Haven't Decorated for Halloween?

My kids didn't think I'd decorated enough for Halloween. 

Two cute $3 signs from the Target sale bin were all I had put up.

My kids weren't impressed. 

I had seen this cute bat project on Pinterest,

I figured I had black paper and scissors lying around!

So I gathered the children and we traced and cut,

and cut and traced

and had a great time doing it!

If you want a quick, fun Halloween activity to do with your kids,

grab a bat template HERE.

We followed it loosely. Walt liked adding pointy ears.

Initially, the kids got a little hung up on perfection

and were worried that their bats didn't turn out as good as mine.

But I made them press on and showed them 

how awesome all the bats looked together up on the walls.

You can't tell who made what.
They just all look great!

Make sure to bend the wings along the joints to give them some dimension.

The kids loved running around the house finding places to hang them.

We just used tape for most of them,

but busted out some fishing line for the chandelier.

Grab some scissors and get your house in the Halloween spirit!

Both Kids Back At It!

It's a nice little Saturday at the Gustafson house.

The morning started with skating.

Ruby loves it.

 Then in the afternoon, 

Walter hit the ice as well.

It sure is fun watching them do things that make them happy!

Micky Mouse Cake

I was up early to make Miss Emily's birthday cake.

She even strolled out in her jammies to join me!

We went with two stacked 8 inch rounds.

She loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,

so we traced out Mickey ears and outlined them in white frosting -

before filling them in with a black gel frosting.

Then I whipped up some pink frosting and piped on a border

and popped a 2 on top of the Mickey ears.

I think the cutest part of her cake was along the sides. 

I wrote Emily across the front -

and alternated little Mickey Mouse ears 

and polka dots all around the outside.

You just need both regular-sized and mini M&M's 
to make the little Mickey ears.

Aren't they cute?

And speaking of cute . . .

 Here's the birthday girl herself with her cake.

She's getting so big!

Anybody Miss Me?

I took a summer hiatus from blogging. 
I'm thinking about returning, 
but haven't quite decided yet. 

I did, however, take some "First Day of School" photos 
that are too cute not to share.
So here you go -

My Walter headed to 1st Grade!

And Miss Independent, Ruby, is off to Kindergarten!

I wanted to take Ruby to her first day of Kindergarten, 

just like I did Walter last year. 

I enjoy dropping them off on their first day

and taking cute pictures along the way.

But Ruby wasn't having it.

She wanted nothing more than to ride the bus on her first day.

I was a little disappointed, but when I finally gave in, 

I got to watch her run excitedly all the way to the bus!

She was so happy!

And just like that, she was off.

Lucky for me,

this little guy still wanted his Momma take him to school.

He moved to a new school this year that has grades 1-5 in it.

I was happy someone still needed me!

He didn't want to hold my hand or anything,

but I got a sweet photo of him headed into his new, big school.

 I hugged him tight right outside his classroom and

sent him on his way to conquer 1st grade.

Love this kid.

They had a great first day.

We're so proud of our little babies.

They are growing fast!