happy halloween

oh, i was sooooo excited for halloween!

i couldn’t wait to match the girls! i was so stumped for quite awhile on what i was going to dress them as. i hemmed and hawed over so many ideas but alas, i chose fairies. olive loves tinker bell, so i thought it was fitting for her to be a fairy princess and ellie as well!

i ended up curating their costume pieces. i shopped only small {meaning small businesses that were handmade} and quickly put together their sweet, whimsical costumes. i loved every single piece i purchased. the best part? olive can and still wears all the pieces after halloween! it ended up being her most favorite outfit to date!

we dressed up both girls and went outside to take pictures {the weather was amazing!! not cold or rainy! it typically is every year!}. that was a complete debacle. olive couldn’t hold ellie upright {her costume was too slippery} and by the time i decided to lay both girls down on the blanket on top of the grass, they were both in sour moods and wouldn’t stop crying. seriously?! fml trying to take a decent picture! ha!

after pics {i needed a shower because these girls stress me out sometimes!}, we started our trick or treat journey. it was the cuuuuuuutest thing to watch olive! i did a few a examples for her but after that, she got it! i loved watching her be so independent and sweet! she would quietly knock on people’s doors and not move so it was difficult for them to open the door. ha! she would quietly say, ‘twick o tweet’ and ‘dank you!’ to every person who gave her candy. man did she get brownie points for her cuteness…so many folks gave in and would dump candy into her basket or give extra because they say ellie. olive made out like a bandit for only hitting a few houses!

as we walked along the block, we chit chatted with neighbors and got to know quite a few people on my parent’s street. olive did such a great job and really enjoyed the whole process! after a eight houses {which probably took more than a half hour}, we asked if she wasted to go home and she said, “yes! go home!” and go home we did!

once we arrived home, olive loved checking out all the trick or treaters at the door. she’s finally starting to break out of her shy shell. granted, she still doesn’t really talk around others but she was quite brave with the strangers while trick or treating and loved peeking at all the kids coming to the door and would actually walk downstairs to say hi!

we waited for the trick or treating curfew to end and then packed up our stuff to go home. we tried to get olive’s costume off and that turned out to be the biggest debacle of all time. i mean major meltdown…she flipped out. how dare we tell her to take off her wings and skirt?! we were the devil in her eyes. she screamed and cried and went completely bonker hysterical on us. that was a loooooooooong process that we soooo regretted. ugh.

anyhoo, once we got the little bugger into the car…we finally made it home. phew! that was a knock down dragged out fight but we kind of won. hc stuffed her into the car seat with the compromise of her holding her wings instead of sitting with them on. oy.

overall, it was an awesome halloween. the weather was so fantastic, soooo many people complimented her on the costume, and she had the best time! i love halloween, i always have but now i love it more with our kids in it! it’s so fun and delightful to see such joy in her eyes!

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[such a beautiful fairy princess]

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[i looooooooved their costumes]

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[walking house to house, trick or treating!]

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[her trick or treat bag…collecting goodies]

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[me and my girl]

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[walking towards the cool halloween house]

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[soooooo pretty]

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[hitting up a house for candy…knocking on the door. oh how i loved watching her do this!]

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[her loot]

xoxo

trick or treat

i was super excited for olive to go trick or treating this year! last year she was eleven months old and didn’t have a clue what was happening. this year, she was much more aware and i couldn’t wait to see her reactions.

we started off our morning with some pumpkin carving! hc cleared out the garage and set up a table for us to do our carving. olive wasn’t quite sure what we were up to and she was a bit upset we were inside when it was raining outside only because she loves to jump in puddles. that silly girl.

once we started carving, she was so perplexed. she thought it was a bit gross when she saw the pumpkin guts and was confused on why we were chopping up the pumpkin. she kept on saying,”pumpkin?” and pointing to it as we carved. we set her up with some markers, her white pumpkin, and she was a happy clam drawing away.

