Check In: October Advent Calendar

Here's the four-one-one from our October Advent Calendar list. We completed almost the entire list, and I'm pretty proud of our progress. 
1. Plant a pumpkin. 2. Drink spooky hot chocolate. 3.  Make Halloween tees 4. Visit Blessington Farms. 5. Decorate the house. 6. Have a dance party to Halloween music.  7. Make candy corn pics.  8. Make pumpkin cookies.   9. Have a boo bath. 10. Go on a nature walk. 11. Visit zoo boo. 12. Watch a scary movie.  13. Have a mini pumpkin painting party.  14. Paint monster rocks.  15. Make Halloween garland. 16. Plant a fall harvest. 17. Try pumpkin beer.  18. Train ride. 19. Try on Halloween costumes.  20. Make coffee filter spider webs. 21. Make Halloween party hats.  22. Make pumpkin pizzas.  23. Tell ghost stories.  24. Make cat headbands.  25. Go to the festival. 26. Make bat crafts.  27. Make herbed butter.  29. Make Halloween necklaces.  30. Watch a scary movie. 31. Go to the church festival. (tonight)

Looking back at this list, I'm so glad that I did this with my little nugget. We had so much fun this month! Instead worrying about the laundry or running errands, we put everything else on hold and enjoyed time together as a family. Sometimes, I tend to get lost in everything we have to do and forget that this time with Anabelle as she approaches two years won't last forever. And let's face it, those three piles of laundry will wait for you. Forever. 

We made it to another festival, played it as smart kids and wore our summer clothes and hats. Even though Anabelle was exhausted before we even made it there, we still enjoyed seeing the famous Olate Dogs, petting Huskies and grubbing on food truck grilled cheese. Hearing her squeal in excitement to go to another festival didn't hurt either.

Tank // Shorts
We also made Halloween party hats and tried on Halloween costume accessories. 

I wanted to make pumpkin pizzas, but I couldn't figure out how to make the face, so we made spider pizzas instead. Anaballe "helped" by eating the cheese and pizza sauce straight off the dough as I made a sad attempt at creating a spider web. 

Tee // Rolled jeans

Even though our pizza was riddled with toddler hands, it tasted incredible. I swear those are spiders. 

I totally failed at the zoo boo, since I was flying solo one weekend. I attempted to brave the zoo alone, until Anabelle had a total meltdown one hour upon waking. So I panicked, and we ended up going to the playground. There were lots of other kids there, so it was almost zoo-like.

Herbed butter will be made in November. That sounds like a good side dish for Thanksgiving, right? I think so. Bring on the leggings.

Happy Halloween everyone! Calories don't count today. Get it.

Yet Another Pumpkin Patch: The Narrated Version

We went to another local pumpkin patch, with pumpkins galore, ponies, farm animals and face painting. I love to support local businesses, and I thought this would be a wonderful way to spend the day with my little nugget.

I decided to throw caution to the wind, and disregard nap time. I shoved that little voice in my head that said, "this is a horrid idea" behind a locked door. Let me bring you yet another pumpkin patch visit in the narrated version via my interpretation of toddler gibberish.

"Look, mommy, a playground! And a slide! It's my favorite!"

"Let's burn this joint. We've already been to a pumpkin patch this year. Who needs another? It's free anyway, so we've got nothing to lose."

"I told you, I don't want to ride the pony. He could turn on me at any moment! You can't fool me into thinking he's a docile creature that wants to be my friend. None of my friends look like that."

"No! I don't want to ride this dumb pony! Since you won't listen to me, I'm going to scream at the top of my lungs and jump off this animal. You can't make me ride this damn pony!" 

"Hey, this train ride is cool. It's so calm and relaxing. Oh, look! There's that evil monster pony! Hey, Mr. Pony!"

"Don't you see how flush my cheeks are? I'm over it. Let's go."

"All of these pumpkins are mine! Tell those other kids to back off. We've got some pumpkin pie to make later, anyway. You promised." 

"Weeeee! Pumpkins! Anabelle, you are totally missing out."

"Sure, I'll fake smile for a quick photo op in this dirty wagon. Let's pretend we are having the best time EVER because I'm about to throw down another tantrum in 3...2..."

"One."

Until next time, friends. I hope your pumpkin patch visits are heavy in entertainment and light in tantrums.

Our Halloween Decor

Candlesticks - Homegoods and TJMaxx // Advent Calendar - DIY // Halloween Garland - DIY

Frame, Candle and Wicker basket - Homegoods // Pumpkins - Blessington Farms and Target

Since I've managed to let an entire week escape from the blog (hello wife and mommy duties), here's a few pictures of our Halloween decor around the house. 

I felt a little festive and made some Halloween garlands to string on the mirror at the entry way and on the mantle, along with our advent calendar, a few black candles and pumpkins, we're all set and ready for the holiday! 

I'm a minimalist decorator at heart, which probably explains why most of my walls are still bare. That's why holidays are my favorite, since it's an excuse to decorate without making any permanent decisions. 

I hope your Monday is wonderful, friends!

Fall inspired pumpkin cookies

Since Anabelle loves baking, I thought it would be fun to make some fall-inspired pumpkin cookies together. She loves to help tossing the flour in the bowls and mixing it all up.

After we got the dough made, I let her throw some flour on the counter and punch out the pumpkin shapes. I rolled out the dough and she threw several more handfuls on top and cut out mini pumpkins. Each time she cut out a pumpkin and laid it out on the cookie sheet, she would yell, "Yeah!! Mo' mo'" and wouldn't stop pleading for more dough until we moved onto the next batch. She had so much fun with the dough!

