Fall decorating.

Besides carving jack-o-lanterns for the doorstep, we've never done much decorating for Halloween. But with Halloween becoming a bigger and bigger holiday each year, we're becoming more compelled to give it a try.

This is our dining room mantel. The "Boo" was yet another idea ripped off from Pottery Barn. The main difference is that my version was practically free to make. The mirror had been languishing in a corner of our basement, until one night I dreamed of painting it black. This is the first time ever that I had a creatively inspiring dream. Usually, I dream about being in high school again and I've forgotten my locker combination or I have finals to take but I have no chance of passing because I've skipped class all year. Anyway, I think my subconscious had a really good idea for once.



This is the second year for using apothecary jars to store candy. I bought a few more because I think that they're really fun. Mark keeps complaining that the opening of the jars are too small to fit his hands through. I guess style over usage won out.



Lastly, here's what our mantel at our previous house looked like a couple of years ago. That year, the orange pumpkins that Mark planted fizzled out, but the white ones flourished. Blue and green are my favorite colors, so I just love this photo.

And in case anyone had doubts, yes, I already have plans for Christmas.

Peanuts.

When the new chandelier that Mark purchased for our stairwell arrived packed in a huge box of styrofoam peanuts, Lauren needed little convincing to jump inside.



Maybe I'll take a photo of the new chandelier once it's installed, though I highly doubt it will be as cute.

Leaf peepin'.

This morning, we went for a hike at Fall Run Park, which is located about a 2 minute drive from our house.



The park gets its name from the waterfall located in the middle of the trail. Unfortunately, due to the drought, the creek beds were dry, which didn't make for much of a waterfall.



That's Mark and Lauren on top of the falls. Yes, that's the waterfall. Seriously.

Mary Higgins Clark has more money than God.

That is, if you go by the number of her books available at any given used book sale.

Today was the last used book sale of the year, thus concluding a very successful season. And if it sounds like I'm describing a competition, well, you'd think of it in that way too if you've ever seen the people lining up outside before the sale starts or the way people pillage once they're inside. Given that the cover price for new hardback books is around $30, I guess the furor is understandable.

Anyway, even though our library's sale actually has some of the more expensive prices (3 for $2.00), we still ended up with over twenty books for around $15. The vast majority of these were for Lauren, although I did find a brand new hardback copy of The Golden Compass for myself.

By the way, the Woo! The Not-so-Scary Ghost book in photo is absolutely adorable.

Happy Fall!

Bah - the only fall thing around here is my Boss's Day gift. Okay, the leaves *are* finally changing, but this warm weather has got to go! It just doesn't feel right.

Earlier in the week, Mark had spotted some cheap pumpkins situated outside of an country store in North Park. So in order to kill time until our pizza was ready for pick up, we decided to stop there tonight.

The cart contained three price levels of pumpkins - $1.50, $3.50, and $6.50. We assumed that the smaller, pie making pumpkins were $1.50, while the big pumpkins were $6.50. That left the medium, mid-range pumpkins which were just right for us. We picked out five and brought them up to the counter.

Then, the lady attending to the store asked Mark, "Are those the $1.50 ones or the $3.50 ones?"

Mark replied, "I think that they're the $3.50 ones."

After we finished loading the pumpkins into the car, Mark hands me a wad of cash and says, "I think she charged me $1.50 anyway."

Five pumpkins for $7.50. This almost beats the time we bought a Christmas tree for $5.

Almost.

Hangin' with Baby Noah.

Tonight, we spent the evening at Mark's parents house to celebrate our sister-in-law Beth's birthday. Not even five months old, Noah has already taken a keen interest in the performance of the New England Patriots.



Lauren is really good with Noah. She stacked blocks for him so that he could knock them over. Then, she'd comfort him after the blocks fell on top of him. I've often wondered how Lauren would take to a brother or sister. She pretty much has the undivided attention of one of us (and sometimes both!) at any time, so having a sibling to contend with would be a pretty big change for her. But at least it seems that she isn't completely opposed to the idea.

Lil' Picasso.

Or, as I prefer, lil' Renoir.

With the weather turning too cold to play outside, we're challenged to keep Lauren occupied with indoor activities. One night this week, I dug out some alphabet blocks that she hadn't played with before. Another night, I gave her some Halloween cookie cutters, and we sat and made pumpkins and bats out of Play-doh. However, the big hit of the week was painting.

Given that she can't stand to get her hands dirty, Lauren has never been much of a finger painter. But hand her a foam brush, and she's suddenly channeling her inner Impressionist.



In other news, I was excited to find that as of this week, I've had ten photos appear on Flickr's Explore pages. It's so fun to challenge myself to come up with ideas for photos that may be deemed interesting by a super secret algorithm.

Got wood?

Last week, a guy from the electrical company stopped by to scope out the trees on our property. The old oak tree at next to our driveway needed to be trimmed in order to make way for the new electrical lines that were going to be installed. Since they were going to cut off the two largest branches, which would likely cause the already sickly tree to die anyway, Mark requested that they just cut it down entirely. Given that the tree was likely over one hundred years old, he made this decision with a heavy heart.

Well, the event has become the talk of the street, as all of our neighbors are now coveting the free firewood. Which is fine by us, because now we don't have to pay someone to haul it all away.

One of the nice ladies of our neighborhood even baked us a Bavarian coffee cake to show her gratitude.



Nothing like crushed pecans and cinnamon to wash the guilt away.

A little somethin'.

Sometimes you don't become aware of your own idiosyncrasies until you become a parent.

For example, I recently noticed that I have a tendency to overuse the word "something." The habit is probably pretty annoying, but it wasn't until Lauren started saying oddly familiar things that it was brought my attention. Like...

"Let's do somethin' else."
"I have to go get somethin' first."
"Let's go watch Scooby Doo or somethin'."



A couple of days ago, Lauren and I spent the evening sitting on the couch together playing games on the iPod. When I tucked her into bed that night I asked her, "Are you my little friend?"

To which, she replied, "No, Mommy, I'm your BIG friend!"

Scrapbooking: Anniversary projects.

One last anniversary related post and I swear that I'll move on. In honor of our fifth anniversary, I thought it would be fun to make a album containing photos of the two of us together through the years. I had originally thought of doing a page for each year that we've been together as a couple, but that was a little too ambitious for now. So I just included a photo of us from each year that we were married (2002 - 2007). Ironically, even though the album is titled "Five," there's actually six pages. Oops.



Anyway, this was more a craft project than a scrapbook, as I didn't include any journaling. The pages are cardboard coasters that I "stole" quite awhile ago from Chili's. This made hole punching very challenging, so much that Mark had to intervene because I wasn't quite strong enough to do it. In the end, we broke both of my hole punches.



Instead of giving Mark a card, I wanted to let him know how much I appreciate the specific things that he does, so I made him a page listing five of those things. The title is a little over the top, but hey, when you want to make someone really feel good you sometimes have to go to the extreme! One of my goals this year was to make a family oriented album, so at least this is a start.