The Little Things

The calender says it's November 1st today.

Funny.

I'm still stuck in August.

I couldn't really wrap my head around September starting and now it's November? Whew. Time is just not kind to me these days.

Typically I would be celebrating that Halloween is over (Ghosts and gore...*shudder*), but this year I kind of maybe actually really enjoyed it. This year my children were old enough to enjoy trick or treating and not too old to be twerps yet. They all looked so cute in their costumes...even if they wouldn't cooperate with our Goldilocks and the Three Bears idea.

What every three year old girl wants to be for Halloween. Fairy, Princess, Princess Fairy, Fairy Princess...Take your pick.




We always knew she was Super!




"Walt Mario" or "Wario". The boy is obsessed.




At least she's a warm flower.

 

The Eternal Quest: To get one picture with all four looking


This was our first year trick or treating door to door and we had a blast! The weather was perfect, the temperature was cool, but not cold. The kids quickly grasped the idea of how trick or treating works and they really enjoyed themselves.

Trick or Treat!


I was so touched by all the neighbors that prepared ahead of time for my little food sensitive kiddos. Dee is allergic to milk (no chocolate and caramel) and Elle has Celiac Disease (no wheat, barley, or rye). Neighbor after neighbor pulled out special treats for my two little ones.

Surveying the loot! Any Milky Way Midnights in there for Mommy?


Have I ever mentioned how much I love my neighbors and living in this area? I really do! It means so much to me that other people care about my children and family and do something so thoughtful. (It's okay to cry when you're trick or treating, isn't it?)

Seeing as how it is November 1st and all...that means anything Christmas is fair game! The music! The decorations! The GOODIES! Not even you Scrooges out there can deny it! It's the holiday season!

For now I'll stick with the season of gratitude and share a few things I'm grateful for. After such a wonderful Halloween night I can't help gushing a bit with gratitude.

I'm grateful for the little things.

I'm grateful for good neighbors and friends!

I'm grateful to be a mom of four young ones. Watching them soak up the season makes me ever so happy!

I'm grateful to be a stay at home mom. Today I am snuggling with my kids watching the snow and rain fall outside. I love the snow and rain! But I love even more watching it from the comfort of my home.

I'm grateful for cute chubby babies that wake up at 4:45 am and help me get out of bed to exercise.

I'm grateful for a mother-in-law who is a fantastic grandma to my children. Happy Birthday Grandma Rochelle!

More "gratefuls" to come as this festive month whooshes by. Watch out! Before we know it it will be February.

Easy Halloween Decorations: Pass the Popsicle Sticks Please!

Halloween is riiiiight around the corner. So what if I just barely got my Halloween decorations up this week? At least they are up! 

One little treasure I found in the bottom of my Halloween decoration box was these cute little ornaments the kids and I made last year. My children felt that my collection of Halloween decorations was sorely lacking and wanted to supplement with something homemade. I had a ton of Popsicle sticks sitting in my craft drawers. With the help of my trusty glue gun and some paint we had some new Halloween decorations in no time. Very easy, a little messy when the kids got involved, but loads of festive fun for everybody.

We made pumpkins and Frankensteins. The Frankies were my favorite so that's the one I'll show the tutorial for. You could probably figure out how to make these simply from looking at the finished result, but for those who are craft-challenged like me, here's the how-to:













Arrange about 6-8 Popsicle sticks *** in a row. Don't worry too much about everything being nice and neat and even. The fun of Halloween is that "messy accidents" look "spooky" and "intentional".

Hot glue one stick across the row of sticks to secure everything in place. Make sure to leave some of the stick out on both sides of the row of sticks. This will serve as Frankie's bolts.

Flip the whole thing over so that the one glued on stick is in back.

Paint and let dry.

When dry paint the bolts black and paint on hair. Let dry.

Go crazy decorating Frankie however you want. I used my paintbrush to flick black paint over the entire face.

I cut out yellow paper circles for the eyes and glued them on. I also glued on black pony beads. A black sharpie marker worked perfectly for the mouth. My kids used the marker and other beads to add facial features.

A layer of Modge Podge sealed the deal nicely. I also hot glued some string on the back so that Frankie could be easily displayed. Right now all our Frankies and pumpkins are hanging on our dining room curtain rods with the help of some fishing line.

The pumpkins are just as simple to make with a few variations. I used more sticks (11 to be exact) in the row of sticks and glued on two sticks in the back in different spots to make the decoration more secure.

We used black paper and wood triangles for the eyes, nose, and mouth. I had some spare fake greenery that we glued on for the pumpkin stems and leaves.

Simple and cute. Just the way I like all my crafts.

Happy Halloween everybody!

***Unless you happened to save all those sticky Popsicle sticks from summertime you can find Popsicle sticks for sale at any craft store or Walmart's craft area.

Note to Self: Halloween 2011

This is what the kids decided they wanted to be for Halloween...as of May 1st.



Dee.....Papa Bear
Jeigh.....Mama Bear
Elle.....Goldilocks (of course!)
Cee.....Baby Bear

Say it with me now: "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!"

List of things for the real Mama Bear to do:

1. Remember this idea for the next six months.
2. Learn how to sew before October.
3. Keep an eye out for stray bears or at least bear costumes.
4. Make sure Elle's locks stay "goldy".