My Halloween Decor {Hauntingly Beautiful}

Well, maybe not beautiful, but fun and Harbor sure got a kick out of seeing it the morning after I had put everything up.  : )

In my younger years {my early 20's,} I would have been all about decorating my mantle for every holiday. And, I did. Looking back through my archives, you can find loads of posts about what I did, what I put out, etc. But, now that I'm 30, and chasing a toddler, and have no one to invite over for a Halloween party, I find myself scaling back a bit. Maybe it is just a fluke with moving and all and being so busy.

I'm sure next year I'll be up for going all out again . : )

But this year, I had David take me to Ikea for two perfect white shelves {$14.00 a piece} and great rounded mounted brackets {perfect for hanging flag buntings}

My plan is to leave the mantle be {with the exception of Christmas} and decorate for all my holidays here instead.

These hanging brackets from Ikea are perfect for flag bunting, are they not?  : )

I spray painted a big piece of cardboard for the backdrop at the top and painted the "BOO" frame black. Other than that, and cutting out my felt bunting and throwing the ghost into a white frame, I had everything already here in my storage bins.

I love when a project can come together quickly and easily.

Speaking of projects, remember Harbor's leaf rubbings on the 'fridge? He enjoyed it so much, we, well, just kept at it. I had no idea he would take to it as much as he did, but since he was on a roll, we turned it into a project.

Operation "Send a Michigan Leaf South" was in full swing:

  Have your kids {or nieces or nephews} tried any fun crafts lately? I'm always looking for something new!

{I'm adding a new "label" for these shelves, since I'll be trying them out this year. Feel free to use it if you ever want to look back at my holiday decor shelved.}

Fall {at our house}

It is Fall here in Michigan. The leaves have gone from red to yellow to brown in a matter of days.

Come on outside and we'll show you. Yes, we'll wait until you have your jacket zipped up. It is chilly!  : )

Our flag

Our front door

Our seating area

{when my mom was getting ready to board her airplane home, she pushed a $20 bill into my hand and told me to buy some flowers for the porch.}

Mission completed. Thanks, Mom!

Our pumpkin

Our house... It is finally starting to feel like home, a place with memories, albeit only a few.

Our big tree in our teeny tiny front yard

Our street..

it always reminds me of the scene in "Father of the Bride" when Steve Martin is driving home in his little convertible.

Our neighbors directly across the street

Harbor likes to say that our house is really, really tall.

David reminds us that homes here have a steep roof pitch due to heavy snow fall. Oh. Yes, well there is that.  : )

Our neighbors directly to the left

Harbor William

We were on a hunt for perfect Fall leaves

We hunted near and far and couldn't help but to wander into our neighbor's yards.

 Please and thank you.  : )

Our entire street seems to have come alive with color

Though the wind is a bit nippy, we really can't complain.

Yes, we are pretty happy in our new home, so far away from all we know.

                                    

We gathered our bounty and headed indoors.

To create beautiful masterpieces for the 'fridge!

We both got a kick out of doing "leaf rubbings" and it put us in such a wonderful mood.

Sometimes as parents we need to remember that our children need us to create things with them, using our hands.

We had a lot to tell Daddy when he came home!

We had a very busy day, hard at "work."  : )

Seven Days

My mom was only here seven days on her last visit, but we somehow managed to fit a lot in!

She and Harbor William spent a lot of time outside.

This is our driveway and I wanted to show you that you can see four homes past ours down the street. All of these homes are roughly 2,000-3,000 square feet and they are soooo close! Big city living amazes me!

They played in the front yard and collected sticks and leaves. Our street is so dreamy, especially in the Fall.

Daddy and Harbor "camped out" after dinner on the couch.

And Harbor and Gigi headed back outside for more sidewalk chalk fun.

This is our neighbor to the left of us as seen from our driveway. The only thing that separates the homes here are driveways. No sides yards at all. Notice the AC unit in this picture? It is our neighbors. And, yes, I think they technically consider that their side yard.

I have to keep Harbor out of their grass. : ) Funny, isn't it?

This is our very expensive back yard, that people here refer to as a "garden." You pay a lot of money here to have a garden. You can see the neighbor on the right hand side and many homes past that. These homes are massive, all of them 3-4 stories, but so close. It is true on HGTV House Hunters... people in big cities live on top of each other. Good thing we love our neighbors.

After being back home in Arkansas for three weeks, Harbor got used to going potty on the farm. Now that we are back in Detroit, we are working on explaining the difference to him. It is a work in progress!

We visited the library here in our historic neighborhood.

And took Gigi out to eat at our favorite Greek Cafe downtown.

We drove to the next town over, where David works, to explore the local marina.

And we visited one of my favorite parks, Elizabeth Park, off the mouth of Lake Erie. With its old crumbling bridges, you immediately feel like you are walking onto the set of, "The Secret Garden."

We spent time on the waterfront

and watched the local high school girls in the Rowing Club practice.

I love that high schools here have hockey and rowing.

And Fall is here! All of the trees have changed to brilliant hues of yellow and red.

David, never to be without a project, set to work building a new back step and tiling it.

Thank goodness he is handy! An 82 year old house requires a lot of care.

We ate out a lot

and I took my mom window shopping in our historic downtown.

We ate ice cream

and wandered in search of Fall leaves.

We strolled the neighborhood, admiring homes and pretended to pick one out for Gigi and Poppy. : )

We took Harbor and our dog, Bichon, to the local splash fountain.

And Daddy kept working. And Harbor kept watching, hoping to help.

We went on a date to dinner and a movie. Twice! Thanks, Gigi!

Dinner and a Movie Take Two!

And we even fit in a bike ride along Lake Erie's coast.

The air was crisp and the boats had sails out, billowing in the cool Autumn wind.

You have to tread carefully, lest you ride your bike into the water for boat watching.  : )

Daddy always has a helper. Thank goodness. What ever would we do?  : )

It was just warm enough to not need a jacket and just cool enough to not break a sweat. Perfection, I tell ya.

I love the Fayetteville bike path, but seriously. There is no comparison here.

Seagulls and sailboats win every time.

Thanks to all who left such sweet comments and sent such nice emails about our train ride. Yes! You should look into it! Riding the train feels like an ol' west adventure. And don't we all have that on our bucket list anyway?  : )

I'm about 1/2 way finished with 150 handmade Christmas cards, and my home is adorned with pumpkins, fall leaves, and festive blowing flags.

Can't wait to share them all with you!  : )