“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
This is one of my favorite quotes by Lucy Maud Montgomery who wrote the Anne of Green Gables series, and voices how I feel about October quite well. October is when the weather (kind of) starts cooling down, {some} of the trees start changing colors, the mornings are usually crisp, and the sunrises are on point. It starts getting dark earlier in the evenings which lends to the spookiness of the month as well as the coziness that comes with fall and winter. October, November, and December really are my favorite months. It’s fun to see how excited the kids get about the holidays and I know I’m going to get an extra dose of family time (which I look forward to more than a lot of things).
A full moon, partially obscured by wispy clouds and a clear shot of Venus (that pinpoint of light above and to the right of the moonlight-soaked clouds).October sunrises are some of my favorites.Watching the sun starting to peek over the horizon as I walk in the mornings is rather peaceful.I love this part of our park. Seeing the sunlight coming through the trees settles my heart.I found the perfect ornaments for the kids this year! Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas for Abigail and a golden snitch from Harry Potter for Joseph. 🙂I found this really cool pillow at the grocery store. I have always loved Dia de Los Muertos (and how it’s about remembering and honoring family) and I love living in San Antonio where it’s celebrated quite a bit.Paul was able to find some time to hang up the sign we bought last week at the neighborhood park event. I love the words and I think it goes well with the sign I already had (the “I love you a bushel and a peck” sign).One of my friends told me about a super-easy Halloween craft, so the next time I went to the store, I bought a mop head, a Mason jar, and a strand of battery-operated lights. I already had the witch hat and black fabric. It only took about five minutes to put together and is so cute!He was walking past her and she randomly latched onto him. Then she said, “Choo-choo! We’re a train!” He gamely played along for a few laps.Joseph’s school picture.Abigail’s school picture.Joseph’s Halloween costume this year, haha.Another beautiful October sunrise!I found a tree with leaves that are changing! This is rare in San Antonio. I also spotted a skeleton family. 🙂I don’t know what it is about sunlight and trees, but I just love it!
Joseph’s costume in action. Watching him trying to run was comical to the point of tears.
I thought I’d get the projector and flame lights (along with the vampire Snoopy) in action. The best way to do so was with a short video. Spooky, huh?
This past week started out pretty typically. We ended on a fun note, though. Paul was able to get off a bit early on Friday, so we scooted over to the zoo to see the animals for a bit before it closed for the day. They also had people handing out candy in a few different places, so the kids even got a bit of candy, which was awesome. Today, we went to the park for a neighborhood social event. The middle school band was there (they sound amazing!) and there were also a couple of face painters and a balloon artist. Joseph was kind of bored after a bit (none of his friends ended up showing up), but Abigail had enough fun for the both of them. Finally, I found a few videos that I can’t remember if I posted on here or not (I didn’t see them on my YouTube profile, so I wasn’t sure if I ever uploaded them), so you luck out and get to see some fun videos of the kids when they were younger! 🙂
Monday vibes…She was NOT going to get up and dressed for school, thank-you-very-much.The sunrise on Monday morning caught my breath a bit.I finally found a Jack to go with Zero. 🙂He was playing an educational game that helps with multiplication facts. When did he get so grown?!She wanted Paul to take her picture with her koala so that Grandma could see it (she knows my mom checks out the blog)…here you go, Mom! 😉We liked the big zoo jack-o’-lantern…and Abigail liked all the hay, haha.“Hello, bear!!!”She was excited to see this photo spot.Checking out a toucan.It isn’t often the hippos are cool enough to climb on (they get hot from the sunshine rather quickly, but it was overcast and cooler for most of yesterday, so they were perfect).I wish I could have gotten a far off shot of this statue, too. It’s three rhinos stacked on top of each other. It’s really cool.This elephant statue is a favorite with our family. We have a ton of pictures with this thing.A hornbill…Abigail was excited because it looked like Zazu on Lion King.The Nile crocodile in all his glory.She was canoeing. 🙂She got the foam headband from the prize cart at school…so she was pretending to be a canoeing ninja. 🙂Getting her face painted at the neighborhood social event.This woman was so, so good. She did it so fast!“ROAR!!”My sweet boy!Abigail and her friend with their magic wands. About two minuted after this picture was taken, Abigail’s wand popped. The balloon on the top survived, though, so we took it home and I attached it to one of the long crazy balloons we have…and all was right in the world again.We grabbed Happy Meals after the event and Abigail was insistent on sitting in her camp chair. Even though it was lower than she expected, she stuck to her guns and ate the majority of her meal there. 🙂There were a couple local vendors at the event…I picked up this sign for everyday……and this for the holidays……and these cute Christmas ornaments.
