Suzanne McGrath Photography

Six on Sunday

It's been an interesting day.  Not a busy, run around all day, just interesting.  Anyway, I digress...  Our weekend was lovely.  We only had three soccer games and one tennis lesson.  I can handle that!  

1.  Today started pretty early with a 7am soccer game for #3 but she scored a goal and it was so worth it to get up at 6am.  She scored on a breakaway and she is so darn fast that the other team just could not catch her.  And her shot was right into the corner of the net.  We celebrated with a stop at McDonald's on the way home for coffee (me) and hot chocolate (her).  

The rest of the day we were completely open.  That NEVER happens around here.  The hubby spent the whole day - I'm not exaggerating here - the whole day working on our refrigerator:

It turns out some part was frozen and it should not be frozen.  (I think it was more than just a part but I didn't really listen to details because BORING.)  So he unplugged the whole thing and spent the day blow drying it to get it to defrost.  He FINALLY got it done right as we sat down to dinner.  I guess there is some hack about sticking a piece of copper down there to prevent it from freezing again.  Who knows?  But if your refrigerator ever starts getting pools of water below the bottom drawer, holler!  We've got you covered.

Meanwhile, I edited pictures and worked on our Christmas card.  I know, right?!  But I had the time so I figured, why not?  The Littles played outside most of the afternoon while #2 did homework and #1 refereed a bunch of soccer games.  The moral of the story?  It was a perfectly lovely quiet day at home.

 

2.  If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen my porch at night.  I had a little time on my hands and thought it would be fun to surprise the girls when they got home from school last Monday.  So this is what I did:

 

And here it is at night:

It's really fun!

 

3.  I took our family pictures yesterday.  We were in and out in 20 minutes!  I spent most of the time shooting the girls but I did get two good family pictures thanks to my tripod.  Here's one of the girls that I won't use for our Christmas cards:

It's hard to get all four of them standing up due to their various heights but I think this one works.  Also, check out #4's shoes.  I refuse to buy her cute shoes she will never wear.  Hence, she just wore her tennis shoes.  But I figure it really captures her spirit right now!

 

4.  I posted this picture last Thursday, but if you didn't read my One Room Challenge update, then you haven't seen this yet.  Here is the floor in the little girls's bathroom:

I seriously love it so much!  This weekend I painted the walls.  Again.  (Darker.)

 

5.  Last Friday night my friend, Christi, and I went to the Midland Theater downtown to see Elle King again.  She did not disappoint.  She is so good live!  We had a blast!

Her voice is the perfect blend of bluesy and raspy.  Seriously, if you haven't listened to her, you are missing out!

 

6.  Tonight after dinner the girls all carved their pumpkins.  I love that the big girls are just as into it as the little girls!  And you know what else I love?  That they are able to clean up their mess after they are done.  Priceless!

 

The finished products:

Didn't they do a great job?  I wanted to carve a pumpkin myself but I forgot to buy one for me.  Oops!  Next year.  

 

And with that, you are all caught up!  Happy Halloween Eve!







 

A Halloween (Half) Birthday Party

So I talked about #4's (half) birthday party on Six on Sunday.  But I didn't want to hijack that post with tons of pictures of the party, so I thought I'd do a separate post.  So here goes...

As you know, #4 actually turned seven back in April.  However, I couldn't get my sh*t together until October. It all worked out great because we were able to leverage Halloween and make the party even "funner"!  (What movie is that from?!)  Also, it was great because our house is already decorated for Halloween so I just added a few touches here and there to make it "birthday" decorated.

I started with a simple banner that I made from black and orange plates - courtesy of the Dollar Store and Target.  I just freehand cut out the letters and glued them on to the plates.  I found the cutest clothes pins from Target's Dollar section and used those to hang the plates to bakers twine that I strung across the windows with 3M hooks:

The color scheme looks great with my black and white Roman shades.  Bonus!

 

The Dollar Store had the cutest goblets and I couldn't resist.  Isn't the table setting fun?!

 

The girls made their own pizzas using my favorite pizza crust recipe and then had fruit and pretzel rods dipped in chocolate for dinner.  So easy and they loved it.  I did make a watermelon that looked like he was puking - I thought that was Halloween-ish:

 

And the drink was awesome - witches brew.  The secret is dry ice which I just picked up at Hy-Vee (in a small cooler in the frozen food section).

