Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

Off to trick-or-treat in a minute!


I got me a Spider-girl!


Scary cute.


I love the spiders in her pony tails. Totally her idea.
She loved that she got to walk the school halloween parade with her brother.


I also have a scary skeleton man.
(He has begged to be something scary-gross for years.)


I do like the bone mitts.
Nice touch.


I also have Percy Jackson.


It was all about the sword and the camp shirt.
I am so happy he chose a character from a book. 


Here are the scary pups.


We have had days and days of clear but chilly weather. 
No different tonight for our spooky evening.

It will be cold but great.


Happy safe Halloween to you!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Halloween, Tomorrow.

My excited Halloween-focused kids are ready.

Kind of an easy year costume wise.
Spent a few minutes with a fabric marker.
Just a bit of wrestling with tulle.
And there was a last minute, 
yet successful hunt, 
for the perfect black sweatshirt.

Yes!


Photo shoots happening tomorrow!

Have a nice pre-candy-crazies night...


Friday, October 26, 2012

this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

-Amanda Soule (SouleMama)



Have a fun weekend!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

An Easel Without A Home.


So we have this easel. One of the best impulse purchases ever. I realized at the check stand during my first Ikea visit years ago that we needed an easel. Badly.

And I was right. We used it a ton until we moved here two years ago.

Here the poor thing just never really found its place. We had an office/studio back in Two Rock, so it naturally fit in there. We have just bumped it around house. That corner. This corner. The laundry room. A closet.

Well, I pulled it out of the closet and decided as spontaneously as I did to buy it way back when, to give it a makeover and find it a proper spot in the house.


The wipe board was well used by the non-wipe off kind of pens. Sharpies mostly. The Magic Eraser took off some marks, but not enough for me. The Chalk board was OK but covered in crusty layers of glue-stick in some spots. A lot of elbow grease got it pretty smooth but it still looked worn.


I got chalk board spray to freshen up the chalk board side. I also got magnetic spray paint to change the wipe board into a magnetic board for letter magnets!


Coats and coats of spray. The magnetic spray doesn't make things very magnetic. Bummer. It wont hold Minna's plastic letters, but it will hold those flat, type print word magnets. I am OK with that.


We glued strips of paper to the frame to brighten things up and cover any over-spray. Then added a huge layer of glue over the top to smooth it out and keep it from peeling. So far so good.

  


We covered the tray as well. Then added tins to hold stuff. 

I used push pins on the top corners to hang aprons and such. I thought they would be easier than nails because I could just push them in. Nope. I needed a hammer. I like the red at least.



Our homemade magnets work on the magnetic board too! The blue is so cheery isn't it? The chalk board looks brand new. I am excited to make another chalk board because the surface turned out so well. Thinking, thinking...


All three kids love it but Minna uses it daily. It really is the perfect size for her. I am positive she thinks its just hers. If it actually fit in her room we would probably put it up there too.

So, we are back to our old problem, where to put the thing? Right now its in our dinning room. I even squished the table over today to make more room for it. (I am sure Jeff is gonna love that.)


Anyway, I like it for now. How could I not? look at these busy hands work while I do what I need to do in the kitchen. It has been great for the bit of preschool we do each morning. 

I guess the good old easel has proven its worth and now it looks kinda nice too. We will find it a home eventually. Maybe.

Happy Friday-Eve!


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Hints Of Halloween And Freakish Occurrences.


Halloween is coming!


Spooky fabrics are being pulled out and used for this and that.
(A couple of bandanas in this case.)


Costumes being dreamed up and pieced together.
I. Can't. WAIT! to finish Minna's and make her wear it for a week straight.


Everyone is trying to scare me.
That's an all year thing really, 
but now there are scary props all over the place.


Pumpkin buckets and Halloween packages laying around.


Bats and ghosts still hanging.
My favorite garland yet.


The pumpkin treats!
It was this recipe.

Freakish occurrence #1


The chickens all of a sudden think they can come inside.
When I have the door open, they walk in.
It's kind of a dream come true for me.
But kinda not.
I am cleaning up enough animal droppings 
in the house with pups around, ya know what I mean?

Freakish occurrence #2


My house is a hospital.
Minna is sick. (Still not sure with what, exactly.)
Roo was just sick.


And all of Minna's imaginary friends 
and cute little babies and creatures are sick too.
A few more days and everyone will be discharged hopefully.

F.O. #3

Ester almost needed to go to the hospital too.
(That's her sweet, trouble maker face on the right.)

She found a dead rat and was eating it. (BARF!)
It gets worse...



She started choking on it!
There was a moment when I was holding her down 
trying to grasp the flopping rat tail, 
that I thought of my friend 
who had to do mouth-to-mouth on his Jack Russell.

Was I prepared to do that?
I don't know.
Glad I didn't have to decide. 
I was able to yank the thing out and unblock her airway. (ACK!)
During the panic, I threw it over my shoulder.
She was obviously fine because 
she promptly ran to the carcass 
and swallowed the yucky thing whole.
It went down easy the second try I guess.
(DOUBLE ACK!)

I hope tomorrow is less freaky.

Have a nice night!




Monday, October 22, 2012

We Made A "Lreath".


Just a bit of leaf fun today.



We did rubbings.
I had forgotten how fun they are!

We ended up doing rubbings from textures around the house
and it turned into a guessing game. 


We used some of our leaf ones to make cards.


Then just made a bunch of cut-outs.


Those turned into a pretty, sunny wreath.
I love it.

Minna says "Lreath".
I can't pronounce it the way she says it.
I love that too.


I did a spontaneous furniture move-around 
and was really pleased. 
We were at the point that I started to think 
there was no other way to arrange things.

Wrong!

-Letter writing desk under the window.
-Cigar chair with it.
-Add a lamp.
-The "Lreath" front and center.

Happy Monday!


Friday, October 19, 2012

This Moment- 2 for 1.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

-Amanda Soule (SouleMama)

(The Boy Edition.)


(He is wearing my boots.)

Happy Weekend!


Thursday, October 18, 2012

Fall Aglow.

It's neat how each season has its own color scheme.
I know I keep saying Fall is over but I still see the colors in my photos. 

Just like last year
I have a bunch of random Fall glowy shots popping up.



Pups are growing.
And running.
They run a lot.


All of these leaves are crinkled and falling due to our freezing nights.
They get really red before their demise.


Minna is always pretty glowy.


The young girls have some lovely Autumn color themselves.
We may have little green eggs soon!
Not sure where they will lay though.
Right now they sleep in a tree 
and don't spend much time near the nesting boxes.
Hmmm?

Anyway, so excited about Halloween prep!
Costumes are in the works!


***

 Here is the oh-so-serious girl showing everyone our latest DIY project.


Check back for the run down on our cool new easel.
We need the easel now that indoor projects are going to be the thing.

What do you got?
What's the new thing at your place?


Monday, October 15, 2012

A Four Day Weekend. (We like those.)

We had a nice long weekend.
Love extra weekend days, don't you?

I figured.











I am looking at snowflakes 
floating around outside my window as I type this.

There are about a dozen leaves left on our trees.
Most of them are at the tip top of their tree, holding on.

I wore a hat today 
and the boys didn't fight bringing their big coats to school.
Tomorrow in their backpacks ... gloves.

Happy Monday!