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[her favorite thing at the moment, the pumpkin pez dispenser in her hand from her sitter mary]

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[getting her draw on!]

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[pumpkin carving complete! yay!]

***

after our pumpkin carving fun, we relaxed a bit inside, and then got ready to head on over to my parent’s house for some trick or treating. i didn’t try the costume on olive for i knew it was going to work! duh! i put her in and i was in loooooove! it was so darn cute! like soooo cute! i was dying. oh how i love her and want to squeeze her all the time! everything was so on point!

after a mini photo sesh, we drove {one minute travel time} over to my parent’s house to hand candy out to the trick or treaters and to take olive out on stroll later. we waited for the rain to stop and got olive ready for her trick or treat jaunt. oh how i loved this costume! it was sooooo flippin’ cute on her. we walked outside and debated on which direction to head…we decided to go left because we definitely wanted to hit the kagann’s house to say hi to laurie {carol’s mom}. we only wanted to hit a few houses because she’s only a toddler!

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[her amazing princess leia costume! so in love with it!]

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[thaaaaaat face! i die]

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[this face. oh how i love her]

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[we were like, “which way? which way should we go?”]

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[she’s too much.]

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[she was storing about 6 cashews in her cheeks. not lying]

we strolled from house to house, saying hello to the neighbors and making small talk. everyone just loved her costume! it was so fun! we got to the kagann’s and laurie pulled out a stuffed animal. olive was smitten. she saw the bear and immediately grunted for it! she knew what it was! we chit chatted with laurie for a few minutes and then went along our merry way. by that time, olive got the hang of what we were doing. she was probably thinking…hmmmm, you knock on people’s doors and they give you candy? heck yeah. so she asked if she could walk. i pulled her out of the wagon and she happily walked up to people’s door, knocked, and shyly said, “twick tweet”. it was soooooo cute! she would then say, “dank you” and “bye, see ya!”. oh how i love this girl!

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[loving the stuffed animal bear from mrs. kagann]

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[independent and on her own!]

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[olive’s work of art is the scribbled on white pumpkin!]

it was a blast taking olive out. i loooooved seeing her become so independent. what a sweetie. her costume was awesome, the trick or treating was fun, and she for sure ate waaaaaaayyyyy too much candy! eep! she definitely loved trick or treating and i can’t wait to see her really love it next year!

xoxo

happy halloweeeeeen!

oh! i love halloween! it’s always the kick start to the holiday season but i love halloween for all the cute kiddie goodness. i love that it’s such a kid holiday to me. i enjoyed it soooo much as a kid and now, i love that my daughter will love it too!

i’m into the cute kiddy, spooky, fun part of it. not the gory, scary, bloody part of it. nope. not that at all. i love charlie brown’s pumpkin patch, i love all the kid’s shows that display a halloween theme, i love hocus pocus, i love fun pumpkins, yummy candy, cute little costumes, and spooky fun decorations.

halloween has always been a holiday of imagination and eery haunts. so, every year i look forward most to the trick or treaters! oh, it’s so much fun for me to give out candy to the little ones. i love seeing all their costumes and the giddy looks on their faces when they get a big handful of candy!

when i was younger, my most favorite thing to do was to decorate our house {mainly our front door} with fun, festive decor. i would play spooky music on a radio {hidden in the garage} and look forward to every ring of the doorbell! i would sometimes go so far and make dozen of treat bags. yes i did. a total sign of my overzealous, crafty nature. i would buy fun little halloween treat bags; fill each bag with candy, festive stickers, spider rings, trinkets, and anything i considered fun halloween items a kid would love!

as a kid, i loved running home to see what was in my bag of goodies and going through all the fun stuff that was given to me. my most favorite items were always the unique treats. whether it’d be a coloring book, or a fun pack of goodies, or something different that you didn’t see every day. of course, my most favorite candies were reese’s peanut butter cups, heath, bit o honey, and sweet tarts. yum.

