Thank Goodness It's Over

Happy Halloween!  Ok, so it was Halloween while I was writing this piece, It's not Halloween any more. 

Everyone knows how I L♡VE me some instagram, but I've been quiet lately.  Mostly because of the ginormous amount of stuffs that had to be done in October. 

Now that the busy month is over, I will share my latest DIY, and start on new November traditions.

First the DIY.  It took far too much planning and thought and stress!

The boys' new school hosts a Fall Festival every year, and man is it a big deal!  As room mom for both rooms, I hosted two booths. 

Tin Can Knockdown 

The booth for Oldest's class was Tin Can Knockdown.  It is very self explanatory.  It was also loud when the cans hit the ground!  The kids seemed to have fun with it, though.  All I had to do was spray paint a bunch of cans (18 in total) to be knocked down with a bean bag I whipped up. 

*the bean bags will be a separate super simple diy later*

The kids traced and cut out their hands, so I turned them into garland to hang on the front of the table.  They were supposed to be fall leaves on a tree, ut I opted not to do the tree once I saw where my booth would be.

My biggest worry with this booth was whether to paint pumpkin faces on the cans.  I opted not to, since this booth was geared more toward Autumn.

Feed The Monster Ping Pong

Littlest's booth was Feed The Monster Ping Pong.  All the kids had to do was bounce or throw the ping pong ball into the "monster's" mouth.  I found some monster ideas on Pinterest, and ran with it.  This one was a little more stressful, as Littlest didn't think I would finish them in time.

One of the monsters.  

The Monster garland on the front of the table were little monsters I drew and the kids colored.  I wanted them to have a hand in decorating, and thought they would like that idea!  They turned out to be quite cute!

Now that crazy October is over, I have a deadline to finish a blanket that I've worked on for almost 2 years!  I want to give it to my brother before the official 2 year mark, so I am going to spend November finishing it!  That will definitely be a post, and my most proud crafty accomplishment.  I am so excited to see it done!

I also have to figure out how to make Thanksgiving dinner.  It's our first Thanksgiving living in Florida, so it's time for new traditions!

Bring on November!!

P.S.  please excuse the candid appearance of the photos, I was so preoccupied getting everything put together that I didn't have time to take proper photos!

Introducing Beach Bird Photos

As you may have already figured out, I love photography.  I also love having my fingers in a lot of pies (I really don't like that expression.  Sounds...I don't know, yucky).

I decided to start up a Gallery Blog (I don't know if that's a real term, but I'm going with it).  If you would like to visit Beach Bird Photos, I'll be posting my photography work there.

"Little Beach Bird" is still devoted to my life and hobbies.  I just thought it was time I had a place just for photos.

I want to expand my photography passion, so I am going to start accepting commissioned photograpby jobs, as well as joining Snapwire, where I am building a portfolio to sell my work.  

In the past year, my family has seen some pretty major dreams come true.  This is one of my own, personal dreams, that I just couldn't set aside any longer.

Wish me luck!

Fall/Halloween activities

What are your favorite type of fall Halloween traditions and activities?  We're thinking of going to a corn maze, and we were told that the Alligator Farm has a big Halloween thing that goes on this year so we're going to try that out.

Maybe we can start some new traditions this year.

Let me know in the comments what you guys do, give a girl some ideas!

A List For October

Oh my gosh!  October is upon us already!  While I don't usually get excited about Halloween, the boys' school is having a fall festival (previous post), and it's keeping me very busy.  It's also keeping me eating my veggies and I have a ton of tissues (for the two booths that I am setting up).

If you know me you know I like to add more on than I can possibly accomplish.  I like to have a list of things a mile long.  That way I can keep busy and I'm never really looking for something to do.

So, in keeping with that tradition, I've made a list of things I would like to accomplish this month.  I'm about a week behind, since we're already on the 7th day, but here goes:

♤ Learn to spin yarn.

♤  Read Isaiah.  My life verse is Isaiah 40:30-31, and I've noticed a few verses in that same book of the Bible that are very encouraging to me, so I figured I'd start there. 

♤  Stop drinking Pepsi.  I really want to be healthier.  I've started walking (not sure when I'll get back to running), I'm watching portions, for the most part I try not to eat after 7:00, and I'm drinking more unsweetened green tea.  Now to cut out the Pepsi.  Wish me luck on that one!

♤  Finish at least one WIP.  I have too many things on my hook!

♤  Take the family to a corn maze.  We've never been, and it seems fun!

That's all on my list for October.

Do you have an October list?  Share some more ideas with me!

Summer Bucket List

Well, Summer is officially over.  You can't tell where I live, though.  It's still averaging in the mid 80's, and sometimes into the 90's, but I'm not complaining.  Hot weather is my jam!

This year I made a summer bucket list.  It was just a couple of things that I thought would be fun and take my mind off of the crazy of the past few months.  Some I accomplished, some I didn't...

Here's a quick breakdown:

♡ Learn Hand Lettering.  This one is still in process, but I'll count it.  I've always envied those that could do this, so I figured, why not try it?  I don't have the right kind of pens, and I don't always have the time, but I enjoy when I do get to practice.

♡ Plan 2016 Garden.  Yep.  I got it all planned out in my head where it's going to go, what I'm going to plant, all that.  I'm super excited to get started on it.

♡ Make Homemade Icecream.  Nope.  Didn't happen.  I would tell myself that I wanted to do it next weekend, then the next, then the next.  Never got around to it.

♡ Plan Trip To Disney.  That one was scratched off.  We decided against it.

♡ Dye Yarn.  Again, a no-go.  I was just going to use the egg dying kit that I bought at Easter, but I still haven't found the time!  It may make it onto my next list, along with some other types of dying methods.

♡ Make Paper Airplanes And Kites.  That one barely happened.  One of the boys got a paper airplane book for birthday or Christmas or something, and Youngest brought it in and we made one each.  Still counts!

♡ Plan Vacation.  That went along with the Disney trip that never happened.  I got to thinking, we live in the exact place where we vacationed every year for almost ten years!  Why would we want to go anywhere else?

So that's all that was on my list.  Time to get started on an Autumn list!

Precious

I am a lover of photography.  Nature, mostly.  I have been since I was a wee girl.

I had cameras and film and books and all that good jazz.  I even learned how to roll my own film for an antique Brownie.  That was amazing, sitting in the floor of my closet with a towel under the door so no light could come through, rolling the film from one canister onto the appropriate spool, by touch alone.  I may still be able to do it.  Amazing stuff!

I have hundreds of photos that I've taken, maybe thousand(s).  I've always been protective of my photos.  I've sold a few, but I have a very strong attachment to them that makes it almost painful to share them.

I'm not afraid of someone not liking them, I'm more afraid that someone will use them.  It seems to be an odd fixation, but I think I'm a photo hoarder. 

I'm here to start my photo hoarders anonymous.  I would like to share a new photo every week.  I want people to see what I see.  I want to share the beautiful place where God has planted my family or a nifty something that caught my eye during the week. 

I use Instagram often, but there's so much more!!

I'm taking a big step in sharing them like this, so please be kind and don't use my photos.

Thank you!!