Turkey Boxes & Pumkin Paint - 301/365

Today, Nana, Reagan and I spent the day assembling the Turkey Boxes for the food drive at Reagan's preschool. I offered to help with the Thanksgiving food drive and they wanted the boxes decorated.

I decided to make them into Turkeys! We cute out about a million feathers and glued them on. I had painted the boxes awhile back, so they were ready for the rest of the assembly. It took a long time, but was A LOT of fun! We laughed all day working on these turkeys. We ended up making eight. One for each class and one for the staff.

Everyone absolutely loved them! They are already saying that they hope to keep them for next year! YAY!

This evening, Nana, Jennifer, Rachel and I were going up to Wonderstruck to do a pumpkin paint. The picture was perfect for the fall season. We couldn't wait to go. We had seats right up front by the teacher, who happened to be Wanetta's daughter! Small world! It was a great night!

Reagan and Jim hung around the house playing games and dress up. That had fun, too!

Feathers

Finished box

Flock of turkeys

Pumpkin Paint!

 We did great!

 

Happy Halloween! - 304/365

Happy Halloween! 

We were going to have a busy day today! 

Reagan and I started with a trip to the grocery store. We needed a few things, and I had promised her we would bake "ghost" cupcakes for our pizza party that night. I still needed all those supplies, too!

When we got back, Reagan and I were going to work on our final pumpkin. Nana had found this really cool Cinderella set, that had a stencil, sound maker and sensor. You carve the pumpkin. Then, put this sensor down inside, when you walk past the pumpkin, it talks in Cinderella's voice. Reagan was super excited and couldn't wait for it to be done. 

The carving went really well with my new knives! I was done in no time. Cinderella's eyes were a little tricky, but it still came out pretty good. 

When it got to be lunch time, we went to meet Nana and Mary Jane at Cheddar's for a girl's lunch. We had a fun time! We all got sandwiches. Nana and MJ got Philly Cheese Steaks. They were huge and looked delicious! 

 After lunch, they went visiting some friends, while Reagan and I went home to bake our cupcakes. Reagan was the best little mixer! Her favorite part was scraping the side of the bowl with the spatula. And of course, licking the beaters! LOL! She kept going, "MMMMMMM!" It was adorable! 

This evening, was finally trick or treat. The weather was horrible. It was raining and windy and it just kept getting worse. 

On a brighter note, every year since Reagan came along, the grandparents stop over to see her in her costume. Jim's mom and dad stopped over first. Greg came in with zombie teeth and black lips. Reagan just kept staring, not quite sure what to make of it. It took her a good 20 minutes to warm up to him. It was so funny! They stayed a little bit, then headed home to pass out their own candy. 

Papa, Nana and Mary Jane came in soon after with the pizza for our party! We have made it a tradition to have a pizza party Halloween night, before we head out for trick or treat. It's fun to sit with Reagan in her costume and chit chat! 

Parker and Ron were our first customers and they were soaked. Poor guys. They were in good spirits though! It was so sad to see all the kids coming to the door just drenched and cold. 

Finally, we decided it was our turn to brave the rain and set off to a few houses. We gave Reagan her little Dora umbrella and away we went. She wasn't bothered by the rain at all. She just had a good time. We only ended up going to four or five houses, but she had fun. 

When we got back, we dried off a bit, then drove up to Ron and Rachel's to visit them for a few minutes. We got to see Milana and chat with Ron Sr. and Sharon for a few minutes. Sharon made Reagan an adorable little treat bag. It was so sweet.

 When we got back home, Nana, MJ, Reagan and I set off to visit JoAnn for a few minutes. JoAnn always likes to see Reagan in her costume and give her a few treats. Her and Bobby got the biggest kick out of the Watermelon Fairy costume! 

Next up, it was off to Ray and Jenny's! They were so sweet, they had a little stuffed animal for Reagan and some Halloween stickers. We hung out over there for a little bit and chatted. They even had some "treats" for the adults! We got Miller Lites! Cheers! 

 Despite the weather, we had a really nice Halloween with our baby girl. It's hard to believe this was her third one already! 

The photo of the day is Reagan setting out in the rain for Trick or Treat.

 Next, is my cupcake baker and our ghost cupcakes. They HAD to have "frinkles", too! 

Finally, our talking Cinderella pumpkin...

 

Swiper No Swiping - 302/365

Today was going to be a catch up day. 

Jim's mom was going to spend the day with Reagan, while I got some stuff done. 

This week, they decided to go play over at grandma's house for the day. They went shopping a few places, before heading over there. Then, it was off to visit Timmy. They played a lot and Reagan helped grandma put some stickers on her mail. They had a good day just putzing around the house.  Grandma brought Reagan home in time to take a little snooze. They had a really fun afternoon. 

