Trick or Treating in the Canyon ~

Since Jordyn is the only kid in the canyon, she gets rather spoiled! Most kids get one or two pieces of candy at each house...up here they pretty much dump the whole bowl of candy into her bag. But look at what she received from one house...

thats right...a new kitten :) Actually, they need another week or two with mommy before we can have her, but its hers for the keeping if she likes. (and if mom and dad say its okay)

A lot of the snow had melted during the day, but it was still rather icy and sloppy out. Good thing we wore our snow boots! As we walked up to each house, Jordyn would ask..."will someone jump out and scare me?" (i think she was having flashbacks of last years trick or treating scare) But it was a rather calm night, and she had a great time!

I hope your Halloween was safe and fun~

p.s. i HATE flash photos on Halloween, and i dont have an off camera flash, so i apologize for the horrid lighting! :)

Halloween Fun!

Just so you dont think ive been slackin off...i finished this stitchery last night and wanted to share. It finished at 12 1/2" X 15", so it was a quick little project to do in time for the holiday! I received the pattern from Kaaren thru her first Friday freebies...she will be posting a new stitchery on the first Friday of each month, and the first two are really cute, so check it out if you get a chance. Now that that is finished, i can get back to a Christmas cross stitch that has been in the UFO pile for almost 20 years.(yes, you read that right) Its almost finished too...so its just been taunting me forever! Photos of that next time~
Now on to Halloween fun...if you havent watched the weather lately, we got a rather large snow storm up here for a few days. 18 inches to be exact. Naturally the day of the Halloween party at school was cancelled, so sadly Jordyn missed out :(

The good news, on Friday the weather let up, so we were able to take Jordyn to storytime at the library. The roads were not bad at all, but most parents stayed home anyways, so there were only two families present. That made the library visit extra fun!

They got to play all the games as many times as they wanted...

And the hidden candy was theirs for the taking!

After being cooped up in the house for 3 days, it was nice to get out and do something different. Jordyn certainly seemed to have a good time...

and since it was daddys first time to storytime, he had a great time too!

Later that evening we decided to carve the pumpkins. I left that project up to daddy and Jordyn, while i took photos. She had a ball scooping the goop out...and daddy roasted the seeds for snacking!

After cleaning out the pumpkin, it was time to design a face....

When the design was chosen, the carving began...dont worry, those are kiddie carving knives :)

The design i chose was a little more difficult, so i let daddy do that one. Here is a perfect example of redneck pumpkin carving...

The knife wasnt "cutting it", so he got out his drill~

And here is the finished product!
After everything was finished, Jordyn and Daddy walked the ghost pumpkin up to Great Grandma's as a surprise. Now we are ready for trick or treating...keep your fingers crossed the sun will come out tomorrow and melt this snow down a bit :) Cheers~

Halloween in January!

Justin and Jordyn go trick or treating with Connie and PeeWee, while Mommy captures the fun! (I finally got around to uploading this video from Halloween....Hope you enjoy it!)

Photographing A Two Year Old

Its that time of year again...the annual portraits of my daughter in her Halloween costume. We take our holiday seriously, so no ordinary photos will do :) But photographing a two year old is no easy feat!

Of course, the first challenge is to get them into their costume...no, no Jordyn, leave your hat on...dont take off your tights...stop pulling your dress up...hold still, i need to get your shoes on...hurry up, we're going to miss the good light (okay, this is every photographers challenge).

The next thing is to get their attention...keep their attention...and get them to smile! No, Jorydn, stop spitting, smile for mommy...please....hey...look over here...smile...yoohoo! Finger snapping is sometimes a good technique! Yelling, however, is not.....

okay sweetie...im sorry, just look over here...you look so pretty...come on baby...cheese! smile! over here....

no...dont take your hat off...leave it on...c'mon Jordyn, look over here...hey, where are you going...

okay Jordyn, stop looking at the cat and look over here...hey, ive got an idea...lets call the kitty over here for a shot...come here Lump...come on kitty kitty...

okay, Lump...stay still...Jordyn stay still...hey you guys, look over here....
(great, now im herding cats)

okay, maybe some fun time to lighten the mood...as im not sure i got "the" shot yet, and she has way to much balled up energy! Spin Jordyn, spin! Weeeeeee!

Okay, how about we climb up here on these logs...c'mon Jordyn, you looks so cute..."mommy down...mommy down"....wait just a second, i almost got it, the light is great....no Jordyn, hold still...all right, fine...then sit here with this pumpkin!

No,i said sit still...why are you crying (probably because her moms a psycho)...hey, its okay kiddo...look up at mommy...c'mon...stop crying...please! Okay, fine, while you settle down ill take a photo of your pumpkin.

Only a few more...im almost done...hey....where are you going...get back over here!
I mean it!

After 200 photos and much frustration (for both of us), i am happy to report i did finally get a decent shot!

Dont ya just love the holidays!
My Little Witch :)

Spooktacular Shopping!

Look at these fun fabrics i scored in town today...50% off! I usually try to buy a few Halloween fabrics each year, and this time i stocked up on some costume fabrics as well. They're perfect for crazy quilting :)
Tomorrow is my "free day" so i hope to get lots of sewing done...i plan to work on my ALQS miniature and maybe finish up some Halloween table runners i started last year, so stay tuned!
In the meantime, here is another shot of yogi raiding our garbage...they are so persistent at this time of year...and a little scary! (notice its broad daylight) doh!
Happy quilting everyone!