Spooktacular Halloween Party

Saturday was our third annual Halloween party, and Harpy's Halloween debut.  We had such a wonderful time!  Beckett decided he wanted to be Peter Pan sometime this summer, and Treva lovingly made his costume. It was darling. I ordered Harper's Tinkerbell costume to match, and I couldn't wait to get pictures of the two of them together.  The pictures turned out priceless!

On to the party!

Pinterest Picnic

Last weekend was the annual Town-wide Garage Sales...not sure of that's worthy of proper noun status, but anyway... One of the treasures I found was a Little Tikes picnic table for (wait for it!) three dollars!! They are $49 - I looked it up. I had seen an awesome picnic table makeover on Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/pin/119486196336356246/)  and thought this little guy would be a good outdoor seating and eating option for Beckett and his buddies who come over to play. 

Here's how it started:

The first step was to disassemble the parts. Easy-Peasy. They just snapped apart:

Next, I got out the fabric I had purchased last summer to make his playroom bunting.

Gotta love coordination! (I told Shonn it was going to match the playroom and he laughed with an eye roll. Mars and Venus!) Anyway, I "measured" and cut the tabletop piece first. 

I should mention that the Pinterest tutorial suggests spray painting the legs to coordinate. I am not a craft perfectionist and I plan to use this outside where the paint would likely chip off, so I just made sure the fabric matched the legs' existing color. Saved a step! 

Then, I stapled the fabric to the tabletop, followed by the vinyl. (I got the vinyl at Walmart for $3 per yard. There were several options, but this one said "for picnic tables" on it. Well thank you very much, vinyl makers!) 

I repeated the process for the legs, in a coordinating fabric. 

Remember how I said I'm not a craft perfectionist? Well, the corners are HARD to wrap smoothly. Through trial and error,  I ended up wrapping each piece like a present, but it doesn't look perfect by any means. (Oh well!) I did figure out that the less vinyl on the corners, the easier it was to "wrap".

Lastly, I snapped the table back together and placed it outside. Not bad for a $3 table, $6 worth of vinyl, 4 lines of staples, and one blister! The whole project took about an hour. 

Now we are ready for our first picnic party on Thursday! 

Monday Funday

My mom met Beckett and I at about 8:30 this morning for a trip to Champaign and lunch in Tuscola.  I needed to get a shower gift and go to Sam's for some basics.  Beckett was up late last night and early this morning, so I had a feeling he would be a little sleepy.  I made breakfast at home (his favorite - "potatoes"), we got bundled up, and headed out. He fell asleep on the way, so I ran into Sam's while he and mom stayed cozy in the warm car.

Then we went to Hobby Lobby (Beckett calls it "Holly Bobby"), Barnes and Noble, and Toys R Us.  Beckett got some new books - his favorite! - and we could have spent the entire day there, reading all the books!  As it was, we ready probably 25!

Then we went to Tuscola to meet my bestie, Maria, and her wonderful mom, Cathy, for lunch!  We love this little place in Tuscola called the Soda Shoppe (actually, I can't remember what it's actual name is - HA!).  We've been there a couple of times now, and they have homemade desserts and candy, along with a great menu of lunch items. Beckett picked out gummy bears and a chocolate fish for Daddy.

It was SO good to see Maria and catch up!

When we got home, we took a nice nap!  Then I made dinner and we got out Beckett's new books to read. I also got him a little mailbox for the playroom.  (Melissa and Doug stuff is awesome!)   He wrote a letter to his two Mee Maws and drew a picture for Daddy.  I wrote him a letter and we "mailed" them all.  I think he will have fun with the mailbox because he loves talking about Daddy getting the mail. :)

Now, he's sleeping next to me, all snuggled up!  It was a great day. :)

Snow Much Fun!

This morning, Beckett woke up hungry, which really isn't different than any other day, but instead of saying, "Potatoes" when I asked what he wanted, he said, "Pancakes!"  We made pancakes, but to be safe, I still made eggs with sausage and potatoes. He ate it all!  (He also got to put his own sprinkles on the pancakes, as you can see in the picture...)  He's wearing Toy Story PJs from Papa as part of our date night movie. :)

After breakfast, we played with toys and read lots of books.  He wanted to know where Daddy, Papa(s) and Mee Maw(s) were, so we inspected the map. He can say SOOO Falls and 'Dee-ana for Indiana.  

He found his keys from his stocking, so we made a cardboard car with personalized plates for him to use them on.  (This was after he told me, BYE BYE, MOMMY. GOIN TO WORK, and opened the door to the garage to get in "MOMMY'S CAR".)

We took a nice nap. When we woke up, we had lunch and then Beckett spotted the snow!

It was really cold outside, but I told him he could help me get the mail and go down the slide one time.  (He kept saying, SNOW ON SLIDE? FUN!)  It was a blast, even though we were only out for about 5 minutes total, divided into the back yard first and the front yard to the mailbox and back afterwards.  He was fascinated with his gloves, and I am so glad we got to use his snowpants!  He didn't mind getting all bundled up, although everyone I've shown this picture to says he looks like the little boy from The Christmas Story.  Haha!  

We came in and had some yummy hot cocoa to warm up.  He said, "MMM! Delicous!" twice after his first sip.  It was hilarious!

It was another great day of break. Lots of laughing, cuddling, and making memories. I'm so thankful for this time.

Halloween Party!

We had Beckett's second Halloween party last night, and it was so much fun!  Maybe a little crazy, with 17 kids and 17 adults, but we all had lots of laughs and tons of yummy food.  It was great to watch the kids play in their costumes, too!  They all left with lots of goodies in their trick or treat bags. 

Beckett's been through the desert on a horse with no legs...

You can really see my bump here!  Don't the boys look cute? I love Beckett's hat.

Some of the families got pictures taken. I made the bunting for fall in Beckett's playroom.

Here are a few of the kids. The couch picture took forever and I took about 30 shots.  This one was as close to the best as I could get!

For memory's sake, L-R: Braylon U., Molly S., Ava K., Kiptyn S., Beckett, Emmett H., Wil and Reese P., Football Baby Josh and Drew T., Hayden and Julia M., Hampton and Hadleigh W., and (Front row, L-R) Kaylee S., Braylon H., Lily and Grace G. 

I put together a plate of the goodies from the party.  S'mores, spider suckers, witch fingers, cookie sandwiches, witch hats and broomsticks, orange crush with swirly straws, M & Ms, and more.  We had Mummy hot dogs and Halloween mac & cheese, plus chips and dips, mini sandwiches, goldfish and cheese puffs. 

My favorite picture. :) 

At the end of the party, Kristin put Ava into her PJs and the sugar had started to kick in...  What a fun night!

Unbeleafable Art

Beckett and I did an art project over Labor Day weekend and it turned out great!  I sketched the tree trunk and he decorated with fall leaves. 

 

Here is the finished product in his playroom: