What I do on October 1st…

I LAH-UV(love) Halloween.

I get it from my mother.

So every October 1st; the spooky comes out.

My kids start asking the day that the pumpkins appear, just when the bats will show up?

My favorite is seeing their face when they come home from school, and the house is covered in the very bats they were asking for.

That’s what I did yesterday.  I let the bats out of their box.

They have been cooped up for 11 long months.

And the kids? They all ran around the house, saying look at this and look at that.

The funny thing is that the majority of the creatures were bought at the dollar store.

With a little bit of gold spray paint, you can make anything look expensive.

…And gold is my new favorite color.

Creepy and pretty don’t always go together.

So because I still like things to look pretty around here; the gold spray paint helped.

My favorite thing to do is just add a little spooky here and there, and that way the house still feels like our house.

Warm and inviting.  Which is what I hope for.

So if you come to visit; I hope your ok with crows, skeletons, and bats. In all their gold glory.

If you are, here is your warm invitation:

Welcome to our home.

It’s almost October…

but I still need to blog about our August birthdays.

I’m trying to be a better blogger, but life keeps getting in the way. 

Taking care of kids and everything they are involved with always trumps getting on my computer. 

I think I say this every time I blog so I should really stop saying it; and just be ok with the best I can do.

Any hoo… I need to include everything important to me on this blog so all the little memories are stored for my scrapbooks and history.

I do this because this old brain of mine don’t recall so well.

If you may recall, 4 Swenson’s in this house have birthdays in August.

First we start with Stella.

She turned 10 this year.

Then we have me.

I turned um. lets. just. say. older. this year.

Next is our first born, Jex.

He turned 12, which is a really special birthday in our church.

When you turn 12, you receive the priesthood.  Which allows you many special privileges and gifts.  Some of those blessings being the privilege of attending the temple and passing the sacrament.

It was such a touching day for our whole family.

We had most of our  extended family here for the ordination which made it all the more special.

Lastly, but not leastly, we celebrate Isaac.

He turned 7.

We celebrated each of these children in special ways on their own day.

Then we had one big party for all of them with our extended family.

We even celebrated our October baby so she didn’t feel left out:

It was such a fun day, and so wonderful to have our whole family over.

It’s always nice to have a reason to celebrate.

I chose to have a picnic sort of theme.

Mostly because I found picnic sort of things on clearance.

Lemonade is definitely a picnic kinda drink.

…and hot dogs are certainly a picnic kinda food.

We topped the hot dogs off with the special Utah sauce from J Dawgs.

It’s like a sweet kind of sauce and was delicious with the coleslaw I made.

I enjoyed serving our food in these cute food trays.

Watermelon is a food that is a must-have at a picnic so that is what I made the kids cakes to look like.

I made sugar cookie cakes.  I dyed the dough pink, and then frosted them to look like watermelons.

The watermelon cookie cake was also served in the adorable food trays.

We sang happy birthday four times

…and let each child blow out the candles.

It was a great party.

I love celebrating my kids.

I do not love celebrating them growing one year older.

(insert a few small tears)

Fall makes me happy.

…and pumpkins make me even happier.

Have you started decorating for fall?

I get so excited and want to start Sept. 1.

It’s hard to find pumpkins as early as September One, and I love to decorate with real pumpkins!!

So every year, I start with a few things here and there, and I’m always still wrapping things up mid-September when pumpkins become available.

I am picky about pumpkins too.  I am looking for a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors.

I also love pumpkins with fun stems, the mini pumpkins are a must, and don’t even get my started on the Cinderella pumpkins.

Those cute little pumpkins that look like they have been smashed flat.  There really is nothing cuter.

I enjoy decorating my porch as much or sometimes even more than the inside.

 

Pumpkins, Cabbages, and Mums are a must for outdoor decorating in the fall.  It was time to take out all my summer flowers and give my pots a little fall love.

Being outside in the fall is among one of may favorite things to do.  Sitting right there on those rocking chairs in the evening; there really is nothing better.

Once I get everything I want, I love to move things around, and around, and around.

I call it puttering around the house, and that is my favorite thing to do.

It is so fun to mix and match, and design and change.

I took these pictures just yesterday, and it’s been changed and added to since then.

So here it is for NOW or as of YESTERDAY; and probably how it won’t be TOMORROW.

So is here is our Abode this fall all tricked out with pumpkins, mums, banners, and love; enjoy the massive amount of photos.

You know how I feel about seeing all the details.

Happy Fall Y’all!

A few fun facts:

I made the fall banner this year with gold glitter felt found at Hobby Lobby, doilies from Michaels, and gold glitter pinecones from the $$ section at Michaels.  It is all hot glued together on twine.

All of the gold pumpkins came from the $$ tree.  They were little ugly ceramic pumpkins that I spray painted gold and made adorbs.

Sometimes I make my own printables, this year I borrowed.  Find this cute hello fall print here.

…and the little print in the gold frame …that is my baby(when she was actually my baby), with a favorite quote. 

Hey, I know it’s not October, but she is my October baby so I really love that month. Plus, the picture has pumpkins in it, and you know how I feel about pumpkins.

P.S. I am swooning over gold, and I just think it makes for a beautiful fall accent.

So go out and buy some gold spray paint, and get to sprayin.

oh,and I’ll say it again, only because I lived in Arkansas for 4 years and now I’m part Southern:

Happy Fall Y’all!