[Go batty...]

It's no secret that we all love security envelope patterns, right? And like many of you, I collect them, waiting for that perfect moment for when I just might come up with something to do with them. It actually makes receiving those bills not all that bad - almost exciting and somewhat suspenseful waiting to see what special pattern is hidden within.

It just so happens that most of our "important documents" come wrapped in black security splendor. Initially this made me a little disappointed, as I favor the classic blue look. However, it seems that black has come in quite handy for the occasions at hand, and as a result, I have now grown rather fond of it.

Because security envelope patterns are "hindered" a bit by their intended layout, I find that bite sized projects, such as cupcake or sandwich toppers, work best for me. So in honor of the fabulously spooky holiday at hand, I had to make little bats to top off some scrumptious pumpkin shaped sandwiches.

And let me tell you, nothing dresses up an ordinary ham and cheese sandwich better than a cookie cutter and a toothpick topper.

Little A went batty for these and couldn't wait for me to finish the photo shoot before gobbling up a bite or two.

Trust me, these babies with fly off the plate, before you can say BOO!

[Baby O]

We took it easy this year for baby O's first birthday. Thanks to last year's Target post-Halloween sales we were good to go with decor/invite/the works. The only thing I made was the Pumpkin spice cake with my favorite Williams Sonoma pumpkin cake mold that I break out every year. Pretty low key. Pretty great.

After gobbling his first cake bites and opening a few gifts from grandma, Little A and friends, Baby O was ready for a nice long nap. As were the rest of us.

Happy Birthday my little baby! (now please feel free to stop growing...seriously...you can slow it down any time you like).

[inspiration overload and feeling rawther...]

Ahh...fall. The dreamiest of seasons, set apart to usher in the delight of holidays magically stacked upon one another in just a way to get us through the drizzly and dreary months of winter. OK, so I live in California, but it has been unusually cold this past week and equally drippy (skipee!) and I have strived to enjoy every minute of the (sadly brief) sweater lovin', boot sportin' weather. Unfortunately, along with draftiness, fall brings with her a most bothersome flu bug. And yes, the little beast found me, and got me good.

So this past week was spent sipping hot herbal teas, lounging with lozenges and tissues while deliriously dreaming about a courageous orphaned daughter of a knight...and somehow trying to keep track of my little knights throughout it all (and relying heavily on our good fried DJ Lance for a little down time).

Of course this little spell couldn't have come at a "better" time. I mean, I only have two costumes to sew before the end of the week, baby O's first birthday to plan and prep for (please say my oven will work by then), and kajillion other Halloweeny creations boiling over in my brain. In fact, this time of year, so beloved by all all in our house, can often get a little congested (in more ways than one). I love the holidays (any excuse to celebrate and throw a party, right?) so much so that I often get a bit of inspiration overload. I have SO many ideas that I start to get stressed and saddened (of my own accord) when I realize that time is slipping by and there is no plausible way I'm going to be able to do it all. So one by one I have to eliminate and prioritize and of course get back to the spirit of it all (but left a little heartbroken for all that I was not able to do). Does this ever happen to you? What's your secret remedy? Please do share! I'd love to curl up with it and let it steam out all my early holiday congestion.

[costume prep and the...]

Having a three year old for Halloween this year is an entirely new adventure for me. Little A is actually starting to get it and is very excited about tricks and treats, The Great Pumpkin and any and all Halloween themed story books we can find (he's like his mama in this way). However, I was counting on this being a year I could still, ahem, "greatly influence" my son as far as what sort of costume he will be wearing alongside his brother (yeah, I'm one of those moms). Well, he's really been into Kung Fu tigers (ala Tai Lung from Kung Fu Panda) so I toyed around with the idea of having him being a tiger/snow leopard and baby O being a panda but it just wasn't inspiring for me. So I waited. Waited for that "Ah Ha!" moment when I knew I had the perfect costume idea for the littles. Well it came...and I'm SO into it now (which I'll keep under wraps for now, and no, it's not Santa Claus). Little A still needed some convincing. So I started off with the beard to see how that would go.

Well, for 1, 2, 3 seconds we had a bearded man. I was prepare for this and therefore wasn't too discouraged. So we are doing all we can do to talk up this costume idea and on some days he's really jazzed, and on other days he wants to be what his little brother is going to be (and I'll admit, baby O's costume is kind of cooler). So we'll see how it goes. I might just have to have a back up plan...and hey, the more costumes on Halloween the better right?

[more fun with scissors...]

So I mentioned that I was hooked on this paper cutting thing right? Well after our Halloween snowstorm of paper pumpkin snowflakes. the scissors just kept on wanting to cut. Anything they could get their shears on...so many ideas...no paper was safe.

No Halloween is complete without a little black cat mask right? So one had to be made.


And we couldn't just stop there. So a little fox was born for little A. He loved it...and promptly ripped it. But fun was had so Mr. Fox's short life was not in vain.

In fact I like him so much that I might just have to make him again...and only let him run free under more constant supervision.

Hmm...so I wonder what is next for the old scissors?...I have a feeling we aren't done with them yet over here...