Come in, come in!

I love to decorate both the outside and inside of my house for the changing seasons.  One of the benefits of growing corn in your backyard is instant decorations for no $$$ and no having to clean out the car. Yeah!  I couldn't wait for the end of the growing season so I could use the dried corn to decorate my front porch posts.  This is how my front porch looks for fall.  (Some day I, my husband will get around to taking down those poor hanging ferns! Honey???  I'll hold the ladder...)

Here is a pic of my front door, I need to paint it a different color to go with our new siding color, (I prefer to call my new siding gray by the way, sometimes it looks a little blue for my taste, but it is supposed to be gray.)

  Living in Minnesota I take my cement bird bath out of my garden during the winter to help save it from the snow and ice.  I usually store it on my front porch where it is more protected.  It is awesome to use to hold seasonal decorations.  Not to mention the great workout I get while moving it from the garden to the front porch.

I got this webbing from the fabric section at Walmart, it was only $.67 a yard.  Major score!  It was the perfect material for making a rustic fall bow.  I am thinking we need to have a nature/rustic Christmas tree in our basement this year just so I can use my $2.50 bow again.

No front porch is complete without a rocking chair.  It is one of my favorite places to sit and read a good book. 

My husband and I got each other these lions for our anniversary last year.  I named them Apollo and Zeus, I like to think they guard our house when we are away.  And yes, I do talk to them as I walk by!

Good night Apollo!

First Havest

I was excited to get our first crop of pears this year. My kids adore pears and pears are a special treat to take to school for snack. I planted three pear trees and we all had a hard time waiting until our pears were ready for picking.This is my littlest guy and his cousin holding some of our first pears. Just a warning, you will see as many pictures of my nieces and nephews as you will of my own children. Our kids are growing up not only as cousins, but almost as brothers and sisters also. My husband and I were reminded of this on the way home from church Sunday. The two of them were arguing over where she would sleep the next time she slept over at our house. My little guy wanted her to sleep outside in our heated dog house, and she wanted to sleep in his room. This is what my husband and I hear during the entire trip to Nanna and Boppa's house.
"No, I want to sleep with you."
"Nope, in the dog house."
"No, with you."
"No, outside."
"No, I won't."
"Yes you will."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
That continued on and on and on and on. The funny thing is that both of them were very calm during this exchange. He was enjoying teasing her and she was not going to give in!

Enjoy your day and thanks so much for stopping by!

My first Halloween Swap!

I am an avid fan of the blog joli-paquet and was excited to join in on their Halloween Swap. I have spent the last month dreaming and creating some fun Halloween decorations. My swap partner recently had surgery and then an illness, so I am hoping my package will be a bright spot in her recovery. Hope you enjoy the package Cathy!

A Halloween book and a poisoned apple to go with it I put a lock on the book
and found a great set of keys in the scrapbooking section at Michael's.

My crow friend, I found him at a dollar store, of course I had to glitter him up! Then I added a Halloween crown.

A butterfly mask, a spider web coaster, and the key to the book.

My favorite piece, a glittered mask. You can find the plain mask at Michael's and make your own masterpiece. I added some feathers from my rooster and a glittered spider to the bow.

The kids all love it when I make them a new wand. Here are some Halloween wands.

A close up of the wands.

Some treat boxes.

I love to paint the bottom of a matchbox then cover the top part with scrapbook paper as a fun treat box. I filled this one with pumpkin truffles.

Another favorite of mine. A candy garland. They are a lot of work to make, but well worth the time and energy!

Details of the candy garland. A calorie free way to enjoy candy!

Thanks for sharing my first swap with me. I had a great time putting this together. Thanks so much for stopping by. I really appreciate it. Enjoy the beautiful fall day!

welcome

I need to start off this first post with a confession. Maybe some of you can relate. Then again, probably not. Here goes, drumroll please, I am terrible at computers. Whew, that was difficult to admit. So... bear with me as I get used to this. It has taxed every fiber of my being just to get this far.

Reading blogs has been a really enjoyable part of my life for a while now. I confess to having felt left out by not having my own blog. (My kids say blogging is totally "not cool", oh well kids, I'm your mom, I will never be cool to you, that you will admit to anyways!) But I want to make it known, this blog is friendly to those of you who don't have your own blog!!!

Today is a big day in my life, not only did I start blogging, I joined my first swap! I will post pictures in a later post.

Those are my lovely children, they are going to kill me for that top picture, but it was one of the only pictures I had on my camera of the four of them together. ( I am hoping to get better at capturing their life) The #2 child, AKA Captain Awesome, self-titled btw, has a totally different haircut by now. One day he will look back and ask why on earth I let him wear his hair that way.


Just an explanation of Auntie Cake. No, this blog will not be all about cakes. Sorry. When my niece, this cutie, just started talking, she couldn't get Kate, my real name, out. Instead she called me Cake...and it just stuck. Not that I don't love cake!