October is over???

Wow! This month really zoomed right on by. I can't believe that today is already three days into November! I know this post is a little belated, but please come on in and check out how House of Jaramillo spent Halloween...

I just adore Halloween. I think it is such a fun and silly Holiday. I also love everything spooky and ghost related so Halloween for me is really a win-win situation.

I pulled out all of my Halloween decorations on October 1st exactly. This was the first year I was decorating a house however I wanted to. It also was the first year I didn't have any of my sister's decorations to work with and realized I need to keep expanding my Halloween decoration collection. I actually found some of the best Halloween decoration at the Dollar Tree. They seriously had the cutest stuff and for only a dollar you can't go wrong. Just buy it when you see it because they sell out of stuff fast.I found this little witch restaurant menu there. I hung it right on my banister.

 

It looked really cute hanging across from our mirror in the entry way that I decorated like this.

Next year I want to get a little witches broom and make the whole entry way a little slice of witch heaven.

I also found these killer pumpkin paper lanterns at the Dollar Tree.

I hung them down the stair well with  invisible thread. These little lanterns had lights powered from AAA batteries. I didn't light them up though because it would have been a pain to go up and down, turning them off and on.

Another great area to check out for Halloween decorations is the Dollar Spot in Target. About two years ago I found some super cute glitter words around Christmas. Last year at Valentines day, I found glittery ones in pink, red and purple. This year I was so happy when I saw they had Halloween ones! I did want the orange "Boo" but couldn't find one in the best of shape. I am hoping they will have them next year and I can snatch them up.

I paired my glitter words with my cake stand/punch bowl and filled it with the most delicious seasonal treat ever:

That is right, filled with candy corn and candy pumpkins. There are some peanut M&M's thrown in for good measure. This made such a cute decoration. I have quite a bit leftover and will probably be munching on Candy Corn until summer.

I really had a ton of ideas for Halloween crafts, but only got around to making one. These are my Halloween vintage word blocks.

They are made out of wood blocks, scrapbook paper, stickers, Modge Podge and then a little ink on the sides to make them look old. I thought they turned out super cute and think it would be fun to use this same concept for another Holiday. You can find wood blocks at any craft store, I purchased mine at Hobby Lobby. I cut out little squares of scrap book paper, Modge Podged them on, stuck on a sticker and then roughed up the edges. It was a pretty easy craft that I finished over two days. I had to let the Modge Podge dry over night.

My sisters and I have started a few Halloween traditions that help us get into the fall mood. This always includes a ghost walk of some sort, a trip to Schnepf Farm, a visit to the pumpkin patch, pumpkin carving and then my sister Katie's annual Halloween party. We did the ghost walk and Schnepf Farm trip around the 22nd of October. I suck because I didn't take like any pictures. Let me just tell you, it was awesome. We did a ghost walk of Downtown Mesa, Arizona and will 100% for sure be doing it again next year. It was awesome.

This year we all met on Friday night at our favorite pumpkin patch, Mother Nature's Farm in Gilbert.

If you are looking for a fun little place to get a pumpkin next year, this is the place to go. They have a ton of pumpkins you can choose from, are super reasonable on prices and if you want they even have some fun children's activities in their actual farm. You do have to pay to walk around the farm but not just go to the pumpkin patch.

We each found our pumpkin and then everyone came out to our house to carve up their pumpkins.

Just so you know, carving a pumpkin with a butcher knife is no easy task. The tools in the carving kit are so much easier. I made a little kitty in a witches' boot. I cut the top of the ear off to make it in honor of Nunu.

For the last two years, Todd has chosen a California theme when carving his pumpkin. Last year was the LA Angel's "A" and this year he chose SC for USC Trojans. This man is a Southern California boy from head to toe.

Laura chose to do a free-hand bats and stars design. She is so crafty, she never chooses the pattern from the book.

Katie did two pumpkins this year. One was a ghost and the other was scared pumpkin face.

The kitties of course where there. Nunu was hoping that we were actually sharing our food with her when we let her sit on the chair and smell the pumpkins. I think she was disappointed that the one time we let smell whatever was on the table was the one time it was something she didn't want to eat.

Scioscia seems to really dig the smell of pumpkin, so she was a little more interested in actually getting up into the pumpkin. She probably would have crawled right in had we let her.

The pumpkins looked so cute out front all lit up, it was like having a little pumpkin patch in my front yard. I think I might get some Funkins next year to make a little pumpkin patch that can be reused each year.

Saturday night was Katie's Halloween party. Has anyone else noticed that our generation doesn't understand what it means to RSVP to party? Last year we had a bunch of people who said they were coming so we prepared for that with lots of food and drinks and then none of them came! It is was so frustrating! This year Katie didn't want to even deal with it so she decided to just throw a little dinner party with people we knew would actually show up. I think it was the best party yet. Seriously, this is such an amazing group of people. They are awesome friends.

Todd and I had to throw together our costumes last minute. I was going to be a ballerina and update a costume I had worn last year. It didn't start working on it until that day and then it just didn't turn out the way I had planned so I had to throw together a few things I had laying around the house to make something up. Todd does the same thing every year; he says all month long he doesn't want to dress up and then changes his mind the day of the party and we are left trying to scramble and put something together. He ended up wearing his suit and glasses and said he was Reservoir Dogs or Men in Black. I ended up looking like a mix between a girl from Rock of Love, Cher and the lead singer of Heart.

I really can't believe that we already into November. Christmas is going to be here before you know it. Todd and I are actually hosting Christmas at our house. Everyone is coming to celebrate our first Christmas as a married couple. I am so very excited, but we already have a ton of stuff to get done beforehand. I am going to try and do a lot more Christmas crafts so I am going start this month on some of them. When I was Target yesterday, Christmas music was playing from one of those CD displays, my heart started to flutter a little bit. Halloween really is like the kick off to the Holiday season and I rearing and ready to go!

Happy Start to the Holiday Season!

-Mrs. J