Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

I love decorating for Halloween a little too much. I get so excited to go the pumpkin patch before October and pull out my decorations.  My husband was out of town for most of October but I still wanted to decorate the house.  I hosted the staff Halloween party this year so I was excited to have a reason to decorate and add some spooky flower arrangements to the usual decor. 


My wreath is from JoAnn and is looking a bit sad this year.  

I ordered the spider pumpkin holder this year from the current catalog and loved it!





 The bats and ghosts hung from the dining room light fixture.


 Home Goods is the best.

 My MIL helped me with the flowers for the party.  I love how they turned out!
Adding the candy corn is such a cute accent- plus really cheap because you can save it each year.





 Mummy vases.  So simple- Dollar store vase, cheese cloth, and googly eyes.  
The great thing about the flowers for Halloween is that most of them came from the yard.  The lambs ear, rosemary, and lavender were free!

 I am really excited about this new item in my Halloween decorations.  Every singe time I went to Target I would stare at it for far too long and then walk away.  Once I knew I was throwing the party for school I knew I had a good enough reason to buy it- or at least I justified it that way.

I my mom made chocolate covered pretzels for all the guests and I put them in the Halloween bucket with feet?  Still not sure what to call it. It is so great to have people help out with party planning- I can't do it all alone!  Thanks mom and Sharon!

I made the tags on my cricut and found the cute image on pinterest.  I stuck with the spider theme from the invitations.

I made this runner last year.  It is fabric with various ribbons on the top. The figures came from Queen of Hearts and the letters were of course made on my cricut.











My MIL made this little guy.  So fun and different!

 The mantle! My favorite part of the house to decorate.



Pottery Barn Kids had this banner in their catalog last year.  I decided to make my own!




If possible I would have everything monogrammed in my house.

This was the first year I decorated my bathroom for the holiday.  I found these free printables online and sent them to Costco to print.  Easy and cheap!





It was a wonderful party with great people!
The food was also amazing- I was too busy trying everything to take pictures at that point.  

Happy Halloween!

*I got an e-mail from a parent tonight with a picture of one of my students.  She dressed up like me for Halloween, so precious- a great reminder that I have a wonderful job that influences sweet kids each day. I hope I have lots of patience tomorrow with 21 children that have stayed up late to trick or treat and eat candy....









Sunday, October 30, 2011

Celebrations

Last weekend Poncho and I went up to my parents lake house at Lake Hartwell after school on Friday.  The whole family (except my husband who was on tour, he was missed!) stayed at the lake house for the weekend to celebrate my dads birthday. I love the lake because it is full of new recipes, days in pajamas, and antique shopping.  

 Poncho loves the lake house!

Older brother Jordan

 We had a wonderful meal!
 Sweet potato casserole

 Green beans with bacon

 Homemade herb rolls


 The birthday boy was excited about his grilled pork chops, me- not so much.


 Dad had a fire going so we roasted some marshmallows.








It was a great weekend with family.  I wish I could spend more time there.