My Halloween Adventures

Last fall I threw away all our Halloween decorations because they were so darn ugly. I like decorating for Halloween so I couldn't go without getting some new ones. We're on a bit of a budget though so I had to try to pull out some creativeness (which for me is a task). First of all I hit up Dollar Tree and they actually have some pretty decent stuff that is already made. Below though is what I came up with. For those of you who are super good at these kinds of things try to keep your laughter at a low chuckle. :)

I saw a ghost like this at Shopko for $30 bucks. I already had the dowels (for the legs) toilet paper (also for the legs), and the sheet (you can buy them for $3 at Wal-Mart and I had a ton left over to use for something else) and some shoes that Maybear doesn't fit into anymore. I spent $3 at the dollar store for the underneath head (which is actually a super ugly skeleton head), the socks and the mask.
I decided I kinda hate the mask though so it's just a ghost now. I don't know. Any opinions on which looks better? Seriously tell me what you think. I used masking tape to put it together, it's been knocked over a few times and still survived but I would definitely go buy duct tape if I were to do it again.
I saw a sign at Thai Pan that was $25 that said pumpkins and gourds and had an arrow. Loved it. Here is my creation. I got the board at Robert's with a 50% off coupon and their paints were on sale so it cost me about $5. You can't see the "hand written" stuff in this picture but it fixes the "Pumkin" and tells the price and says they're big etc. I got some frames at the dollar store to put some pictures of Maybear playing in the leaves below it. Unfortunately it's not up yet because Wal-Mart doesn't understand the meaning of 1 hour photo.
This one is not as grand as the original but for a $17 dollar difference I can live it. It was a dollar each for the leaves, the vase, and the candle. Plus I have some leaves left over to do something with.
The last thing I am sooo proud of. I don't sew. But I decided to make Maybear her costume this year. With help from my oh so patient mom and sister-in-law it's done! Hurray. It's a lion, just in case you can't tell what it is. I would put a picture of her modeling it up but she HATES it. I've had to put it on her twice to measure stuff and she screams. Ha! Hopefully she gets over it before Halloween. The bow in the mane is removable so we can use it for a boy if we ever need to. I haven't really been keeping track of the cost but I probably could have bought something cheaper, but the learning experience...priceless.

No More Blur!

I've gotten so tired of having such a cute kid (well, we think she's cute) but having all our pictures of her turn out so terrible. So we searched and searched for a good deal on a super nice camera and we finally got one on labor day. I'm justifying such an expensive purchase by telling myself that I'll never have to spend money at the portrait studios. Zach likes it because you can take "artistic" pictures (funny huh). We've been having a ton of fun with it and some of these pics were just too cute not to post. I would probably just post them all but I realize you all have other things to do with your time. :)

Unpacker For Hire

Have you ever caught yourself thinking these thoughts, "I wish my entire floor was the trash bin"

or how about "It would be so much easier to find the book I'm looking for if they were all over the floor" or the classic "That laundry basket needs to be emptied but I just don't have the energy to get those clothes out."

Well friends your problem is solved. Maybear is an excellent unpacker. She does everything from cupboards to drawers to bags.

And she does this all day every day so you can rest assured that your unpacking needs are in experienced hands. And there is no need to worry about fragile items they will be handled as gently as a baby...would handle them. Act now and for every 2 minutes unpacking you'll get 5 minutes of spreading your stuff all over the house. Now that is value!