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.