Halloween Party

Last night was our ward's Halloween party. Katie got to put on her witch dress for the first time and she LOVED running around in it. I've trained her to say "a witchie" when I ask her what she's going to be for Halloween, and she also does pretty good at saying trick or treat!

Olivia miraculously didn't hate having her kitty ears on her head - I just had a hard time keeping them there since they kept sliding off. And the black face makeup didn't last long since she wiped her face every time I tried to put it on.

Michael put his costume together in a couple of hours from what he already had around the house. I was so impressed! He made the whip from an old leather wallet and belt that he cut up, and he trimmed down his cowboy hat to look more like the fedora Indiana Jones wears.

The cobweb on the front was my little touch!

And I decided to match Katie since the only thing I had to buy to make this costume was the striped tights.

Katie was quite the little klepto at the party. Any candy or toys she saw, she tried to swipe whether it was in another kid's sack or not. She also ran around during the costume parade and took stuff from the different activity tables. I caught her with a jar of sprinkles and plastic knives from the cookie decorating table in one hand, and a bunch of crayons from the coloring table in the other.I really hope this doesn't become a habit...

I wanted to get a picture of Katie with her other little friends, but of course they were all too busy running around, so I only got a few random pics.

My friend Mindy's costume was so awesome! If there was a contest, I would have had a hard time choosing between hers and Michael's! And Trevor made the cutest little dalmatian ever!

It was so fun to dress up as a family!

Girl's Night Out

I hosted a Girl's Night Out last night. We had a "wedding party" and shared our wedding photos/videos. It was so fun to see everyone's pictures and hear what they would do differently if they could plan it all over again. The best part was the yummy dessert - Loretta made four wedding cakes - one for every season. I am so impressed Loretta!

Thanks again ladies - it was fun!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I'm so excited to break out the Christmas music this year - especially since these new albums are coming out!

Faith Hill

Sarah Brightman

Enya

October: Day Twenty-One

I've never hosted a Halloween party, but someday I want to throw a really good one. I've seen so many fun ideas around lately and I'm storing them up so that when I do get around to planning a party, I'll have plenty of inspiration.

Wedding Gone Askew Theme Seen here.

Halloween Dinner Party Seen here.

Grandmother's Graveyard Theme Seen here.

October: Day Twenty

If pumpkin carving isn't your thing, here's another fun way to get some glowing "jack o lanterns" around the house using glass jars. This seems pretty simple to do, and fun for kids to help make. I'm thinking about doing some of these with Katie. I have everything you need sitting around the house except the crepe paper.

Idea found here.

October: Day Nineteen

So I couldn't resist doing another little photo shoot with the girls after we got home from the pumpkin patch since it was a little tricky to get Katie to pose with the pumpkins while we were there!

I also couldn't resist dressing Livs in the same outfit Katie wore last year for pumpkin picking:

October: Day Eighteen

My little pumpkins pick pumpkins! Katie was a little intimidated by so many pumpkins for some reason and wouldn't let me put her next to them, but Olivia was my little model baby and posed perfectly for pictures!

October: Day Seventeen

Halloween package in the mail - hooray! Always fun to get a package - thanks Grandma B, Poppy and Auntie Mel! We are all loving the fun stuff you sent us!

October: Day Sixteen

Work on costumes. This year, Katie is going to be a witch, and Olivia is going to be her little black kitty. I had grand visions of making homemade costumes this year, but when I went to Target to get Katie a broom, I saw the last black witch's costume on sale for $9.99 (including the little hat) and I totally sold out.

It's a bit big for her, so I guess I'm counting the alterations as my version of "making" her costume this year! But, I saw this awesome costume on Ebay, and all other reasons aside, I am going to learn how to sew well enough to make a decent version of this Olivia the Pig dress for Livs some year!

How cute is that? Add some little striped tights, and we're in business!

October: Day Fifteen

And one last post about a Pottery Barn item. I hear they're selling this spooky house background this year. It's too big for my current living situation, but just imagining throwing a Halloween party with that as a backdrop is sa-weet!

October: Day Fourteen

I originally saw this wreath on Pottery Barn's website, and then saw it cheaper at Target (I looooove Target!) and kind of liked it in person.

But, then I saw this wreath how-to in my Martha Stewart Halloween mag from last year. Hmmmm, which one, which one?

October: Day Thirteen

I've been having so much fun browsing Halloween decoration ideas for future reference. Here are some of my favorites:

From Martha Stewart

From Pottery Barn:

From Grandin Road:

From this blog:

October: Day Twelve

Halloween sugar cookies! This is the best sugar cookie recipe I've tried yet( from Better Homes and Garden's Cookbook):

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Mix together butter and shortening. Add sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat until combined. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Beat in as much flour as you can and stir in the remaining flour. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. (or in this case, use a cookie cutter!) Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 300 oven for about 15 minutes or until sides are set. Do not let edges brown. Cool on cookie sheet for one minute and transfer to wire rack and let cool.

The Halloween cookie cutters I currently have tend to make blobs that you can't really distinguish after baking (is that a witch??) I think I need to get some of those awesome, vintage Hallmark cookie cutters on Ebay or something! :) Use food coloring to make the black and orange frosting, add embellishments to your hearts content, and bam! Halloween yumminess.

Image from here I wish I could take credit for such awesome spiderweb cookies, but I can't! :)

October: Day Eleven

These are some of the classic Halloween cartoons from my childhood that fed my love for the holiday!

