Saturday

We decided not to work on Saturday. It was a good decision.While Tyler finished our kitchen cabinets, the girls and I visited the new Library. They made dinosaurs & other crafts. Later we went over to a nearby shopping center for pumpkin painting & other Halloween Games & activities.

That night we met over at the Jones’ house for their traditional neighborhood night of Trick-or-Treating. They had some fun games and prizes at the clubhouse after-wards.

I'm pretty excited for Nov. 1st, when I can hide Lily's daily outfit (a.k.a. her witch costume).

Conversations with Lily

Tyler: Lily, are you going to sleep tonight?
Lily: No
Tyler: Why not?
Lily: Umm, I'm so shy.
Me: You are not shy.
Lily: I am shy mom! I'm shy.
Tyler: Why does being shy make you not sleep?
Lily: Cause I worry about it.

.........................

Lily's first dinner prayer:
“Bless that my mom will get cute, and my dad will stay up with me at night. Bless that Ella will get a brownie.”

Then she proceeded to count to three in Chinese.
“Amen.”

The office

Originally we were going to put all our vinyl equipment in this office until we finish the basement office, but it didn't fit. It didn't even come close to fitting. So, we put all our stamps & vinyl, along with Tyler's computers, in our unfinished basement. This has since turned into my office where I answer emails, design stamps & vinyl, and make cards & other crafts.

This cute display furniture is actually borrowed from my mom. I know she's going to want it back as soon as her house is finished being built, so I'll have to find something to replace it before then. I'm growing kind of attached to it.

My desk. I love this office. It over-looks our back yard so I can watch the kids playing outside while I work. I even have my own door to the deck.

Our bright ceiling & colorful chandelier.

I made these flowers from paper. Just an inexpensive way to decorate. The vases are from my fireplace. I moved them into the office so I could adorn our fireplace with holiday decor. The picture is from Tyler's parents gallery. They were about to throw it in the trash. Luckily I rescued it before that happened.

Another piece of my mom's cute furniture. We may look for a bookshelf & small reading sofa for this area... maybe in a year or so.

不善

Once a month, the parents of the Chinese students at Ella's school have a meeting to learn how to help their kids with their Chinese home-work. Ella thinks I'm learning Chinese at the meeting, but I'm really just learning how to help her learn.

Ella: Mom, what words did you learn in your Chinese class last night?
Me: Hmmm... I learned to say “bú shán”.
Ella: Did my teacher say that to you?
Me: Yes. Does it mean stop?
Ella: No, It means you're doing something bad. What did you do mom?

Slimy guts

Halloween song playing in the car:
“There are tiny worms... ewww. Rotton eggs... ewww. Slimy guts... yuck. Smelly things... yuck.”

Lily: I like this pretty song. You think it’s pretty mom?

Halloween Cruise

We didn't do much for my birthday, because we had lots of work, then Tyler had an appointment for church that night... but it was okay, because Friday night I went on a spooky cruise with a few of my friends from High School. It really wasn't very spooky... It was actually very cute, and we had a great time.

Saturday night we got invited to a Tombstone pizza party at Ella's friends house. The kids had a fantastic time eating pizza & decorating pumpkins.

the farm

The weather was perfect today. Perfect for a trip to the farm.

Halloween Playgroup

Since none of the older kids had school today, we decided to go to Gardner Village for our weekly playgroup.


Lily didn't look too out of place in her witch costume, since others were also wearing witch costumes. She was the only one however, wearing snow boots
.

Becky made cute cupcakes for all the kids to enjoy.

Hallie, Chase, & Kimball.

The Weekend

We went to a fun surprise party for my friend Danielle. Lily thinks Jacob is my brother Ryan. Ella and I don't see the resemblance, but Lily is convinced.

The kids had a great time playing with their cute Halloween dolls my mom made them.

We went through the free corn maze at the pumpkin patch (3 times.)

Picked out a few pumpkins, tried to roast pumpkin seeds, but burnt them all :(

Enjoyed fantastic weather at the pumpkin patch.

Best Idea Ever!

Ella: Mom, I have the best idea ever!
Me: What?
Ella: Instead of Raspberry Lemonade... what if there was Lemon Lemonade?

Inexpensive DIY Halloween Decor

Spooky Bats for your front door. Total Cost: $1.00 Click Here to download a PDF bats pattern. I made these bats out of a sheet of black stiff felt (available at Hobby Lobby). You could use paper instead, but the felt is inexpensive & I'll be able to re-use these bats again next year. Feel free to enlarge or shrink the bats to the sizes you prefer.


For my fireplace mantel, I cut more bats out of the stiff felt, then hung them from some thin plastic thread. Total Price: $2.37.

I just thought I'd share these inexpensive decorating Ideas with you. Happy October!

Master Bathroom

Tyler just finished the tub surround in our Master bathroom. YAY! Here it is.

View from Bedroom to Bathroom.

This is my vanity. Our black Quartz countertops were free. We just had to pay to have them cut & installed. I plan on painting the frames on the mirrors gloss black. Eventually I'd like to paint some of the walls a dark/almost black gray.

This is our chandelier that we got for $25. After searching online, we are convinced it's worth a few thousand dollars.

Tyler's Vanity.

The walk in shower is my favorite. No more cleaning glass shower doors. You can't tell from the picture, but the shower tile is glossy & matte white checkered.