It’s Friday the 13th! In October … spooky! Are you scared?
I love a good excuse for a Friends gif, but to be honest with you I’m not really into spooky stuff. I’ll explain in just a sec, but let’s go ahead and jump into some of my favorites this week!
Ramping Up for Halloween
One of my favorites this week is that we’re starting to get into the “Halloween is almost here” train of thought. Growing up, my family really didn’t celebrate Halloween. We were VERY Southern Baptist and we would spend our Halloween nights in the house with the lights off, ignoring the ringing doorbell. (Cue the child version of myself crying in her room here …) Celebrating scary and “evil” things just wasn’t something my family approved of.
Okay, we didn’t have this sign but I’m sure my mom would have put this in our yard if she saw it back then! 🙂 As a result, I grew up terribly jealous of my friends who got to dress up in costumes and ask random people for candy. And I couldn’t believe these random people would just give them the candy.
By the time I was in high school, my family still wasn’t entirely on board with Halloween but I did get to spend the night at a friend’s house on Halloween in ninth grade. We were definitely too old to go trick-or-treating, but we still went to some of our friends’ houses in her neighborhood. (I don’t even think we had costumes, but considering we were in ninth grade in the late 90s I’m sure we enjoyed an excuse to put glitter all over our bodies and wear sparkly eye shadow.) I was on cloud nine you guys.
Today, we do go trick-or-treating and I even have accumulated a stash of cute Halloween decorations. I love this trick or treat banner.
And, of course, we have a black cat decoration. We have a real black cat, Stu, so I had to find a black cat item to incorporate into the decor!
I pretty much have gotten everything from either Hobby Lobby, Home Goods, or Target. I still don’t love the crazy scary decorations, haunted houses, and the like. We have neighbors who hang a zombie girl on a swing in their yard … I have to look the other to avoid nightmares! But, it is fun to put out some cutesy decorations that aren’t too scary.
My son’s latest obsession: Osmo Coding
Have you heard of the Osmo games for iPads? If not, I recommend you look into them because they would make amazing Christmas gifts from a relative, parents, or Santa. Osmo is a game that incorporates hands-on play to on-screen directions. Children can bring wooden puzzles pieces together to match on-screen shapes, work to spell with letters, add numbers together, and more. If you’re like me, you limit your kiddos’ screen time, but with Osmo I can ensure the screen time is beneficial!
For Christmas last year, my son received the Osmo Starter Kit from his grandparents. The Starter Kit included the Tangram and Words games. He loved the so much that my aunt gave him the Coding game for his birthday.
This kid is addicted. But, he’s learning the concept of coding! Crazy! Since I hadn’t been using my iPad, we ended up giving him mine (in this kid-proof case which protects it and is in his favorite color, green) for his birthday. We finally felt like he was mature enough to handle the more expensive (albeit hand-me-down) iPad. He’s doing great with it. Believe me, the Amazon Fire Kids Edition is perfect for young kiddos considering the price and 2-year worry-free guarantee. But we are an Apple household and it was time to upgrade Foster. 🙂
Barefoot Mosquito
Okay, remember all those fun photos from Foster’s party where the kids were running around and playing in our yard?
Here they are, having a blast and enjoying playing outside.
This would not have been possible if we had not signed up for Barefoot Mosquito earlier that week. We have a lovely creek and greenbelt behind our yard, but this time of year it is a perfect breeding ground for mosquitos. The mosquitos were out in full force last week and I knew I had to try to do something about it. I called Barefoot Mosquito and they fit me in right away, hoping to help rid the area of mosquitos for the party. I had very low expectations, but it seriously worked! Nobody complained about mosquitos and the party was between 4 and 6 – the prime time for mosquitos to come out usually. If you’re in the Austin or Houston area, I seriously recommend you call them and try it out. Tell them I (Angelique Dale) recommended you!
Things Are Getting Cozy
And, finally, I’m starting to think about fall and general coziness. We had a few days this week where the morning air was crisp and we had the back door open during breakfast, enjoying the cool weather. The kids even wore their trusty fleece jackets I picked up at Nordstrom this summer. I’ve been wearing my favorite Uggs around the house. And I sent my aunt this cozy blanket for her birthday.
Plus, I’ve been filling up my Fall Pinterest board.
I picked up pumpkin butter at Trader Joe’s yesterday too. I’m ready for it. How about you? What are you most looking forward to this fall?
Alright, have a wonderful weekend everyone! We’re laying low all weekend and I cannot wait!