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i really do hope olive grows up to love halloween just as much as i do or any holiday for that matter. i hope that her imagination is vivid and inspiring to create some halloween memories and magic of her own!

happy halloweeeeeen everyone!

xoxo

caramel apples

we love getting festive! so in celebration of halloween, i decided to use up the rest of the apples from our apple picking excursion and make caramel apples! yum!

it’s so easy and simple. just grab a few bags of your favorite candies or toppings, a few tubs of marzetti’s caramel sauce, lollipop sticks, wax paper, and your pretty much set!

first, remove any stems from the apples and then take the lollipop sticks and push it down the center, about a quarter of an inch or so. i warmed the caramel in the microwave in increments of 10 seconds to get it soft, easy to use, and coat. once the caramel is warmed up, i then take each apple by the stick and run it around in circles and coat it from top to bottom. i placed the apples onto the wax paper to run off the excess.

after i coat each apple, i then tear another sheet of wax paper to sprinkle the apples with yummy flavors. this is the fun part! i decided to coat my apples this year with reese’s pieces, graham cracker crumbs, chocolate toffee bits, and mini m&m’s! yum! you can use candy sprinkles, oreo cookies, peanut butter chips, anything your sweet tooth desires!

once i coated each apple, i then set each one into the fridge to harden just a bit; it only takes 15 minutes or less. after they chilled for awhile, i bagged each candy apple in a cellophane bag and tied it with a twist tie and voila! you’re done!

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[supplies]

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[for some reason, the sticks were so difficult to punch in!]

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[just chill in’…hardening the caramel // graham cracker, m&m’s, chocolate toffee, reese pieces]

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[the final product! yummmmmm]

there ya go my lovies! caramel apple deliciousness. i love making these every year. it’s so easy, fun, and everyone loves a good candy apple! i love gifting these to friends and family! a perfect autumn treat.

xoxo

olive’s first halloween

yay! it was baby girl’s first halloweenie!

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[testing out her costume the night before]

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[wiggle that tail!]

we were so excited. we started out the afternoon by heading over to my parent’s house. we undid the bags of candies to get ready for the trick or treaters. olive helped. actually, olive loved taking all the candy out of the cauldron and throwing it everywhere! the faster i picked them up, the faster she grabbed for them and tossed ’em all around the floor. it was quite the amusing game for her.

oh, how i love halloween. it has always been a favorite of mine. i love decorating for it, i love watching fun programs celebrating the holiday {hello…charlie brown’s it’s the great pumpkin anyone?!}, my favorite movie by my favorite director: tim burton’s sleepy hollow, lots o candies, and trick or treaters! i love trick or treaters. i love, love to give out candy. it’s so much fun for me. it’s hard to explain. hmmmm, maybe it’s because i loved trick or treating so much as a kid, that i find it gleeful when they come to our door. how excited they get, how fun it is to drop bundles of goodies into their treat bags, the smiles that they give, the cool costumes that they have on. there is so much coolness about it and every year, every single year i look forward to it and have the best time every time.

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[helping momma get the candy ready // gap baby one piece]

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this year, being mostly a new family of three…i wasn’t as creative with our costumes as i should have been. or lack thereof. i love themed costumes for families but this year, it’s kinda been hectic leading up to that point, i totally let it slip. it wasn’t a priority in the moment but looking back, hc and i should have farmers with olive being a lamb! pshhh, c’est la vie!

anyhoo, so we got olive all bundled up {oh em gee it was soooooo cold and windy}. did i mention that it snowed that morning?! yes, it snowed! so, with that, we dressed olive in a onesie, footed pj’s, and her fluffy lamb costume over it all. we put {sock}mittens on her hands and then socks over her footies. she was ready to go! she seriously could not move. she was so thick with layers she was literally the kid from a christmas story!

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[all bundled up! momma, i can’t move my arms!]

we put a cushy warm blanket under her in her brand new wagon and her cute little cat trick or treat bag from pbk. we were ready to go! we rolled on out to the next door neighbors house. my nephews were so excited, they ran from door to door in lightening speed.

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[ready to go!]

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[trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!]

we pulled olive along. she was quite content. people in their houses were so sweet, most doors, we couldn’t get up to because of their stoop. so we rolled up close, my nephews would ring the bell, and we would say hello and roll away. most people would actually run out to give candy to olive, knowing she couldn’t come fully to the door! they were so thoughtful!

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we probably hit around five houses. we were lagging behind. my nephews were running and plus, it was sooo cold out. the wind was so strong and her hood kept on blowing off her head. so, we called it quits for miss olive. she had candy in her bag, she had on the cutest costume, and i’d say it was quite an awesome first halloween for the little babes. the boys all went ahead and i turned around with olive.

as i was heading back {a short little walk}, i had to pull her hoodie back on at least five times! the wind kept blowing it off and i didn’t want her to get cold. so i would stop the wagon, pull up her hoodie, and then begin pulling her again. so, the last time i did it, i was almost in front of my parent’s house. i pulled up her hood and proceeded to pull the wagon. i must have not noticed how hard i pulled the wagon, because baby girl totally fell back. oh it was too funny and cute. she was so layered with clothes, she couldn’t move! so she just laid there. i got to my parent’s house and turned around and laughed so hard at how cute she looked. she couldn’t get up but seemed so content. her look was kinda like ‘mom, i fell over and i can’t get up. help me’.

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[my little lamb fell over in the wagon and couldn’t get back up.]

once we got back inside, we just chilled. my sisters were actually cooking up some chili for dinner while olive and i played around upstairs. i tried to put her down for a nap but that was a no go. after a bit, the boys came home and reveled in their loot. we all played around and had a lot of fun giving out candy to the trick or treaters. bennett was my partner in crime, we were stalking all the trick or treaters through the windows upstairs. if we saw any coming, he excitedly ran downstairs to hand out the candy {awww, a little mini me}.

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[the boys did a wardrobe change]

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all in all, it was a wonderful first halloween for miss olive and a fantastic halloween for us all. it was a spooky, cold, treat filled holiday! muwahahahaha!

xoxo

flashback friday {happy halloween!}

happy halloween lovies!

today takes us back to 2012. the family took a trip to bengston farm in homer glen {where?!}. it was a fun, fall event. there were plenty of pumpkins, rides, and greasy food to nosh on. we had a swell time exploring the place, there were plenty of fun activities for the kids like train rides, carousels, petting zoo, and haunted houses.

we played around and had a great time with the family. there were so many people there! it was a beautiful sunny day and it was perfect weather for us to hang out outside. i really do love going to a pumpkin farm, apple farm, any type of farm in october. it’s a tradition, it’s a must. it adds to the festive mood of the season. it totally gets me happy.

here, reagan and i snuggled onto the big wheel bench. look how small he was. so adorbs and cute. i love this pic because it’s sunny, cute, and sweet. i love this little guy and he is so wonderful to olive, such a caring cousin he is! what a cutie patutie.

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i hope you have some fun, exciting plans for this halloween night! we sure do. we can’t wait to experience olive’s first halloween. we are ready! what is she going to be?? shhhhh, it’ll be a cute surprise {something fluffy, furry, and adorbs…of course}!

happy, spooky halloween y’all!

xoxo

pumpkin carving fun

haphaphappy hallow’s eve! oh my gosh…i can’t believe it’s heeeerrre! well, we decided to have a pumpkin carving party the other day. it was so beautiful out; it was a perfect time to get messy outside!

hc set up a carving table outside {after he blew all the leaves away and cleaned up the driveway} and set up all of our ‘tools’. he cleaned off our pumpkins and we proceeded to dream up some cool designs we wanted to do.

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[hc with his jigsaw and us with our old fashion carving kit]

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[our pumpkins…all clean by hc and ready to be carved!]

hc took his drill and cut out all the tops of our pumpkins, to get us started. on a whim, i drew out the words ‘oh baby olive’ and started carving. like water, i rush with my actions and kinda messed up the carving of the word ‘baby’. oops. but no worries. i recovered, as you will see down below!

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[here we go]

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[oh!]

i love carving pumpkins…it’s a must do every season. it’s so much fun, it brings back such fond memories, and i always love the finished product. no matter what design we carve. there is just something magical about candle lit pumpkins at night. it’s so festive, spooky, and cool.

while we were carving out our pumpkins, olive was having the best time in her new radio flyer wagon! hc and grace set out that morning to find her a wagon. we wanted one because you just have to have one of these! but really, it’s a great item to have for any place you go to {kids love riding in it} and we thought it would be a perfect ride for her when she goes trick or treating. well, they came home, successful, with this awesome wagon! hc put it together right away and he took olive for a spin in it around the house. she was totally digging it.

so, we covered the bottom with a fluffy, comfy blanket and added in her toys, books, and stuffed bear. she was super duper happy! she played with her toys, she ‘read’ her book out loud to us, and she snuggled with her bear. she happily sat there and played the entire time we carved our pumpkins. it was too sweet to see. she is so darling.

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[olive enjoying her brand new radio flyer wagon // we got her comfy with a cozy, fluffy blanket and toys]

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hc used his jigsaw to carve his pumpkin {pshh, cheater!} and grace and i did it the old fashioned way…with the cheap pumpkin tools you can buy at the store. they both did funny faces and i ended up carving out my words. they all turned out lovely! i couldn’t wait until it was dark outside to light our fabulous creations!

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[not lit]

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[lit]

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[family selfie]

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ahhhh, loving our pumpkins! they turned out fantastic. i love the eerie glow. happy halloween eve everyone!

xoxo

october delights

to celebrate autumn and halloween, i started to dress our abode with some festive fall decor. it took a few weeks to collect everything, especially since we have a new house and all the decor had to be bought {next year will be easy peasy!}.

i hung our pretty crate and barrel wreath on our door…always a warm greeting! this one is from a few years ago but there is a similar one here. we purchased a few pumpkins to put by our door too. another festive welcome to any of our house guests!

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[the changing of the leaves]

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[a view from outside…i wish i could capture a better pic! i just love the way the windowsill looks!]

i purchased a bunch of pumpkins from pottery barn kids…i just love, love that store! they had the cutest, most fun halloween stuff this year! my favorite purchases were the white star pumpkins, i love the way it looks! especially when i light a candle inside of it. it gives it an eery, spooky glow. the black cat and the orange pumpkin are actually treat containers but i thought it looked best as scary additions in my window display. i’m glad i bought the pbk decor early because all these items are sold out now!

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i debated on placing burlap autumn leaves underneath the pumpkins but decided to go with a burlap runner. it was a more even, flat foundation than the burlap leaves on a wire {it was too bumpy for the pumpkins to lay flat}, plus it looked better.

i bought the regular looking pumpkins from hobby lobby. the burlap runner, the corn husks, and the colored leaves are from hobby lobby as well. oh, that store is wonderful…i can find so many wonderful things there. the fall leaves were the perfect, final touch to the window display.

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[i was experimenting with different burlap…leaves or runner? the runner won]

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of course, we hung the bright lab lights up! i love these lights. they were the final, final perfect touch to the halloween decor!

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throughout the house, i added a few festive touches. like these pumpkin candles from bath and body works. the smell is so yummy. pumpkin, pecans, and spice, so nice!

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i purchased these white pumpkins from hobby lobby. i love the look of these pumpkins. very ethereal and cool.

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the halloween banner is from pbk and the burlap autumn leave are from hobby lobby. the candles are led vanilla scented candles from target. the pumpkins i bought while we were on an outing with our friend dana, one afternoon.