Witches Brew:

• bottle of sparkling grape juice
• bottle of sparkling apple juice
• 2 cups of OJ
• 1/2 cup Lemon Juice (cuts the sweetness of the others)
• Dry Ice

After dinner the girls played a ring toss game.  I forgot to take pictures but they just threw glow bracelets (from the Dollar Store) around the stem of small pumpkins.  They thought it was super fun and took lots and lots of turns!

Then they each painted a pumpkin.  I just set out all my acrylic paints, some stickers, and they went to town!

I actually pulled out the chairs and had them stand at the table which worked great.  They were able to get close enough to the table and keep the mess on top - even though I had drop cloths on the floor.

 

Lastly, we celebrated and sang Happy Birthday with this ghost cake:

That cake is the easiest thing in the world!  Betty Crocker and I made the cake.  Then I cut off the top to look like a ghost.  I took those two pieces and attached them to the body of the cake with toothpicks so they look like arms reaching out.  It took me almost two containers of frosting to frost the whole thing.  The pièce de résistance were the flaming eyeballs. (Admittedly we lit them at least three times because they were so fun to blow out!)  

The eyeballs are just eggshells with a sugar cube nestled inside.  Then I put a little lemon extract on top of the sugar cubes and lit them on fire.  That's it!  

The girls ended the evening "watching" the classic Ghostbusters movie.  But honestly, I think they watched it for 5 minutes while they ate popcorn.  The rest of the evening they just ran around - inside and outside, jumping on the trampoline, and playing.  They had so much fun that I didn't care what they did!

And there you have it - how to throw a Halloween/Birthday party.  Let me know if you have any questions!   

 

 

 

My Halloween House...the Decorations, I Mean...

I'm finally here.  I wanted to get this post up last week but then I decided to take a detour down the One Room Challenge path...

Anyway, I thought I'd share my Halloween decorations.  They don't vary much from year to year but that's fine with me.  The kids remember all the details and love to follow traditions.  So it's all good!

This post will be quick and mostly pictures - so here goes...

This is the view when you walk in the front door:

 

The floating witch hats are sort of a pain to hang up but the kids love them.

 

Here's a close up of the round table:

 

If you are standing on the striped rug in the foyer and turn left, this is the table I put together/painted several years ago.  I still love it.  And I'll be able to keep this wreath up through Thanksgiving which is awesome.  I love decorations that pull double-duty!

 

Now, if you turn right, you look into the music room.  I get a kick out of this little vignette!

 

Walking in to the family room...

This little vignette will take me through Thanksgiving, too.  Bonus.  (Don't you love those hydrangeas?  I cut a TON off our bushes this year!)

 

Here is the mantel:

 

Moving on to the kitchen via the breakfast nook...

 

We added a little something to our bar cart this year.  

 

The kids had a BLAST working on the potions.  We downloaded Harry Potter potion labels from the internet and used Modge Podge to attach the labels to glass jars from the Dollar Store and Target.  I think they are so clever!

 

We just added a couple small touches to the kitchen:

 

I'll leave you with a couple nighttime scenes of the mantel.  (Hint:  We never light the candles but we ALWAYS turn on the lights!)

 

And there you have it!  I hope you enjoyed this quick little tour.  Have you done any decorating?

Six on Sunday...Go Royals!

It's 5:25pm and I'm blogging.  Because, Royals!  Our neighbor's invited us over to watch the game in the driveway.  I can't wait.  I just started watching baseball in the last few weeks.  I'm totally not dedicated but it is pretty exciting to be in the World Series again.  And the more I learn about the sport, the more interesting it is to watch it.  So there's that!

Also - and completely unrelated - up to now I've had two pieces of toast and a cheese stick to eat.  Dinner is cooking downstairs and I can't wait!  Crock pot chicken, roasted asparagus, and garlic mashed potatoes in case you're interested. All that to say I'm going to try to speed through my list!

