Fall traditions

Fall is over, my friends.  The Christmas stuff has been out since late October and that gets on my last nerve.  One holiday at a time, punks.

I love fall.

So let's have a quick look back before we say goodbye to Fall 2015 and gear up for the craziness that is the Christmas season.

Halloween!  I actually didn't used to get into it, but peer pressure is real out in the suburbs, my friends.  My neighbor was busting out the ghosts and shit like at the end of September.  Then my other neighbors started pulling out all the stops, putting up the spiders and lights and tombstones, so I figured I better do *something.*

Did you know that patio furniture is stupid expensive?  Because good God, it is.  One morning, I was online and saw that someone in my neighborhood was selling two chairs and a table for $50 and I snatched that up in the blink of an eye; it doesn't come cheaper than that.  The pillows weren't anything I was interested in, and that's what spurred me to sew my first pillow covers.  I bought a tablecloth from JoAnn's for $3 and I cut it up one night the girls blessed me with a long night's sleep.  That first attempt took me an hour but I'm super proud of how they came out.

I even got the pattern to match up on the back side!

I picked up some orange cushions from Pier 1 and I got my Halloween porch!

I also went to Home Depot and got a mess o' mums and some pumpkins.

Sadly, every last one of those poor mums died because I have a black thumb

but they sure were beautiful while they lasted.

This fall marks the first time that Sofia was really into painting pumpkins.

I was so excited at how much she was into it.

Her masterpiece had gold glitter eyes, a gold mouth, 

a ring of navy hair and pink ears.  It was awesome.

Andrea's was more abstract.  She slapped that paint and glitter on there

and was like "It's gorgeous Mommy." I fully agreed.

Our gym had a big Halloween party and it was actually a ton of fun.

I'm including this picture because I'm so proud of Sofia being able 

to write her own name.  The kid is a genius, what can I say.

I live for matching everything; as long as the girls will let me, I will dress them alike.

It also helps when Target has buy one get one free sales on costumes.  Holla!

All that was before Halloween; we spent the actual holiday in Myrtle Beach because they were doing work on the house (AGAIN) so the girls got to do their trick or treating at the hotel.  

This was right before we were going down to the activity center for their Halloween party.

I tried to get a more posed shot of them, but I'm such a ridiculous amateur that 

I put my poor babies in what was pretty much direct sunlight and I was all, "Smile pretty!"

My poor kids.

The girls had a blast checking out their loot!

I was afraid that they would be the only kids in the hotel for Halloween, but they weren't alone, and the hotel did a great job with all the activities for the kids.  There was a dragon egg hunt and everyone got a 'best costume' prize.  The girls each got 'best big sister witch' and 'best little sister witch.' It was so cute, and I'm keeping their little certificates.

So Halloween was a success; hopefully we'll be in town next year and they'll actually get to do the whole neighborhood thing.  But you know? It was pretty awesome the way we did it too.

Also, the beach.

Always, the beach.

And then came the rest of fall.  We took family pictures, and I switched out my porch decor.

My neighbor's 18-year-old daughter took this, can you believe that?

Talk about skills!

This is going on the Christmas card for sure!

My mums bit the dust, so I clustered all the pumpkins near the front door

and added a wreath that I made in about twenty minutes and 

it makes me smile every time I come up the driveway.

I bought another $3 tablecloth from JoAnn's and this time it only took me 

about twenty minutes to sew the pillow covers.

Right now I'm down to about fifteen minutes and most of that is lining up the fabric

and making the cuts.

When I make my Christmas pillow covers, I'm going to post a tutorial because it's 

so easy I'm kind of addicted now.

Alas, I don't think I'm going to get my bookcases done by tomorrow, but you know, it was fun to dream for a little bit.  However, I WILL get them done by the end of the year.  Hell or high water, my friends.  I mean it.

We're having friends over tomorrow, we're going to stuff our faces, fall deep into a food coma, and then, and ONLY then, will I think about decorating and celebrating Christmas.  I have big plans and I have lots of places inside and outside my house that I want to decorate so for real, stay tuned.  But for now....

One holiday at a time, punks.

Turkey turkey fall fall!!

PS - I was going to do a post outlining all the things I was grateful for, but it was sounding like gross humble bragging and just saying I'm thankful for my family and my health and that bullshit didn't come close to how I feel so I'm just going to say that I am STOOPID blessed.  I know JUST how blessed I am, how fortunate I am, how awesome my life is, and for a moment every single day, I give thanks because truly, it's a good life I have.

It's a good life indeed.