Homemade with Love

A Hauntingly Happy Halloween

The candy is gone (at least the stuff we bought) and the girls are out of their costumes. Thank goodness they didn't have homework. It would have just added more craziness to our evening. I really HATE when Halloween falls on a weeknight.  Abby was easy to get ready, but Hailee was a bit more challenging. She needed to be hand-wrapped with a torn bedsheet. She kept unraveling throughout the evening which limited her mobility greatly! I, of course, was Mrs. Potts. I was a bit irritated that two people mistook me for Dumbo. Wayne was a ninja/zombie/???. He got that outfit a few years ago in Chinatown and brings it out for every Halloween. Odd. My mom came over for a little while and dressed up like a zombie too. There is ONE house in our neighborhood that the girls HAVE to go to. It is one court over and they each got FIVE full-sized candy bars. Insane.

No Halloween parties at school for the girls, but I got some cute pictures of the two of them in the morning. I am ready for my house to be clutter-free (for awhile). I plan to de-Halloween tomorrow. It will be quite a job. Halloween is so abrupt. When it's over, it's November. A whole new month. A whole new feel to the season. 

 

Front Yard Fright

Halloween Happenings

This a picture of our goofy family. We all carved pumpkins today at our house. See those two boys on the right? They are my nephews and these are their expressions in EVERY PICTURE I take of them. My grandma is missing from the photo. She usually carves with us, but she is feeling a bit under the weather. We think she has a flu virus. In fact, the majority of us in the picture above spent a good chunk of time at the hospital yesterday with her. Thankfully, she wasn't admitted. 

I have to say our pumpkins turned out pretty cute. I carved a Mickey Mouse pumpkin and a crazy-faced one. The girls drew pictures of what they wanted their pumpkins to look like this morning. They are so sweet.

Our haunted yard is looking good and I will try to get a video up soon for you all to see. It is a bit creepy.

 

I forgot to share these pictures of the girls from last week. Both of their schools had Crazy Hair Days. Abby's on Wednesday and Hailee's on Friday. They looked so cute.

 

4.0, the Pumpkin Patch, and Skull T-Shirts

Earlier today, I took some pictures of the girls in their bandanas, braids, and pink and black skull t-shirts. The light was great in their bedroom and the backdrop of pink wall was perfect. We also went outside to shoot some photos. I think I took over 200 pictures!

On Saturday, I cleaned and the girls and Wayne went to the golfing range to hit some balls. Wayne said the girls got pretty bored and just dug up worms to occupy their time. Shocker.

We went to the pumpkin patch Friday after school. We drove to Resendez Farms in Turlock. We usually go to Half Moon Bay, but since we went to Disneyland just a couple of weeks ago, we opted to go somewhere closer. They have a huge pond, some farm animals, and of course, pumpkins. I purchased a medium-sized round pumpkin and two small pumpkins to try and make a Mickey Mouse jack-o-lantern. We got lots of great pictures of the girls feeding the ducks. The ducks ate the food right out of our hands. It kind of grossed me out a bit.

The girls' parent-teacher conferences were last week too (Thursday and Friday). Hailee got a 4.0! In fact, one of her teachers said, "I could show you her grades (as he gestured toward his gradebook) but they're all A's, so what's the point?" His only concern was that she was too uptight. He wants her to loosen up and relax. Riiight. That would mean that we would have to undo 11 years of parenting. Abby's school doesn't have the ABC grading system, but her teacher told us she was doing great! We are so very proud of our girls.

 

Aren't these cool?

I just made the labels tonight using my little alphabets and my black Staz-On ink pad. I love how they turned out. They will be included in the teachers' Halloween treat bags. I purchased way too many Jelly Bellies, so I sit here munching on the extra juicy pear candies. I am not a big fan of the banana, but thought they looked great in the test tubes. TTFN

Random Things

1. I made three of these layouts (one for each of the girls and one for me) and I really like them. Not because of any amazing layout techniques or professional photography, but because it captures my two girls just hanging out together, throwing a wedding for two tiny teddy bears on a warm, summer day.

2. On Saturday, some of my "peeps" came over to play. We had fun crafting and scrapbooking, sharing ideas, treats, stories, and laughter. What a fun evening. Too bad I didn't think about taking any photos! Every time we get together, I am motivated to do more pages. Love that. Thanks to all who were here.

3. I need to run to Target tomorrow to buy long pants for the girls. They have mostly capris right now. I wonder if it is just cheaper to buy them each a pair of long boots to wear with their capris during winter. Need to think about that. While I am there, I might be tempted to buy the Making Memories Halloween Scrapbook kit that I have had my eye on or at least some Windex. ;)

4. We purchased our pumpkins for our Annual Family Pumpkin Carving Day (October 28). We haven't gone to a pumpkin patch yet this year, but I saw GINORMOUS ones at Longs last week while picking up a prescription. So, on Sunday, the four of us went to Longs Drugs to pick pumpkins. I was way too embarrassed to bring my camera in there, as you can imagine. Think of what my scrapbook pages would look like! Gasp. We will take the girls on Saturday to a real pumpkin patch and take lots of pictures. 

