We're Pumpkin Pickers

Last Saturday we decided we needed to get away from all of the painting, unpacking, and general chaos of moving, and get out of the house for awhile. So, we hopped in the car and drove down to Belle Plaine to go to Emma Krumbee's. It was such a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun playing outside.

Is it sad that this is the first time I've ever not gotten my pumpkin from the grocery store? Yeah, you don't need to answer that.

My baby's got mad pony-riding skills.

This one does too.

Somebody was very excited to see "Mo."

It was a great day, exactly what we needed to de-stress and recharge. Have you gotten out and played in a pile of hay lately?



What I'm Digging -- Halloween Decorations

I love Halloween. I think it might be my favourite holiday, well I love Christmas too, so I guess it's a toss up between the two. Anyway, I love everything about Halloween; the costumes (although I rarely dress up), the trick-or-treating, the haunted houses, the candy, the pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies with orange icing and black sprinkles and... okay I got a little distracted there.

I also love Halloween decorations, and I thought this year I'd get a chance to really go nuts decorating. Of course that was before we went and moved two weeks ago, and now our house is decorated with lots and lots of boxes. I guess my plans will have to wait until next year. So, what I'm digging right now is some crazy cool Halloween decorations. From the simple to the over-the-top, I love them all.

1. Hostess Blog   2. Better Homes and Gardens   3. Made   4. Country Living   5. Hostess Blog
 6. Reddit   7. Apartment Therapy   8. Carina Gardner   9. Country Living   10. Craft

Pretty awesome, right?

Are you a big lover of Halloween? Do you go crazy decorating or do you prefer to keep it simple and understated?

I Can't Believe We Did It Again!

Okay, so I know I completely disapeared for awhile there but I have a good reason - we moved! Alright, it wasn't a big move, it was only about five minutes away actually, but it's still a huge pain in the butt. And, this is the third time we've moved in less than 16 months. After we sold our house in Mankato we moved into an apartment - that lasted 3 months, we are definitely NOT apartment people anymore.



Moving Day - June 2010, back when we thought we only had one big moving day in our near future.


Then we moved into a townhouse which was okay, not great, but not as bad as the apartment. When we moved in there we thought we would be there for at least two years or maybe until Jack was done with school, but over the summer we decided that place wasn't working anymore. Unfortunately we had a two-year lease and figured we would just have to tough it out. But, there was a bunch of maintenance work that wasn't disclosed to us and, among other things, we didn't have access to our deck, garage, or driveway for close to a month. We finally complained enough that our landlord agreed to let us out of the lease early.

So, we started looking at houses - and were shocked by the amount of money people wanted for complete dumps - and began to fear we were never going to find a place we liked. We saw a lot of places and we were getting really discouraged and close to giving up when we called about another house. We went to look at it without much hope it would be any better than what we'd already seen - but it was perfect! We are so in love with this house - we would offer to buy it if we knew for sure we would be staying in this area when Jack finished school. I am so excited about this place and can't wait to start sharing pictures with you!

But, this all happened in the last three weeks! We saw the house on October 2nd, filled out the application on October 3rd, and signed the lease on October 4th. And then moved less than two weeks later on October 15th! Technically we have our townhouse until the end of the month, but ever since we told that landlord that we found a new place he has been - let's say, a bit unpleasant - and our new landlord (who is awesome by the way) let us have the keys on the 15th (without having to pay any October rent!). So, we were running around crazy trying to get that place all packed up.



The kiddos are really excited to have a huge backyard to run around in.




But there's somebody else even more excited.



We're all moved in, but now we have to unpack everything. It has been complete chaos around here! But, I'm so freaking excited I can hardly stand it, and I can't wait to start decorating - Ava finally has her own room, and I got my office/studio!! So many photos to come!



This is my beautiful new dining room, aren't you jealous?


So, how was your October? I feel like this entire month just went by in a blur!

My Soap is so Fancy

Awhile ago I wrote a post announcing my papercutting shop on Etsy and mentioned that my first customer was the sweetest - well I wasn't exaggerating. Her mom makes homemade soaps with a shop in Florida, and I got a lovely little package in the mail! How cool is that?! 

I absolutely love this soap; it smells amazing and goats milk + natural sea sponge = super soft skin!

If you want your own fancy soap you should check out Rose's Botanicals

Thanks Lydia, you are too too kind!

Birthday Bunting Banner D.I.Y

Last weekend we had Riley's family party for his birthday (because one party wasn't enough?!). I've been loving all of the adorable bunting banners that are pretty dang popular right now and decided to give one a try. There's about a thousand different ways to make these; this was super easy, and I think it came out really cute!

What You'll Need:
 - Felt
 - Yarn
 - Embroidery Floss
 - Needle
 - Scissors

I can't believe I've never really used felt much before, it's so inexpensive and easy to use. I'm definitely going to use in more projects in the future.

For this I found these 8.5 x 11 sheets at Walmart for $.20 each. The first thing you need to do is cut them into triangles, I got two triangles per sheet. I cut a total of 30 triangles to make it double-sided.

Then you cut out your letters.

  

  
Stitch your letters onto your flags and then stitch the back on.

String some yarn through (it's a lot easier to use a safety pin to guide it through then a needle - my brilliant hubby recommended that when I kept getting the needle caught!) and then it's ready to hang. What's great is you can slide the flags back and forth on the yarn so it stays completely adjustable.

As soon as Riley told me he wanted his party colors to be red, white, and black - the same as his bedroom - I knew I wanted to make this double-sided so after the party was over he could hang the side with his name on in his room!

These buntings are so cute and easy to make, I think I'm going to do another one for above Ava's crib. Leave me a link if you decided to give it a try!