1.   #4 completed her last swimming lesson last Monday night:

Here she is with Miss Natalie, who has been teaching her for the past year and a half.  I'm telling you, if you are looking for lessons, Miss Natalie at Midwest Aquatics is the bomb dot com!  #4 adored her and learned so much.  She can now do the free style, back stroke, and she was learning the whip kick.  She is also awesome at streamlining.  But, we needed a little break.  We need to ease up on our schedule and just kick back and relax a bit more this winter.  So we're taking some time off.

2.  As you may know, we have two Chevys:  a 2003 Trailblazer and a 2005 Suburban.  As you can tell, our cars are old and have a lot of miles on them.  So we deal with a few issues.  (We're risk takers - we like to live on the edge!)  

Remember how I wrote about the Trailblazer just randomly not starting?  Well, as luck would have it, it did at NTB this morning while picking up the Suburban.  And the good folks over there helped us identify the problem.  You may be thinking the starter?  The alternator?  Perhaps the battery?  Well, you would be wrong.  It was a rusted out bolt.  Yep, a bolt.  There was some bolt that was loose and if it was just so - the battery wouldn't make the connection.  They figured it out and replaced the bolt in about 10 minutes.  How awesome is that?!  

Meanwhile, the Suburban was there getting new tires.  Should we have needed new tires?  Absolutely not as the ones we had were only at half-life.  However, the folks at Costco screwed us over!  Oh yes, they did and I am going to write about it!  

So we (read:  the hubby) bought new tires at Costco thinking we were getting a good deal.  He faithfully took the car in to have the tires rotated every 5,000 miles - enduring wait times as long as 3 hours since he couldn't make an appointment.  But seriously, every 5,000 miles!  Well, the last time he took the car in to rotate the tires they told him they couldn't rotate them because they were completely worn on the inside.  What the hell?  They proceeded to tell him their notes from the previous rotation showed that they were wearing slightly unevenly and we should get it checked out.  Did they tell us about that issue? Nope.  Nor did they make note of it on the receipt because we save every single receipt when it comes to car issues.  We were livid.  We raised the issue to management and corporate to no avail.  We felt they should have done something to make it right but instead refused to take any culpability.  

After we chatted with friends about this, we have found we aren't the only ones upset with Costco over tires.  The moral of this story?  Do not buy tires at Costco.  Ever.

3.  #2 had a soccer tournament this weekend.  They won their first game, tied their second game, and lost their third game.  It was a great weekend of soccer and we were sad they couldn't pull off a trip to the championship game, but that's life.  Here are the girls - love them all!

4.  Last night was a crazy, busy night of Halloween, the Royals, and soccer.

These kids all trick-or-treated together except #1.  (She hung out with friends, instead.) 

 

And here is #2 with her friend, Emma, from soccer.  #2 was Mary Poppins - she looks totally believable, doesn't she?

 

So #2 had a 3pm soccer game and we brought Emma home with us.  They went trick-or-treating with a third soccer friend (she was late so no picture!) until 8:00pm when the hubby went and picked them up.  They came home, changed super fast, and headed out to their 8:30pm soccer game.  (Don't even get me started that the tournament scheduled that game.  Ridiculous.)  I was just thankful they got to go out and had fun!

Meanwhile, the littles went out with the neighbor girls.  Honestly, I think the dads love it just as much as the kids.  The dads each had their little coolers filled with beer.  Too funny.  I should have grabbed a picture of them!

This is the loot from the Littles:

I stayed home to hand out candy and watch the Royals.  All good!

5.  I've already started buying Christmas gifts.  That's right, Christmas.  I figured I might as well spread out the money.  Why not?  I can't write what I've bought in case the big girls read this.  But suffice it to say I've purchased several stocking stuffers as well as their Christmas Eve gifts.  I feel so accomplished!

6.  I used this for the first time last week and it was a little slice of heaven:

And there you have it!  Time to go mash some potatoes and pig out.  Have a great week!

 

Six on Sunday

So it's only 6:40pm and yet it feels like midnight.  This time change thing blows.

1.  We had a fabulous Halloween!  The girls all trick-or-treated with various friends.  The weather was do-able.  Certainly not warm, but everyone lasted and no one came home crying.  I enjoyed an hour or so to myself, drinking red wine.  Ahhhh...so nice.

