Our Fall in Photos

Sorry I have not been posting much lately.  I assure you, we have been enjoying this amazing fall.  Living it to the fullest.  Here is what we have been up to, our Fall in Photos:

Playing in the leaves with cousin Jack.

And Papa Don.

I have no idea how many leaves he ate, but I imagine it was an entire meal worth:) 

The next day, we had our family photos taken by a very talented high school friend, Angie LaRue.









Pretty awesome, right?  I knew they would be fantastic.  Angie is really great, but I already knew that;)

And now all of the following pics will look very amateur....

Last weekend, we went to Boo at the Zoo at the Milwaukee County Zoo.

With Spidey and a lion...

And Alice...

And a bag of Eminems...

And the cutest penguin on the planet.

This weekend was our yearly pumpkin patch visit.  Much to my delight, there was significantly less hatred (crying and whining) for the pumpkin patch this year than years past.

Look at these cool dudes...

Picking out pumpkins with cousins.  Be still my heart.

And finally we got our pumpkins carved right before Halloween... 

 Hope your fall has been just as full:)

Another Fall Vignette

I can't stop making little fall vignettes in my home.  Apparently, I have an addiction.  This time, the lucky spot was in my kitchen.  Here is the post that goes into how we made the kitchen hutch a few years ago.  

It was time to free up that valuable space that the tea cups were taking up since I just could not keep the main surface uncluttered with papers and mail.  I needed the cubbies that the tea cups were taking up for the 43,000 pieces of mail we get per day.  I plan on getting some baskets for that area some day.

On Fridays on my way home from work, I love to stop by St Vinny's and do a quick browse for decor items.  Recently, I came upon this pitcher.

It was going to do nothing for me as is.  But I know it only takes a few coats of my favorite spray paint to transform it to something amazing.  It has the perfect lines.

This is the spray paint I like.

I like to have a few cans on hand for projects.  I happened to have a whole one and about a quarter of another one in the garage.  Also, note the Bokeh in the background:)

I like to maximize my crafting/DIYing time so since I was going to be spray painting, I whipped up a few cake stands with some thrifted candle holders and plates.

Basically, you buy a base (candle holder) and a top (large or small plate).  Wash and dry your bases and tops.  Run a bead of this glue


around the top of the candle holder where you are going to put the plate.  Place your plate on the base and let dry for several hours (I wait 24 hours).

I am sorry I didn't get a pic of the next steps.  I took the cake holders and pitcher out to the garage and spray painted them.  I used 2 good coats.  I then let the paint dry overnight.

I could have been done at that point but I wanted to embellish the pitcher.  I decided on a number.  The number 3.  Why?  Because I already have a number 4 in the house and I felt I would get crap about using a number 2:)  There are many ways to add the number 3.  Paint it free hand or stencil it.  I choose to cut out a 3 from a piece of vinyl chalkboard adhesive I got from Hobby Lobby (I think).  So after cutting out the 3, I removed the backing and just stuck it on the pitcher.  Then I rubbed some chalk over the 3.  Here is the new fall vignette above my kitchen hutch.

 I promise the hutch is not really this electric of green.  I have no idea why it shows up like this on this pic.

I got the prints at Goodwill a while back.  The tea cups and saucers are from my MIL.  The wheat and little pumpkins are from Hobby Lobby.  I had the wooden pumpkin for ages and have no idea where I got it.  Thank goodness this space is now autumnized.

She grows

Dear Sydney,
You turned 8 months old on October 1st.  Stranger danger is in FULL effect.  So is being your Mama's magnet.   But I still managed to get a few pics of you with your Great Grandma...

And Great Grandpa...

Unfortunately, I missed an opportunity to get one of you and your other Great Grandma.

This week has been full of milestones.  In one week, you started saying your first word, "Mama", regularly, pulled yourself up to standing several times, started giving high 5's and started clapping.  It is like you suddenly realized that you do have the capability to make things happen.  And when you are in the right mood, you will start to copy what we say.  Like "Dada" and "Yeah yeah."

You are fantastic at playing (especially when I am not in the room or you don't know I am in the room).

And you really love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

I am a little worried you might have your father's hair.  Thin and wispy.  Fuzzy.  Time will tell.  

I am sorry your brother grabs you too hard, hangs on too long and is too loud.  I am sorry that he constantly has to slither his body between you and me.  I am sorry I have to spend 80% of my time negotiating with him to get him to do the simplest of tasks.  Only thing I can tell you about that is it will teach you patience, your own negotiating skills and how to defend yourself.  You can thank him later in life. 

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I am enjoying ever day with you and our little family.  I am truly enjoying watching you grow and learn and interact with us.  Looking forward to tomorrow.

Love, 

Mama

Chalkboard wall + deer head + glitter

I was wandering around Michael's the other day, try to keep my head from exploding thinking about all the potential projects I could do when I came across a paper mache deer head.

 "Mom, mom, MOM!  I want to be in the picture too!"

I don't know about you, but when you see a paper mache deer head, do you not think of white paint and gold glitter??  No?  Weird.

Anyway, I spray painted the head and ear part with my favorite spray paint. Let that dry and then wrapped that part with Saran wrap to glitter the antlers.

But then the great North American glitter spill occurred...

Ok, fine that was a bit dramatic.

Here is the final product...

Which I did love but it was not really the impact I was hoping for.

So Saturday morning, I woke and the idea just popped into my head.  I need to paint a wall in the living room with chalkboard paint.  The deer head would look amazing on that!

I snapped a quick iphone pic to show you the before.

Don't mind the mess:)  Its real life, people.

And here is the after with paper mache deer head included...

Seriously in love with this wall now.  I am suddenly in love with black and gold.  The wooden frames I found in a shed while visiting my parents recently.  My dad had made them for a pergola project.  I found the horseshoe in my grandma's shed.  She had even painted it white at some point in time:)

I used Rustoleum chalkboard paint.  So go get some and paint a wall, quick!

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