The Last Winners of the Birthday Bash!!
Wow that was one amazing Whirlwind of giveaways!!

In alphabetical order a review of all the great stuff…
Blah Blah Blah Blogger – Free photo session!!

Eli’s Lids had a night out on the town last week with my peeps in BlogCrush.
This month’s stop was El Matador in Fullerton.
Oddly there were no guys there this time… except Hot Hubby. He gladly opted out of the Brazilian Blow Out conversations and took pix of the girls with our new camera.
El Matador is in the heart downtown Fullerton. (you know you love it down there!)
Fullerton is a college town. I went to college there!!
Typically restaurants in a “college town” tend to have booze and the worst food in the world?
This is not the case at El Matador!!
The food was delish!
REALLY!!
See…That is the Chile Relleno that I couldn’t get enough of.
REALLY!!

See…After our pseudo date night Hot Hubby and I took the token self photo.

I love that guy!We left the kiddos at GG’s house with 4 grandmoms to watch them.
We left them there longer than planned.

Luckily they only broke one glass hurricane lamp and our family hasn’t disowned us.

Thank you to the 5 ladies who love my children as much as I do! (GG, Nanny, Ya Ya, & Grandma Sara)

El Matador Stats:

111 N. Harbor Blvd.
Fullerton, CA 92832

Follow El Matador on twitter here.

See their menu here.

See my fellow blog crushers blogging about the night…

The Glamorous Life

Let’s face it Halloween in a lame holiday… yep I said it.
Parents spend gobs of cash so their kid can go door to door at night begging for sweets (which you could buy for like $5) .
Why do I love it?
Because I’m LAME!
And I love sweets!
The only thing I don’t like is the spending gobs of cash part.
Halloween costumes should be homemade and CHEAP!
This year we are going to be pirates.
Yes folks, “we” as in the whole fam–damily. (Because that’s the way we roll!)
I was able to outfit all of us for about $15.00!!
Here’s How… Pirate Eli
Vest: 1/2 yard of brown fabric for a vest. 1. measure your pirate’s back across the outside of the shoulders (Eli’s was 11″). 2. Measure from the bottom of their neck to their mid bottom (Eli’s was 15″).
3. Cut 2 11″x 15″ pieces of fabric.
4. Leave one whole and cut the other one down the center longways.
5. Sew or hot glue (yes you can hot clue costumes!!) the tiny rectangles to the large one on the top, to form the shoulders, and sides leaving arm holes. (I didn’t sew the whole way across on the shoulder of the vest so I could fold/iron it in for lapels)
Tee: White tee (from Sewing the Seed) with a skull and crossbones double stick taped over the picture.
Sash: About 1/8 of a yard of red knit fabric tied twice around his waist to create a pirate sword belt.
Pants: Brown Hurley pants we have rolled up to the ankle.
Hat/Sword/Hook: From the Dollar Tree
Pirate CoraKerchief: 1/2 yard of red knit fabric cut into a 25″x 17″ triangle
Tee: Plain white tee we have.
Skirt: I made this one out of some fabric scraps I had. If you don’t sew you can use anything you already have… jean or brown skirt; red, brown or jean pants rolled up.
(tip: If you buy or make a skirt keep it simple. This skirt will take us through Christmas because it looks like candy canes)
Boots: 1/4 yard of brown fleece. 1. Measure around your little pirates calf and add an inch (Cora’s was 8.5″) and from knee to ankle (Cora’s was 7″).
2. Cut into two 8.5″x7″ rectangles.
3. Sew up the back and wear with brown shoes.
Waist sash: After looking at the pictures I think I’m going to cut out a large knit brown triangle to tie around her waist so she will look like a true pirate wench!
Pirate Daddy:
I made Hot Hubby a black vest, red sash, and brown “boots.” He is just going to wear black pants and a white shirt he already has.
Pirate Mommy:
I made myself a red knit headband and a cut out a large red knit triangle for a girl waist sash. I’m wearing my own brown skirt, white shirt and boots.
Fabric totals for the 4 of us:
1.5 yards of red knit (boys’ waist sashes, my waist sash, my headband & Cora’s kerchief)
1/2 yard of brown fabric (Eli’s vest & Cora’s future waist sash)
1/2 yard of black fabric (Hubby’s vest)
1/2 yard of brown fleece (Hubby and Cora’s boots)

To my mommy friends,
Keep this “holiday” simple, get together with friends, be lights in your neighborhoods and most of all have Fun Fun Fun!! Halloween is a great time to be silly with your kiddos!
Love,
Kara-Noel
… but not too sleepy to cry the first half hour of my nap because I wanted to sleep in my pirate costume!

