Getting our "spooky" on!

I need to first admit, that I don't watch scary movies, no thrillers, and even some action/adventure is too much for me, so the idea of scary Halloween, is just a nope, no way, nuh-uh, yikes! Halloween around here, is cute, with a touch of spooky fun. Cute spooky fun. 

Last night, I couldn't resist any longer and got our spooky on, and started decorating a little for Halloween. It's really not much at all, and hardly a change from the fall decor, but it's got

me ready for some trick-or-treating fun!

Not much difference, just changed the banner and added an owl...that makes the dog
crazy whenever the motion sensor goes off and it "hoots".

The sofa table. Gone are the picture frames. 

This ceramic house is actually a candle holder that I bought at
Bath and Body Works years and years ago. It holds 3 of the mini candles that they sell.

I just love The Frankenstein's. Cutest couple ;)

This was the first candle holder from Bath and Body that I ever bought.
It's holds a 3-wick candle and looks AWESOME at night when it's lit.

Another Bath and Body candle holder.  That's a 3-wick candle burning in there!

Couldn't pass up this little sign, at Target, for you guessed it, $1!

TMNT birthday fun!

This years theme? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

It was quite the birthday adventure this year. Our outdoor pumpkin patch 

party got cancelled due to rain and we were left scrambling trying to figure out

another option. We opted to have the party at home, and it turned out great, but 

man, talk about stress!

We made the cake ourselves, again, and also decorated a plain cookie cake to look like a pizza.

Kid4 has said that her favorite part of her birthday is getting to make her own cake, so we must! It isn't perfect by any means but Kid4 loved it so that's what matters!

We also bought a plain cookie cake, from Target (my fave), and decorated it to look like a pizza!

We made homemade buttercream icing for the sauce which turned out pink instead of red, oops!

Grated white chocolate was the "cheese" and cut out "pepperoni" out of fruit strips.

But the best part was that it tasted GREAT!

We used Kid3's TMNT toys as decorations on the island and green balloons too.

Our goody boxes were 8" pizza boxes that I found on ebay. I needed 12 and it was a pack of 50,

so next years party will be a pizza party too?  Lol.

Last, but definitely not least, we ordered AMAZING cookies that we put into each

goody box. They were *almost* too pretty to eat.

This is me holding one of the cookies. Isn't the baker an artist?

The completed pizza box goody boxes looked like this...

and I kind of love how they turned out!

I haven't posted anything in over a year? Wow!

So here goes. Life is crazy and wonderful, and BUSY! 

Rather than getting into a whole long post about anything substantial, or why I've ignored my little blog, I'm going to start with this.  I decorated for fall and I love it! I finally figured out how to hang our painting on the stone fireplace and this year I have a fully functioning mantle because of it!  SO excited!

**I apologize in advance for the phone photos. Didn't feel like whipping out the camera.**

Michaels had 60% off their pumpkins and 50% off these cool, almost too real looking crows, and then Target (my favorite place) had THE MOST adorable black/white/gold mini pumpkins that I snagged as soon as I saw them the first time.  No hesitating and that's a rarity for me, lol. 

That painting used to rest on the mantel against the stone wall.
Not anymore!  The 2 fall banners are from Target's $1 spot.

The crow that started it all. Kid2 didn't like it but now loves it
and even convinced me to buy another one :D

The candles are plain white candles that I wrapped with black washi tape,  the small black
trees are sitting on top of jars and were found at Target's $1 spot,
the mini pumpkins are from the Halloween section at Target, and the sparkly green
pumpkin is an old Target $1 spot find that I spray painted green.

For the table behind the couch I got some pumpkins as well, another crow that's a bit smaller, and a cute cute little fall sign from the Target dollar spot.

My $1 spot fall sign from Target completes the look :)

Finally, I found some new pillows and pillow covers at Ikea for the couch. I was growing tired of the floral print after the covers started to fade from all the washing, not cute, just worn out.

I'm kind of digging the whole black/white look with pops of color and really digging 

Target's $1 spot this Fall/Halloween season!

A Frozen Birthday Cake

With some help from a sweet friend, and some inspiration from pinterest,

I tried my hand at making a cake and using fondant.  

It was like using play-doh though it smelled and tasted much better ;)

This is the cake before placing the small Elsa and Anna dolls.

Poor Olaf got a little squished and fell into some rock candy
dust, then poor guys feet sank into the cake :D

Fondant flowers and more rock candy.

Edible star sprinkles.

Elsa and Anna on top of the cake.

My "baby" is 8, today!

I'm not really sure how it happened, but my baby girl is 8 today!

I can't imagine our lives without her.  She's feisty, head strong, believes she can do anything,

is tender toward those that need it, always has a hug and kiss for her parents, and loves her siblings fiercely, and it's all rolled up into a cute little package.  

Happy 8th Birthday, Ava!  I love you oodles!

