happy halloween

We've been counting down the days...
it's finally halloween!

We've visited the pumpkin patch,

 

found the perfect pumpkin,

 and made a few new friends along the way.

Now it's time to debut the perfect costumes (the banana's behind the camera),

 and get us some CANDY (just what a 2 year old needs)!

I hope everyone has a fun filled halloween!

pumpkin practice

 We've had a warm October here in California (as usual), so we're not quite ready to carve our pumpkins yet.  But that doesn't mean we're not practicing and planning our perfect jack o' lantern face every day!

I found these really inexpensive wood pumpkins at Michaels, painted them with a batch of homemade chalkboard paint (recipe below), and we've been practicing our decorating ever since.

All you need to make your own chalkboard paint is:

• latex paint (any color, any finish)
• unsanded grout

Mix one Tablespoon of grout for each 1/2 cup of paint (you don't need to be exact).  Simply mix the ingredients together until the big lumps are gone and get painting.  Two coats should work just fine.

it's a . . .

GIRL!

We spent the WHOLE weekend celebrating!  Saturday it was all about Carson. We celebrated with an afternoon picnic (details to come). 

And Sunday it was all about the newest member of our growing family.  One of my very best friends threw us an amazing gender reveal party.  She planned every detail perfectly and we couldn't have been happier and more surprised.  It was well documented too (since she's a pro-photographer).  I've shared lots of her photos, but I can't say enough great things about her work, so check it out!  I'm sure I'll have more great party photos to share soon.

I've been on cloud 9 all day and I'm sure I will be all week.  It's so exciting to share such amazing moments with friends and family.  This will be one lucky little lady!

it's starting to feel a little spooky around here.

Life is busy, busy, busy as usual.

We're in the midst of prepping for a big Birthday party (Carson's #2) and a gender reveal party this weekend (for baby #2)!  Much more to come on those festivities...

But, we can't let October pass without some spooky fall crafts.

This project was quick, easy and perfect for a toddler.

All you need are:

• a few styrofoam balls of any size
• a paint pen (I used black and Carson chose red and yellow)
• small eye hooks 
• cheese cloth (we found it at the 99 cent store!).

Just draw eyes with your paint pen
(and if you're 2 and that's not enough, add whatever else you'd like).

 Then cover with cheese cloth (we used two layers per ghost) and screw in the eye hook.

 Now we've got a whole lineup of ghosts in our front room!

 And a few more watching over the front porch.

Carson even has a very special "Trojan triceratops ghost" watching over his bedroom (he's proving to be a very dedicated USC fan despite the rocky football season).

Happy Haunting!