I’m a finalist over at Just Spotted for their Disneyland Giveaway!
To enter we had to submit a Disney memory and now the blogsphere gets to vote on the winner.
Vote for me here (Eli’s Lids, 4th one on the list) because I have the best memory ever…
Flash back to 1986.
I’m in Kindergarten and have the coolest parents ever… My favorite Disney memory includes Alice in Wonderland Japanese tourists and two Tweedles!!One morning before Kindergarten my mom said I could wear my Alice in Wonderland costume to school. Big news for a 5 year old!! I was excited to say the least! Then my mom told me that my dad was going to drive with us to school. I remember thinking “That’s odd. We usually walk and Daddy is usually at work by now.”
But, being a kiddo I just went with the flow.
We piled up in the Big Brown Osmobile Station Wagon and headed to school. The ride was taking longer than expected… especially considering that my school was only about 4 blocks away. My dad said he got lost and then I looked out the window and saw the Disneyland sign (the vintage sign, not the lame one they have now). My parents said they just ended up here and since we were here already we should just stay.
I agreed!
Right after we entered the park a HUGE group of Japanese tourists saw me (blue eyed blond girl in Alice in Wonderland garb) and swooped me up for pictures. A lot of pictures.
This made my parents laugh… still does. But is scared the p-diddy out of me!!
Later on in the day Tweedle Dee and Tweelle Dum almost nabbed me. I really thought they were going to take me to the land down the rabbit hole.
Now that I think about it the whole day was pretty traumatic!!
In a good way 🙂
(below is a snippet straight from my parent’s scrapbook)

The pix from the day & entrance ticket from our adventure!

Now please go vote!

Check out Just Spotted and vote for Eli’s Lids. We are the 4th one down!!

I’m having a blah day.
You know… the kind of day you can’t seem to get anything done but you have A LOT to do.
I’m studying Sarah in this. (Read the whole thing for free. I’m in chapter 3)
And I thought… at least my husband doesn’t want me to pretend I’m his sister.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
Wink.
When I told him I was having a blah day, the conversation went like this:
Me – “I’m having a blah day.”
Hot Hubby – “I’ll pick up dinner on the way home.”He just gets me.
About 5 minutes later the phone rang again…
Hot Hubby – “Why don’t I just take the kiddos OUT to dinner and you can stay home and do whatever.”Me – “Ummm… YEAH!!”Yep, he really gets me!
I’m thinking the evening won’t be blah.
Wink.
Coming soon…
~Pumpkin patch fun
~Make your own Halloween costumes (see last years’ here)
~Fall/Halloween Crafties
~A Big Announcement (No, I’m not preggers, Grandmom!). It has to do with this.
~Our last 2 3rd Birthday Bash Giveaways (there will be loads of winners!)

The winner of the Messy Bow from Joy’s Hope is… AmyMom24 from Our Journey into Parenthood & My Journey into Photography

The winner of the Custom Blog Header & Button from Design Chicky is…
Mommy Daisy

But don’t fret! If you didn’t win you can get your own Messy Bow here and recreate your blog here!!

Don’t forget to enter all our current Birthday Bash giveaways…
…Family Photo shoot for OC folks here! Ends 10/22
…Pillowcase surprise in the mail for 6 months(you have to read about it to get it) here. Ends 10/20

Remember last month when we got our pictures taken by the fabulous Jen Johnson…Awesome right!?!
You also may remember that I’ve know Jen a long time… so long that I still call her Jenny and she doesn’t even care.
Jen’s work is awesome and I love her fresh modern style… see…
Just to prove to all of the OC her awesomeness she is offering one of our lucky readers:
90 minutes at a location of your choosing.
AND
10 high res images
AND
5 low res images for blogging and Facebook on a disc
AND
another 20 images in an online slideshow available for purchase.

Do you think she is being so generous because our moms are buddies?
It doesn’t matter.
Just enter to win so you’ll be the only one in the play group with your Christmas card pictures done!!

Here’s How You Win…
*****MUST be a Southern California Resident or willing to travel to Orange County, CA for the shoot!!!*****
Main entry (mandatory): Click on over to Jen Johnson Photography, then come back here and let me know one of your favorite shots! (FYI – Our shoot was September 2nd and it is fantastico!)

