and print the Scavenger Hunt HERE. 

Louie Never Looks At the Camera

At this point I think she does it on purpose. Louie never looks at the camera. 

This is what it's like to try to get a photo of my kids....

"Okay smile!"

click

"Louie look over here and smile!"

click

"Better but Phi half closed her eyes. One more time!"

click

"Louie I have no idea what you're doing. Just look and smile"

click

"Phi you moved and Louie look here. Right here at the camera"

click

" Forget it "

Troop Pumpkin Patch Trip

Over the weekend we braved the giant crowds and crazy parking lot situation to meet up with some of our Girl Scout troop friends to have some fun at the pumpkin patch and earn a hayride fun patch! 

I still can't get over how hot the weather still is in the middle of October.

I cannot tell you how excited Louie is to be an official part of the troop. She is so proud.

Since we were there on the weekend the monkey who will shake your hand for $1 was there. Always a highlight.

She is shaking hands with a monkey! That's bucket list stuff right there.

The weekends are really crazy and with the heat it just doesn't feel like a traditional visit to the patch. I think we are going to try it again, maybe at night so it could feel a bit "fall-ish".