Going left to right:  The Incredibles, Robin, a peacock, and a goth witch.  (#4's favorite color is black and she didn't want the cute witch costume.  Oh no.  She wanted the all black witch costume.)

We carved pumpkins over three nights - Wed, Thurs, and Fri.  I think they all turned out pretty great.

After trick-or-treating we had a few neighbors over and had a great time.  I love our neighborhood!

2.  I think I am done (for now) with hanging frames for my gallery wall.  They aren't all filled with artwork yet, but it's a good start.  I wanted to do something to try to take away attention from the TV.

3.  On the shower front, we didn't make as much headway as we hoped.  Therefore, we're going to have to do some work this week.  The hubby managed to frame in the large niche and put down the curb, but that was it.  This week we're going to do the pre-slope.  Once that's dry we can lay down the liner and put in the mortar bed which is what we'll tile over.  Such a process.  Sheesh!

4.  It was a fairly busy weekend.  #1 had a swim meet both days (which really halted work on the shower), Halloween was thrown in for good measure including a 5-girl sleepover, and I had 3 photoshoots!  We're lucky #2 didn't have any soccer games.

Speaking of photoshoots, here's a few sneak peeks.  

That sassy pose just kills me!  And yes, I also got one with her foot down.

 

And how cute is this next one - with the dog?  Totally the all-American family.

 

Next up...

This little red-head made me work for it!  I've forgotten all my one-year-old tricks now that my baby is 5.  And a half.  No matter - we got some good ones!

 

If you've been reading awhile, you might remember I photographed a wedding a few years ago.  Well, Darcy and Chris were the happy couple and as you can see above they expanded their family and they're going to add another one in Feb.  Isn't that cool?!  And don't you love his red hair?!  So cute.  

 

And these guys we've been friends with since we moved to KC some 18 years ago!  In fact, we had a photoshoot together a few years ago.  You can check them out here.  (That link just took me a good while to find because I thought I took their pics back in 2012.  Nope.  It was clear back in 2010!)

 

(I swear Christi's eyes are open.  When I open it in Bridge they're fine so I think the pixels are getting compressed a bit on my screen.)

I adored Sydney's animal print pants and have to hold myself back from getting them for my littles!

 

After my sessions were done I shot a few with my girls:

So sweet!

5.  Remember last Sunday how I was so excited not to cook this past week?  Well, it was nice but not as nice as I thought it would be.  Turns out the sides (veggies and fruits) take some time to prepare.  I'd like to try it again when I have time on a Sunday to prepare everything else.  I think that will make a big difference.

Speaking of preparing the veggies - I did that today.  The little girls helped which was actually really great!  We cut up green beans, broccoli, butternut squash, zucchini, green onions, and Romaine lettuce. It will really help my evenings.

So what are we eating?  We're trying some new recipes!  

• Tonight:  potato soup in the crockpot + apples + roasted zucchini + French bread for dipping

• Monday:  Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Bacon and Smoky Roasted Chicpeas + Green Beans + Fruit  (I'm sure I'll make homemade mac-n-cheese for the littles)

• Tuesday: Crock pot Balsamic Beef Sandwiches with Blue Cheese and Crispy Shallot and Au Jus + Asparagis + Fruit 

• Wednesday:  Crunchy Stuffed Buffalo Chicken Breasts with Ranch Roasted Potatoes + Broccoli + Fruit

• Thursday:  Spaghetti and Meatball Soup + Caesar Salad + Fruit  (Last time I made this I think I shorted the meatballs - bad idea.  Also, this time I'm going to use smaller pasta like medium shells.  But the flavor was great and I really loved the chopped up veggies hidden in there.)

• Friday:  Pizza at my mom's house

6.  I'm thinking about updating my blog - both design and function.  I've started checking into it but sheesh - it's not cheap!  I'm going to have to mull it over.  But I've got years of archives and projects and no great way to search.  I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet.

Alrighty then!  That's all I've got for tonight.  Have a fantastic week!

 

 


 

 

Six on Sunday

I'm pretty proud of myself for being here tonight since we just got back from Lincoln today.  I think I'll pat myself on the back before I get started.  Done.