I got a bunch of stuff done around the house. It felt good to get caught up on some stuff! Brinkley was my shadow all day. Everywhere I was, there he was, too! He is so sweet! He is such great company. 

This evening, it was a pretty nice night, so, Jim took Reagan and Brinkley for a stroll around the neighborhood. It was nice for them to get a little fresh air, pretty soon we won't be spending too much time outside. 

While they did that, I was going to tackle my second pumpkin! The first one was Dora, so I wanted to do the second one, keeping with that theme. I was hoping to carve Dora's sidekick, Boots, but there was no patterns out there. The only one I could find was, Swiper, so we went with him. My small detail knife broke halfway through. I was so upset! Jim jumped right on it, and offered to run over to the store to see if they had any left. He came back about 15 minutes later, with two new knives! He is great!!! I got to finish Swiper and I must say, he came out pretty good! 

The photo of the day is our Swiper pumpkin! 

 Next is a picture of my little sidekick staring at me.

 

Hiking and Pumpkin Carving - 301/365

After our busy weekend, it was nice to take it relatively easy today. 

Nana, Reagan and I, had lunch at the Dutch Haus today. Reagan was in rare form during lunch. She was just singing and singing. She was singing, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" while eating a grilled cheese. She pushed one of her pieces of grilled cheese into her ketchup for her fries, when she broke into... "Row, row, row your boat, into the ketchup!" It was so funny! She was laughing so hard, she almost had tears streaming down her face. She is just a hoot! 

After lunch, we went to Parks Garden Center to look for a couple pumpkins to carve. I'm so late on my pumpkin getting and carving. The last couple years, Jim, Reagan and I have gone to White House to pick out pumpkins, but we just never made it this year. We popped into White House today, but they had NOTHING left. Luckily, Parks hooked me up. I got three really nice ones, that I hope to get done before Thursday. 

 Jim went this afternoon to get his flu shot on his lunch hour. He went up to the CVS in Canfield and only had to wait 5 minutes. He said it did hurt a little. The rest of the day, he just kinda felt out of it. Not really bad, just tired and weird. It's probably just a side effect. Hopefully, he'll be better tomorrow. 

This evening, Jim, Reagan and I took Brinkley up to Austintown Park to run around on the back trails. We were still a little worried about his leg. We didn't want to put him in the dog park, but still wanted him to be able to run around. Reagan and Brinkley both, had tons of fun. He just ran and ran, while Reagan, collected sticks, rocks and nuts. It was nice to be out and about before it starts getting dark at five.

When we got home, we had a gourmet dinner of Subway. YUM! LOL! 

I ended up carving one of our three pumpkins. Reagan is so into Dora since our Alaska Cruise, that I had to do at least one of them, Dora. I have to say, it came out really well! I got some better carving tools this year at Target, which really cut down on the carving time. Reagan was thrilled! I was so happy! 

The photo of the day is the Dora pumpkin...

Next, is Jim's little chair where he got his shot...

Lastly, is our little girl on her hike...

 

Pumpkins & Mums - 259/365

It was a Monday. 

Jim had to go off to work and Nana, Reagan, Brinkley and I went to the three mile trail. It was still a little damp, so I was worried, that Brinkley's fresh shampoo would get all icky. Thankfully, he still smells like a powder puff. 

After our walk, we went down to have lunch at the Dutch Hause. They have the best soup and salad bar around. Reagan was quite fascinated with the princess cake display today. Especially, the Dora the Explorer one. She kept asking for one and I told her, that if she kept up her good work with the potty, we would get her one. Of course, after I said that, she asked to go to the potty. 

 After lunch, we went to L&M Greenhouse in Columbiana to check out their mums. They had really, really nice ones. I ended up getting two "super pots" and three medium, all in the orange color.

Reagan really took to the pumpkins. She picked out a few and carried them with her the whole time we were there! She would NOT put them down. Nana picked one out for herself, went to set it down to pick up a mum, and Reagan about had a heart attack. She said, "NANA NO! Hold you pumpkin!" It was too funny! 

 This evening, Jim and Reagan headed off to their art class. Today, they were making fall trees. It was too cute! There was a trunk glued to paper and the kids got to make leaves of all different colors with Q-tip tips. She was so proud when she got home. She came running in and said, "Mama, I made a project! Dada is going to bring it in." When Jim came through the door right after her, she about grabbed it out of his hand to show me. We're so proud of her!

 The photo of the day is Reagan and her little pumpkin....

 Next is Reagan and her favorite Dora cake....

Finally, her fall tree...