I haven't forgotten!

I haven't forgotten you!  I promise!  Not much going on this week.  It's been GREAT!LOL  Aaron and I went on an "Anniversary Picnic and Hike" at the wildlife refuge on Saturday and had a blast.  I got some pictures of Aaron that turned out great!  Emily is at Disney dining with the Princesses for her birthday and I can't wait to hear all about it when I see her on Tuesday.  My brother-in-law's cousin, La Dayna, challenged us to commit 4 selfless acts of kindness in the next 30 days so I'm trying to cook up some good ones.  I'll let you know what I can dig up.  I did manage to get through the first  round of pumpkin bread.  It never fails!  I make 4 loaves a week that I cut in half (8 half loaves) a week from now until Thanksgiving.  There's never enough to go around!  Love, Light & Energy! ~Cole

Happy Haunting!!!

Hello!  Happy Halloween!  Are your costumes ready?  Or, maybe you pulled the short straw and are stuck at home passing out candy.  I hope you're in the goulish spirit!  Halloween has been in full swing this week for us.  We've carved pumpkins, had a parade, and even a little early trick-or-treating!  So straight to business: 

Do you like our carved pumpkins? Aaron's is on the left, mine on the right. Spooooky, huh!? They were SO much fun to make. Don't be too impressed, we both used a pattern.LOL  This year we did it in the backyard (usually we do it at the park.)  Butter Bean sat with us and enjoyed the sunshine.  She also liked to play with the chunks of pumpkin rind that we were cutting out.  She would toss pieces in the air and chase them.  So funny!

Well, I've been talking about them long enough.  What do you think?  These are the pumpkins I finished crocheting last week for my sister, Christie.  I won't lie, I am pretty proud of how they turned out.  Christie picked out the yarn and sent it to me in the mail.  I opened the box and could not WAIT to create something with it.  Didn't she pick fantastic colors?!  The pattern was so easy to follow.  Half the battle of crafting is being able to stick to plan A.  This pattern was so easy that I was even able to adjust it to make them all different sizes!

These are my "Emily Pictures" for the week.  We made pumpkin masks (and everything else that could possibly be crafted by a child that relates to pumpkins), she dressed as a mermaid (Princess Ariel) for her school Halloween parade and she celebrated her birthday (a week early) with her classmates.  Never a dull moment with Emily! 

TA DA!!!  I made a Mary Poppins costume for Halloween!  Did you guess it from the clues I gave you?  I looked online and unfortunately all the costumes for adults were lacking in morality fabric.(hehe)  When the heck did that happen?  When did Halloween turn into a "wear as little as possible in public" holiday?  Oy vey!  So anyway, I made this with what I already had, and a few things I borrowed from friends.  The anxiety that goes into Halloween costumes is all the wondering about weather or not people will know who (or what) you are dressed up as.  I was actually surprised at how many of Emily's classmates knew who I was.  I wasn't sure that children watched that movie anymore- with all the new cartoon animations Disney has put out in the last decade or so.  I even had several of the parents mention to me that it had been their favorite movie as a kid.  So it was a hit!  Hooray!

Make a Smilebox greeting

I'll leave you today with a special Halloween Smilebox from Butter Bean.  Be sure to check it out!  For those of you with children, please hold a quick family meeting and discuss proper trick-or-treating precautions to keep this a FUN holiday.  Don't let your children go out alone, set boundries on where they can and cannot go, expect them home at a set time and check their candy as soon as they get home! 

Love, Light & Energy,
~Cole

Boy OH Boy!

Boy OH boy!  What a busy week!  I've barely managed to keep my days straight!  I went all Friday thinking it was Saturday.  Has that ever happened to you?  Aaron's home with me today, so hopefully we'll just loaf around the house today.  At least that's what would be my ideal day.  We'll see if it happens. (I doubt it will).  There's always something to do or somewhere to go or something exciting to see.  Which is why it's been a busy week!  Here are the highlights:

We had a community yard sale last weekend.  We made about $60 in 4 hours.  Pretty good, huh?  Aaron and I had two tables worth of stuff to sell!  We sold mostly Aaron's old movies, but I also managed to get rid of that TV, a few kitchen gadgets, some old clothes, and an old Halloween costume.  It was a lot of fun.  I got to meet some more of our neighbors and really enjoy the cooler weather- since it was about 55 degrees all day.LOL

Emily is learning about mail at school.  She's learned about needing an recipient address and a reply address as well as the proper formatting for an envelope.  Her favorite is the stamp and reply address because they are stickers.  Everytime I've come to her house in the past few weeks, she has handed me a "letter" (picture) with a stamp and a reply address sticker.LOL  She's very impressed with herself.  And, call me biased, but I am pretty impressed with her too.  Emily's mom has announced that hopefully, Emily will be a big sister in just under 8 more months.  We're all VERY excited!  Emily's 4th birthday is quickly approaching and she will be spending it at Disney World.  She can't wait to see all the princesses! 

These are Emily's Halloween pumpkins.  Have you seen these kid friendly sets?  Basically, it's like turning a pumpkin into a Mr. Potato Head.  The set includes everything you see except for the pumpkins.  The accessories all come with spikes on the back, so you just stick them into the pumpkin- no knives involved!  I think it's genius and the children still use fine motor skills in the placement of each piece.  So cute!  Aaron and I keep meaning to carve our pumpkins, but we just haven't gotten to it yet.  I'll post as soon as it happens.

Aaron and I got to go to Fall Fest yesterday at a local farm.  We've gone for the past two years and it's quickly becoming a tradition.  It's very small, only takes about an hour to see everything, and it has some really great local vendors.  Plus, I almost always get to see children I know there.  Seeing them outside of "work" gives them an opportunity to see "Mr. Aaron" and make the connections that Nanny Cole has a family of her own.  This year, they had the (for lack of a better term) Syrup Maker up and running.  All the children got to shred their own stick of sugar cane and see the process that goes into making pure cane syrup.  It was pretty neat!

Well, it may not seem like much, but I am just POOPED!LOL  In my down time I've been crocheting more pumpkins for my sister. I've got one left to do before I send them to her. I don't want to ruin the surprise, so once she gets them I'll post a picture or two (or 5).LOL  I hope you all have managed to find an activity to partake in this week.  Did anyone manage to learn something new?  I'd love to hear about it!  Check back here in a couple of days to see all things Halloween and a special message from Butter Bean! 

Love, Light & Energy!

~Cole