Happy Halloween!

Hope you all had as much fun as my little peacock did this Halloween:

Little Things: Family Time, Best Friend's Birthday, Tim Tebow, Mac N Cheese

TGIF!!!  Happy Friday!

I'm linking up with Lindsay @ Aisle to Aloha for her "It's The Little Things" weekly blog party.




We were fortunate to get to visit with both sides of our families this past weekend.  We held a little impromptu photo shoot in my sister-in-law's back yard after lunch at On The Border.  I just love their chips and salsa.
My sweetie pie:

Grandma with her grandchildren:

Kisses for Bernie:

Ashley with her pup, Buster:

I was so happy to be able to visit my best friend, Donna on Saturday night for her birthday.  We made personal pizzas, drank some wine, and chatted while our girls had a great time playing together.  We even had a slumber party!

On Sunday, we watched Timmy Tebow start his first game as an NFL QB for the Denver Broncos with my family.  He was having quite a rough time but came back with only a few minutes left in the game to defeat the Dolphins.
Earlier this week, I pinned "The Lady's Cheesy Mac" recipe by Paula Deen on one of my Pinterest boards.  I made it for dinner tonight and it was so yummy!  I think I am going to make it as a side dish for Thanksgiving this year at my mother-in-law's house.

Recipe here.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Pinterest Challenge Fall Edition

  Happy Wednesday!!

Katie and Sherry announced their 2nd Pinterest Challenge today on their blogs. The Fall Edition.  The idea is to recreate one of your pins.  It could be a little or big project.  It could be a fall craft, something for the home, or a delicious treat.  There will be posts next Wed, 11/2/11 on Young House Love and Bower Power to link up your projects and check out what everyone else created.  So get busy!

Here are a few pins I am considering:

I have a couple of faux pumpkins sitting around waiting for me to do something to them.

Source: Uploaded by user via Monica @ Creative Gator on Pinterest

Source: None via Monica @ Creative Gator on Pinterest

Source: None via Monica @ Creative Gator on Pinterest

I'd love to make these pumpkin place cards for our Thanksgiving table:

Source: None via Monica @ Creative Gator on Pinterest

A simple pumpkin wreath:

Source: None via Monica @ Creative Gator on Pinterest

These are just a few of the projects I am considering.  What about you?  If you need an invite to Pinterest, leave me a comment or send me an email with the email you'd like to use.

Halloween Spooktacular at SeaWorld

We snuck over to Orlando for a few hours on Sunday to go to SeaWorld's Halloween Spooktacular event. We capitalized on SeaWorld's "Pay for a day, come back all year long" deal earlier this year.  Unlike the big "mouse house," Seaworld's Halloween party is included with regular admission.  It was a beautiful late afternoon/evening and much less crowded than Disney.  Taylor had a blast trick or treating and greeting the various characters.  This is a big deal for her as she has always been petrified of any type of dressed up character.  She is even promising me that she will sit on Santa's lap this year to ask for a pink bicycle.  This remains to be seen!

A Visit To The Pumpkin Patch

We were in my hometown for a family wedding last weekend and decided to go visit the pumpkin patch with my daughter and nephew.  This is the very same patch I grew up picking out our family pumpkin with my two brothers.  We were having a "tropical system" with the threat of rain and high winds.

I'm sure we will also visit our local pumpkin patch in the next week or so to get one to carve for our house. Have you already picked out your pumpkin?

Birthday Party Fun!

This past Sunday we celebrated the birthdays of Addison (5) and Avery (2) at a local park.  These girls are the daughters of my best friend since middle school.  Essentially, they are my girls too.  Her oldest and my only are only 4.5 months apart and are good friends themselves.  It is really special to see they have a strong bond like their mothers.  We gathered along with about 50 other people to feast on pizza, sandwiches, fruit kabobs, and other snacks.  "Silly Sue" came by to do some face painting, a magic show, and balloon animals.  The magic show was a big hit!  I'm so happy we were able to help these sweet girls celebrate their birthdays.

Addison:

Avery:

Cousins:

Face painting fun:

Balloon Birthday Princess Crowns:

Not So Scary Halloween Party

We spent our Friday night taking our four year old daughter to Disney World's Magic Kingdom for the first time.  We celebrated Halloween a little early with "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party."  The park was decorated with pumpkins, eerie light effects, and spooky music.  The characters and staff were dressed in Halloween costumes. In addition to riding the rides, there was trick or treating, a Halloween parade, and a fantastic fireworks show.

So excited to hit the road:

Mommy's little Nemo:

She really enjoyed the flying Dumbo ride:

Playing the "drums" while waiting in line for the Winnie the Pooh ride: