Harvest Party

To our first Annual Harvest Party!!!

It started with a hug and a photo with cousins....

And then of course it wouldn't be a party without some kitchen time!!!












Auntie Robyn decided we would have a fun filled night starting with some Apple cider...






I had no idea it smelled that good!! Then for dinner we'd have some....








Yep Pumpkin Puff Pancakes! Who knew this....







Could be turned into this....







And taste sooooo good!!!




All that's left from the second helping ;)

After Dinner or should I say Brinner (Breakfast for dinner) it was time for some dress up
















The CUTEST Lady Bug and Bumble Bee I've EVER seen!!

Then it was time for some Pumpkin carving...







All that hard work she needed to refuel!!








The finished product...





And Of course these made their way into the oven for a yummy snack! We had a GREAT time at the First Annual Harvest Party!!

Better late than never!

OK so it's NOT Treasures Thursday. My camera battery died and I wasn't able to find the charger until late last night. So I'm a day late but NOT a dollar short!! ;)

My Goodwill finds,

click on photo for better view

On my quest to find the charger for my camera I some how misplaced the receipts to give EXACT amounts but I can tell you that I only spent $7.00 yesterday!

The Buddha isn't a recent find. It was a steal itself though, only $13.00 at Ross. The 2 Halloween decorations were a dollar each. The book was $2.00. I'll be using it in a vignette a la Tracy Porter (I am slightly obsessed) ;) The turquoise cup will be on my desk holding all of my pens. It cost a dollar. This brings me to the last item. Which is my FAVORITE!!
It's a turquoise tray with flecks of brown through out it. It has gold scalloped edges and it just gorgeous! I have no idea where or what I'll use it for, all I know is I HAD to have it and at $2.00 I didn't feel guilty!

Here's a close up

Have a great weekend!!

Angie

Our first pepper and a garden friend...

So I'm not much of a "green thumb" but as you get older you tend to want to give things a try. That mixed with the desire to broaden my daughters horizons, I decided we'd have a fruit and veggie garden. It all started last Christmas. I started with a theme in regards to the gifts we would buy for our kids. Last years theme was "everything outdoors" We purchased a soccer net, a tether ball, skates, jump ropes, etc. For my daughter I purchased a small dresser from an antique store and turned it into a potting bench for her. I can't seem to find the photos I took of it so I'll have to post those later. In the meantime here,s her first bell pepper. I should have photographed the excitement on her face when she saw it! It was priceless.


and our second one!!

Here's some herbs we planted during the summer

and I couldn't believe my eyes when the kids called me out to see this GInormous spider!!!

Go ahead click on the picture- this size just doesn't do it justice!!

Yikes!!

Talk about bare bones...

I'm feeling a little behind the eight ball on this whole "Halloween" thing. It's a shame really because Halloween was always my favorite holiday for decorating and children's parties. I used to have an annual one that was a blast! Even if I do say so myself! And then....

It all started 2 years ago. We moved. We were leaving the only home my children had known. Our first home. Now, we were upgrading but I had a deep connection with our first home and it was REALLY hard to say goodbye. So I really wasn't all that interested in organizing while packing or having any kind of method for better unpacking when we arrived at the new home. Everything we didn't use on a daily basis found it's home in huge piles in the new garage where it sat for quite some time. We were in the new home in time for Christmas 2007. I scrounged thru a few boxes to put together a slightly less than acceptable decor. Once it was over all the stuff went back in an even less organized way then before with the hopes that I would organize soon. Then summer of 2008 came and some nice young men (I assume) decided to relieve us of ALL the things taking up space in both our automobiles. THANK YOU NICE YOUNG MEN!

Yes! we walked outside for the morning paper and wondered "What is that glittering in the sunlight all over the driveway?" "AHHH glass" They broke into both of our cars and took EVERYTHING and yes I do mean EVERYTHING. Sooooo to ensure we were not victims of this again we had to spend a small fortune to have the garage redone. Cabinets on both sides and attic storage space above. Now in a hurry to park the cars in the garage- the once jumbled unorganized boxes on the floor were now in an even bigger mess up above in the attic. So the Holidays of 2008 rolled around and once again the bar minimum was used. Now I swore that before 2009 I would ORGANIZE everything so that my children never had to suffer thru another less than stellar decorated Holiday. Which brings me to this first and second photo...

How sad is my display??? Can you tell that I NEVER made it up into the attic to organize?? I tell you if I could take Lulu's energy, Lissa's strength and determination and mix it together with Sasha's organizational skills my children would never have to suffer thru this embarrassing display of decorations again!!!! Out of literally 7 bins of just Halloween decor this is it. Talk about bare bones!!!

This guy is really cute though...

My great friend Marg's (a.k.a Marcie) mother made this for me. She does amazing work with gourds. And I had to show a close up of this one...

I feel a little guilty saying the photo creeps me out. It's my husbands Grandfather when he was a boy. I don't know, it always feels halloween "ish" to me.

Besides the lack of decor, we have yet to pick out let alone purchase costumes. We have not visited the pumpkin patch and I have not purchased one single bag of candy!!! WHAT AM I DOING??? Uggghh here's to hoping that buy 2010 I've finally tackled the attic!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

It's time for Thursday's Treasures!!

