Fun at the city's holiday festival

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is my city's holiday festival each year. We live in Arizona, so the weather is always nice, but with a crispy chill in the air.

The kids loved the bouncy houses, clowns and balloon animals. And of course we stopped for funnel cakes and cheesy fries. My husband and I felt very old because the "oldies" cover band was playing music from your teenage years. We absolutely embarrassed our children by singing along.

Boo was extra excited because a local herpetological society brought lots of snakes, lizards, alligators and tortoises to check out. We got to pet an alligator!

Another highlight is the living statue, who lets the kids paint her dress every year. They always look forward to it.

Finally, I got what I required of everyone - a photo with Santa. My eldest is 9 and I couldn't help but wonder how long he is going to let me insist on a Santa picture.

We followed up the event the following week by taking my two littlest to a cookies and crafts with Santa event, where they got to meet the big guy again.

Boo is on the fence about Santa this year, and is determined to convince my 6yo daughter that he doesn't exist. He asked for a remote controlled scorpion, thinking such things don't exist so that he could prove that Santa isn't real either. But this mamma indeed found that remote control scorpion online and it will be in front of the tree!

I'm so thankful that my city has such great events for the kids. I know a lot of people don't take advantage of them or even know what's going on in their area! If you visit your city's website, you can find most activities on the parks and recreation page or city calendar. Also, there are a lot of local mom blogs, such as Macaroni Kid, that have great calendars of fun family activities.

I hope everyone has a fun and happy holiday season!

I did it! NaNoWinner 2018

It came down to the very last day, but I was a NaNoWriMo winner again this year! I finished parts two and three of my mall romance novella series, and started on the second in my veterans series. It was a very productive month.

I went over the mark while I was in my writer's group, so it was nice to have an actual cheering section when I crossed the finish line. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy Thanksgiving! We don't like to travel much on holidays so our sensory processing disorder kiddo can enjoy the day rather than being overwhelmed by a lot of people and distractions.

Of course, being us, there were video game tournaments and lightsaber duels.

We hosted my Mother-in-Law, Brother-in-Law and his wife, and we had a great meal! The kids even ate more than rolls and pie. :)

But now I am woefully behind in my NaNoWriMo writing, but I'm hoping I can get caught up in the next week! Wish me luck!

I had a 5,000 word day!

I hit a new NaNoWriMo record for myself yesterday - I wrote more than 5,000 words in one day! So awesome! Part 2 of my Mall Romance Trilogy is done and Part 3 should be done this week.

Thanksgiving lunch at school

Every year the elementary school hosts Thanksgiving lunch a week before the holiday. You go during the assigned time for your youngest child (they call the older ones down from their classroom to eat during that hour).

Because I have a first grader, we got to eat this feast at 10:45 a.m. And while the food left a lot to be desired, the company was top notch.

My kids were so excited that mommy came to their school. They showed me all their artwork and introduced me to their friends. And when it was time to go to class, my youngest held my hand until we reached the door and had to be separated.

I snuck an apple into their backpacks so they could have a snack later in the day after eating that early, but all in all, it was a wonderful day.

My book is out!

My very first novella has been published! You can buy it here.

Nano update

Things are progressing nicely so far with my NanoWrimo book for the month! My goal is to finish book two of my mall romance trilogy by next week. Looks like I'm on target to do so!