Harvest Party 2012

Our harvest party this year got a little rained out, but that didn't stop us from having a grand old time.

In anticipation for the party, my friend Wendy had the great idea to turn our orange front door into a jack-o-lantern. Genius, she is!

All it took was some black craft foam and double-sided tape.

We kicked off the party with the pumpkin carving. Here are a few of the masterpieces:

After some hot cider and delicious snacks, including jello worms and mummy hot-dogs, we took the kiddos outside for some games.

This year we added a potato sack race to the festivities. By the way, if you're ever in search of burlap sacks such as these, check out your local farm/feed store. Amazon wanted $20 for four; I got these locally for $1.50 each. (Thanks to my big sis for the great tip!)

We weren't sure how the kids would do so we made the race track pretty short on the first race.

Too short, in fact.

They were done in no time.

Kendry had a ball.

Kacen missed the starting gun on the first race, but he sure loved watching the older kids finish.

The second (longer) race resulted in a wipeout or two.

Time for apple-bobbing!

Kacen knew just what to do on this game.

Each of the kiddos received a goodie bag and a jack-o-lantern smile (thank you, Pinterest!).

Getting a photo of all the kiddos together proved easier said than done, but we managed to round most of them up.

 

A big thank you to all our friends who joined us for our 2nd annual harvest party! See you again next year!

HAPPY FALL FROM THE GIMLINS!

Ten on Tuesday

{1}

Some outlying areas around us are on snow watch this week. I would totally be embracing this soon-to-be-winter chill if we weren't hosting our harvest party this weekend.

Chilly or not, its gonna be fabulous!

{2}

Speaking of the party, I did some shopping for supplies this week.

Who knew ranch and feed stores were so fun to browse?


It makes me wanna be cowgirl when I grow up.

{3}

Three cheers for the hubs who ran a 5k in the chilly wind last Saturday!

{4}

Kendry and I were bystanders this time around. We treated ourselves to some hot cocoa, a pretty walk by the river, and the luxury of watching the finish line from the comfort of the warm car.

{5}

Got our ballots in the mail this week.

I really miss going to the actual polls.


 

{6}

Oh, the simpler times...when the kiddo wasn't old enough to voice his opinion on a Halloween costume. This morning I mentioned how he was going to be a basketball player, to which he responded he didn't want to be a basketball player. He wants to be a power ranger.

Or maybe Batman.

And then Spiderman.

How's a mom to keep up?


 

{7}

I am greatly anticipating our first fire in the fireplace this weekend.

Mmmmm, toasty!

 

{8}
Working on the Christmas budget this week. I refuse to be caught on December 1st with no shopping accomplished.

{9}

Kendry has taken the 24/7 question stage to a new level. Now he asks for a play by play of every. single. day.

Kendry: "When we get home from school, then what?"

 Me: "Dinner."

Kendry: "And what after dinner?"

Me: "Cubbies."

Kendry: "And what after Cubbies?"

Me: "Bedtime."

Kendry: "And what after bedtime?"


You get the point.

I am seriously considering getting him a daily planner.


 

{10}

This Week's Blessing:
One heck of a chef for a hubs, who not only makes me delicious breakfast burritos upon request but also makes potatoes o'brien from scratch.

I love my personal chef!

A Little Organization Never Hurt Anyone

Let's not dwell on the fact that its taking me for-eh-ver to truly finish my guest room.

Instead, let's focus on the positive. Progress, however little or slow, is still progress.

And in order to really make progress on the guest room (aka my craft room) I needed to add some storage space.

I found two built-in cabinets at our Habitat store last winter. I used the first one in our basement to organize my paint and supplies.

The second one started out like this:

Now, if you recall, our guest room already holds a king size bed, not to mention a few other finished pieces like my desk, piano bench and nightstand. As much as I wanted to add storage to this room, I knew I needed the piece to blend in so it didn't crowd the room too much.

