On the 8th day of Halloween

On the 8th day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:

One trip the lamest pumpkin patch ever (didn't even really bother with photos).

One toddler who was sleeping beauty for a day.

Another toddler who is learning how to climb, on the very same day his sister FINALLY PEED IN THE POTTY!!!!!!!!!! (Possibly a fluke, but I will take it.)

The halloween blow mold collection from the left...

and the right.

And the rest of the Halloween decorations.

All in one place. See two toddler problem.

(I was thinking about Christmas yesterday. No tree for us this year other than one with the snowflakes. No way I am getting out the ornaments with these two.)

We have a BIG Halloween surprise coming tomorrow. Fun!

Two  more days...

On the seventh day of Halloween

On the seventh day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:

One week old annual trip to Amish country.

Time for the silo photo! (Why does the baby look crosseyed in the only photo where they are all looking the right way? Argh.)

(Jack is back to that forced smile thing.)

Sammi asks me every.single.day if we can go get more pumpkins.

And ride ponies.

And see fireworks! (One of their neighbors puts on a HUGE fireworks show that weekend every year. Complete with coffee creamer bombs. If you haven't seen those I think you can youtube them. Its bigger than some of the shows you go see at cities on the fourth of July. It makes the day there feel extra super special.)

Ginty thought these puppies were the best thing EVAH.

My favorite part is the after dark hayride. But this year the kids would NOT stop their foolishness so I could enjoy the quiet!

Until next year Amish country!

On the sixth day of Halloween

On the sixth day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:

One finally finished pumpkin that took me something like 2 weeks to make.

Dollar tree orange styrofoam pumpkin spray painted white, decorated with thrifted (but from Target last year) tattoos.

It's actually fun and I want to make more but who has two weeks to spare? LOL (I just cannot get anything done right now.)

And one very small birthday party for Jack.

This is the first year we have not done a big themed party for him. I feel a bit weird about it. On the one hand, it's what he wanted. On the other hand, well, I don't know. It's just weird. He had 4 friends over, they played in the yard, I made a cake. His cousin is spending the night. The end.

On the fifth day of Halloween

On the fifth day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:

One Sammi pumpkin.

Is anyone else on pins and needles wondering what she will choose to be on Halloween? LOL

On the fourth day of Halloween

On the fourth day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:

One finally finished Halloween quilt.

Sewing the binding on by hand was not the best choice. It took me forever. I thought when I chose it it would be easier because I could sit outside with the kids and do it. But then it turned FREEZING cold here and sewing outside with cold hands caused an injury and blah blah.

The chevrons were easy.

And they remind me of a Jack o' Lantern grin.

:-)

One week to go!

On the third day of Halloween

On the third day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:

One toddler who has now decided she will be a "pider!" and Jack will be a scarecrow. This after watching Curious George A Halloween Boo Fest* many many many times. (I was going to make her a cupcake costume this year. I ended up buying an Old Navy one on Ebay. You know why? This girl wears a costume every.single.day and as I suspected she wants to wear the cupcake every day. Except when she wants to be a watermelon or a strawberry or a butterfly or a princess or... you get the idea. Since I bought it I have no emotional investment whatever in what she actually decides to wear on Halloween. I AM learning. LOL)

But more importantly - a magical FREE sofa!

So a few months ago I started getting bored with my house. I was trolling craigslist and saw this sofa. And fell in love. But it was $150. For a used vintage couch. Yea. I debated it. I emailed with them. I decided no way was I paying that. I let the email sit in my inbox for a long time because I *did* love it.

There was no way I could swing that though. They dropped the price to $125. Still way more cash than I have for that.

Two nights ago the phone rings. My girlfriend says GO TO YOUR FACEBOOK NOW! in my messages was a link to the sofa again.

IN THE FREE SECTION!

They had given up and donated it to a resale shop who decided for whatever reason they couldn't sell it either.

I called the minute they opened and told her my husband would come get it, could they PLEASE put my name on it or something?

Nope, good luck to you.

BLARGH.

Dave showed up to get it about 3 minutes before the rain started yesterday.

And now it's all mine! Bwhahaha.

It's comfy. It's fancy. Which is not really the "funky it up" thing I was going for around here, but I still love it. It needs to be steam cleaned because they washed the cushion covers making them a shade lighter than the rest of the couch.

And I have to figure out how to keep my children from completely shitting it up.

(But I guess even if they do it was free, right?)

THANK YOU GREAT PUMPKIN!

