HAAAAAAPPPPPYYYYY HAAAALLLLLOOOWWWWEEEENNN!!!!!!!!!!

..EVERYONE!

this year is the first year i haven't carved a pumpkin myself with the kids.

i had a pretty exhausting weekend, so by the time it came to 'pumpkin carvin' time last night, i passed the torch to mike!!

(L to R...court's, mike's and ty's...)

...aside from Christmas, Halloween is my second favorite season of the year.  i love seeing all the houses all decorated and lit up as the Hallow'd eve approaches!  the kids get excited about planning what to dress as for costumes, and they look forward to their school parties every year too.

courtney's school has an afternoon dance, and this is the first year that tyler's school will be having a "sock hop" this afternoon as well! 

sooooo...lunchtime today was a chaotic RUSH!

( i'm sure most of you can relate to this! )

this years costumes were planned out well ahead of the game...

Courtney...a Zombie Bride

Tyler...a Vampire

i took courtney to good ol' value village to rely on finding an old, once adored, wedding gown and veil.

Check!  ( plenty to choose from...the gawdier, the better! )

...and seriously, i had a huge weight of guilt on my shoulders this morning as this old wedding gown,

which looked like this...

...was attacked with a knife in my hand to rip it all up all over the place,

like this...

...to only then be taken outside and doused in black spray paint...

THE HORROR!!!

(someone once loved this dress...someone once loved this dress...-yes, i have a guilty conscience.)

:)

anyway, i picked the kids up at lunchtime, raced home to scarf down a peanut butter bun, and mini chocolate bar and a cup of peach juice...and then slip into MAKEUP and COSTUMES before racing them back to school for their parties!

WHEW...what a whirlwind, wasn't it????

...and here's our finished Halloween costumes for this year...

( i gave her my dying, wilting Mums to use for her bouquet...of course, after spraying them black!)

...they looked so cute running out to the car so we wouldn't be late...


...i am having a quick breather before all the craziness of trick-or-treating and makeup touchups tonight...

I.
Love.
Halloween.

...have a safe and fun night everyone...

...be back soon...

sooooo...

...after picking up my camera saturday night, i had a nice little 'forgotten' discovery from the night before at my Big Birthday Party we had at our house friday night...i don't have many pictures at the party, but i thought i'd share this one! ( and THANK U to my SIL who picked up my camera and took a few for me! )

...and i took these ones a couple days later to share some of my beautiful gifts i was given...

my cousin, Miss Marlee, along with some help from her brother, Mr. Riley, baked and iced and made this lovely cookie bouquet!!  what a delicious treat!!

...this lovely corkscrew bracelet was from my brother Curt and my SIL Erith...

(luv.it.)

...and this adorable and pretty bracelet was from my friends Syrella and Daryle..

(luv.it.)

...i got a few awesome gift cards to some of my regular visits...

(giggle- they know me so well...)

...lots of heartfelt and fun birthday cards...

(even got a homemade one from OLIVER -the top right green one, he added some nibbles around the card and thanked me for all my snuggles that he loves! )

...a cute and funny calendar for next year....

(luv all the bright happy colors!)

...i also received SEVERAL additions to our 'happy hour' cupboard...a JETS shirt from my bro Darren...a totally fun and awesome Southpark Tshirt ('respect my authority') along with lots of goodies from Bath and Body Works from Nikki and John and Taylor...

AND...from my hubby, my mom and my parents-in-law...they chipped in and got me an appointment to have

COMMAND START

installed in my Escape in november!!!

YEEEESSS!!!

...last saturday, my sweet friend Tracy (aka - BRAT) and her husband robert,  had mike and i out to their house for a lovely chicken and rib dinner, twice baked potatoes, spinach and egg salad and homebaked carrot cake!!

WOW...it was fabulous and soooo delicious....that girl can COOK!

tracy also gave me this special silver bracelet for my birthday too....

(luv.it)

...(are you still with me and all my happy goodies???)

also, on  tuesday, oct.18. another sweet friend of mine, Tara, came for a sleepover and gave me

THIS

yummy scrappin' eye candy!!!

...i don't think i could BE any more spoiled than i was this year...

and i cannot thank all my friends and family enough, from the bottom of my overwhelmed heart, for all your gifts, hugs, and love you all made me feel!!!!

THANK YOU!!!!