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well, that’s it. that is all i have for this decorating moment. i had a great time scheming up ideas on how, what, and where to decorate in our home. it was so much fun putting everything together! i’m really enjoying our festive home right now and i hope you enjoyed it too!

we love holidays and festive fun stuff! i hope your home is full of fun, spooky, cozy decor and warmth. happy halloween!

xoxo

meow

so, to get into the spirit of things for halloween, i purchased olive some fun, festive pj’s! oh, i do love holidays and halloween is the start of the holiday season! it’s spooky, scary, and fun! there’s a chill in the air, it’s time for pumpkin fun, the leaves change into vibrant colors, and it’s a perfect time to watch one of my favorite movies! sleepy hollow by tim burton, my fav, fav, favvvve director! yes. a must see. yes, you must see it!

anyhoo, one day i was shopping with my olive and i stumbled into pbteen. i saw this adorable, sequin cat pillow and fell in love! how cuuuute! i had to have it for miss olive. i thought, it would be so cute in her room and perfect for halloween; a fun, festive update to her abode. so, the kitty cat came home with us.

well, as i was shopping around some more, i found the cutest halloween kitty pj’s from baby gap. how fitting! so, those kitty cats came home with us too! ta da! olive was getting a head start on her festive attire for this upcoming holiday!

now i did go picture crazy with her {c’mon…i’m a momma, it’s in our job description}. i couldn’t stop snapping pics because it was such an adorable combination. her fun sequin pillow and her adorbs cat pajamas! aaand her fluffy, crazy hair. aaand her cute, chubby cheeks. aaand her adorable, little pot belly. yesss, d: all of the above got me snap happy!

i’ve snuck in a few more cute outfits for miss o for halloweeenie. a girl has gotta have several outfit changes for any special occasion {as her momma did for her own wedding day…duh! like mother, like daughter} but we’ll show those off another time! right now, i’m relishing in all the cuteness right here.

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[holding on to her favorite carrot rattle from land of nod]

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[look at that hair!]

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[showing off her bootyliciousness]

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love her. love her show. i’ll watch it anytime.

yup, we’re kicking off this october with sass and sweetness. sparkly pillows, cutesy pj’s, and my darling olive. it’s looking like a spooky start already! muwhahahaha!

xoxo

happy october!

it’s october. oh, how i love you october. it’s one of my favorite months. it kick starts all the holidays {i loooove holiday season!}. i love that it’s a ‘spooky’ month. i love that halloween is this month. i love to see all the leaves change into their vibrant colors for their last hurrah. you can wear, buy, collect all sorts of boots and throw on a cozy sweater and scarf to keep toasty warm!

i love that first chill in the air. ya know, that morning you feel that coldness and you know old man winter is starting to creep up on you {stay away mr. winter!}. you smell the aroma of burning leaves, you watch the sunset burn across the sky. you see people scatter pumpkins across their doorsteps and decorate their doors with autumn leaves. i’m about to fill our house up with the smell of pumpkin candles and spice. so nice 😉

i’m excited that fall is here. i look forward to trick o treating. i can’t wait to buy olive’s halloween costume…hmmmm, what shall she be? {most likely something to match her cousin’s minecraft costumes} suggestions welcomed! i’m ready to decorate the house with fall accents. i’ve been scheming up some great, festive ideas for decor! we’ll be spending more time indoors, so it’s time to get it all cozy inside, don’t you agree?!

via tandeminlove.comautumn to do list:

1. apple picking

2. pumpkin carving

3. trick o treating

4. decorate the abode

5. jumping into a pile of leaves

6.  buy a new pair of boots

7. drink hot cider and eat an apple cider donut {again}

8. go on a hay ride

9. eat a caramel apple

10. eat anything pumpkin(y) {cookie, latte, pie}

hmmmm, with this list, i might have to add in exercise to negate all those extra calories! or maybe not. hehehe.

what’s on your autumn to do list? i hope it’s full of fall type activities, goodies, and fun! happy october everyone!

xoxo