1.  #2 and I worked on her Halloween costume last week.  First we ironed on the logo and then had to paint in the lighter colors.  But I have to say, it turned out pretty well!

We did it Monday night so it would be ready to go by Wednesday.  It must've been a sign that I just happened to have acrylic paint and fabric medium on hand!  It was meant to be.  I can't wait to post pics of all the girls next weekend!  I love Halloween!

2.  We (when I say "we" I really mean "the hubby") made progress on our bathroom.  Not much - but I'll take it!

That, right there, took quite a bit of finagling.  I would estimate it took him a couple hours to get that done.  But now that we have the drain installed we can start the whole process to put it back together.  So exciting! 

3.  Our whole family split up into three different directions this past weekend.  The little girls went down to Arkansas to stay with my mom, the big girls went down to Texas with their other grandparents to visit their aunt, and the hubby and I drove up to Lincoln for the game.  We all had a blast!

I met my mom halfway last Wednesday night to drop off the littles.  

They had so much fun!  They went to Zumba, got their nails done, went shopping, went out for dinner, took a hike, went to the pumpkin farm, and went to a movie.  I'm not even sure if that covers it all!  I asked them each their favorite part and #3 said the movie and #4 said sliding down a hay bale.  Kids.  

Lucky for us my mom and her friend drove the girls up here for us since we were coming back from Lincoln today.  And they didn't even stay overnight!  She has an early morning hike tomorrow so she had to get back.  We were so grateful not to have to spend more time in the car!

Meanwhile, the big girls are having lots of fun in Dallas.  (They fly home tomorrow night.)  #2 was able to sleep over at her BFF's house Friday night.  (Adeline moved to Dallas 3 years ago and they are still the best of friends - love it!)  And then today they cheered on their aunt (the hubby's sister) while she completed a Half Ironman in Austin, TX.  Isn't that so cool?  Here are the three of them after the race:

Doesn't Erin look good?  I mean, if it were me and I had just swam, biked, and run 70.3 miles you'd have to peel me off the sidewalk!  She is a machine.  

4.  Check out this picture:

It may not look like much but do you know what means!?!?  That means I don't have to cook for the ENTIRE WEEK!  That's right.  I have cooked enough to freeze that I now have a week's worth of meals.  (Of course I'll still have to put together some of the sides.)  I'm so excited!  Here's what's on the menu:

• Runzas + sweet potato fries + and green beans  (all frozen!)
• Spaghetti + spaghetti squash + bread + salad
• Chili + salad + homemade cornbread (Halloween night tradition)
• Enchilada casserole + fruit
• Lentil tacos (have to make those) + pork taquitos + fruit
• Lazagna + caesar salad

If this works out to be as brilliant as I am thinking it will, I'm going to do it again for a week in December when we are really busy.  So excited to get the week off from cooking.

5.  Today I finally started painting the little girls' headboards.  It was so easy I'm not sure why I waited so long?  Here's the front:

I know it's hard to tell what's going on in that crappy iPhone pictures.  I am painting the frame a very, very light lavendar.  Then I'm going to upholster the inside with darker purple and white polka dot fabric.  

I have all the supplies so now I just need to make it happen.  Hopefully this week.

6.  Our trip to Lincoln was a ton of fun, as usual.  We had a smaller group this year but that didn't put a damper on anything.  We met one of Vicki's friends from high school and really enjoyed hanging out with Dan for the weekend, too!  And one of the hubby's buddies came down from Omaha for the day yesterday and went to the game with us.  All in all, it was a great weekend!

Friday night we visited all our usual haunts:  Yia Yia's for pizza, Harry's Wonder Bar, The Brass Rail, and Duffy's.  

We didn't exactly hit the ground running Saturday morning, if you know what I mean.  We started off slowly with a couple of these for breakfast before the game:

 

The game started at 11 which is a little on the early side, if you ask me!  But, we couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather.  It was spectacular!

 

Per our usual, we made ourselves a couple drinks for while in the stadium:

And we finished out the afternoon/evening at Barry's, some other new bar in the Rail Yard area (I think that's what it's called) dinner at Lazlo's and back at the hotel bar.

I love these weekends.  We have so much fun with our friends and re-charge our batteries a little.  It's nice not to have responsibility for a day or two!    

