Happy Halloween-2013

We have had a lot of fun with Halloween this year.  On Sunday Dawn and I took the twins and Hope to do the trunk or treat event at our church.  It was the first time we have done this and it was a LOT of fun.  We even dressed up Dawn's dog Max and he got to go too.  Isn't he CUTE!!!!

Of course everyone loved Max's costume too.

We had our beggar's night last night and we lucked out and it didn't rain and the weather was pretty nice after it had rained all day long.  Of course she came home with lots of candy.

Then Hope got to wear costumes to dance last night and tonight.  She wore a kitty outfit we had handed down from Annie.

Hy-Vee was having a trick or treat event where you could go around to all the departments to get treats.  Hope's favorite was probably the cookie from the bakery department.

And we got to hang out with Elmo.  Cookie monster was there too (peeking behind me).

Joe and I even got into the Halloween spirit this year too.  Of course last year at work I was part of the rock bank KISS, so we had to come up with something pretty good to compare with last year.  So we decided to go with a Duck Dynasty theme...

We had fun annoying our co-workers with our duck calls today.  When Shannon would blow her duck call I would respond back.  It cracked everyone up most of the day.  LOL!  We did manage to pull out another win this year too.  Now, I wonder what we will come up with next year.  :)

Joe's work also gets into Halloween, and ironically enough his department also did a Duck Dynasty theme.

I think parker looks like a skinny Hagrid (from Harry Potter).  :)

Overall, it was a great Halloween.  And Hope did the perfect song transitioning into the Thanksgiving/Christmas season.  She started singing..."Duck the halls with boughs of holly".....and instead of the fa la la part she made the sounds with the duck calls.  LOL!

So on that note, here are more Christmas cards I have been busy making.

Let the shopping begin!   Quack!

Darla

No Guts...No Glory!

Yep, we carved pumpkins tonight.  Check it out...

Joe had fun chasing all the girls with pumpkin guts.

Annie, was less than thrilled to be cleaning out the guts.  LOL!

Joe faking an attach from the pumpkin.  :)

Ally did a great job actually carving her pumpkin herself.  Way to go!

And here are all the finished creations.  Ally's design was a character from Angry Birds.  Annie created a face and Hope wanted a cat.

Thanks Joe for helping out with most of the carving this year!  :)

Let's hope we stay warm during trick or treating, but I am not hopeful of that.   We have been spoiled for several years, it was bound to be REALLY cold eventually.

Well, since we moved into the new house, Joe has been trying to figure out where we are going to put the Christmas Village.   So he worked on that project today (just the structure, not actually the village except a few test pieces).  I think it is going to look great.

Speaking of Christmas, I purchased my first Christmas gift this week.  So let the shopping season begin.  I just need to figure out what I am getting everyone.  :)

I did get an early start on creating Christmas cards this year, so I will start sharing some of them now.

 Hope did ask me the other day how many days in November. She then promptly told me there were 36 days until Elfie (our Elf on the Shelf) would be returning for 2013.  I am excited to see all the new places he is going to hide at our new house. (Wink)

Alright, enough Christmas talk for now.  Good night!

Darla

What the PUCK!

LOL!  We went to a hockey game this weekend and at one point Dawn says..."I can't find the puck!"  so I responded with "WTP" and she was like What?  You know...What the puck!  LOL!!!!!

Anyway, the twins sang with their school chorus for the National Anthem.  They did a great job!  Then we all got to enjoy the game.  As you can tell, they were handing out free hats and spirit sticks for the game.  I am pretty sure I was whacked on the head a few too many times during the game.  :)  I bet you can't guess who that was from.  LOL!  We were pretty happy that by the end of the game both of Hope's sticks had popped!

We will have to try another game!  It was fun, but hopefully next time they will win.

Well, not much else going on, so will just share some creative stuff...

This is a special card a created last fall...I kept it simple to focus on breast cancer awareness.  So just my personal note to all of you reading...if you haven't had your mammogram in the past 12 months, please call and get your appointment NOW!  :)  And do your monthly exams too.  PLEASE!  I love you all too much.

