Halloween 2015

Halloween was down right busy this year and I have so much to share! Plus I haven't shared this type of post in a really long time and I have actually really missed it. Lets start with the day before Halloween when Simone got busy carving her pumpkin. This year she was determined to do it all by herself and she did. She just needed a little help getting the guts out and cleaning up the cuts at the very end. Her pumpkin came out super cute and its so totally 2015.

Heart eyes all around for this kid and this pumpkin. I love it so much I wish we could save this.

The festivities continued that night with an adult only costume party at our friends house. Larry and I got the ideas for our costumes a few months back it just took a little time for me to find just the right one and and for him to find an authentic traditional outfit on eBay.

Ziggy Zaggy, Ziggy Zaggy, Oi Oi Oi! This ended up being a really fun couples costume and the bonus was I didn't have to wear a wig or alter myself too much.

Of course photo bomb!

The next morning is when things really got busy. Simone had a super early soccer game and then a birthday party to go to and then it was time for Trick or Treating. The great thing was this year she had a friend join us and it was such a blast for the girls.

Simone dressed up as Evie from the Descendants, I think she liked the blue clip in hair extensions the best.

Simone and her friend, two pretty Disney girls.

Larry did such a good job with the webbing again this year, and at the last minute he had me pick up these black spiders to hang up. It was just the right amount of decorations for us. Simple but festive.

Our neighbors however, do an amazing job of decorating and setting the scene at their house, its always amazing and so much fun to see. Darren always dresses up and he scared the beejezus out of the girls, but then gave them a ton of candy so it all worked out. We went back again when it was darker and the projections they have on the front of the house are the coolest thing I have ever seen. Their house was the best in our area for sure.

I couldn't wait to scrapbook the cute girls so I made this quick layout using the Be Scary Halloween Set from Color Cast Designs.  I just loved the black bats and love how they look layered on the black background.

The mirrored Oct 31st piece is just so cool, it really shines and sparkles off the page. The little veneer sayings were just the right touch to add to my little bit of journaling.

I hope you had a great Halloween too! We are already so excited for the holidays that are coming up. I'm sure I'll be back soon sharing more of that too.

Our Summer Bucket List

Last year one of the funnest things we did was come up with a Summer Bucket List and we did a pretty good job of completing lots of the items too. When the weather started warming up again I knew we needed to start thinking of Bucket List items for this year too. Even though my daughter is still in school we consider any days between June 1st and August 31st as Summer so we can maximize our days and have lots of time to cover lots of items.  This year I kept the same basic design as last year list but changed up the fonts and added some color.  My daughter liked having a way to mark off the items so this year I used little hearts that she could fill in instead of the squares to check off.  Here is this years list;

It doesn't look like I ever posted last years list here so here it is for reference.

If you've never made a bucket list I really suggest you do, it doesn't have to be as long or as involved and it really is for all ages. In fact I loved checking off the items just as much as my daughter did. It's also the perfect thing to have on hand for those 'I'm bored' moments which always seems to happen during the summer. 

Oh and if you are looking for a list of all of the National Holidays that I have on my list you can see the full list of all of them here.  It's written by month and there are a lot of good ones.

A New Year!

Welcome 2012!

We had a great night last night, hanging out with Grandma Delaine watching the East Coast feed with her and then heading home to watch the West Coast Feed after we put Simone to bed.

One of these days I would like to be in Times Square for the ball drop or at least tucked away warm and cozy in a near by hotel room with a great view of the ball drop.

I made this collage for Instagram with some screen shots, Dick Clark God bless you for keeping it up for 40 years!  I actually enjoyed the show this year and really liked Jenny McCarthy, she adds a lot more to the show than Ryan Seacrest does! 

It seems odd waking up this morning to no Rose Parade...from Larry's research apparently every seven years when New Year's Day fall's on a Sunday they wait to do the parade and the Rose Bowl Football game on Monday.  Not sure where I've been the past what 6 times this has occurred in my life time but I can't for the life of me remember this happening before.  ANYWAY, it does give us a great opportunity to have some folks over tomorrow for a day of eating more bad food and watching our Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl!  Can't wait!

The past few days have been filled with putting away Christmas, finishing up on December Daily and also getting caught up on finishing my Project Life album.

I spent a good day uploading all of October, November and December's photos as well as getting caught up on all of the journaling.  I still need to add the last two photos and of course proof read the text before I hit send on the printing.  When I get it all set and sent off I'll post a link of the finished book if you want to take a look.  It's been so great reflecting back on the photos from the past year.  What a year its been!  Simone has grown up so much and changed so much in just one year.  We spent our first full year in this house and it's been amazing!  We're really settled in here in our new town and we love our new community. 

While I don't usually do "Resolutions" per say I did last year make a list of 8 things I wanted to accomplish in 2011 and it looks like I managed to tacked 50% of the list.  Okay but not great.  I need to finish up my list for 2012, I'm still stewing on a few and not sure what really needs to be on the list.  Maybe I'll share it, we'll see.

One of the things I'm trying to figure out is whether I want to continue with the whole Photo a Day project.  I've done it the past two years and while I love the results and love the connection its formed with my camera, I'm not sure if I want to keep it up.  Come August its usually a struggle, a sort death march to the end.  One thing I'm thinking of doing is making it more about a week at a glance and not necessarily a photo EVERY day.  Perhaps taking that pressure off will keep the project fresh for me. I'm also thinking I want to use my phone photos exclusively this year, looking around at options now for how to do that and it what form.  More to follow for sure on the whole topic.

I know I have not been the best blogger since starting this back in March but I really appreciate the encouraging words from those that have been so kind to leave them.  I sat down the other day and took a look at the statistics for my little corner of the World Wide Web and was astounded by what I saw...2,503 people clicked and looked at my blog since I started March 3, 2011.  1,947 from the US and the rest from all over the world.

I know many of those folks linked over from Ali Edward's site and many came to look at my December Daily album but more than half of the 2,503 visits were outside of the month of December.

Thank for you looking and thank you for reading.  I really am looking forward to updating and sharing more in 2012, it's definitely on the top of my list.

Have a wonderful year and I wish you all Health, Wealth, Love and Happiness this coming year.