31 Days of Halloween - The Big Show

If you're enjoying my Halloween posts, be sure to follow with GFC or Facebook... I'm doing another 31 Days of Halloween series this year! 

That's what the elves at Santa's workshop call Christmas. The big show.

I feel like I've run a marathon. I've never run one actually, but I'm sure that my feelings of exhaustion, sore muscles, aching back, hot glue burns and bloating from candy overload are all similar to the post-marathon feelings. I could be wrong.

Here's how our Halloween shaped up!

This is our most popular tombstone.  One lady made it her facebook profile picture last year.  We Illinoisans have a sense of humor.

I like this one.

This one makes me laugh.

See that witch? I carved that.  I rock.

The cemetery fence was a great addition this year.

The fog was a great effect.  Please don't tell my husband though, his ego is large enough.

Jonathan helped put the suckers in the fraidy-cat pumpkin before trick-or-treating.

And Henry got a head.

It took a couple of hours to put it all up and about 15 minutes to take it all down.  People loved the display!  I need a nap.

Tomorrow, I'm starting the 24 Days of Thanksgiving.  Yes, I just finished a series of blog posts and am exhausted and I'm starting again tomorrow and I sometimes have run-on sentences.  I'll see you tomorrow!

31 Days of Halloween - Sucker Pumpkin

If you're enjoying my Halloween posts, be sure to follow with GFC or Facebook... I'm doing another 31 Days of Halloween series this year!

I can never be sure if kids will come up to our door for trick-or-treating. Our house has a porch that's enclosed so you have to walk up to it. With the lawn cemetery, Henry, the pumpkins and the fog machine, some kids are too afraid to walk up the driveway, into the porch to ring the bell. I've figured out how to cater to the fraidy-cats.

I showed you this pumpkin yesterday.

 This wasn't a pattern, I just printed off the words in a font and size I liked and cut it into the pumpkin.  This morning, I had Dave drill some holes in it.  Twenty-four to be exact.

Twenty-four because that's the number of suckers I bought.

Hmmm... something's not quite right...

Interesting.  How can I have 24 suckers, 24 holes, and two are empty? I would accuse my husband of stealing the suckers, but that could lead to a libel suit from my beloved.

He did it though.

I'll put this at the edge of the driveway for the kids who aren't brave enough to venture up to the door.

Tomorrow's post (the last one for Halloween) will be a bit later than normal because it will take us a bit to set it all up... Halloween is tomorrow!

31 Days of Halloween - Pumpkin Carving

If you're enjoying my Halloween posts, be sure to follow with GFC or Facebook... I'm doing another 31 Days of Halloween series this year! 

We carved our pumpkins last night.  We usually wait until just before Halloween because we don't like them to get all wilty.  But, if you pumpkins do get wilty, put them in a tub full of water for an hour or so... they'll plump right back up. Nature is a mad scientist.

This year, we added a tool to our pumpkin carving arsenal:

I found it at Walmart for under $6.  It attaches to any drill and makes gutting the inside of a pumpkin quick and easy.  The hubs gave it a try...

...he was very impressed.

We gathered our pumpkins, eleven in all, and hauled them inside.  It was a little too chilly to carve outside.  Also, we wanted to watch 'The Great Pumpkin'.

In past years we have carved more, but I've been busy this month... eleven pumpkins is plenty.

This is the first year Jonathan has carved his own pumpkin without any help.  He did a great job!

Hubbers was wrist deep in pumpkin pulp for a few hours.  He cut the bottoms out (we cut the bottoms out of the pumpkins instead of the tops, it's easier for us to light them that way), gutted them, and cleaned them up.  What a sport.

We used pumpkin carving patterns, 'cause that's how we roll. We were pretty happy with how they turned out!

This is the bottom of a pumpkin.  We put it on the ground, light the candle, and set the pumpkin on top.

Pretty little pumpkins.

I have something special planned for this pumpkin, I'll show you tomorrow!

Jonathan carved this one... didn't he do a great job?

I always, EVERY YEAR, carve a pumpkin with a spooky house.  I'm not sure why, but it's always the first one I carve.

I carved this one for Noah... it's too cute!

This last one is Henry's head.  We are all very happy that Henry will have a head.
It's almost Halloween!

31 Days of Halloween - Ghost Jugs

If you're enjoying my Halloween posts, be sure to follow with GFC or Facebook... I'm doing another 31 Days of Halloween series this year! 

I made something I saw on Pinterest. So there's proof: Pinterest is not just a time-suck from which you cannot escape. It isn't just the laziest way to feel productive. It actually makes you do stuff. Who knew?

Here's the pin that got me off my couch. My warm, comfortable couch.

So cute and simple! So, I got to work. I collected a few milk jugs from family and friends.

Jugs-a-plenty.

I drew a face with a Sharpie marker.  Long live the Sharpie.

I cut a hole out of the back side...

Do all of this in your jammie pants.  A very important step.

I reserve my white lights for Christmas, but I had orange lights that would work perfectly.  Here's the test run:

It's already cute... come back on Halloween to see how the display turned out!