The icing, not so much. 

I let the dough sit in the fridge overnight, and we made the icing the next day. She really loves the monster rocks we made, and wanted to bring them down to decorate the cookies with us. Since my baking skills are sub par, I colored the royal icing a pinkish orange color and the first batch of cookies looked like they were pumpkins picked a little too early. 

She only played with the icing for a few minutes before she wanted to get down since she left her baby doll unattended. While she played with daddy, I practiced my coloring mixing skills and made the cookies look like real pumpkins made by a toddler. I've never worked with royal icing before, since piping is terrifying to me, so I won't tell you these were the last five cookies in the batch. I won't tell you that it took me three tries to get the orange the right shade and two tries for the green.

I won't tell you that these cookies tasted like cardboard, or that no one in the family liked them.

At least they look pretty, right? Kinda. 

Now I have royal icing cemented on my counter top and cupboard, flour and sugar in crevices I didn't know existed and on the floors. The best part of this baking fail, is when I asked Anabelle if she liked baking with mommy, she screamed. "yeah!" My cup runneth over.
Happy Friday friends!

Halloween Monster Rocks

We're knee deep in our October Advent Calendar over here, so things have been a bit hectic because I want to do allthethings. Anabelle doesn't mind it one bit. 


We used the (free!) rocks we collected from our nature walk, and painted Halloween monster rocks. But first, we had a quick snack sesh. Anabelle was running around having a tea party with her stuffed animals, and didn't want to go downstairs to eat. So, I brought snack to her like a princess, and grabbed a kale salad for myself. Kale is my jam. 

We brought out our fancy dishware that consists of a toddler tea cup set, and blue-striped bowls from college. You can even spot a chip on the side if you look closely. True life. I could use a set of new white dishes. My birthday is coming up. Are you reading, dear husband? After we discussed her snack time fullness, I brought out several colors of Tulip fabric paint and let her pick whatever color who heart craved. Her first choice? Red. Probably because she's an intense mini creature on an emotional roller coaster ride. 

While I held onto the paint tube, I let her dip the paint brush inside, and told her to cover the entire rock in paint. I like to take risks and live dangerously, which is why I've never placed a drop cloth on this beautiful table her grandparents gave her. Put that on my list too, husband.

Monster rock painting takes serious concentration. Shhhh, please be quiet while the artist is at work. Also, no feeding the animals.

She made through three rocks, and about ten minutes of painting before she put the paint in her mouth. Game over, Anabelle. Post clean up was a melt down, but eating paint isn't like wine tasting, friends. I didn't want to make my first call to poison control. I imagine the call would go something like this: Mommy: My toddler licked the cap of the fabric paint several times.  Operator: Okay, ma'am. Where did the paint come from? Mommy: Uhh... we were painting monster rocks. Operator: .... That would be a story to tell.  Anabelle isn't coordinated enough for monster faces, so I took over at this point. After the tantrum melt down, I painted a silly face on each rock, and threw on some glitter. What's a monster without a few speckles of super fine gold glitter that eventually landed all over my desk and carpet? And I keep finding on the bottoms of everyone's feet. While I was trying to take a quick snap shot of the monster rocks in the yellowy early morning light, her grubby little hands snatched one away. Take one.

She ran away to her play kitchen, rocks in hand, and threw them in a pan on the stove top. After a few whisking motions, they weren't cooking fast enough, so she popped them in the microwave for a minute or two. Monster rocks for two is served. This toddler is a chef in the making.

Glitter bottomed feet and rock filled bellies in this household. I bet older kiddos with imaginations can draw any kind of monster they desired! 

A Nature Walk

Since Anabelle isn't so thrilled about the church nursery, we decided to forgo church on Sunday and go on a nature walk after breakfast. Sometimes I wish I could shove her back in my belly and tote her around. Wouldn't that be so awesome?   I would be the envy of so many mommies.

The weather was cool, and another rainstorm was on it's way, so we thoroughly enjoyed nature in all its glory. All thirty minutes of it.

You guys, this trail is so lovely, and I want to go back already! I foresee a solo run in my future. Sweet, sweet silence.

During our walk, we picked up leaves, rocks and acorns to collect. I made the mistake of showing Anabelle a gigantic stick the nearly the size of her body. She wouldn't put it down, even after attempting to negotiate for a smaller, not so dangerous stick. But smaller sticks are all the rage right now! I kept imagining her poking her eye out, the hospital visit and her half blind future. Thankfully, none of that happened,  even though she refused to give it up.

She wanted to terrify me a little more with nature made baton twirling. "Don't worry mommy, I got this."

We spotted man-eating spiders, intricate webs, berries my husband wouldn't let me collect and a cicada carcass. I can't stop wearing these Birkenstocks, even during nature walks, in the rain and mud. Semi granola love, right here. 

We were almost back where we started and she decided she didn't want to walk anymore, so she plopped her butt down on the trail and yelled her little heart out. As frustrating as it was at the time, looking back at this picture is a moment I'm glad I captured. Toddler tantrums and independence. This would make for good bedroom art. 

Here's our nature walk loot. Isn't it beautiful? We painted monster rocks yesterday on the rocks we found during our walk. Free Halloween crafts. Oh yeah!

Have a great day everyone! Don't forget to go outside, and enjoy nature's beauty :)