My solution?  I painted the entire shelf the same color as the walls (Fleeting Green) and finished off the bottom with white baseboard. In a sense, I tried to make it resemble a built-in again. 

Except it needed a little more Jody, so I coated the back of the shelves with a green/white floral contact paper I found at the $1 store.

The top of the built-in was unfinished when I purchased it, so I threw some natural colored wood slats on top.

I also kept some of the original hardware for added character.



Before:

After:





Everyone crafts better in an organized space.

Fun Times in the Emerald City

Be advised: this is a photo heavy post.

We spent the last week of September in Seattle, with a few days up in Bellingham visiting some friends. One thing you should know: Justin hates Seattle. Okay, so maybe he doesn't hate the city itself; I think he just hates the traffic, limited parking and then having to pay for parking. I'm with Justin on the paid parking thing - its a bit of a drag to add $10 onto the cost of an activity simply to park your car within walking distance.

But I digress.

We just knew that for this IVF cycle we wanted to stay near our clinic. And stay near we did - we rented an apartment a mere five minutes from our clinic. It was fabulously convenient.

We also knew we wanted to get out and see Seattle a bit, which we did as well.

Our first adventure was the Seattle Aquarium. It was Kendry's and my first visit. We arrived just in time to see the diver feeding the fish.

This octopus was really on the move when I snapped this photo. It was a little creepy.

The tide pools were pretty neat.

This seal was doing laps, coming right at the glass.

We visited Pike's Market after leaving the aquarium, not realizing it was packed with Seahawks and Packers fans for the Monday Night Football that evening. Craziness!

That evening I took Kendry to one of my favorite spots, Alki Beach, while Justin yelled at watched the Seahawks on TV. We met up with my friend Amanda for a walk on the beach and some yummy fish and chips.

Our next adventure was the Children's Museum at Seattle Center, which we conveniently found a groupon for earlier in the week.

This photo of Justin cracks me up.

Kendry was pretending to call his grandpa while driving. I didn't have the heart to tell him this is illegal in Washington.

He was pretending to fall off the ledge. I think he gets his dramatic side from me.

The weather was gorgeous all week!



Mid-week we headed north to Bellingham to visit our friends and their new baby girl.

It was nice enough to BBQ and eat dinner outside.

(It was around this time that we stopped taking so many pictures.)

Toward the end of the week we returned to the Seattle area, this time staying in a hotel so Kendry could do some swimming.

We later met up with Justin's dad to hand over the kiddo for two nights so Justin and I could have some time to ourselves.

My proposal for rounding out a great week in Seattle:  a Saturday morning coffee and pedicure with a bosom friend, an afternoon trip to IKEA (Justin actually agreed to go!), a short nap and dinner with my best man.

Such a great trip!

Ten on Tuesday

{1}

We're baaaaack!

I have missed this little corner of our world.

Did you miss us?

{2}

Who stole all the daylight while we were away?!

 

{3}

I love watching these two play together!

Kendry sure loves his Ava.

{4}

Some day, many moons from now, when I actually have time to make a quilt, that blue basketball jersey will be sewn into said quilt.

Kendry would wear it every day if we let him.

{5}

My fall decor may not be entirely on display yet, but at least I've got my front barrel done.

I like to think of it as one of those 'false fronts' they use in Hollywood; if the front of my house resembles a harvest welcome, you might be fooled into thinking the inside looks that way too.

{6}

Yeeaaahhh.

So much for my cool corn stalks in the photo above. We had a nasty windstorm blow in last night.

I think my corn stalks are goners.

{7}

Only two weeks to go and we still haven't made a final decision on Kendry's Halloween costume.

I would like to point out that I don't procrastinate in all things. Believe it or not, I'm designing our Christmas card this week.

{8}

Where did our baby go?

 

{9}
Seattle pics to come tomorrow!

{10}

This Week's Blessing:

The love of family and friends.

My cup truly runneth over.