Haunted Halloween Doll House

A week or two ago I saw this Haunted Dolls House on the Mr. Printables website & knew that Grady would love it.  I also knew that I wanted to make one & had a ton of ideas on how to tweak & personalize it!

Mr. Printables has a printable (obviously) template to help you cut out the walls & floors, as well as some paper pieces to use in decorating your house.  (I didn't use the paper pieces on mine.)  They also give you some tips on creating spooky peg dolls.  I found inspiration for the rest of the peg dolls by searching on Pinterest, Google, & Etsy.

Meet this motley crew of spooks & ghouls!  Grady & I both love the kitty best.

I even painted a Grady peg doll dressed up in his Lone Ranger Halloween costume & surprised him with it this morning!  He just giggled when he saw it & asked where I got the pumpkin halloween bucket.  (I have a jar of pumpkin potpourri that I painted & glued a felt handle on.)  He's all ready to go trick-or-treating at the haunted house - if he dares!  Good thing he's got his 6-shooter along!

Some creepy monsters waiting by the rope ladder.

I love the ghost peeking through the window!

The pieces of the house slide easily together so you can take it apart making it simple to store!

A few close-up shots of our motley crew!

Some of the things I tweaked:

• I painted the house with chalkboard paint.  (I thought it would be fun to draw different things on the walls & floors & be able to erase them!)
• We made a whole fireplace instead of just a chimney.
• Added a fence around the porch.
• Added a crooked ladder to get upstairs.
• Added a rope from the 1st to 2nd story (Grady's brilliant idea!).

If any of you have created a Halloween haunted doll house or peg dolls, please share them!  I think I've found a new addiction.  I'm just imagining how fun a "Night before Christmas" house would be...or maybe Santa's workshop???

The "Pumpkin Patch" errrr, gas station parking lot....

Yesterday, while Eli was catching up on sleep after our weekend with his parents, Grady & I decided to go searching for a pumpkin patch we found online.  A half hour later, we found the location of the supposed pumpkin patch, but there wasn't a single pumpkin, or person, in sight.  Fail.

The next best thing?  The self-serve truck/trailer at the gas station.  Good thing Grady is only four & still easily impressed!  He thought it was fantastic!  They actually had a pretty nice display of pumpkins, squash, Indian corn, etc.

He found a keeper!  Our rule is that you can get any pumpkin you want...but you have to be able to carry it yourself.  This year, for the first time, he didn't go for the largest one.

 

He's so funny.  He took 5 minutes to decide between red/orange Indian corn or red/purple & had to take 10 or so laps around the truck to find the perfect pumpkin for dad.  I wish I could go back to "What color corn should I choose?" being the hardest decision I had to make for the day.  Oh, to be a kid again...

He was such a helper getting everything carried back to the car & wanted to do it all by himself of course!  He's in a stage lately where he's acting like a little man.  Yesterday he walked ahead of me at church & held the door open for me & a friend to walk in.  Also, last night after he laid down for bed I heard him call out to me, "Mom, you know I'll always protect you, right?".  This is the same kid who crawls into bed with me in the morning & gives me a kiss when he thinks I'm still sleeping.  Such a sweetheart.  I can't believe he's mine.  :)  I always tell him that I wish I had a son like him.  He always says with a giggle, "Mom, I AM your son!".

I can't believe that Halloween is right around the corner! 

In attic news, we weren't able to start drywall this weekend (boo).  It rained off and on all day on Saturday, so the sheets would have gotten soaked in transport.  Wet Sheetrock = not good.  Plus, Eli's parents (my in-laws) were in town visiting, so we were pretty busy!  Dad & I did hook up the trailer last night & brought home enough Sheetrock for the ceilings though.  Hopefully we'll be able to get started on that tonight!  If not, I'm sure we'll be able to begin sometime this week.  I can't wait to start walling everything in & getting a glimpse of what the attic will look like when it's complete!

Fall Family Photos

It's been almost a year since we've had our family photos taken, & my friend Lindsey had a slot open this week, so I jumped on it!  It was a misty, gloomy morning, & Grady was acting INSANE, but she somehow made it look bright & happy & managed to snap some great pics of him!  The kid always looks cute in pictures...I don't know where he got it from as both of his parents feel incredibly awkward when in front of the camera.  I don't know what his deal is.  He's typically a great kid, but once he gets in front of the camera he goes crazy.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who has a kid that does this?!?  Please???

Anyway, this post is mostly for me to remember the day & also so far-away family could see the pictures...it's nothing too exciting, & the pictures are just a few proofs that she posted on Facebook, but thought I'd share them here anyway!

Our first stop was a random field a few miles out of town.  The grass was soaked & within 2 minutes of being there, Grady was running wild, fell in the ditch & got grass & mud stains down both of his pant legs, & my hair was windblown, damp, & frizzy.  We just rolled with it.  :)

Afterwards, we went back into town, & took a few shots at an old, rusted building.

My favorite of all of us below...

I can't believe how old he looks in the picture below.  The kid just turned 4 & looks like he's in second grade.  How did this happen?!  He kills me.

Lindsey does such a great job & I'm lucky to have such a talented friend!  I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures from our session in a couple of weeks.

Fall filler...

We've been busy around these parts!  I've been cramming to finish a special project by tomorrow, so I haven't had much time for anything else in the past week.  We have made room for some more fall fun though.  It's funny how raking the yard doesn't seem like such a chore when you get to jump in a giant pile of leaves at the end!  (It's also easier to recruit help when you have something to look forward to!)

Enjoy the pictures...I'll be back with a project post tomorrow!

It's Fall!

As much as I dread the long, cold winter that's right around the corner, we're getting into the fall spirit around here.  We got fall decorations up last week, & this weekend I started making a quilt (first one ever...eek!) & we attended the Foli-Ole (Foe-lee-Oh-lee) Fest in town.  (Foli as in "foliage" & Ole as in the viking "Big Ole"...our town's mascot.)  The weather was gorgeous & we had a lot of family time.  It was a nice way to spend our last weekend before Eli starts coaching again!

My goal is to get the zig zag quilt done by the middle of November & use it in our family photos.  Hopefully it'll be presentable enough at a distance!

 

Such a little big man with his "hot" cider on the hay ride!

I just love his face.  :)

Happy fall y'all!