Some Simple Fall Touches

I told you that I have not had much luck finding any white pumpkins this year, but I did pick up a few green ones, and quite a few orange ones (those are everywhere!) and grouped them outside in front of my black cart with some bright yellow mums.

The kids added faces to theirs.

Have you seen those lighted grapevine pumpkins at Pottery Barn? I just love them! I was lucky enough to snag this one at a garage sale this summer for $2. It is so pretty and sparkly at night.

I painted a thrift store silver tray with chalkboard paint and added a halloween "eek!" I like to use things that I don't have to pack away after fall is over. My goal this year was to simplify. I am still changing and decorating my house in general since we have been here for just 2 years. I didn't want to create much more work for myself by having to pack and unpack a lot more stuff, so I pared down and kept it simple. Having 3 kids with different schedules has also inspired simplicity!

My simple, orange-free fall mantle. Oh yeah, I painted my bricks white this summer and painted my mantle "Contented" by Sherwin Williams. I like how it lightened up the space and added a little color. It took lots of color testing to come to this mantle color. I might add a glaze to it. We will see...

I love me some crows!

The spider is a vinyl decal and is easy to remove.

I found this wood crate at a garage sale for $2, so I filled it with pumpkins (wish they were white), pine cones, indian corn, a few leaves, and put some blue glass jars in the center. I lined the bottom with burlap. This is my simple dining room centerpiece that will last through Thanksgiving. I am hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year, so I have a jumpstart on the table decorating...

Fall goodness...

I did not sell my tiered stand at the barn sale last month, so I added some fall berries, and glittery pumpkins and gourds to it in my kitchen. My friend Elise and I made the book page bird using this tutorial. They are intended for Christmas use and the link is to a book page ornament (so cute!), but I use mine all year round.

Hope I inspired you to keep it simple and relax this fall! Happy Decorating!

Enjoying Fall

I haven't blogged in awhile, so I thought I would do one post (it's a long one) to show you what I've been up to. Our fall always starts with this little guy's birthday. He turned 2 on Sept. 30th. Happy Birthday Brayden!

He loves Bob the Builder so I made him this cake. I got the idea from my favorite cake website, http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/ . This was a pretty easy one to make.

The gifts consisted of a lawn mower, weed eater, tool set, and some guns. He is the third child, so he has to keep up with his big brother and sister. I would never have bought my first son a gun for his second birthday. Things change people!

Brayden is our most spirited child, and most strong willed, but he adds so much fun and joy to our family. He is really starting to talk and even say sentences like, "Bryce pushed me" and "I love you mommy". It is fun to hear his new words and little ideas. He really makes himself known in our family. He does have a case of the terrible two's already, but is also such a sweet kid, that he melts my heart daily. You are special Brayden and I love you very much! You will go far in life!

He loves his Grandma and Grandpa. He actually would rather be at their house than our's most days. He calls them "paw paw" and "ge ma". I am very thankful that they are in his life!

I did my first sprint triathlon Oct. 3rd. The race consisted of a 1/4 mile swim, 13 mile bike, and 3 mile run. I did it with a few of my favorite girls. Here is my sister and I before the swim.

She was my toughest trainer preparing for this!

My good friend and training partner, Amy talked me into doing the tri. I was not really a strong swimmer or biker before this. We meet early two mornings a week to run or bike. We have some great girl talk while we run. As you can imagine, it was COLD that morning on the beach! Finishing up the bike ride...Finishing the run....almost there!

Our families came out to support us which made it so much more fun. Our hubbys had to have the kids up and out the door by 6:30 to make it in time. Very impressive guys! It meant a lot that they were there. I look forward to doing another one. It was so much fun!
We have enjoyed some time outside using Brayden's new finger paints.

The other two love it just as much.

We've made a few trips to the pumpkin patch, but not as a family yet... I have discovered that white pumpkins are hard to find in the south and those are my favorite.

We have become friends with a horse that lives near us and have been bringing him snacks of apples and carrots. Brayden asks to feed him just about every day. Bryce stepped in an ant bed this day and had to lose his shoe.

Makenna took her first school field trip to the pumpkin patch. I actually learned a lot about growing pumpkins too. I might try planting some this summer and see what happens...

We just returned from a camping trip too. We had some good laughs around the fire and ate lots of smores, one of my favorite things about fall!

