Thinking about Halloween!

Oh my goodness, it is that time of year again, where I dust off the seasonal decorations and start to transform the bare summer canvas of my house to it's full glory!  In this part of the world, it begins on the 1st October with the Halloween decorations swiftly followed by the 1st November with the Thanksgiving or Fall decorations and then without even a breather inbetween -  the Christmas decorations come out on Black Friday (that's the friday immediately after Thanksgiving Thursday to anyone not in the know).  FINALLY all the decorations go back in the boxes around about the 5th January....with only a brief affair with some Valentines decorations and Easter decorations until the 1st October rolls by again.

So basically I am already 2 weeks behind with the "seasonal decor"!!  Not that I go as mad or as crazy as some of my neighbours....who in reality I am deeply jealous of as they go in all guns-a-blazing with this time of year...but I do like to add some of my own festive markers of the season. 

Remembering that I am behind readers!  Here is the pumpkin that I carved last year....I am unsure of where I got the craft ideas or inspiration but I know that I tried to copy something similar that I saw on the web.  Now all I have to do is try to come up with something better for this year!

Simple pleasures

Our house, whilst not full to the brim with toys, has plenty of toys that any young pre school aged child could spend hours playing with....but do they get the attention they deserve??  Of course not!  Do you begrudge buying them? Of course not!  The pleasure of presenting a small child (or any child really) with a new toy and seeing the look on their faces is a magical moment.  Another magical moment that most parents treasure is when they can visibly see their child's imagination run riot...and I got to see that yesterday.  Now most toys are designed to stimulate the mind into play, but the object de jour yesterday was an empty abet ENORMOUS cardboard box....armed with only a handful of crayons, this box turned quickly from race car into space ship into hidey hole.  The best bit???  It was free! (well if you don't count the object I had delivered inside of course!).  Anyway, I thought I would share this magical moment with you all, enjoy.

And of course, this box had super magical powers and drew the cat into it's spell too.  Two for the price of one! Not bad for a humble box!