* Holiday Decor:
Nope, I'm not talking about my Christmas decorations... these are delayed pictures of our Halloween decor and the Thanksgiving/harvesty {
yes, I know it's not a real word... the red squiggly line that popped up underneath it as soon as I finished typing it was my first clue!} I just swapped it out for.
First up, the delayed Halloween decor. Since we no longer have a fireplace mantle, I use the top of the piano as the centerpiece for decorating. Here's what it looked like for Halloween, along with one of the end tables....
The bats are "vintage". My mom gave them to me from her collection and I have yet to see anything similar in the stores. They just don't make paper/cardboard wall decorations anymore. It's all about the vinyl. I got this new haunted house in the Target clearance section this year. Love it!
I also made this sign {as mentioned in my "
Pardon My Absence" post, I made this sign for both me and my mom} and I hung mine over the couch along with a garland made of previous year's pictures at the pumpkin patch and Halloween costumes.
Oh, and these are the lanterns I made again along with my "vintage" ghost - also inherited from my mom. Got the idea for the lanterns and the directions from Our Best Bites {
surprise, surprise! Here's the link if you want to make your own.} and had a battery-powered tea light in each one. It looked very cute all lit up at night!
Finally, last week I took down Halloween and replaced it with my cornucopia-a-plenty {
all gourds courtesy of my grandparents'
garden} and other harvesty decor.
Notice the little pumpkins by the Family sign? If you scroll back up, you'll notice they are the same jack-o-lanterns that are by the little haunted house in the first picture. Yep, I turned them around! That's how we roll in this house. Ha ha!!
* Ethan's Paintings
Ethan does a lot of watercolor painting. It's one of his favorite things to do and one of mine too! Quick to set-up, easy to clean-up and it keeps Ethan's creative juices flowing! We've had a string of decent weather days {
read: windows of non-rain!} and I try and make sure Ethan and I get out for our walk. We have been enjoying all the beautiful fall colors and also collecting leaves on our walks.
I know, this isn't the best picture, but I love how big that tree is!!On Friday we finally did the leaf painting project I had been promising and Ethan loved using my paints {
which are not watercolor!} and "stamping" the leaves onto the different colors of construction paper.
Here are the final works of art! And don't even bother asking... they're not for sale!! ;)
* Pumpkin Bread
I'm not sure if I've posted my pumpkin bread recipe before, but I've made two batches already this season so I thought I'd share. If you are a lover of all things pumpkin, this is definitely worth a try! I got the original recipe from Nestle, but I triple it so I get three loaves and have lots to share. Plus, then I can use one big can of pumpkin. Enjoy!
1 1/2 cups softened butter [3 sticks]
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
6 large eggs
1 large can pumpkin
5 1/4 cups flour
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. ginger
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 tsp. cloves
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking powder
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease/flour three 9-in loaf pans. Combine ingredients in large mixer. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often for 1-2 minutes until well mixed. Spoon batter into pans and bake for 45-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
The bats are "vintage". My mom gave them to me from her collection and I have yet to see anything similar in the stores. They just don't make paper/cardboard wall decorations anymore. It's all about the vinyl. I got this new haunted house in the Target clearance section this year. Love it!
I also made this sign {as mentioned in my "Pardon My Absence" post, I made this sign for both me and my mom} and I hung mine over the couch along with a garland made of previous year's pictures at the pumpkin patch and Halloween costumes.
Oh, and these are the lanterns I made again along with my "vintage" ghost - also inherited from my mom. Got the idea for the lanterns and the directions from Our Best Bites {surprise, surprise! Here's the link if you want to make your own.} and had a battery-powered tea light in each one. It looked very cute all lit up at night!
Notice the little pumpkins by the Family sign? If you scroll back up, you'll notice they are the same jack-o-lanterns that are by the little haunted house in the first picture. Yep, I turned them around! That's how we roll in this house. Ha ha!!
I know, this isn't the best picture, but I love how big that tree is!!
