Halloween Props

For those of you who didn't know...I LOVE Halloween!! I add a little "this and that" every year.

This year I expanded on the idea of candy buffet. We have rubber snakes, eyeballs in for form of balls, suckers and gum, mints, smarties, candy corn, pixie stix, and skulls. We will make goodie bags for all the kids that come to our Halloween party (if I can keep my family away from the goodies)



I also saw some cute pumpkins on the cover of a magazine and thought "I can do that!" At first it seemed my project was a failure, then I added some bows and got these neat candle sticks at a garage sale and wha la, success. They turned out pretty damn cute if I do say so myself. :)

We've been Boo'd

It is a tradition in our neighborhood to "Boo" each other. When you get boo'd then you pass it on to other neighbors, it's fun. We made cute little Hershey chocolate vampires to go in with the bag of eyeballs. Once you have been Boo'd then you put the little ghost on your door so that you won't get boo'd again. I love our neighborhood!

Gregory Monster Mash!

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The Wedding

Angie and Nico got married on October 10, 2009 at the Jacob Smith House in Lacey, WA. It was so much fun to help her get some last minute things ready for the big day. Angie and Nico did an amazing job of putting the wedding together. I know it was a lot of work but well worth the effort. The ceremony was wonderful and we wish them a long and happy life together.

Angie's bouquet. I love the curly fern things. (I have no idea what they are called)

Here comes the bride. All ready to go down the isle. Places everyone, places!!

Bryan, Nico and James

Some serious (and not so serious) words on zombies.

Exchanging the rings.

Nancy & Erika

It is truly fall here in the Pacific Northwest. We decorated the house with pumpkins and fall leaves.

The dessert table. Beautiful if I do say so myself.

A Day of the Dead bride and groom adorned the top of the cheesecake.

The red velvet and pumpkin spice cupcakes looked beautiful. But not too beautiful to eat.

The apple cider donuts were wonderful too.

Bev and Rosie did a fantastic job with the flowers and cream cheese mints. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the tables when they were dressed or of those little darn mints. We only had one useable mint mold. Rosie scooped and Bev molded. It took a long time and I think there were even a few swear words. he But they got the job done.

I thought of the idea to use pumpkins with flowers as the centerpieces. They turned out better than I imaged.

One of the beautiful corsages.

Their unity candle. The white stay lit to symbolize their individuality. The center is lit to represent their marriage.

As party favors, the bride and groom brewed and bottled their own pumpkin ale. Erika made the label for them. What a fantastic idea! Very delish too.

Instead of a guest book they had us sign the mat in this picture frame. Matted is their marriage logo. I love the black bird coming out of the jack-o-lantern. Why didn't I get a picture of the black bird guarding the card basket?

Missy(in her cool new houndstooth jacket), Angie and Beth

The kids having great fun!

Pre-Wedding Festivities

Beth and I wanted to host the rehearsal picnic for Angie and Nico's wedding. It was a beautiful day again here in Olympia. The food was great and the company was even better. It was really nice to get together with friends and family and just celebrate Angie and Nico.

Love to see the leaves changing. It's fall in Olympia.

Getting the details ironed out for the wedding.

Wedding Cupcakes

Preparing for the big day!

Angie's making pumpkin spice cupcakes.

Beth is taking a break from the hard work.

The red velvet cakes are looking good.

The finished products. Pumpkin Spice with Cream Cheese Frosting & Red Velvet with Butter Cream Frosting. Mmmmm...Hands off !! (Until the wedding)

Great Wolf

We really had a fun time at the Great Wolf Lodge. It is an indoor water park with a wave pool, play area and water slides. There is also an arcade and they have this magic wizard program. The kids loved playing with their cousins, Ailie & Ian. It is so much fun to watch them interact. Unfortunately, Calvin started feeling bad at the Space Needle and didn't feel much better at the water park, so he slept most of the time. :(

Seattle's Space Needle

I have to admit that I was not looking forward to going up in the Space Needle. I hadn't heard very good things about it and it seemed like an expensive elevator ride to me. I was very wrong. We happen to be up in Washington on a beautiful week. Very sunny and clear all week long makes for an amazing view from the Space Needle. Add to that, we went near the end of the day and were able to watch the sun start to set. It was very fun and I would highly recommend it if you can make it on a clear, sunny day.

October 1st, We Walked to School

My husband always tells me that it cools off here in the Sonoran Desert on October 1st... Well, it has been cooling off a little more at night and last night was no exception. We woke up this morning and were able to have our doors open. The house "cooled down" to 74 degrees. It was nice out but I am still sticking to my philosophy that it doesn't really cool off in AZ until Halloween.

I had planned to walk the kids to school today since it is now pleasant to be outside in the mornings. They were soooo excited. We left with plenty of time not knowing how long it would actually take. As we got closer to the school we ran into other kids walking to school that the kids knew. They ran up ahead to chitty chat with their friends and left me in the dust. I felt a little sad that my babies are growing up, but I also felt proud of them for moving forward and not looking back. Our goal after all is to make our kids independent and self sufficient, right?

Walking my kids to school brought back memories of myself and my sister Beth walking to school as a child in MN. We really did actually walk in the rain and snow. I have great memories of walking to school and I hope that my kids will have fun memories of walking to school too.