Played some games...

Drank lots of hot cider and hot chocolate...

Played on the rocks by the lake for hours...

And did some hiking through the woods... Lots of memories were made that I will never forget and hopefully the kid's won't either. Some highlights of our trip were:

*hubby having to "borrow" someone's canoe without asking to rescue a ball from the lake

*Brayden using his hiking stick as a horse and laying down during the hike, saying "horsey nap"

*Makenna holding my hand while we were hiking and saying, "I love camping"

*Laying on a big rock in the sun reading a book for a few hours while the older kids played together.

*sitting around the fire cooking hot dogs, warming our hands, and talking at night about granddaddy long legs and whatever else came to mind.

I have been doing some fall decorating too, although I kept it simple this year. I will share what I have been working on very soon.

Happy Fall to you!

Our Barn Sale was a Success!

Our sale was a blast and we sold a bunch of stuff! After it was over, I realized that I didn't get any pictures of the set-up right before we opened. It looked so full and pretty! These are the pictures I took the day before so there we lots of goodies that are missing. It got busy even before we opened so I did not get a chance to take any more pics.

This is a flour sack towel pillow I made backed with red ticking.

The blue chairs were not for sale, but everything else was. I made the ruffled burlap pillows. This spot looked so cute once we got it all done.

I am thinking of opening an etsy shop and might start with a giveaway of this pillow... still thinking....

Elise brought over her adorable vintage baby bed setee. Wish I had a spot for it!

This is the headboard bench my dad and I made. I used this tutorial and it sold for full price! I also made the blue ticking pillows.

Some dessert pedestals I made on a sweet vintage table.

This one was made from tag sale dishes and glasses. I love how it turned out.

Some burlap "art" with an awesome frame.

This was Elise's cool vintage hutch that sold. I wanted this one too. She made the "boo" garland and it just fits perfectly here.

A cool, green king-size headboard. I am thinking another bench....hmmmm.

Some country goodness. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us. We hope to do it again!

I'm havin' a Barn Sale!

My friend Elise and I are having a "Vintage Barn Sale" this Friday and Saturday in my backyard. I don't have a barn; I just like the name. We are selling some awesome vintage furniture and decor that we no longer have room for because we both like to shop (a lot)! We also are fixin' up some tag sale finds, making some signs, and pillows, and whatever else we have time to do before then. We should have started preparing much earlier!

I found some cabinet doors and made this sign using this tutorial on one of my favorite blogs,

My Pink Life. Aimee is always very helpful in answering all my crazy questions. Thanks Aimee!

I love how this sign turned out! Hopefully someone will want to take it home.

Here is another one I came up with for a narrow cabinet door. If it doesn't sell, I want this one in my home!

I found this old wooden cutting board at a garage sale and painted and distressed it, then added the letters. I might be sad to see this one leave too!

A few more things that will be for sale is a watering can planter, a vintage collander, and this great orange crocheted throw for fall! I'll share more later. I've got to go sew some pillows!

Celebrating 15 years and a cool souvenier

This summer my hubby and I celebrated our 15th anniversary in Charelston, SC. I have been wanting to visit here for years so this was a weekend of pure bliss!

This was the few from our room and laying out by the pool with no kids was SO relaxing! We didn't want to leave!

We ate out by the water our first night there. The weather was just perfect! This might have been my favorite meal spot ever.

We are new at this skill of taking pictures of ourselves...

We celebrated my birthday there too at a cool dessert cafe. I had Toll House chocolate chip pie with ice cream. It was so rich and good, I couldn't even eat any dinner!

This was another dreamy dinner spot that I saw. We didn't eat here though.

Sounds crazy, but I just love old graveyards. These graves dated back to the 1700s.

The gates outside the houses were beautiful. This was a house number on the gate inside this climbing vine. The plants there were amazing!

A true Southern porch complete with hydrangeas and spanish moss. Look at that grass too!

We shopped at the market and brought back these pictures. They are architectural photography that look like different letters. I framed them and put them above our robe hooks in the bathroom. I decided to use two different hooks. Now just need two fluffy white robes to hang here.

Here is the "B" in bricks.

And the "A" in a window frame. These were actually the hubby's idea....very impressive. He surprises me sometimes. We had a great time together and I am so blessed to still be in love with my best friend after 15 years.