So there you go!  I hope you have a fabulous week and enjoy Halloween!

Six on Sunday

It's November!  And yes, I'm gearing up for Christmas already.  I can't wait.  But, enough chit chat.  Let's get started...

1.  #2 broke her wrist yesterday.  The exact same fracture her sister had two summers ago.  That's why I knew IMMEDIATELY it was broken.  

The second half of the first soccer game in the tournament had just started.  #2 plays defender - and rather aggressively, I might add.  She is not afraid of the soccer ball or other players.  She was racing the other team's forward to block the other girl from taking a shot.  Well, as happens, they both went after the ball and fell in a heep on the ground.  Typical.  Except #2 didn't get up right away.  Well, she did and then she took a knee.  I thought her hand had been stepped on so I wasn't too worried.  Except she didn't return to the game the whole second half.  Usually she can shake something off if she's hurt.  But she was injured.  Not good.  (Tangent:  Isn't that from a movie?  "Are you hurt or are you injured?!")  

Since the hubby and I had driven separate cars to the game, I gathered the littles and headed home.  The hubby and #2 were close behind.  As soon as she walked in the door and told me how she had fallen on her hand (her hand was bent back and then she fell on it), I knew.  It was broken.  We headed to Children's Mercy South ER (because last time we went to Urgent Care and it was a nightmare).  We were in and out in an hour and a half, tops, with a buckle fracture diagnosis.  And a massive splint and sling.

Bummer.  She LOVES soccer.  And she couldn't play the last two games.  Unfortunately, her great friend and teammate is also suffering a broken bone (foot) so they warmed the bench together for last night's game and this morning's game.  That left their poor teammates with only one sub.  One.  Uno.  That's rough.

But the girls were troopers and so were the parents and siblings.  Check out #3 and #4 from this morning's game:

Yep.  It was cold.

And that is the story of the broken wrist.  Thankfully, she's in good spirits, not much pain, and outdoor soccer is over for the season.  She'll miss a little futsol but she'll survive.  

2.  I told you #1 got braces last week but didn't have a good picture to show you.  I rectified the situation because I needed a photo for Project Life.  So here she is.  I think she looks cute!

(Her forehead really isn't that big.  The damn iPhone distorts images when close-up.)

3.  Today was fabulous.  The hubby took #1 to her swim meet this morning.  She had a great meet this weekend and dropped a lot of time.  I think she picked up another "A" time, too.  Sweet!  The best part about it?  She really doesn't even realize what she's accomplished.  

Meanwhile, I took the three girls to #2's soccer game, out for Dunkin Donuts, and then back home where my sister met us with her two kids.  Grant and Sydney hung out with us for the day.  And oh my goodness did the kids play hard.  They were outside nearly ALL DAY!  

Meanwhile, I cooked up a storm!  I made a chicken in the crockpot last night and then made chicken stock overnight.  I used that chicken stock to make homemade chicken noodle soup.  We had it for lunch and then I froze 6 individual servings (in pint jars) to re-heat for the girls' lunches.  I also made zucchini muffins from all natural ingredients which the kids devoured.  (I froze some for lunches, too.)  I made homemade granola that is DELICIOUS!  I mean seriously, to die for.  #1 is going to try it with milk tomorrow for breakfast.  It's that good.  I also made meatballs and spaghetti.  I gave some to my sister to heat up this week, we ate it for dinner, and I froze some sauce for the girls' lunch.  Can you believe it?!  That was a ton of work but I really enjoyed myself.  

I also managed to drop #4 off at a friend's house for a playdate and take #2 shopping for some elastic waisted pants.  Productive, no?!

4.  I can't get enough of the gorgeous fall leaves this year.  I don't remember the colors lasting for so long in years past?  I could just have a faulty memory but whatever - I love it!  I keep taking pictures of the leaves with my iPhone!

5.  Halloween.  I am so sad I wasn't able to capture a shot of my girls all at once, but it just didn't happen.  #2 had soccer practice from 4-5 and then went over to a friend's house for dinner and trick-or-treating.  Meanwhile, #1 had swim practice from 5-6 and then went trick-or-treating with a friend.  Meanwhile AGAIN, #3 and #4 went trick-or-treating with their friend down the street about 6:15.  So literally, the kids were not all in the house AND dressed up at the same time.  Sad...

