MIAFTB

Translation......Missing In Action From The Blog.

First off let me start by saying "Where the heck did October go?"  Seriously, I posted those pictures of my Pirate Girls and BAM! It was November.  I must be loosing my mind because it slipped right on past me.

Today I will be doing an October Re-cap if I can even remember all that happened.

Cassidy Started a Cookie Dough Business.  She makes the cookie dough, freezes it into balls and then sells the frozen dough balls by the dozen.  She has worked very hard and done all of it by herself and is feeling very proud of herself.  I am too!  I one day she sold $85.00 worth of cookie dough.  Yes, I'm one proud mama.

Abby was not included in the cookie dough business which at first made her mad.  Then she came up with all sorts of different ideas on how she (a cute 7 year old) can make money too.  There was- cleaning houses, washing cars, having a garage sale.  We settled on her selling gumballs.  She bought a gumball machine and 850 gumballs and she will tell you exactly how much she will make if she sells all 850 gumballs. 

 I was at a photo shoot and Tom carved pumpkins with the girls.  

What a fun Dad they have!

And what a memory!  

I found out after Cassidy when to a party and carved pumpkins that 

She..had..never..carved..a..pumpkin!  Gasp! 

To give myself some credit.....we have "decorated" pumpkins....just not "carved" them.

At the very last minute, like 9pm on Cot. 30th I sent out e-mails about our annual Halloween party.  Hopefully no one was offended by my lateness but to be honest I wasn't feeling the Halloween Party Spirit and was going to bag it.  My Brother reminded me that you can't have an annual Halloween Party every year and skip a year so the party was on.  We had a nice turnout, my neighbors had a fire and chili, we had a movie and chili and everyone was happy.  Including me.  Thanks Kurt for the party nudge.  I didn't get one picture of the party......next year I will be better I swear!

So that's the end of October in a nutshell.  Quick re-cap, the highlights.  It blew by so fast I'm not sure what else happened so we will end this post with a Happy Halloween!

Halloween Pirate Pictures

 Ashley over at Sunshine & Shade Photography really came through on these!  

How adorable are my Pirate Girls??!!

I picked up the costumes for a total of $13 at Good Will.  I went in and grabbed everything red, white and black and anything with stripes.  We had the shoes, belts and jewelry.  We had one hat the girls were fighting over so I bought an eye patch & sword at WalMart for $1 and told them one pirate could wear the hat and one could wear the eye patch.  Luckily that ended the fighting and both girls were happy with the hat/eye patch outcome.  I went to the Spirit Halloween store and bought both sets of tights for full price  

which killed me because the tights alone cost more than both sets of costumes!  

Yes.........these shoes actually fit Miss Amberly. 

Can you believe they make ladies shoes that fit a 7 year old?

These are her latest favorites.  She wears them constantly....

my little high heeled girl.

Ashley couldn't get Cassidy to smile and she couldn't get Abby not to smile. 

It was quite funny!

Ashley....Thank You, Thank You!  These will be a treasure for years to come!

Go check her out HERE for more info on pictures for your family♥

Halloween Photos

I just got the dates and times for the Halloween Mini Sessions if you are interested.  These are pictures of my girls Ashley took on Monday and you can see more plus my friends Brooke and Paige's kids over HERE on the Sunshine & Shade website. She does a fantastic job and what a deal!  These will be such a treasure.  Tell her Cara Sent you♥

Monday + Halloween Pictures

First day of fall break and boy am I ready for a week of no outside commitments.  One the list today, get this house back in order.  It's a wreck and I can't handle another minute of it.  Tom is taking the girls and his nephews out for a few hours of fun while I stay home and clean.  I have to admit, I clean much better when no one is around.  Always have, always will.  It's one of my things.

When the girls get back I'm getting them ready in their Halloween Costumes and heading on over to Ashley's for our Halloween Mini Shoot.  The ones she did of my girls a few years ago are my favorite Halloween decor.

I'll post the new ones as soon as I get them.  Happy Halloween everyone.

The Holidays are When?????

Miss Amberly (fresh out of the pool) with "Bob the Dead Bobble Head" as he has been named.

When I walk into a store and they have Christmas out in full force it makes me very angry.  Very angry is a nice word for how I really feel but I will not taint your reputation of me so I am writing very angry.  Seriously, Hobby Lobby and everyone else needs to hold off a bit.  It's August for crying out loud.  Well, it's not August anymore but when I went into Hobby Lobby a week ago it was still 117 degrees outside, the kids had just started school, and....it was August! 

I will admit that seeing the Halloween decorations made me less mad because I needed some cute gifts for Bunko which I am hosting this month.  I have twelve Halloween witches, goblins, trees, hats, glittery skulls and owls sitting in my room on my chair and I have to smile each time I see them.  I'm not quite ready for Thanksgiving, our anniversary, the birthday saga, Christmas or New Years but...Halloween I can wrap my mind around.