*Sammi is not really a George fan like Jack was, and I don't get any $ from that link, but all my kids (Jack included) love this movie. Bonus points for not driving me crazy. It is cute. The spider costume? Was Jacks when he was a baby. AWwwwww.

On the second day of Halloween

On the second day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:

Vintage paper masks scored off Ebay some time this summer.

And one awesomely full Halloween feather tree (that does not photograph well on rainy days when my children are escaping out the door I tried to open to let more light in!).

I know some of you from the swap said you trying to decide where to put all of your swap goodies. Don't forget you can spray a branch or any kind of "Christmas" tree any color you want it - black, green, purple, orange!

Then you can hang all sorts of stuff from it. :-)

 

Hurry up Great Pumpkin! We have a great surprise arriving just in time for Halloween next week.

 

(Orange! Now I wish I hadn't "swapped" my extra tree with someone who never bothered to send her half the swap in return. Ugh.)

On the first day of Halloween

It's time for the annual great pumpkin series!

On the first day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:

A McDonald's batman mask which allowed me to recreate an old photo of Jack with Grant...

and Sammi.

(Jack, September 2005, 11 months)

 

Thank you Great Pumpkin!

Happy ninth Birthday to Jack!

My Dearest Jack,

Today you are nine!

Halfway to 18? How quickly the time goes.

You are still struggling with a lot of the things that have always been a battle for you. Some things you are apparently just *not* going to outgrow. But we are learning, all of us, better ways to deal with this stuff. We are deep in the work of helping you become the man you are going to be as the years go on and we have long left behind the work of teaching you things like shoe tying and using a spoon.

In the past month or so you have started to make some great emotional strides. Having a successful sleepover away from us, asking for help at school, conquering fears and finally getting on this horse (and riding it over and over and over and over all by yourself, with no one leading her), acknowledging internal battles, recognizing fear and anxiety, and so much more.

I think I have never been  more proud of you.

I hope that in the year to come you are able to recognize that it's okay to be more than smart. Smart does not define you. That you can come to understand that we are your soft place to fall and it's okay to tell us whats bothering you. And most importantly - that your place here is secure. You are my number one son, now and forever. You are the boy that first made me a mama not a ship passing in the night.

I will always love you and hold you and guide you and be there for you - no matter where you go on your journey.

Love,
Mama

Found on Friday

Yesterday Dave and I went on a date. A real  live, actual date. With a paid babysitter at home with the kids AT NIGHT.

For the first time in NINE years.

Whoa.

We went to an evening craft festival at local brewery. It was billed as handmade and vintage but meh, very little vintage. Handmade markets are hard for me to be honest. I always think eh, I can make that.  There were about 20 vendors so it took me all of 20 minutes to think eh, I can make that, let's go somewhere.

We did a little junking. We went to the big mall and went to Anthro (where it was 500 degrees, btw). We ate dinner with no screaming children and stayed up until midnight. (I was turning into a pumpkin in the worst way.)

I picked up a few things last night and few things this week:

polka dot foil floral wrap. I love this stuff for crafts.

Older metal garland.

This is not old and made in India I think, but wowzers, amazing bead work.

It weighs a ton. And it fits perfectly with my "let's funky it up a bit in here" theme for my house right now.

And the stitching on the back is as amazing as the front.

Hansel and Gretel baby quilt.

And a first - a vintage satin quilt.

Pretty sure it is handmade, but admittedly I know nothing of the satin quilt craze.

I just knew it was soft and lovely and it was jumping into my arms.

Tomorrow "my Jackie boy" (as Sammi calls him) is turning nine.

Nine.

Whoa.

We are celebrating tomorrow with our annual trip to Amish country - fun!

Halloween Swap Group 2

Man this has been a busy morning!

The last of the Halloween swap:

There were multiple shapes of glittered candy boxes from Jamie.

Gorgeous paper bat ornaments from Michaele (who is oh so sick right now, feel better soon!).

Paint stick pumpkins from Toni.

And the peg doll girls from Beth that very nearly gave me a fit. I MEAN so cute! How is a girl supposed to choose which one to keep? Pumpkin...

or kitty cat?

I choose the kitty. She reminds me most of Sammi girl.

These gave me a fit of another kind - paper banners from Megan. (Whose blog blogger says is no longer there.)  Only because of how long it took me to sort out how to get a decent photo of them for you.

While desperately searching for a non windy locale I put this one on my quilt cabinet and smokes I love it there.

I need to move the kids spiders because this one is meant to be in that spot.

These really are cool. Maybe Shara will figure out how to get a better photo for us.

Thank you to all of the swappers for making this one of the best swaps yet!

Till next year?