We got these cool light bulbs to put in the front porch lights. They look like flickering lights now!
Throw-back video #1: Joseph was itty-bitty and really into growling at us.
Throw-back video #2: Abigail was itty-bitty and really into chasing.
Throw-back video #3: Spinning in swings!
Throw-back video #4: Abigail loves the wind just as much as I remember loving it when I was little.
This past week was relatively normal. Abigail asked if we could put up Halloween decorations and it really didn’t take much convincing. I love Halloween! I feel like it’s the kick-off of the holiday season which is full of so much joy, excitement, and family time. With the holidays comes (somewhat) cooler weather, which is always appreciated. I’ve noticed a bit of a crispness in the air as we walk to school in the mornings which feels so nice! Oh, one funny story about Abigail: she had a bit of a rough night a couple nights ago because of having a few bad dreams. As I was getting her settled the last time, she looked at me with her face full of seriousness and said, “Hey Mom, did you know that it’s never safe to swim with sharks…even if you’re invisible…because if you’re invisible, as soon as you kick your legs, there will be bubbles that the shark can see…and he’ll get you.” I assured her that I had no plans of ever swimming with sharks or even of trying to become invisible. That girl! I never know what will come out of her mouth…even at 4:11 in the morning.
My piano decorations. I simply flip the center pumpkins around (to hide the words on the white ones and to reveal the witch on the orange one), add my “BOO” blocks, and put up a few spiders here and there.The sign for our entry-way.Our count-down. I love the little saying on it!My Halloween pillow, Abigail’s spider that she made in pre-k (the eyes are my favorite), and my giant Zero plush. This is a fun corner!Our Happy Halloween sign!The centerpiece for the dining room table. 🙂Abigail loves the ghost lights.I love the pumpkin lights…especially when all the other lights are out. They end up casting a kind of cozy glow then (not so much in this picture, since I took it during the day).Abigail’s skeleton dog and the spiderweb decoration that I’m pretty sure we’ve had our entire marriage rounded out this part of the house.Fake spiderwebs, a jack-o’-lantern, and some Nightmare Before Christmas decor add some spooky to this corner.It’s always fun to spiderweb up the bookshelves. 🙂I added the kids’ jack-o’-lanterns, a spider, and my witch books to the area under the TV.My witch-broom!I originally bought this as an outdoor decoration a few years ago, but decided it was too lightweight to be outside. I like it better in this spot.One of my favorite lyrics from Nightmare Before Christmas. I put it up every year.I found these mini pumpkins at Hobby Lobby. I think they look rather realistic, don’t you? I like that they are like Cinderella pumpkins (a bit misshapen and flatter), which are my favorite pumpkins. When Halloween is over, I’ll put away the kids’ jack-o’-lanterns and spread the pumpkins out along the top of the shelf.Our inflatable vampire Snoopy.It’s got a light inside so that it’s easier to see at night.He and Abigail are best buddies. 🙂I went to a Hocus Pocus 2 movie watching party at a friend’s house last night and brought some spooky treats. These witch hats were so easy to make. I just put some icing on top of an Oreo and then stuck a Hershey’s kiss on it. Ta-dah!These were also easy to make. I made some mini brownies (I have a pan that makes individual mini brownies) and then used more icing to stick on sugar eyeballs. It rose the spooky factor ten-fold. 🙂