Ava helped bake the cake, make icing from scratch, and then she deorated the cake too.
It was a delicious work of art :)

Laundry Room, more small updates.

Here's a small update to the laundry space.

After talking with my GENIUS friend I added some fun stuff to the tops
of the cabinets.
I've got a few more ideas, but need to complete a couple of steps

before placing them in there.

OH and I found yet ANOTHER hat laying around. 

I had no idea we were such hat collectors, lol.

Thanks to my GENIUS friend that suggested cowboy boots, I got to work.

I once again "shopped" my house and found an old, outgrown pair of

red cowgirl boots, stuffed them with grocery bags to keep their shape (wow, we have WAY

too many plastic grocery bags) and propped them onto an empty box.

The metal tub was a gift that I received over 6 years ago and rather

than keeping it sitting in my closet, I figured, hey why not.

I found a chalk pennant garland yesterday in the craft section of Target and 

knew I had to have it.  I bought a chalk marker while there and voila.  

The pack came with 12 pennant flags, some string to hang them on,

and 12 round chalk circles for another garland too.

I can't wait to get the rest of the laundry room done

and then I have to figure out how exactly I'm going to keep

it from being over taken by clutter and laundry.

The Mighty Laundry Room

With this house, I have a laundry ROOM.  It's the most amazing spacious laundry room I've ever had, and it's my favorite part of this house.  I know, nuts, but when you have 6 people living under one roof, the laundry never ever ever ends.  No seriously.  Ever.  It's the one room that gets filled to the brim with laundry and shoes and backpacks and mess because it also doubles as a "mudroom".  This room needs help.  It's boring.  I spend so much time in it that I feel I need to warm it up so that it's not just a "dump your stuff" and run room. Make sense?

So two days ago, I made a leap and pinned up some straw cowboy hats up on the wall, that had been laying around and not being worn.  .  I'm starting to think we have a "buy too many cowboy hats and never wear them" problem, lol.  I also "shopped" my house and placed some dark wicker type baskets on the shelf above the sink and the room instantly felt warmer and not so utilitarian.  The problem is, I'm stumped.  I want to put something on top of the cabinets right next to the hats.  

I've thought about a rug for the floor rather than tacking stuff up high, but with the dog's bowls in there, and it being a room where water could surprise me at any time, I'm opting to not worry about it.  So that leaves me with wall space.  

I'd love to hear some thoughts...Oh and colors.  I'm not opposed to just about anything, except maybe red since I've got those UT orange laundry machines, which I love love love too!

And here's the "mudroom" area of the space.  It's at the end of the room on the 

right hand side.  It sits at an angle across from the dryer and fridge.

Where did summer go?

I just realized that I haven't blogged since June.  Actually the last day of school in June, also known as the happiest day EVER, around here, lol.  However, today I'm finally back to blogging and it's already the 3rd day into a new school year.  Where did summer go?  Why did it have to take the sleeping in, care free, pool days with it?

I miss my kids.  Tremendously.  So does the dog.  The house feels too big when it's just me and the pup, and I find myself with time to do all that needs to get done, but yet I avoid it.  I really miss my kids, their over the top antics, constant chatter and laughter, and even the messes, well ok not the messes. No, I definitely don't miss the constant messes, lol.

Does anyone else feel like this and if you do, how do you cope with it until you fall into your new groove?

Last Day of School!

WOOOOOHOOOO!

It's going to be a SUPER day!

Ahoy! It's a Boy Baby Shower!

On Saturday, the 31st of May, I hosted another shower at my home.  While I love the decorating and froo froo stuff, I'm not great when it comes to the food, so I was THRILLED to have 2 co-hosts that were able to take care of that end of the party.  It was fantastic and the parents, who were blessed with a 29 weeker just two weeks before their party, looked so happy the entire time.  While their little one was being taken care of in the NICU we were taking care of them ;)  

Welcome!  Guests were greeted with this cheery diaper wreath.

The clothing line was a hit!  The onesie in the middle was personalized with
the baby boy's birth stats.  It was my favorite decoration of all.

The spread!  The sandwiches were catered and were ah-mazing!  Actually all of the food was
wonderful and there's no way I could have done it all alone.  Again, SUPER thankful for the help!

Have I mentioned how much I love making diaper cakes?  No?  Well, yeah, I do.  Just like a lot!

The dessert table, also known as the "I gain 20 lbs just by looking at it" table was
complete with gummy sharks and whales, swedish fish,  rainbow colored "fishing line" aka twizzlers,
some super cute baby boy mints, and some red white and blue twizzlers too! 

This cake not only looked wonderful, but it tasted even better than it looked.
The new parents were lucky enough to take a couple of slices home with them and
kind enough to leave the last 4 cupcakes for my kids.  Lucky ducks.

And finally a close up of the cake.  Seriously.  Look at how stinkin' cute it was.
We hated cutting into it...well, for about 5 seconds and then the powerful cravings for
cake kicked in and we totally caved.

I just love the attention to detail.