How about you?  Whatcha thinking about all this holiday crap being jammed down our throats?  (oooops...some of my anger came out..please forgive me)

Top 10 Tuesday (on Wednesday)

My favorite Fall Photo's This Week:

(thanks to my tumblr page- click to see more of my favorites)

(via french knot)

(320* Sycamore)

(320* Sycamore)

(Tracy's Trinket's and Treasures)

(the french knot)

 

(the graphics fairy)

(sofie haus)

(house of smiths)

(room to inspire)

(skip to my lou)

Photographing a Bat

While Cassidy was in her room (by her own choice) reading a book for 4 hours....yes, she read that long all..on..her..own.. I'm still so shocked proud of her I can hardly stand it.  Amberly and I did a little photo shoot with her new bat headband.  This is what we came up with.  I just can't help but smile when I see this.  Only this little cutie could pull off a headband like that! (and she wore it to school on Monday - all day!)

Check out the "guns" on that girl.  

That's what 100 push-ups a day

(by choice and I'm not kidding) 

will do to a 6 year old.

 Being just a tad bit silly/sassy - a cat as a bat?

Halloween is so dang fun!  

I wish my girls were still in the dress up phase. 

I guess for now I'll settle for funky headbands and prancing around in high heels.

(you know you want that headband.......)

Getting Ready for the Spooky Day

Yesterday while I was taking a nap my darling girls got all the 

Halloween stuff out and decided to start decorating.  

They got as far as unpacking everything and leaving it out 

in the middle of the family room floor before they got bored.

They did however put the black crow up and the two skulls in a proper place.  

I hope they don't feel bad when I move them after I clean up their lovely mess.

 

They hung the advent calendar up and figured out who was going to move the candy corn on what day.  

I think tonight for family night we will finish decorating for Halloween.  

It's here even though it still feels like April to me. 

Where did the time go?  It's flying by faster than I can keep track of. 

Hopefully it will cool off soon so it will feel fall-ish. 

**question:  do you decorate for Halloween in a cute way or a scary way? **

(we do classic and cute with one glittery black skull that truthfully is more cute than scary)

Halloween Party Idea

I was talking to my friend Lizzy today and she asked if I had any ideas for a Halloween Birthday party.  I was trying to think about all the ideas I see every year on the blogs I read.  I realy need to get a better organizing system for blogs.  I see something cute, bookmark it, then can't ever find it when I need it.  So I'm resorting to my own blog post a few years back because it's the only one I can find (sad huh?) 

Amberly went to her pre-school Halloween Party (2007).  It was to die for cute! These games could be used for pretty much anything "Fall" or "Halloween" or "Birthday" and could be altered for other holidays as well.  I have to give her pre-school teacher all the credit.  All we parents had to do was bring a treat and help at the different stations.


Click HERE to go to the original post. It will tell you about all the different stations.   Blogger won't let me copy and re-paste my own post.  I guess that's ok because that means other people can't either.

 

To see detailed pictures of each station and cute pictures of Miss Abbs........

click HERE

It will take you to my smugmug site.

Need a place to store all your pictures so nothing happens to them? 

Smugmug people!  It's the way to go.  E-mail me and I'll tell you all about it!

Sorry I am having you click all over the place.  It's the only way I know how to re-post?.

House Week - Old and New

I live in a newer home but love older things. I grew up in The Monterey Bay area in a house that was built in the 20's. The whole town was cottage-y and quaint. Period homes - A-Frames, Tutors, Bay and Gables, Bungalow's, Victorians and Craftsman's. I loved them all! Now that I live in a very new town where all the houses look the same and have little personality I have to add my own. That's why this post is titled "Old and New."
I am so happy with the transformation of my entertainment center. I like things simple, cottage and clean - not modern or contemporary. It's always bothered me that this big BLACK thing was in my cottage home. The rule is to have at least one dark piece of furniture and this is mine. I finally like how it looks and fits into the theme of our home. It holds my antique book collection, my old window I got with my Mom in Portland WA and some of my seashell collection. My fiend noticed the jar of sand dollars (there are over 40 in there) and was shocked! I had to remind her that I have been collecting sand dollars and shells my whole life and my Dad was collecting before me. That makes for quite a collection!

The mantle is made up of two corbels that I got at a salvage place in San Fransisco and a cornice piece I got in N.C. I love pieces with history and try and incorporate them into our home. The Halloween decor can be easily changed to fall by removing the scull, crow and tree. I then can add a few fall pieces and a give thanks banner I found at Home Goods -wha-la! Halloween into Fall!
Entry way cabinet. I love the little picture of my Dad and I. I don't have very many of them and this one is a prized possession.
Love how the entry turned out. These are the frames I got for $12 at Kirkland Home and sprayed them black. The pictures inside are 12x12 and can easily be changed whenever the seasons do. It's also the dumping spot for backpacks, shoes etc. Not my favorite spot in the house but we have limited space and this works. (don't mind the fake spider above the 3rd picture. We take spooking people very seriously around here)

**what's your favorite spot in your house?**
**do you like new or old or both?**

Happy Halloween From Our House To Yours

BOO!
A Pretty Ladybug

And the cutest witch you have ever seen!