BUT...they all had a blast!  And that makes it all worth it.

#1 was Flo, the Progressive lady.  Since it was dark out, I wasn't able to get a great shot but trust me.  She looked awesome!

#2, never one to shy away from a challenge, was half skeleton and half goth girl.  I don't know WHERE she comes up with this stuff!

Clearly I don't need to point out which one she was!

#3 was a Dark Countess and #4 was a princess.  They had so much fun trick-or-treating and stayed out until 8pm which I thought was really good!  It didn't hurt that the weather was absolutely gorgeous.

Since the little girls were already in bed when the big girls got home, they sorted and traded their candy on Friday night.  It was so fun watching the four of them!

I love watching the girls at these ages.  They are so fun and such great sisters to each other!

6.  Last Halloween couldn't have been any more of the polar opposite to this Halloween.  We were dealt a devestating blow that took the wind out of our sails and literally stopped us in our tracks.  But this Halloween?  That news (which is not mine to discuss) has not had the impact/effect we feared.  And right now life is so sweet and for that we are incredibly humbled and blessed.  May it continue...

 

Thrifty Thursday...a Halloween Mantel

I'm back with more Halloween decorations.  But I swear this is it.  I'm done.  

I had to wait to put together my Halloween mantel b/c I needed a new frame and I knew I'd find one when I went thrifting (#1 in Six on Sunday).  And guess what?  I did!  A $7 frame was perfect.  I love when that happens.

I will admit that I shamelessly copied Lucy from Craftberry Bush.  But I just love it!  And I'm good at copying - it's a gift:)

Here it is!

 

And with my also-copied Nevermore banner:

It looks good together, no?

And some details.  The only thing I bought for this Mantel was the $7 picture frame and the feather boa.  Oh - and the black net.  I had everything else on hand.  So I took it as a sign that this was meant to be.  

Do you see that two-tier wood serving piece?  Love it.  Acquired it thrifting.  I love it.  (But I didn't get it for this mantel - it just happened to work here.)

One last picture:

I hope you enjoyed my little slide show...

Have you started decorating yet?

Thrifty Thursday...Halloween and Fall Decorations

Howdy!  I am so excited for this post because I LOVE Halloween!  I seriously love decorating for it.  So tonight I'm going to show you what we've done so far.  (We're going to change up my mantel this weekend.)  Sit back, grab a drink, and take a look at a bunch of pictures.

First up...my foyer.  This is what you see when you walk in the front door so I think it sets the tone for the whole first floor.

(I'm not loving that cord so I might need to try to hide it somehow?)

 

Here it is at night.  So fun.

 

I've never decorated my round table but I had fun with it this year.  It's a nod to the Pottery Barn catalogue.

 

I moved our large spider web this year and I really like it up here!

 

And I added just a touch of fall with my hydrangeas.  Love them.

 

Moving on to my half bath.  I added just a few simple touches.

 

Actually, #2 came up with the idea to layer the towels and I have to say, I love it!

 

Moving on to my kitchen...

 

I haven't even officially "revealed" my re-done bar cart but here it is.  I got a kick out of doing this.

Since it was No-Spend September, I found that lamp in my basement but it was pink.  Naturally I spray painted it black since I have a huge stash of spray paint.  I couldn't buy a lamp shade (that would have broken the rules) but then I figured, Hey, leave it naked!  In the end it looks even more "spooky" to me without the lamp shade.  Perfect!

The bottom of the cart is a hodge podge of things that are near and dear to me.  The hubby made that jack-o-lantern when he was a kid.  I found those china dishes at Salvation army last year and I LOVE THEM.  And lastly, those beer steins were a wedding present from one of our dearest friends - brought all the way from Germany.  I am so excited to get to display them - only 16 years later:)

 

Let's move on to the dining room, shall we?

Up until this year, we haven't actually had furniture in here.  So this was a novel concept to decorate.  But I figured, Why not?  Bring it!

Those gray dishes are the ones from Salvation Army and the cream ones I inherited from my grandmother.  I love how the gold ties them together.  Plus, I just love gold.  Majorly.  

