Stroll With Me Through Halloween's Past....

I made this just for you dear readers.
Go ahead and save it to your files. Hope you like it.
Below I also made this print...Colorful Autumn Subway Art...
You can purchase a print in
My Shop.

Seeing my old house really brought back some memories from my previous post. So, I spent some time this weekend going through some other memories...Like my kids dressing up for Halloween. It was quite the treat to look back at how much they have grown, what we dressed them up in etc.... We went back and forth with the Halloween thing over the years. There were a few in between where we did not dress up, but would celebrate at a Church Harvest function or we would celebrate Reformation Day instead. No matter though, the years we dressed up were fun times in our home...Something they looked forward to and one memory I am sure they will cherish in their childhood memories when they are older.

Here's my boy...
A little Jack O Lantern...S
o cute right down to that little nose.

Here he is was Robin Hood.
 I made the costume for him.
Too funny.
He was two at the time....So little.
 
The year after that I made another costume...He was Noah....See the two lions? They are my Nephews. Tee hee...Noah and the two lions and a Pegasus?

Then he was a Scarecrow.
 
fast forward a couple years...I made these costumes. My son was a frog...The red thing hanging from his hat was supposed to be a tongue with bugs on it. This was our first Halloween with our baby girl so her and I became Lady Bugs....We were the only bugs my son ( The frog ) Didn't eat that night.
  
This was one of my favorite Halloween's. My son was a Skelly Man and I made my daughter's costume...She is supposed to be a flower. Can't you tell? Trick or treating in our old town neighborhood is like going back in time...The sights, the sounds of a ton of kids dressed up,
 knocking on the doors of historic houses as your feet crunch down
on streets of leaves in the coldest of nights, was a delightful memory. A bunch of old fashioned fun.
  
Of course every year we carve pumpkins...
A tradition we will always keep.
 
The next year I made their costumes again. This time we had a Knight and a chicken. I remember using the Martha Stewart directions for the chicken costume...That was a fun one. I also made my son's shield from a piece of plywood. On it,  I painted
 my husband's Italian Garbarino Family crest. We still have that.
  
Ahhh. The year of the Princess and
Neo from The Matrix...
  
Next up I made my daughter a butterfly costume and below
she was a little cheetah girl ballerina.
 
And.... one of the last years my son actually dressed up, I made him a Link costume,
 a character from a video game called Zelda.
   
Finally we have my daughters costume from last year. I made an owl costume for her. One of my favorite costumes yet. This year she will be dressing up as The Hunger Games movie character, Katniss. Who knows, this just might be the last year she will dress up for trick or treating. Thanks for coming along with me down memory lane. It was so fun to look back at these pictures with you. Have a wonderful weekend. See ya Monday. And be ready for the next installment in another home tour coming up this Wednesday.
XOXO

This Week...

Here in California...at least in my neck of the woods...The weather has been a bit finicky. One day it's cool, the next it's hot...Then it's cool again..I am so ready now for one of my favorite seasons...Autumn of course. I am well prepared with quilts and afghans...ready to snuggle in and relax. Last winter we found this sweet old sleeping bag for Freckles. I found it thrifting one day for 3 dollars. So cute.... and so colorful. Shes looking forward to using it for girlie sleepovers.
 
It was a nice crisp day. We got a lot accomplished and even enjoyed a lovely brisk walk through the neighborhood. It was chilly enough to wear a little sweater. I love days like that.

I captured this sweet shot of a humming bird in my friends backyard...I showed Mr. Darling and he says.."So they really do have feet"...Yes silly..they do. We laughed. You know it was just a few months ago when he realized that dogs actually have eyelashes too. I love that man.
 
We have many visitors in our garden right now. This pesky guy was laughing at me..Can you see it?
 He thinks he is quite cleaver. I don't think so.

We also made some BIG changes with our diet. I went through  my cupboards and took out a bunch of processed foods, grains and most carbs & dairy. We are hoping to see more wellness in our home rather than all the allergies and illnesses we always get hit with. Plus we plan on losing weight. Freckles and I are exercising everyday and walked  2-3 days a week..There's still so much work ahead of us...Just can't wait to see some long overdue results.


I am happy to say I can still have my herbal tea with a touch of honey and coconut milk creamer...I have been using my trusty emergency mug lately...Isn't it just adorable? I found it thrifting for $2 buckaroos.
Happy dance. Now I need to focus on that owl costume I'm making Freckles for the 1 mile Night Time hike at the Ecological Preserve this Saturday. I am hoping to get it done tomorrow. Then we'll reveal. have yourself a merry Autumn day.

HONEY BEES

 
Sorry it has been a while since I have dropped in. I spent the last week doctoring myself from the flu. Thankfully it was a shortened illness. I was loading up on a ton of vitamin C. Still a little out of it, but surely on the mend. School has resumed. This semester we are finishing up on our nature study on Botany. One thing we find very interesting is pollination through God's littlest creatures. One being, The Honey Bee.
 
I spent about 20 minutes taking pictures of these marvelous creatures swarming in our little orange tree. Freckles stayed inside for fear they would sting her. I stayed pretty still, as not too disrupt their pollen hunting and nectar sipping. It was quite amazing though...I must admit. Even though I was a bit frightened of them myself. I captured some pretty decent shots...shared them with Freckles and talked about them.

Honey bees are our friends of course. They are definitely very important to our little world. If you haven't studied much about these little critters...It is a must learn for everyone. They are spectacular for sure.
Happy Learning.

This Weeks Glance

More Canned goodness!

Visitors in the backyard.

A wonderful Sunday and sermon at Church by my dearest Mr.Darling.

Our friends wall...They have prints from all their friends who visit.

My son before his trip to Czech.What a happy face.

Growing a pot of grassy goodness...Just because.

Another sweet visitor...I saved this lady bug from drowning
 in our blow up pool. "LUCKY" for him.

A heart shaped parking lot!

A visit to a friends pool cools Freckles on a hot Summer day!

And...A beautiful sky just before the sun sets.
Hope your having a spectacular Summer!