In addition to the main entry you can get loads of extra entries if you…
~Subscribe to the Jen Johnson Photography RSS Feed in the navigation bar. (3 entries)
~Follow Jen on twitter HERE! Leave your Twitter ID in the comment or let me know you already do (2 entries)
~Tweet about the giveaway, can be done daily. Copy and paste this for the tweet: “So Cal residents!! Enter to win a free photo session from @ElisLids w/ Jen Johnson Photography here http://bit.ly/16RnRP Pls RT!” If you don’t have twitter you can FB for this one. (3 entries per day)
~Follow Jen’s personal DYI blog the Blah Blah Blahger (2 entries)
~Subscribe to the Blah Blah Blahger RSS feed (2 entries)
~Add the “Eli’s Lids Giveaway” button in our sidebar to your blog or let me know you already did (1 entry per blog)
~Follow the Eli’s Lids blog (2 entries)
~Follow Eli’s Lids on Twitter, leave your Twitter ID in the comment or let me know you already do (1 entry)
For every extra entry, be sure to leave a separate comment on this post! i.e. If you the Eli’s Lids blog leave 2 separate comments.
***Giveaway open one week! Ends Thursday October 22nd 9:00pm PST***

Now you get to have a little chat with Jen…

Tell us a bit about YOU…
I’m a southern CA lifestyle photographer who loves vibrant colors and natural moments. During the day, I work as the director of public affairs for a large developer and have spent my career in politics and government affairs. In the evenings and on weekends, I’m building a photography business, attend Mariners Church, spend time with family and friends, and love nothing more than an afternoon of wine tasting.
Three words that describe your blog
Three words that describe my personal blog: DIY, cooking, irony.
Three words that describe my photoblog: crisp, colorful, emotional.
2 DIY tools you couldn’t live without.
I can’t live without the following tools: electric screwdriver and electric sander.
What do you try to capture during your photo shoots?
In photo shoots, I like to capture organic and natural moments. Laughter, eye contact, and sweet smooches make every photo beautiful!
Favorite photo shoot?
I don’t really have a favorite photo shoot because they’ve all been special. There’s something about the trust your clients place in you that makes you want to make it the best shoot ever. Having said that, this year, my friend Clare has allowed me to practice on her a number of times and although at times I likely didn’t have much confidence in myself, she loved the photos and made me feel great about the end result!

Dinner in brisk Autumn weather means candlelight in our home!

I’m carrying on the candlelight dinner tradition from my magical childhood.

Do your kiddos love mail?
Really!?!?!
So do mine!!
(Heck, I love mail!)
This giveaway is probably the one I was looking forward to most with our 3rd Birthday Bash Giveaways because to me it embodies four of the funnest things about being a kid: getting mail, the holidays, surprises & presents!! Here’s the Deal-E-O…
The winner will get one pillowcase in the mail for their kiddo every month for the next 6 months!
The first 3 (October, November, December) are holiday themed and the kiddo will get them before Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas (for my Jewish friends, we’ll nix the Christmas one for the Festival of Lights!).
The last 3 will be custom made (by me or my mama, Suzie Says) for the winner. If a girl wins and she loves Disney princesses & ladybugs she’ll get a Disney princess pillowcase then a ladybug one… If a boy wins and he loves Fire engines & diggers…
You get the idea.
You have to admit that is SUPER cool!
You may be asking yourself…
Why Pillowcases!?!?
Well… My mom and grandmom started making them for my kiddos as gifties or as fun things to send in the mail (easy to ship) and they were a total hit! Eli and Cora Jane love having something special from Nanny and GG to snuggle up with. And lets face it, there is only so long you can have Little Mermaid sheets!
To see ones my kiddos have go here.

Here’s how you win…
Main entry (mandatory): Leave a comment here with something crafty (sewing, painting, knitting… anything!) that you love to make or you wish you could make.
In addition to the main entry you can get loads of extra entries if you…

~Follow the Eli’s Lids blog or let me know you already do (3 entries)
~Become a fan of Eli’s Lids on Facebook here (3 entries)
~Tweet about the giveaway, can be done daily. Copy and paste this for the tweet: “Win pillowcases for your kiddo in the mail for 6 months from the @elislids Birthday Bash http://bit.ly/4q7V7C ” If you don’t have twitter you can FB for this one. (2 entries per day)
~Add the “Eli’s Lids Giveaway” button in our sidebar to your blog or let me know you already did (2 entries)
~Enter one of our other giveaways then come back to this post and leave a comment telling me which one. (2 entries)
~Check out all the Suzie Says posts, then come back to this post and leave a comment with your favorite one. (1 entry)
~Follow Eli’s Lids on Twitter, leave your Twitter ID in the comment or let me know you already do (1 entry)
For every extra entry, be sure to leave a separate comment on this post! i.e. If you add our giveaway button to your blog & follow us on twitter leave 2 separate comments.
***Giveaway open one week! Ends Tuesday October 20th 9:00pm PST***

Don’t forget to enter all our current Birthday Bash giveaways…
…Messy Bow from Joy’s Hope here Ends 10/16
…Custom Header/Button combo from Design Chicky here. Ends 10/17
See the full list of giveaways coming the next 2 months here!