We had ordered 24...4 remained at the end of the night.  Those last 4 my kids devoured.  

So, that's it.  Baby Shower's are done and now I'm just counting down the

days until school's out for summer.  5 days.  I can't wait.

The kids can't wait.  More importantly, it means we'll actually just get to 

relax and spend time with one another.  No schedules to follow for an entire month...it's blissful.

July will bring the schedule's back, but until then, I'm going to savor every single peaceful moment!

Bumblebee Baby Shower...DONE!

The bumblebee baby shower was today and I think it turned out pretty well.  It was a potluck shower, so there was a ton of yummy food, the cake was delish, and the decorations added the festive touch.  I hope mom to "bee" liked it as much as I did planning it!

The clothing line turned out SO much cuter than I had imagined.  I was especially excited to see

that Burt's Bee's has a clothing line, and so much of it had bees on it.  Perfect for a gender

neutral theme, wouldn't you say?

Fresh flowers, and the cutest balloon I found at the grocery store.  Actually, I had found three and

used them all through out the party area.

I love love love making diaper cakes.  The mom to be loves purple so I incorporated it in.  I even

had a friend crochet a pair of purple booties and a darling little hat (forgot to get a photo) that I attached to the back.  

The beehive cake was made by a local lady and the little cupcakes were actually

bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes.  Everything was scrumptious and sadly 

there weren't any leftovers to have with my coffee tomorrow ;)

Last but not least, a close up of the bundt cakes and these so perfectly tiny and adorable

candy bees that I had found while wandering a grocery store aisle during a grocery trip.  It was

like they were there just for me.  They were a HUGE hit.  I think they were by Wilton?

So that's it.  Baby Shower #1 is done.

Next weekend, baby shower #2!

It's a nautical theme and I love the big bold colors.

Another Bumblebee party pic.

Tomorrow is baby shower day.  Can't wait!

Bumblebee Baby Shower

I'm hosting a baby shower this weekend and the theme is bumblebees.  Mom to be doesn't know the gender of the baby, so we're keeping it fairly neutral other than the pops of lilac throughout since purple is the mom's favorite color.  Right now I'm struggling with placement of the decorations, but the clothing line on my fireplace is my favorite.  I think we'll put the gifts on the hearth underneath it.  It's crazy how much there is still left to do and how little time.

Went walking...again!

This is almost becoming a habit ;)

1 hr 8 minutes

4.28 miles

Upped my pace from last week, and squeezed in an extra mile.  LOVE it!

Exercise.

Last week I walked twice, both times right at about 3 miles.  It felt AMAZING!
Despite the very long pause in my workouts, I wasn't sore, but rather energized.  I wanted to keep going, but knew an hour was about all I could do each day.  Fast forward to this week.
Trying to get motivated, but the threat of rain looms (YAY!!!!) and my motivation is non existent.
This couch is just too darn comfortable...

Dining room ooomph.

After living in the house for a few months, and getting things in their places, I realized our dining room was lacking some oomph, and that needed to be changed asap!

Here's what it started out as. 

A large table, that I love love love and 2 paintings that the hubby and I brought back from a trip to Paris 4 years ago.  Wow, 4 years.  It feels like yesterday.  Anyway, back to the issue at hand.

I dug around the house and found a brand new table runner I hadn't even unwrapped yet (can you tell I like blues yet?), and an old shallow bowl.  Easy.  Though it looked really weird empty, so while at Ikea one day I found these funky rattan like balls to put into it.  Simple and cute...and cheap!  I was content.  Finally, the room was done.  Simple, clean, and colors that make me happy.  

And that's when it happened.   Tidymom , posted this:  

Family Room Makeover

Remember how I said I was content?  Well, that flew right out the window!

I took one look at those glass shelves, and knew right away that  I needed one in my dining room.

I had an entire wall, just begging to be filled.  The metal frame, the glass, it would keep the room from feeling too "heavy" but it would finally get some oomph!

The next day, literally, I hopped into my car and got myself over to Ikea.  The 10 minute drive was almost too exciting to handle, yes 10 minutes!  I feel kind of lucky :D  I was on a mission.  I didn't bother going upstairs but made my way over to the warehouse, grabbed my giant box and headed home.

Now,  I don't have any before photos of the dining room without the shelf, or with the shelf completely empty, but I finally got it decorated the way I want.  I think.  Other than the photo frames needing photos, and the plants needing cute planters, I'm done.  Right?  

I have to admit, I'm a bit worried it's too busy, but I love all of the pieces on there,
so I'm not sure how to make it not so cluttered.  The painting, my daughter did, and she doesn't like it, lol.  Too bad for her, I do, and it matches my coral on the top shelf and the glass vase filled with sand and shells.

Oh and notice those AMAZING framed prints?  Those are from Gingiber and they are the perfect nautical addition.  All three are fun and unique, but that Narwhal.  Oh my!

My next task...clean/organize/decorate the study.  Yikes!