O Tannenbaum!

Oh, the unbridled stress joy of finding the perfect Christmas tree!  We went to a local tree farm in the hopes of cutting our own.  In reality, the precut trees were in much better shape.  So we strolled around, saw-in-hand, playing the part.  But in the end, it was a precut tree that caught our eye.

Charlotte wanted a tiny one.

Nathan found a "wand," and kept jumping out unexpectedly to cast spells on me. This kid cracks me up every minute of the day.

Gavin was just happy running through the rows of trees.

Based on something I saw on Jami's blog, we saved the sawed-off bottom of our tree to make a little ornament.

All in all, a good day.

One final note:  look at our elf zip-lining across the family room!  That crazy Jay.  Michael and I were cracking up hanging him on the fishing wire.  Ok, I was cracking up.  Michael was shaking his head at my insanity.  Really, how can you not laugh?!?!?

Christmas Decorations That Make Me Smile

You know how sometimes you put on a pair of jeans that you haven't worn in a while, and when you reach into your pocket, you find money??  It may only be $1, but it's still exciting to find something valuable you had forgotten about.

That's how I felt this year when I pulled out my holiday decorations.

My mom, my aunt, and I made a trip to our favorite flea market in September, and while I was there I picked up a few vintage decorations.  I packed them away, and promptly forgot about them until we brought the Christmas bins out!  It's just like finding a dollar.  Or maybe a five.

I instantly fell in love with these place card holders.  Aren't they cute? I'm glad I saw them first...pretty sure Mom would have scooped them up had she been the first to spy them.

Also, I've been looking for bottle brush trees forever, and they've been hard to find.  Then I came across these.  I bought all 6 for $10 -- a major score.

More holiday photos to come!  :)

The Month That Gets Short-Changed and a Craft

Poor November.  It always gets the shaft.  I'm always all hyped up for Halloween, and then it comes and goes and leaves me tired, with no energy for November.  My energy is back by December, which is good because there are birthdays and holidays to prepare for.  But surely November deserves a little attention!

Here.  These photos remind me that November is a beautiful month in its own right. (All images via Pinterest.)

To help me get in the November spirit, my students and I worked on a craft today.  It's an oldie-but-goodie:  handprint and footprint turkeys.

It's simple, really.  Trace your shoe onto brown paper and cut.  That's the turkey's body.  Trace your hands on colored paper and cut out.  That's the turkey's feathers.

Sure, there was a little of this...

But mostly, there was a whole lotta this:

See?  They really do get it.  :)

Happy November!

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone enjoys a fantastic Halloween!!  It's going to be a bit treacherous for our trick-or-treating tonight, as it snowed about 4 inches here over the weekend.  In October.  In Pennsylvania.  That NEVER happens!

This was the way our backyard looked at the height of our Cousins' Halloween Party:

Needless to say, the bobbing for apples was a no-go.  Since I never get to see my sisters' and sister-in-law's kids on Halloween, I had them all over on Saturday so they could show off their costumes.  It was fun, and kind of hilarious to see our mums and pumpkins covered with snow.  I still can't believe it.

Here are some photos from the party:

My newest niece, Molly.  She was a cute little cat!

My niece, Madison, was a pink poodle.  How adorable is that costume?

My nephew, Nicholas, was "blackmail."  Teen humor!

Gavin as a scary skeleton

My nephew, Joey, is missing his front teeth.  Perfect costume!

My nephew Reese.

My nephew Kevin was a hamburger.  His costume was a little cumbersome!

Nathan as a skeleton, with runny makeup!

Me, as Mary Poppins

Charlotte as Cinderella

More runny makeup!

My nephew, Caden, the dinosaur!

The cutest pink poodle ever!

DIY: Easy Halloween Costume

The kids turned down my idea of dressing like chimney sweeps for Halloween.  I was going to be Mary Poppins, with my three little chimney sweeps in tow.  Alas, they failed to share my vision.

Charlotte insists on being Cinderella.  My novice sewing skills couldn't handle that one, so a dress was promptly ordered.

The boys were a bit less opinionated.  With the promise of some black and white face-paint on Halloween, they agreed to be skeletons.

I picked up Hanes sweatpants and sweatshirts at Wal-Mart for $5 a piece.  Then, I bought 10 sheets of white felt.  Using stencils of bones, and some artistic license, I traced the bones on the felt and cut it out.  Then I used fabric glue to affix the felt to the sweatshirt and sweatpants.

If my children were in a cooperative mood, I would have gotten some shots of them actually IN the costumes.  No dice.

Here are links to the stencils I used:

Ribcage Stencil

Bones Stencil

Have you come up with any easy Halloween costumes?  Dish.