Oooohhh...spooky...

 

I love decorating with hedge apples.  First of all, they're free.  Score.  Second of all, that color!  It's such an amazing, perfect shade of green.  I can't get enough.  I even scored enough to use some at my sister's house.  

 

Last room, the family room.  Here's my little art caddy which is now just a fun fall display.  

 

I already showed you my fall mantel, but we added a few things this weekend.  Namely, two strings of lights and a banner.

 

I actually found that banner on Pinterest and copied the idea but made it my own.  I have to give credit where credit is due, though.  Check out this link to see the original!

Again, since it was No-Spend September I just used what I had on hand:  an old newspaper, black glitter and glue, cardstock, and black eyelets.

First, I cut out my cardstock into 5"x8" pieces.  Then I brushed on modge podge and covered the cardstock with newspaper and cut off the excess.  I printed out my letters on plain printer paper using Charlamagne Standard font and then cut them out.  I glued the letters onto the 5"x8" pieces and then applied glitter.  Lastly, I needed to be able to string them together so I added eyelets to the top corners.  Done.  All told it probably took an hour or so?  It was actually kind of fun to put together.  I just hid out so I didn't have "help" from the littles.

Phew.  If you made it this far, thank you.  I hope to have a new Halloween mantel done after my thrift shopping this weekend.  Hopefully I will have good luck.  

See you next week with another Thrifty Thursday!

Six on Sunday

For only having one soccer game, this weekend just flew by!  So here goes...

1.  Remember how I talked about my great run last Sunday (#2 in Six on Sunday)?  Well,  crossing my fingers didn't work - my foot was sore all week.  So bad I broke out this bad boy again...  

Yep.  I don't need an X-ray to be about 98% certain I now have a stress fracture.  I couldn't walk normally until today - a full week later.  Which means there is practically no way I will be ready to run 26.2 miles in two weeks.  

I am definitely bummed.  But I always knew, in the back of my mind, that this was a risk.  Afterall, I only missed four long runs and 3 weeks of workouts after I broke my foot in July.  I think I just didn't ease back into things slow enough.  So...I will most likely go and cheer on my training partners!  Life goes on and I don't want to waste my time crying over something I can't change.

2.  We had dinner with friends on Friday night and had a blast!  Here are the three littlest ones:

I went around their house taking pictures of all the awesome frames Chad has built for their artwork.  And I have to say I am excited to give a couple a try.  I have two pictures I LOVE but they each need a special frame.  I am up for the challenge.  (After I wrap up the kitchen, that is.)

3.  Speaking of the kitchen...we made some great progress today.  I drilled all the hinge holes which is more than I can even count (but definitely more than 20 holes).  That's a lot of drilling!  Of those doors, we were able to hang six which makes me really happy.  I think we'll be able to wrap it all up next weekend. WooHoo!

Here is a sneak peek of a finished corner:

I am so loving the gray and white combo.  Timeless and elegant and modern.  

4.  As I mentioned above, we only had one soccer game this weekend.  One.  That's practically like zero in our house!  #2 played at 8am this morning.  It was 46* when I rolled out of bed.  But by the time the game was over I had shed my jacket and was only wearing my sweatshirt.  I have to say, it was a really beautiful morning for a soccer game.  Here are the dads getting set up while the girls warmed up:

I swear that picture does not do it justice.  Gorgeous.

5.  We decorated this weekend.  Quite a bit.  I added a couple touches of fall:

And a LOT of Halloween.  I didn't have time to properly shoot everything, so you'll have to settle for this one:

Plus, I'd like to add just a couple more touches - a ribbon here or there.  But I didn't want to ignore No-Spend September so I think I'll pick up a couple rolls of ribbon this week and put the finishing touches on later.  But I have to say, I'm excited.  I think it looks GOOD!

6.  It's that time of season - Photo Shoots.  I had a senior picture shoot and a family picture shoot this past week.  I'll show you one of each.  

First, here's Andy.  Class of 2014 from Blue Valley West.  (And my neighbor.)  Love him.

And my running partner's three boys.  So cute!

Phew!  That's it.  My week in review, if you will.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!