Halloween-ish house

Last year, at Halloween, we were still surrounded in box after box.

(Wow!  Does time fly.  I can't believe we have been Coloradans for 1 year now.)

This year I determined to be decorated by the middle of October. 

(It helped I was hosting the neighborhood Halloween Bunco party on the 15th)

 I love my fireplace....

It is really hard to decorate though 

because it is massive

& 

because it is a 2 story room, it goes all the way up!

 One of my obsessions this season is 3D letters. 

 I made these fall letters

out of old shoe boxes and cereal boxes.

(Now I want a whole 3D alphabet wall, watch for XYZ to come first.)

 These are my take on a Pinterest find.  

It took 1/8 of a yard of stripe fabric, and some black scrap fabric.

I sewed little magnets into the the top 

so we can rip em down when we need/want the fireplace on.

And the pumpkins in the tub...

in 2009 I had a great idea to have the kids write what they were thankful for.

We then embroidered them into the stripes. (Grant and Billie did their own sewing

and I helped James do his.)

I wanted a little keepsake of their handwriting and their thankfulness.

(This will probably be the last time with THIS particular tradition. It was time consuming)

 I used up the leftover strips from the thankful pumpkins to make a runner for my end tables.

I love stripes.

 18 foot ghosts...

 Ginormo Jack o lantern...

one of my favorite decorations EVER...

Even though Bill hates storing and moving it. 

 Replaced all the picture frames with Halloween pictures past. 

I am embarrassed that I have

NOT ONE

Picture of halloween last year.  Grrrr. 

I know this is the bathroom, but this is one of my favorite views.  

Or maybe because I have a Apple Cider Warmer in here, so it always smells like fall. 

Happy Halloween...a trip down the lane

Since I can't share my delish halloween cupcakes
(and because bags of candy isn't enough sugar on Hallow's Eve!)

I was taking a walk down memory lane yesterday before our evening stroll commenced
and I thought it would be fun to put a post together
of the 11 fun years of halloween we have enjoyed with our children.

1998

1998-Grant was only months old. We dressed up for pure selfish reasons. Our Chiropractor's office was giving away a weekend getaway, we wanted to win. Thanks to Bill's "awesome" cooperation, I think we did win! Grant on the other hand was none so happy to participate. Good thing he was only a couple of months old and didn't have a say in the matter.

1999

1999-We lived in Idaho Falls and we took a stroll around the neighborhood with some good friends. What a great memory, most of the homes decorated and some of our neighbors gave fresh hot homemade doughnuts to all the adults.

Bill was working in Yellowstone National Park and this was one of the few long weekends we enjoyed with dad! I did "homemake" Grant's lion costume.
It was only 100+Yards of ribbon for his head. I missed Bill terribly!

2000

2000-Grant was a frog...I don't remember him being upset about it, but he is either super happy here or super mad. Not sure. (We lived in Texas so it was pretty warm out.) Grandma J gave us the costume and I am pretty sure we loved it to death as soon as Halloween was over.

And Billie was a cut little Flower in the pond where the frog lived.
I made her costume and she was pretty happy to just hang out...

2001

2001-Billie was a poodle and Grant was a spider. The costumes came from a store. I SHOULD have dressed up like the great pumpkin. I was 8 months pregnant!
We still lived in Texas and we went to a local mall for trick or treating!

2002

2002-Peter Pan in the HOUSE! We lived back in Wyoming and I made all the costumes (again). Grant was Peter Pan,
Billie was the cutest Tinkerbell
and
if you couldn't tell James was Captain Hook!

2003

2003-Buzz Lightyear came to visit this year.
Grant was Buzz,
Billie was Jessie
and
James was Woody.

2004

2004-Dorthy's in the house...Another year of homemade costumes.
James was the cowardly lion (do you recognize this one remember 100+ yards of ribbion),
Billie skipped along as Dorthy
and
Grant squeeked along and the tin man.
We moved to Arizona this year and spent the afternoon at Boo at the Phoenix Zoo. It was quite warm this year and I remember James sweating to death in the lion costume.

2005

2005- Grant is a ninja
Billie a Cheerleader
James is a red power ranger.
I think this was the year I decided
that moving into a new house
AND
making homemade costumes
were not both going to happen.
The house won!

2006

2006-Billie is a pirate maiden
Grant is Darth Vador...

James was a puking Darth vador who didn't get to go trick or treating.
(His siblings kindly shared their loot with him!)

2007

2007- We had a long Halloween season this year.
We were able to go trick or treating in Disneyland during our fall break,
then we also walked the neighborhood on Hallow's Eve.
This is probably the year I was most prepared to celebrate the season.
We had a great trial run.
And for the record Dad dressed up as Thor and Mom dressed up as little red riding hood.

2008

2008-We dressed to comply with our school "storybook" parade.
Grant dressed as Slappy from the Goosebumps Series.
Billie dressed as Queen Lucy from Chronicles of Narnia.
James portrayed as King Peter also from Chronicles of Narnia.

And for our 2009 Halloween Get ups:

James:Blue Power Ranger
Grant: Cody from Starwars Clone Trooper
and
Billie: Hannah Montana

In action on the street!

As we were walking about
I kept hearing the sounds of kids laughing,
seeing parents smiling and I was completely aware of the fact that even though Halloween
can be pretty gruesome and scary,
It is another chance to spend a night with your family.
We leisurely strolled the neighborhood with the kids, (and some friends and their kids) enjoying all the sights and sounds, having a nice relaxing night as a family.
And that walk with the family is what begins the holiday season, where we can cherish the traditions and meaning of the season to be thankful and joyous.

Halloween Crafting

Cheesecloth Ghosts

They look like they are floating in mid air.

So easy to make...liquid starch, cheesecloth
(purchased in the craft section not the housewares section at the Wally World.)
1.Just cut the cheese cloth to the desired length
2.take newspaper and crumple it into a ball
3.then cover the ball with foil
4. tape the ball on top of empty soup can or water bottle
optional 5.wire or newspaper rolled up into a long tube
taped just below the ball head to create the "arms"
6.dip the strips of cheese cloth into the liquid starch,
ring out and lay your cloth over your can/bottle form
7. Let dry for a couple of hours.
(once it starts forming you might need to check on it periodically
to make sure the cheese cloth isn't "sticking" to the form.)
8. Take the dried ghosts off the form.
9. String a double needle through the top of the ghost head.
10. Hang up and enjoy!

A fun banner I made to stretch across the eating bar.

It goes so sweetly with the place mats Bill's aunt Kathy made us for
Christmas a few years back!

(I love these so much I won't let the kids eat off of them.
I know, silly.
But I'm the boss here, so I can if I want to!)