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Garfield's Halloween Adventure

Witch's Night Out

And this isn't a cartoon, but it was a Halloween favorite of ours as well!

The Night Dracula Saved the World (or The Halloween That Almost Wasn't)

October: Day Ten

Make these delicious caramel apples. Or, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory sells really wonderful ones too. I got this recipe from Country Living online last year, but I think I'll just buy mine this year. I'm really craving RMCF's caramel and chocolate apples today!

Caramel Apples
Ingredients
1 1/3 cups dark corn syrup
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups light brown sugar
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
1. Line a baking pan with a generously oiled sheet of parchment paper. Push a candy apple stick into the core of each apple.
2. Combine the syrup, sugars, heavy cream, and salt in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Simmer until the mixture reaches 270°F -- about 15 minutes.
3. Remove from heat, stir in the butter and vanilla. Let cool for 6 to 8 minutes, until caramel thickens to a toffeelike consistency.
4. Dip and gently swirl the apples into the caramel and place on the prepared baking sheet. Let cool completely.

October: Day Nine

Watch Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. LOVE this! We're saving Disney Halloween until Halloween night!

October: Day Eight

Some fun adult Halloween reads! I couldn't list children's books without listing some fun, fall reads for the grown-ups too. These are some of my favorites - anyone have anything else to add?

From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (I LOVE Ray Bradbury, can you tell?)

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Among the Shadows by L.M. Montgomery- some fun, spooky short stories.

Keeping It Real

I know I've been posting a lot about Halloween, but I don't want everyone to think that I'm doing fun, crafty, creative things every day. I've just been posting an idea every day - it's not necessarily what I'm doing that day though.
I have a real love/hate relationship with blogging. I love being able to keep up with friends and family and see what everyone's up to, but I also hate it sometimes because it makes me feel bad about myself - like I'm not doing all the cute things that everyone else is doing, so I must be a slacker! The last thing I want to do is make others feel like they're not doing enough when they read my blog. Believe me, I am not doing perfect, happy, productive things all day every day. I just really love October and Halloween, and this year is the first time in two years that I haven't been huge and pregnant during this season. I finally have the desire and energy to do some of these things that I've been wanting to do for so long.
I really appreciate it when others keep it real on their blogs and post about the not-so-perfect things too. It makes me smile and feel like I'm not alone on the bad days! So, here's my "keeping it real" post lest you think I am aspiring to be the next Martha Stewart of Halloween or something lame like that.
1. I didn't take a shower today until 1:30pm. Some days, I don't even make it to the shower and answer the door in my pajamas!
2. Sometimes, I start a load of laundry and then it takes me so long to get back to it that I have to wash it again because it smells funny.
3. My floor is so messy right now that I can't even stand to walk on it. Better get to that sooner rather than later so Liv's doesn't beat me to it and eat something she shouldn't!
4. Some days, I have to put myself on time-out rather than my kids.

Okay, that's enough of that for now!

October: Day Seven

Halloween library books! Katie and I have been having fun looking at all the "punkins" "witchies" and "ghosties"
Here are some fun children's Halloween books:

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

The ABC's of Halloween by Patti Reeder Eubank

One Witch by Laura Leuck

Pumpkinhead by Eric A. Kimmel

Ghosts in the House by Kazuno Kahara

October: Day Six

Break out the Halloween pillowcases. When I was little, my mom had a couple of Halloween pillowcases, and it was always a fun surprise the day that my pillow had the little witch on it and I knew Halloween was close!
This is officially my first adult sewing project. My mother-in-law helped me make them. "Helped me" translates into "did a lot of it for me" because I kept messing up! She told me that pillow cases were easy to make. I told her I could probably manage to mess them up anyway. I was right. Thanks for fixing my mistakes mom! ;)

October: Day Five

Light some yummy pumpkin candles. And guess what else I spotted on Bath and Body Works online? Another bat globe for you fellow Halloween lovers out there! On sale for $19.50!
Update: Anyone in the Renton/Tukwila area who is interested in getting a bat globe like the one I posted below, I was just in JoAnn's in Tukwila yesterday, and they had a bunch on sale for $12.99. They used to be $24.99 - lucky me, I got to pay full price....grrr.

October: Day Four

Start making a cute Halloween banner from these free letters you can download. I changed the background to orange for Halloween, and am thinking pink would be cute for the girl's birthday banners too. So many possibilities!

October: Day Three

Play with $1.99 Halloween sticky gels from Target. I saved the plastic sleeves they came in so I could put them away for next year - ha ha. Almost all of the ghosts are currently without arms, and the bats have completely disappeared. Good thing I took a picture before the mutilations began...

October: Day Two

Put finishing touches on these ghosts. They don't look quite like the pictures, but oh well. The tall one ended up looking like a skinny, white dementor (you were right Margaret!). Katie still gets such a kick out of them though. We colored some dried, split peas black and glued them on for eyes, and cut some round holes for mouths. Katie keeps talking about "the ghosties" now.

Ode To October

Halloween month has officially begun. Big grin. I'm doing twenty-one days of October fun!

Day One: Halloween Decorations go up.

Since we've only been married three years, we don't have a lot of holiday decorations, so I decided that for each major holiday each year, I buy one new decoration so I don't break the bank! This year's Halloween decoration was an awesome find at JoAnn's of all places. I love my "bat globe" (instead of the traditional snow globe) When I turned it over and saw the bats start floating around, I was sold!

More October fun to come!