Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!

Since William is only 7 months old (today actually!) we are not doing any real trick-or-treating this year. But, that does not mean we haven't gotten dressed up in costume a few times with some friends!!

Check out some of our costumed playdates:

Monogrammed Pumpkin

While trolling the pumpkin patch, I fell in love with this deep green beauty. Maybe because we have a baby boy or maybe because I thought it looked more elegant than orange, I picked it off the vine. Everyone was telling me, "you picked a green one" which I realized since I'm not color blind, but I liked it.

To make it more personal without carving it (because what is safe about carving a pumpkin with a baby?) I monogrammed it with gold paint. Very easy steps: create template from computer, cut out stencil, trace and paint.

Come back in a few days to see where the pumpkin "lives" at our house.

Hand-me-downs?? Hand them Over!

If you don't "like" or "agree" with hand-me-down children's clothing, you aren't going to like this post, so just stop reading. I do not have any issues with second-hand clothing for William. Why? Well, I inspect it before I buy it, wash it before he wears it and save a whole bunch of money in the process!

Take the past week for example. There were two large community yard sales in town. At one, I picked up four long-sleeved shirts from The Children's Place and a pair of linen pants (size 18M for the summer) all for $3. A nearby church had a sale and I picked up something like three sweaters, two pairs of pants from Gymboree, 5 long sleeve shirts (two from Janie and Jack), and a dozen books for $6. Yesterday I went to TotSwap, a consignment sale, and got him a great three-piece shirt-sweater-pants outfit for $2.50 and a LeapFrog musical drum for Christmas that was $5 since Sunday are 50% off days.

So, you are right, I don't know exactly which size he will be when, but really, I still think I am on the winning end of these deals.

Time Out Tuesday

Halloween Footprint Ghosts

This is one of my favorite projects and it was William's first real craft. Here he is with the finished product:

To kick-off our Halloween decor, I decided to make ghosts out of William's footprints. I saw a similar idea in a magazine a while ago, but I made some modifications and made it even easier.

Materials you need:
baby or child
wood
saw
paints: black, white, yellow
paintbrush
Sharpie
numerical stickers

I started off at Lowe's and purchased one piece of wood and cut it at home into a few different size pieces. (I did different sizes because I made these for William's grandparents too, but I used one footprint instead of two.) I also picked up a can of $1 black spray paint. I covered the basement floor in newspaper and gave each piece of wood two coats of spray paint on each side and all edges.

Then, I put William in his highchair and painted the bottom of his bare foot white and stamped it on the wood. Now, the first time I did this, I dipped his foot into the paint and then stood him up on the wood, but this resulted in a messy ghost that wasn't hardly recognizable as a footprint. By painting his foot, I had more control over the amount of paint used and could also spread out his toes if that makes any sense.

While the paint was drying, I added some additional details: a yellow full moon and the year 2011 in 3D white sparkle stickers so I didn't have to worry about neatly painting numbers. Then, I drew faces on each ghost with a Sharpie.

I love how this project came out and want to do it annually. Once William has a sibling, I can use one foot from each of them to have a big ghost and little ghost. One of the best parts is, since it is wood, I don't have to worry about it getting ripped in a box, paper fading, etc. I can just sit it anywhere in our house until Halloween!

Now We Have Everything

There was a quote I found while pregnant that I wrote in my baby journal:
First we had each other, then we had you, now we have everything.


As I parent, this is so true. 6 months ago we welcomed our son, William Michael, into our lives and had no idea what lie ahead. Would he be happy with us as his parents? Allow us to sleep? Like to smile and be held by lots of people? We didn't know the sex of the baby before delivery, but I always told people I felt it was a boy because I could only think of boys names and I considered that a sign. My husband was sure it was a girl as we both of our mothers. Well, we know what happened there ;)

Happy half birthday little man! Now Momma has to start thinking about your 1st birthday party because the months sure do fly by spending my days with you!!