Halloween crafts

I have been wanting to get new holiday decorations for quite some time but what I like is way too expensive. I came across a blog one day of a girl who does her own stuff and found out that she was the mom of one of Rylie's friends at school. I thought if she can do it then why can't I! So obviously these cute ideas were not mine, but she didn't mind me copying her so I gave it a shot and this is how they turned out. My fun trick or treat letters were actually really easy. The hard part was finding the right font, then cutting and sanding of the letters. The painting, mod podging and decorating was easy and fast. I found out today that there is a place here in Preston that sells letters already cut out and it comes with coordinating paper you just have to glue on and you're done. I don't know exactly what they have or what they look like but that could have saved me sooooo much time in the cutting and sanding department. I also spent a lot of time finding just the right paper. But I guess I have the pride in knowing that I did this all my self. Yes, all by myself. I never once had Porter help me cut or sand or help in using any of his power tools. Well actually I had to have his help changing the saw blade and a tutorial on how to use his air compressor and the nail gun. Other than that and a few questions along the way, I know I get to take credit for everything else. We had to borrow his brother Jordan's band saw, so I hope Jordan doesn't mind that I used it instead of Porter.

Here is a more close up look at the letters. Can you tell I'm proud and excited about these? I never thought I had a creative bone in me. Even though these weren't my original idea, since I have made these I have had a ton of my own ideas and when I make them I will post the pictures.

And finally here are the candy corns that I made. These actually took a lot of time. I made twelve of these in three different sizes so I could give some away as gifts. I had to cut out the wood, then the bead board, then glue and nail the bead board to the wood, then sand everything. The painting took forever because it took a lot of coats of paint and I could only do one color at a time. Then I decorated them. They turned out pretty good, but I don't like them as much as the letters. Something seems a little off about them but I can't tell what. Maybe I shouldn't have used the raffia( that was going a little old school). I am still proud of them. I can't wait to get going on my new ideas. I guess that means there will be more to come!

Easton at 11 months

I have been having fun with photoshop (as you can see). I took Easton outside between rainstorms and took some pictures so I could play around with photoshop. We've had it for quite a while so I decided it was about time I used it. There was no better reason than to document Easton at 11 months.

Easton is quite a mover. He still would rather be carried around by me than anything, but when he is down he is all over the place. He crawls super fast and stands up to everything and walks along the furniture, but he probably won't start walking by himself for quite a while. We can't get him to stand up on his own. We tricked him a couple of times by putting something in his hands so he wouldn't hold on. He stood for a few seconds then realized what he was doing and slowly lowered himself down. He is such a funny, cute boy. He makes these faces and squints his eyes when he doesn't like something. If he wants our attention and wants us to clap he will ball up his fists and show us his muscles. Then when we clap, he claps and smiles. The girls call him the destroyer because he can't go near anything without finding a way to destroy it. My nickname for him is Easty Beasty, because he is naughty and does things cause he knows I'll get mad at him and then he laughs. He is starting to play with his toys a lot more on his own. He likes to throw balls and drive around cars and make car noises. We love his silly personality and the way he is such a boy.

Pumpkin Contest

Porter and a bunch of guys from work decided to do a giant pumpkin contest this year. Everyone put in a little money so there would be some incentive to actually grow a pumpkin. Porter probably won't think this is very funny but the girls and I joked about Porter and his pumpkin. He would usually go out to the garden once or twice a day to see how his pumpkin was doing and water and baby it . He planted it about a month later than the other guys so he had a lot of catching up to do. One day Rylie couldn't find her dad so she asked me 'Is dad out with his pumpkin again?' From then on we would make fun of Porter and his pumpkin. He was a good sport about it and just took the teasing. Anyway, the guys all got together for a pumpkin weigh in to see who the winner was. I couldn't believe the size of the pumpkins and how seriously some of them were taking it. Porter's friend Ryan got first place with a weigh in of 240 or 260, I can't remember. Porter came in at 4th with his pumpkin weighing 74 pounds. Even though I thought the pumpkin contest was silly (yes, Porter you know I thought it was), he could be doing worse things. So I think I'll support him in this and help him get a winner for next year.