Boo to You!

Here are photos of this past week. It's been a BIG one. We went to the pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins, put on a "fall fest" for Amanda Lily's Dual Language class, and had a small Halloween party here at our home. I'll do a separate post on the school Fall Fest.

One of the highlights from the week was taking our new puppy, Meli ,to the patch with us. She is such a people magnet! I think it's because she is sooooo cute. Golden Retrievers are the most beautiful puppy there is. (At least I think so) Also, carving pumpkins was lots of fun. Daddy had the tough request this year. Steven wanted a clone trooper. So, he broke out the "big guns" aka his power tool Dremel. Amanda Lily wanted a Ballerina, and I have to say, she was the easiest pumpkin I've carved to date. The party was smaller this year, and honestly, I was glad, because it was mostly boys. I'm not sure if you all have noticed, but boys are a bit more rambunctious than girls. Mix that with costumes, game, and sugar overload, and you've got Crazy Town!!!!! LOL. It was lots of fun. We did a Mummy Wrap, Bobbing for Apples, and Monster Limbo. Food was interesting. Amanda Lily helped make the dead specimens in their petri dishes (gummie spiders and worms in red jello) While we adults enjoyed "Pina Ghouladas" with eyeballs and blood rimmed glasses.

I hope you all have a Happy and Safe Halloween!

Jacksonville Weekend Trip

We had a wonderful weekend getaway with our friends, the Buffkins. We had a nice dinner out, at Maggiano's, then the next morning, split up for some girls day/boys day action. As you can see, the boys had a dream day at the Airshow, featuring The Blue Angels. Just have a look at that photo of Steven and Ben jumping up and down! It was an all day event, and to hear Steven tell it, "It was Awesomely Fantastic!!!!!!!" George enjoyed himself a lot too, and was very impressed by the entire day.

Trish, Grace, Amanda Lily, and I spent our day at the most "awesomely fantastic" mall ever. We got a jump on some Christmas shopping, and enjoyed lunch at Cheesecake Factory. Who knew Jacksonville had such great shopping????

Good times.

Bucs vs Saints

For George's Birthday, we decided to make a weekend trip down to Tampa. I was already there hanging with my girls for the Women of Faith Conference, and my family drove down to meet me on Saturday. We had a nice dinner out, and did some shopping at International Plaza. Sunday was the main event. George and I took Steven to his first ever Bucs game at the stadium! It was soooooo exciting, even though we lost, and almost roasted to death in the sun. Steven was great, and wanted to know when we are going back! We cheered and screamed and had a big time. Amanda Lily spent the day with Nana and her 3 Great Aunts who were also in town for the Women of Faith Conference. She was very happy to spend her day shopping instead of at the stadium with us. It was a fun weekend for the Kountanis clan. Happy Birthday Daddy!

Steven's Earthworms

While George was digging a hole to plant our new tree, Steven decided to "help" him.

It was all going great, until Steven noticed a couple of earthworms in the hole squirming about. He insisted George stop digging, and then "saved" them from a certain death by shovel. They ended up in this plastic bin along with some dirt and a few blades of grass. Such a boy.

Friend for Tea

Amanda Lily had one of her sweet friends over after school one day. She and Lily had a girly time playing dress up and sharing afternoon tea. I just love this age and the innocence of it all. It made me so happy to hear them laughing and carrying on like little girls do. I'll look back on this post one day and wonder where time has gone.

Awwww Shucks......

My baby lost her two front teeth! It hurts a Mommies heart so much to see that the youngest of her brood is growing up so fast. Isn't that a gorgeous snagle tooth grin?

SPOOKY!

I've had so much fun doing Halloween crafts this year. I promised myself to get a head start on making some easy decor for around the house. I scoured other blogs for creative inspiration, and here is what I ended up with. I am sharing it with you in hopes that you will be inspired as well!

My personal favorite is the "SPOOKY" banner. I am so pleased with the way it turned out. You need to have a cricut to do this one.

The monogrammed pumpkin is an easy and lasting alternative to carving. I became very annoyed last year after working hard on our kids intricately detailed carved pumpkins, only to watch them grow mold and rot in a matter of days. This guy will last all season, then be ready to use for pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving! I used cricut, once again, to cut out the stencil for my "K". It took me about 45 mins to paint the dots and "K" onto him.

E-E-K is just plain fun. I couldn't decide whether to hang it from our dinning room chandelier, or over the bar in the kitchen, maybe next year it'll move. I bought wooden letters from Michael's then painted them and hung them from grosgrain ribbon underneath a spider and her web.

The picture in the entryway is of George and me on our first Halloween date. We celebrated that night down at Church Street Station during it's "hay day". I put it out every year to remind me of the way we were.

I also had to include the ceramic Jack O Lantern mom passed down to me after we were married. He sat on our kitchen table every Halloween during my childhood. Mom painted and fired him at a ceramics shop back in 1984. I LOVE HIM.

The homemade projects are easy, inexpensive, and it's fun to get the kids involved too! My little artsy girl and I had some great quality time together working on them.

Happy Crafty Halloween!

Pumpkin Latte'

I'm not sure about you all, but I am obsessed with Starbucks pumpkin latte'. I wait all year for fall to come around, so I can get my hands on them. Well, I was noticing after a few of those suckers, that they had a way of making my wallet lighter. So, I came up with an at home version that is delicious. I have enjoyed this coffee every morning for the past week, without breakin the bank. Also noteworthy, is that there is no high fructose corn syrup in my at home version. I have no idea if Starbucks has it in there, but I don't doubt it. I know flavored creamers in the grocery store definitely do.



Hazelnut Coffee
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup coffee creamer



I use a large coffee mug, and these are the measurements I use. You can tweak them to your liking. MMMMMMMMMM