Autumn Goodness and a Halloween Freebie

I just downloaded a weeks worth of pictures from the Nikon and wanted to share a few of them ... before the boys and I head to the library to return our latest stash of books and get new ones!

This fall, I've been loving the Kansas grass and it's amazing color. So much so that I wanted to get a picture of the kids with the beautiful tons of gold and bronze in the background. GR thinks I'm crazy ... he doesn't see the beauty in this at all, that or he knows that we will never get all four happy and smiling and looking at the camera at the same time with the perfect background... I'm simply asking too much. And Sunday within 5 minutes of pulling off the country road to attempt my picture, it was obvious Alex simply wasn't going to leave my side for a picture, no matter what bribes I tried to offer.


Hopefully I'll have more luck Saturday night when we carve pumpkins.

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Wednesday, I got Emily's tutu finished before she got home and she LOVES it, score one for mom. And before I went to bed, I also got the elastic in Sam's Diego shorts - and they fit, score two for mom. Last night the school had their annual fall potluck and trick-or-treating PTA activity. We were asked to bring a main meat dish large enough to serve the number of people we were bring, a side dish/salad/fruit, and a bag of candy for trick-or-treating.

I find potlucks like this so funny ... or at least an interesting study of human behavior ... but there's no need to get into that ... potlucks (with the possible exception of church potlucks where you wouldn't be caught dead not bringing a dish) are what they are.

Here are the kids all dressed up with one of the girls good friends - our pink power ranger - (she and Becca have been in the same class for 1st and 2nd grade and I love her parents) ready to go trick-or-treating. There was enough candy for them to go through twice and they were very excited to sit and eat a little bit of their candy while Papa and I helped to wipe down tables and get them put away ... clean-up, that's another interesting study of human behavior ...


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And for those who are looking for a last minute Halloween craft project:

After seeing this garland in a couple of different places, I decided I wanted to make one for myself. I went in search of the prefect font and clipart and started designing. My 3" circle punch, 3 sheets of 8.5 x 11" w hite cardstock, 2 sheets of black and 2 sheets of festive orange 12 x 12 cardstock cut into squares - black 3.5", orange 3.75" - a little glue and a small roll of 3/8" ribbon and it was done. A little longer than I intended, but I'm really happy with it. And there's plenty of ribbon to break into a two tired garland.

Since I haven't been able to get my ducks in a row to have a hand sewn crafty giveaway like I had hoped, I'm hoping that a freebie download will tide you over. So here are the circles ... all the letters to spell out HAPPY HALLOWEEN, and four Halloween spacers ... for your Halloween crafting pleasure!

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And a big thank you for all the help choosing the fabric from Sew Mama Sew. I would have been super happy with a yard of anything, and seriously considered this Amy Butler print, all of the colors of this Kaffe print, love all the fabrics in this Urban Chicks line, but especially this one, and oh so many more. But this is what I ended up getting:

1 yard of Whimsical Flowers Summer - very impractial of me, since I don't have a clue what I will do with it, but I love it and it makes me smile
2 yards of Tricks and Treats - the boys need Halloween pillowcases
1/4 yard of Stars on Orange - I guess that's all they had, cause it wouldn't let me purchase the 1-1/2 yards I wanted.

I'll try and post pictures when they arrive!