From Halloween to Harvest

Have I mentioned how much I love living with a photographer?  :)  I love it.  I do.

So, last week I was all, hey, take some pictures of the Halloween decorations before we put it all away. Kayci really helped this year and I wanted to kind of document it for her.  It occurred to me a while back that someday our kids will be able to read these entries and it will be a journal for them.  I always kind of had that in the back of my mind with our family blog...but this, my personal journal, will give her such insight into what was important to me way back when.  Wow, no pressure, right?

If you're reading this, future Bitty, please also remember that the floor wasn't clean enough to eat off of the day Daddy took these pictures, and it's not much cleaner now.  In case you were wondering why the house seems cleaner in the pictures than you remember.  

That tray is from Grandma Clarkson, and my Mom made the runner for the kids this year (it's candy corn printed fabric...Noble's favorite!)

That's Uncle Thurman.  We've had him since I was in 3rd grade.  Kinda crazy, right?

Banana bread the next day, don't worry.

I heart my Silhouette.  And my Bitty's imagination!

Maybe we went a bit overboard with the spider webs...

And did I mention the bats?

This was a fun group project...Noble's favorite things, my favorite new Halloween shape (ghosts!), and Kayci's hard work.  Bitty, we'll lie and tell everyone Noble made the random ghosty with the two mouths, 'kay?  He's 3, they'll totally believe it.

I didn't have a fun Halloween dish towel, but I had a flour sack towel and a little inspiration.  Voila!

Oh, yeah.  And in the midst of changing out Halloween to Harvest, we also switched our summer clothes for winter clothes.  And yep, a week later those tubs are still sitting there, but now they're full of summer clothes ready to go into storage instead of winter clothes ready to go into closets.  That's progress, right?  The joys of living in a small space...

Okay, so there's a method to my madness.  For Halloween this year, we ONLY put up Halloween stuff and left the Harvest-y decor in storage for a bit longer.  Our house is tiny, and one extra thing or one thing out of place makes a huge difference.  So, we had lots of fun with Halloween...but if we had gone all out with the Harvest, too, then our house would have been WAY decorated from October 1st to January 1st.  Too much for too long!  So, this year I decided we'd de-clutter in November so we're ready for our Christmas clutter and fun.  We kept it simple.

Okay, as simple as we keep anything fun.  I know.  I heard it.

James brought a "Mexican pumpkin" home from the valley.  I haven't a clue what makes it different, but it feels more like a gourd than a pumpkin.  Hmm.

Note to self:  when making dishtowels, DON'T decorate the whole flour sack.  You have to fold it, dummy.

Look, it's a thankful tree--we actually did it!  The kids had a blast making it, and they enjoy writing on their tags (okay, leaves) each day.  So glad we went through with it!

My Mom made this a couple of years ago--I love it.  It's a great reminder.  When we hung it up, Noble asked what the letters said.  When I told him, "give thanks," he said, "oh...because it's Thanksgiving.  And November!"  Yep.  He's listening, after all.

My NEW favorite autumn decoration--I framed the cover and James' picture.  :)

Melissa, remember I bought a few of these and you gave me yours so I'd have enough?  Have I mentioned how much I miss you guys?  We are due for a weekend SOON.

What it's all about, right?

I wonder how many hand turkeys we actually own?

A runner Mom made for me a couple of years ago.  I have a nice dish that I normally keep gourds, veggies, etc. in...but we can't find it.  James said, "didn't we break that?"  I was all, "um, NO...WE didn't.  If you did, you're in big trouble, buddy!"

Ah, yes...back to the joys of a tiny house.  You run out of spaces.  I wonder why I bought these last year--there's nowhere to put them, but they make me smile!

It's important to me to really LIVE and ENJOY every day and celebrate the big and little things that make life worth living.  Decorating and doing things like this with my family make me happy...and even though it's frivolous, to me, it's necessary.  Life is meant to be lived and enjoyed, not just gotten through.  If you're still reading, thanks for sticking around.  I want to see pictures of YOUR house, now!