The background in this card was some packaging, but the adhesive had left spots where I took off the Prima flowers, so I decided to cover each of the torn areas with punched circles.  Reuse and recycle, especially if there is great color and pattern on it.

I think this is my very favorite card I have created lately.  I just bought the envelope maker and this is actually the smallest one it gives dimensions for.  I had to cut down the top flap to fit on the card front and I cut a partial insert from glitter paper.  This card could be used for so many different things.  I will probably have to make a lot more versions of this card.

Ok, that wraps things up for tonight!  Of to finish the voice.  This is the first season I have ever watched, but I am enjoying it a lot.  Still trying to figure how it all works at this point.

Darla

She said YES!

Oh this isn't the lyrics from a country song...my niece Abbey Kent got engaged last weekend!  Yeehaw!  I am so happy for her and Randy and now the wedding plans are in full force.

Are they not the cutest HAPPY couple!  Congrats you two!

AND...now for other updates.  We finally got my pictures onto the computer for several events, so this is a picture heavy post.  

Here are a few from Hope's class field trip.  She is in the shiny sequin hat in the front.  When we went to the mansion, the lady required the girls to enter first and then explained it was also polite for the boys to take off their hats; however the ladies never removed their hats when they entered a home or building.  It was considered a part of their ensemble.  Of course since Hope had a hat on, the lady was so happy to see one young lady (Hope) wearing a hat to complete her ensemble for the day.  I thought Hope was going to melt into the floor, she was so embarrassed.  :)

Below they are learning about making brooms at the broom factory.

Below  Hope is looking into a home from the 1700's camp.

Here we are on the main street at the end of the day.  :)  I was pretty tired, so after I got all the kids back on the bus to go back to school I had just enough time to go get a pedicure and have my feet rubbed.  Oh yeah!  Perfect way to end a field trip!  LOL!

Last weekend Dawn and I took the girls to the pumpkin patch.  Dawn had a blast (she despises they activities).  Good thing I always drag her along.  LOL!  Oh course, she bailed on us during the corn maze.  We couldn't find the last two items, but we persevered and found them, although I did try and bribe them with donuts to just give up.  Hope was relentless and was determined to find them ALL!  Darn you cow and horse!

New to us this year, we actually picked apples off the trees instead of just buying them in the store.

The kids had fun!

They improved the big slide this year.

And we bought a large bucket of yucky apples for the slingshot.  They even let Dawn and I try a few too.  Hope was VERY insistent that one of her apples went through a hoop out in the field.  We did actually hit a few of the targets out there, but I am pretty sure Hope didn't get an apple through the hoop.  LOL!

Joe took Hope to get pumpkins at the store last night (I know, we went to a pumpkin patch and didn't get a pumpkin).  What a cute sassy little kid!  Love her!

So in between all of those activities, I had some creative time in there too.  As you can see, I have been putting my craft room to good use.  I did finally get it all cleaned up, but not until I had completed over 50 Christmas cards.  So if you need any special holiday cards, please let me know.  I will make you a good deal.  :)

Well, since it is finally October I have a few Halloween layouts to share...

Last year at work, me and some friends won the costume contest by dressing up as the band KISS!  We had a blast and we even went to the grocery store at lunch in full make-up.  We got a few laughs, stares and even some thumbs up!  So I had to create a layout about it!

These are actually Halloween layouts from a few years.  I was really behind.  LOL!  This next layout was from last year, a basic overview of actives.

This layout was from 2011 pumpkin carving!

The zoo layout was from 2011 too, since we didn't make it last year.

Hope has her costume all picked out and ready to go.  She is going to be Strawberry Shortcake.  Cracks me up, because I am pretty sure I was also Strawberry Shortcake about the same age.  I will have to find pictures and share soon.

I also have several great ideas for this year's work costume contest.  Oh the fun!

Well, hopefully I will get back to posting more often.  Have a good one!

Darla