5. The brown M & Ms still bug me.

6. We bought a new van on the 8th. It is a 2007 Honda Odyssey. I love it. My favorite features are the bun warmers and the XM radio. I also like that no matter where we are in the country, I can find the nearest Starbucks and Target!

Just another Michelle story

When I envisioned the black and cream decor on my buffet, I just knew I would fill an apothecary jar with black and cream M&Ms. When we were in the Bay Area last week, we made a pit stop at Casa de Fruita. I figured I would just get the candies there, but they only had cream. NO BLACK. This just irritated me a little. So we left with no M&Ms.

When we were driving home from SoCal Sunday, Wayne asked me if I wanted to stop in Fresno & try to find the overpriced chocolate candies there. I declined so we could just get home. I told him that I would drive 45 minutes north (Modesto) this week to buy them, so that I could complete my tablescape. He suggested that I buy the less-expensive orange and black M&M bags at Target and just take out the orange ones. I agreed so that I would save a half-tank of gas and about $30 for 2 pounds of coordinating candy. I bought 10 bags at $2 each and Wayne & Abby (with clean hands, of course) separated them for me. As I started filling up the glass jar, I noticed that the the stinkin' M&Ms are a bit more brown than black. I am pretty irritated at this point, but figure I need to just live with it. It is just candy. In the picture above, you probably can't tell they are black-brown. But in real life, they are and that makes me sad. :(

Wayne figured that I would be in Modesto today buying replacement candy, but I am showing restraint. Today. ;)

Out with the Old

and in with the new. New teal monthly calendar, that is. I have been making appointments for 2008 and all the cards and post-its are in the December section of my 2007 pink monthly calendar. So, I thought I better get a new calendar and start filling up my days (in ink or pencil-depending on the occasion-LOL).

I write notes to myself in my calendar. Am I the only one who does this? Like, I wrote a note to myself in January (that is on a Post-it in December) to remind me NOT to buy anything else for Abby's class treats. I must have went a little crazy during one of the after-Christmas sales. I have other notes to myself, but they are personal. Just between the two of us. ;0)

While at Barnes & Noble, I also picked up this little magazine with loads of card ideas. I am not quite to the stage of being inspired to make my holiday cards just yet, but it could happen any day now. I just know it.

I will try to remember to post some pictures this week of our Halloween decor, but I might forget. I'll just write myself a note. TTFN

Not-so-magical Disney Experience!

Sort of. Last week was absolutely crazy for us. So, we decided to go to Disneyland on Saturday just for the day. That means wake up at 4:15 a.m., leave by 5:00 a.m., arrive by 10:00 a.m., stay & play till 10 p.m., drive one hour north to Valencia, stay the night, then drive the rest of the way home the next day. Crazy, but fun. That is how it was planned, but when we got there, things were a little bizarre. We happened to be at Disneyland during Anaheim Gay Days! Thousands of them. All in red t-shirts. Guess what color t-shirt Wayne started out the day wearing? Our biggest problems we had with the whole thing were: 1). we had no idea such thing even existed; 2). A LOT of the red shirts had inappropriate writing on them; and 3). A LOT of the people wearing red shirts said/shouted REALLY inappropriate things to one another and/or inappropriate public displays of affection (I would get really grossed to see a hetero couple making out at Disneyland-KWIM?). Top this all off with getting evacuated from Splash Mountain, the fireworks being canceled because of the weather, and one of the cast members making a rude comment to Wayne. It made for a really STRANGE experience, not really any one of my million dreams!

So, I called the Disneyland Guest Communications this morning and voiced my opinion. The girl who took my call got an earfull! Funny thing is I pretty much NEVER call and complain to a business. Things have to be pretty bad. They are going to replace our tickets for another visit. I will check the Gay Days website now, so I don't make that mistake again. ;0)

On the bright side, there were some beautiful picture opportunities to be had. The Halloween decorations were gorgeous. I think my favorite part was Woody's Halloween Round-Up in Frontierland. Absolutely beautiful. And very "G rated." We spent some time here watching a show, decorating cookies, and taking in our surroundings.

   

Have I Mentioned We Are Farmers?

Well, not exactly farmers. Wayne and the girls planted pumpkins and sunflowers in late spring in the backyard near the trampoline. There is only one real pumpkin of any size and a few more smallish ones. The sunflowers were nice about a month or two ago, not so much now. I am not a fan of how that part of the yard looks, but the girls have been excited about the whole thing. This is a sign I made a few years ago for a Trunk or Treat event we participated in with MOMS Club. Hailee pulled it out of our decorations and thought it would be perfect to hang on one of the dead sunflowers. I totally agree.