Autumn Tour in the Midwest w/ a splash of Halloween

Published October 5, 2012 | By Julie

Autumn Tour in the Midwest w/ a splash of Halloween

10/05/2012

Now that the dutch apple pie is all gobbled up (recipe here) ,
I figured I better get going with some Halloween decorations…
My daughter, Daphne , celebrates her 13th birthday (yikes!) this month so we usually have a birthday/Halloween costume party to celebrate.
I’m attempting to make a video of our haunted hall this year, and hopefully I will be able to share it with you later in the month.Before I share some of my early Halloween decor, I would love to show you some beautiful photos I took yesterday. The girls and I went out after school and drove around town looking for the trees that are popping up sporadically all over Michigan.
They are truly breath taking. Hopefully you can get a little taste of what Autumn holds for us here in the Midwestern, US. We lived in Florida for 6 years, so now I never take these beauties for granted, and I remind my children
to embrace Mother Nature’s gifts.
Enjoy!

I share a story with Daphne ever year around her birthday. The day we brought her home from the hospital we noted how flaming red our burning bush was, in our yard. They are green all Summer long, and then “burn” in the Fall.
Daphne holds a generous, caring, and loving spirit…the bush represents her perfectly.
Here are a few we found on our little adventure…the one we planted in our yard isn’t quite ready yet.

Now for some photos of our yard…the sun was playing with me,
but I did manage to catch some.
Two of the baby swans survived this year…there were 8 at first. Here they are with Mom & Dad until they set out on their own.
The colors are just starting to change back here.

And finally…some Halloween decor.
I have collected things over the years.
I usually add 1 or 2 things every year.
I’m thinking about painting our door & trim white.
Do you think I should go for it?

I have a thing for witches…

Come on inside now for a little treat

I must give credit to Stephanie from “The Cozy Old Farmhouse” for the Scrabble idea…although she had seen it done before-she really inspired me. What an easy, fun trick! I plan to put Daphne’s name there for her party

Check out the spiders we made with pipe cleaners…they took 2 minutes each. Just wrap one pipe cleaner into a ball, then stick 4 pipe cleaners through and bend like spider legs.

Last, but certainly not least…
a little spookified decor for the kitchen (the rest of our kitchen found here).
The painting was made by a friend of the family…
it was a gift and we treasure it!
My lovely Mom gave us the pumpkin…
thanks Mom!