Hikes, Sales & Crafting!

We are doing our best to make the most of the beautiful Fall weather we have been having! There are so many nice local things going on we are trying to fit in as many as we can. Between my usual work around the house, volunteering at school, my son's tutors and caring for my Mom, my days are pretty filled but there's always time to steal away for a few moments and have some fun making my pumpkin friends!

We are also starting to get responses for Caitlin's Halloween Sleep Over party. We have some fun things planned and so far we have gotten all yes's....We are making some homemade goody bags and other items as give- aways.

This past weekend I hit a couple of garage sales and found some good stuff! A wonderful addition to my Holly Hobbie collection and guess what? The plate is about "Autumn"!

I also found two other sweet plates:

 This next one is small but oh so adorable. The color is black with accents of yellow. All the plates were only fifty cents each! Now that's a bargain!

I also picked up this pair of pretty planters:

And last but not least, another addition to the Pyrex Amish Butterprint series! Hurray! $1.00! Sold!

On Sunday, we we went to a state park near our home. It's in Smithtown and it's called Caleb Smith State Park. My husband had seen news about a Fall Festival so away we went! We walked through the beautiful trails and did a four mile hike.

This is the Caleb Smith House on the grounds. A historic structure. Out front were tents with things for kids to do.  And below is the lake that we hiked around.

 There were pumpkins to pick and decorate!

And a wonderful speaker who brought hawks and falcons for everyone to see. They were beautiful!

 They taught kids how to fly fish!

We just loved the day! It was so beautiful and so chilly!

Caitlin even made Native American treasures!

So much fun and we didn't have to travel more than five miles for it!

Hello October!

Greetings my favorite month of the year! How I look forward to seeing you! The weather is turning cool and crisp; just the way I like it! Still decorating...and I will be all the way up till the 31st I think! I always find something new or think of an idea for something I have.I think we all do the same thing if you are a Halloween/Fall lover.I'm busy making my little pumpkin people. What a crowd has gathered for some Halloween fun!

Pumpkin Pals!

Already dancing for the party!

Caitlin can serenade them all at the party with her violin. We start lessons today!

Here are some photos of the outside of the house up front. Since then, I have hung some cool bats from the trees. I have to photograph the two rear porches. Next time!

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Just about done! The orange lights look so nice outside.  I just want to put more and more lights! I think our trick or treaters will have a spooky time visiting us!

Meet Some New Friends!

Sunday morning and the sun is shining! I've made good use of these last few days. The majority of Halloween is up, and I'm enjoying the extra time for crafting. What a difference it makes starting a little earlier on decorating. It leaves more time for fun. I am also preparing for a few things starting shortly including the start of this year's Girl Scout meetings and our camping trip. We have to work on party plans too. We decided to add a Halloween grab bag this year. I was telling Caitlin how when I was in elementary school the teacher would ask each child to bring in a little gift wrapped with no tag. All the gifts would be in a bin and one by one each child (blindfolded) chose one. It was a mystery who brought that particular gift in. We thought it would be fun to do that for Halloween! Our party is a night party/sleepover with about ten girls so I think they will enjoy it as one of the games! Everyone her age is collecting TY Beanie Boos so I have a feeling that many of the "gifts" will be them but we'll see!

Here are a couple of new friends I made this weekend:

Hocus Pocus has been on all weekend on the Lifetime channel so I'm listening and working at the same time.
Here are a few other decorated areas of
the house:

I want to welcome a couple of new followers to my blog as well! Thank you so much for visiting me! Have a wonderful Sunday!

Halloween Decorating!

Okay, Okay..I know I said I was waiting till September 30th to put the decorations up...until I saw so many houses already decorated!!! I used to be one of the first and now I notice that more and more people are decorating earlier and earlier which is awesome! So away we go!

My big window in my kitchen/dining area is always my favorite to decorate. It also has two side windows that I like to match. 

I love using 3D party decorations on my windows. It just makes everything POP! So fun!

Since this is Jinxie and Moo Moo's first Halloween (and holiday) in an actual "home", they were intrigued by the many boxes and decorations! Jinxie made a new friend.

Missy Moo Moo was stunned by the window and kept coming in to watch. She wasn't frightened; just interested!

The foyer table was decorated even more with some favorite things.

 The ladies came out for their stay in the foyer as well!Named from my favorite movie, Hocus Pocus they are Winifred, Sara & Mary. They laugh and shake when you walk past. Can't even explain the reaction of the cats to that! Kind of like a Tom & Jerry cartoon without the mouse.

Added this black cat to our other witch friend Helga. I had gotten her for free at a craft fair cause her hat was snapped off the top.A minor repair. She's made of wood. Wood glue does wonders...I gave her a cat friend this year courtesy of Family Dollar. We named him Skeezix.

The metal "not so scary" tree is back to join the kitchen window. You put a candle or battery operated tea light in each of those spiders he hangs from his branches. He 's great! Welcome back, my buddy!

Back to the foyer....off the foyer is my parlor and peeking through the french doors ...can you see her? Another witch friend.

I have to show you her full height. She is quite tall and peers through the glass at the other three witches in the foyer behind the words : CAST A SPELL! I don't know if you can see them .....

In a hallway, are the three light up ghosts.  And this year I added my little brooms from Dollar Tree that I got last year. Though I did see them this year too....I think the brooms look perfect with our ghostys.

Each broom has a cute saying...

Oh good, there's broom parking available!

So that's where I'm at on this Friday morning! School is closed yesterday and today for the Jewish New Year so my kids have been busy helping. More decorating after breakfast. We are still working on the outside, my kitchen and more. I'm working on a small Halloween tree. So fun. and I'm so happy we'll have lots of time to enjoy it! 

BTW Hocus Pocus is on ALL WEEKEND on the the Lifetime channel. Check your schedules. It'll get you in the mood! Oh, and here's the first apple crumb pie for the season from the bag of apples we picked! 

Have a great weekend!