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Happy Halloween everyone!  I’m not sure about you, but there are two little girls at my house who are so excited about today that they can hardly stand it!  And to top it off, they get to wear their costumes to school.  My youngest said it best, “BEST DAY EVER!!!”.  Pictures of costumes to come, but today it’s all about pumpkins.

Pumpkin Patch

Sunday after church, we headed to our local pumpkin patch to pick out the best ones for carving.

the plan

silly faces

Time for carving!

still working

cleaning up

Charlotte called this the pumpkin guts…

the result

scaryyyy!

I have to say, I was pretty impressed with our stencils.  Kate’s pumpkin (the one on the top) needs larger candle to show up better, but Charlotte’s really looked amazing!  Love to see your jack-o-lanterns.  Attach your pics in the comments!

I promised a few outdoor decor photos once our mums bloomed, so here goes.

Remember these? Can you pick out any differences from my first post? Well, let me explain. In my original post, I planted these mums in real pumpkins. They were beautiful at first, but after a while, I started noticing the pumpkins were leaning further an further to one side. They were actually rotting. Let me tell you that there is nothing more disgusting than rotting pumpkins. I so wish I had taken photos of me and the girls cleaning up the nastiness. Bad blogger, I know, but I just wanted them gone! So, now they have been replaced with the faux variety. Much, much better. As I told my girls, this was a great example of do as I say, not as I do. I'll give that advice to you as well, dear readers. Do not plant anything in real pumpkins that you want to keep for any length of time! new addition

Here’s the newest addition to my fall decor.  This was a super easy project and I love how it turned out.

closeup

There you have it.  I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Halloween.  We have a party each year and this year it’s our turn to host.  I’m off to finish a few things and try not to eat all the candy before tonight!

See you soon!

via Not a DIY Diva

Have you all seen the e-book written by blogger extraordinaire Melissa Michaels of the Inspired Room?  I downloaded it two days ago and have read it twice now.  If you are like me, trying to balance your family, your blog and your work, this will be a great read for you.  Melissa’s goal is to get us to focus on what’s really important in our lives and stop trying to live up to our perceptions of perfection.

I mean, you feel it, right?  You look through blogs, Facebook and Pinterest and feel that everyone’s space is more together and more beautiful than your own and think that you must be doing something wrong.  If you can just do more projects, decorate every room for each holiday perfectly and prepare three healthy meals a day, all the while keeping up with your work, your husband and homework, things will be perfect.  But, is that really so?  Melissa doesn’t think so and I don’t either, even though I still find myself trying to do it all sometimes.  It drives me nuts when I’m so busy that my house is a wreck and all my family has had to eat for two days is cereal (without milk).

Melissa’s e-book, however, helps us to get in touch with our authentic side.  She tells us it’s okay to not be a DIY diva (she’s not and neither am I!).  There I said it.  I love to buy craft supplies, paper, and have amazing plans for it all.  But to be honest, just like Melissa, I like the idea of it more than the actual act of doing it.  And that’s okay.

via Not a DIY Diva

This is my new mantra.  I’m going to try very hard not to stress out over the dirty dishes in the sink and the huge pile of laundry that is so tall it might fall over at any moment.  I’m going to enjoy my family, my home and my work.  The past few months have been pretty stressful around here, but if there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that I’m content with what I have.  My home will never be perfect by magazine, blog or Pinterest standards, but it’s perfect for us and that’s all that really matters.

If your looking for an inspiring read, I encourage you to download Not a DIY Diva.

What can you do today to live a more authentic life by your own standards, in your own time?  Love to hear it!

Have a wonderful weekend friends and thank you for all of your amazing support!