So It's been a while since I visited the local Goodwill. I sort of promised the hubby I wouldn't buy anything new (to me) until I completed the projects I had here already. HAAAAAA!!

That only lasted a couple of weeks. I've at least started a couple of those projects like....

Spray paint the tree branches black for a Halloween tree

and paint the frames I bought before...

Of course I didn't take a before/ before photo of it all put together so you'll have to settle for this one. It had a really cool burnt orange mat with some old pictures. I bought it thinking I could paint the frame black, print out a spooky Halloween photo or saying and use the orange mat for a fun Halloween decoration. When I pulled the picture out it on the back of it was a note that looked like this...

It says: The Art Of Making Money Plenty In Every Man's Pocket

By: Doctor Franklin

At this time when the general complaint is that money is so scarce it must be an act of kindness to inform the moneyless how they can reinforce their purses. I will acquaint all with the true secret of money catching, the certain way to fill empty purses and how to keep them always full. Two simple rules well observed will do the business. 1st Let honesty and labor be thy constant companions. 2nd Spend one penny every day less than thy clear gains. Then shall thy purses soon begin to thrive, thy creditors will never insult thee nor want oppress nor hunger bite, nor naked freeze thee, the whole hemisphere will shine brighter, and pleasure spring up in every corner of thy heart.

Now thereby embrace these rules and be happy.

What a cool treasure to stumble upon! What great wisdom I'm assuming during the Great Depression. Words to live by for some one suffering thru our current economy! Anyhow- moving on.

Ok so that's as far as I actually got on the projects. I couldn't help myself from running off for a shopping spree! ;)

Take a look at the Treasures ......

In the above photo It's a large green and rust platter, a large black basket a french wine label plaque and wall paper with a very unique pattern in just the color I've been looking for!!

There was also this very large bowl sort of thing. This picture doesn't do it justice!!

Here's another picture of the platter...

And a close up of the wallpaper. The flash made the paper take on a bright turquoise

but really it's more of a green turquoise...
The PERFECT color for my entryway. I've never been much of a wallpaper fan but some of the patterns they've come up with are just gorgeous. This one reminds me of something my Idol Tracy Porter would use in her home. ANYTHING she does is brilliant in my book! ;)

Oh I almost forgot! Prices!!! Let's see, black basket $3.99 Tracy Porter wanna be wallpaper $2.99 for an entire roll. French wine label plaque $3.99. Green and rust platter $5.99 and the most expensive piece, the bowl thingamajigger $9.99. A little more than I'd normally pay but it was such a large statement piece, I made an exception. ;)

Treasures Grand Total $26.95 (Goodwill doesn't charge taxes!)

Not a bad shopping spree! ;)

Went for a little fun at the park and left with a 5k

The weather has been perfect the last two days so the hubby and I decided to take the kids to the park after school. A nice break from the normal routine. So we started out with a little fun on the jungle gym.

That's SOME static!


They even convinced Mom

and Dad to participate!

Then it was on to the swings...

Where Mom joined in again

When all of the sudden they had an urge to reenact Jack and Jill

and tumbled down the hill. Thankfully no one broke their crown ;)

So there we were, the Treasure family just minding our own business. When all of the sudden we heard some one calling our daughters name. It was a friend from school. She said hello and carried on with her park fun. Then a second later we heard someone call out our sons name. Another friend from school. And another. And another.

Turns out today was the first training class for the Mission Inn 5k run for charity event. Our sons friends mother (who is HUGE on fitness) trains a handful of kids every year to participate in the event. She yelled out to us for the kids to join and off they went. I mean it was really that quick. One minute we were chillin' at the park together and the next my kids were running off with a pack of other kids headed for the jogging path that runs along Victoria ave.

Now I know I mentioned to you in a previous post that we all sat down and wrote out our goal lists. Well let me just tell you this one single event covered 3 of my goals.

1)Family time

2) Getting active

3) Charity

It also was a goal of my sons and my husbands to be more active. I tell you -when you don't get in his way (which I've managed to do plenty of times) God really does offer up everything you ask for.

Here's my son with his friend coming thru the home stretch. His friend was actually the first kid back to the park, but knowing it was my sons first time he circled back to finish the run with him. Nice kid!

And here's my daughter (poor thing not dressed for running) making her way back.

They were such troopers! I really thought I was going to get an ear full when they got back. I think I might have beat them to it when I told them that from now on Mom and Dad would run too.

Anyhow, like I said before it's amazing what he'll put in your path if your open to receiving it!

On that note, as we were leaving I noticed these beautiful flowers on a tree at the park. Don't know what they are, just thought they were pretty.

P.S. Don't know why my pictures come across so blurry? But if you click on them they'll show up larger and clearer! ;)

P.S.S. I hung the HUGE map on the wall and we spun the kiddos around and had them point to the map in order to pick which state they would study first. Sort of like pin the tail on the donkey. Then the hubby and I closed our eyes and threw a pen at the map. Where ever it hit was ours. So here's what we'll be doing first:

South Dakota

West Virginia

New Mexico

Texas

Should be interesting!