OK...

painting update.

tyler's room is now finished being painted...i love how it's turned out!!!
(and more importantly, so does he! )

mike is planning on building his desk tonight to finish off his room, so i will take some pics once it's all in place...but here's the teaser for now...

( the color chips don't do the color outcome ANY justice, but you're gonna look at AZURE AFTERNOON and GREEN APPLE MARTINI with WHITE moldings/doorframes as his decor...)

AND one last little tidbit that makes me smile every time i look at it...

i ordered THIS December Daily journal, hand made by Marcy Penner, to keep me busy this December!

Tara and Johnny picked it up with her order as well and Tara couriered it over to me yesterday morning...

GASP!!!

i also ordered some of her special made badges as well...

will you just look at all that awesome goodness???!!!

(SMILE)

...be back soon...

Puttin' on my big girl panties...

...and just gonna deal with today...

WHY?

because it's a milestone birthday for me today!

...not gonna say what number...

(most of you already know anyway, so let's just leave it at 29 forever!!!)

i woke up this morning before the alarm clock because the bunny was stomping his foot loudly in the living room ( a rabbits way of signaling a warning if scared or danger is near )....and again...WHY?

because my husband blew up a bunch of surprise birthday balloons in the living room and one of them had popped and scared the poop out of the bunny! -literally-

HAHAHA...it was actually kind of funny when i went in there with one eye open to see what had Oliver so alarmed and frightened to wake me up with foot stomping to see all these rabbit shaped balloons all over the living room floor!

(and oliver liked running through them once he realized they weren't any threat afterall....)

...and a little fun from the weekend...

friday night, i played with paper and made this new layout for tyler to document his 'pumpkin week'.

...i had a smile on my face the whole time putting this one together..

:)

on saturday, miss courtney had her first fall dance competition...and she danced very well and had great results!  (she did 7 dances and won two 2nds and four 3rds )

...so happy for her and all her efforts...

AND thank you to Grandma (#1 cheerleader) and also to Syrella for coming out and spending the afternoon with us, being supportive and encouraging!  we were happy to have you with us!!

(and thanx again Syrella for the tea and the muffins - wink! )

...and sunday evening the kids were ECSTATIC to try out their Wii on our new toy...

(thank you Jan for a great deal...the kids -all 3 of them - are most happy to have living room electronics and not have to go down to the rec room!! )

...we are currently working on painting and updating tyler's bedroom, so hopefully in a couple days i will have photos to share of the finished labour of love...

...be back soon...

Show and tell...

...i hope all my canadian friends and family who just celebrated Thanksgiving this past weekend had a lovely and warm long weekend!  we didn't do much in ways of celebrating this year...kept it low key as the four of us are all battling off fall colds right now.  so on sunday, mike bbq'd us steaks...i made roasted garlic/dill baby potatoes...caesar salad...and then onto the Jets game ( can't believe they lost! )...but there's still 81 games to go on the upside! HAHA!

...i have been inspired once again by all the crazy talent over at Studio Calico to try the newest rage in scrapbooking...a chevron design.

i chose to be brave and try figuring the design and how to cut for myself...and let me just tell you that although i am happy witht the outcome, i won't be doing another chevron design in the near future!

(wink)

i was happy to finally make a layout using one of courtney's pictures i took from her "13 year old" photo shoot...

...and i decided in the end to hand stitch the papers together to add some more character...

WHEW.

...hmmm...

i was thankful on tuesday to go to SPORT CHECK where i was helped by a very well informed employee to choose some new kicks for me!

"Momma needs a new pair of shoes..."

hahahaa....seriously tho, i have a crummy heel spur on my right heel that if any of you have ever had one can sympathize with me how painful it is...so with that knowledge, the guy in the store helped select the best pair to help a girl out!

Eep!

...AND..

as promised, here's the final take on my simply planned

30 Day Photo Challenge Mini...

...i really had fun with this project.  the fact that each day's photo was already planned out made it a super easy and super fun challenge to complete!

I hope that those of you who did try it out with me also had fun and were able to complete the challenge as well!

...and one last thing...

thought i'd share a peek at what i am in the process of making for courtney!

this is turning out to be very difficult to pic which photos to use in this mini because i love them all...but i sure am having fun making it!

(of course you'll see photos when it's complete!! )

...be back soon...

:)