This Year's Family Photos!

Last year, we had a friend of the family, Charles from Charles Coleman Photography, take our family photos. They turned out great, so of course we called him again for this year. Charles is an awesome guy with a big christian heart, AND he takes fantastic photos. Check out his site! Here are a few of my favorites.

Louisiana Mini Break

Back in September, the family took a long weekend trip to New Orlean's for my husband's sister's wedding. Although I do not have ANY(!) pictures from New Orleans....(what was I thinking)...I do have some pics from our two day excursion to the bayou. We took the boys to Grande Isle to show them where their dad was born. Surprisingly, the boys wanted to SWIM! We let the kids strip down to their skivies, and have at it. :) We captured LOADS of blackmail pics for when they are in high school. (insert sinister laugh here...)

This is one of my favorites. Cash and Luc running FULL blast!

Grandmere and Cash on the Pier.

Andre and Luc looking for a new shell for our hermit crab.

Cash finally makes down to the shore.

At this point, Cash's shorts are rolled up....we know we have to make a decision. Wet clothes or tightie whities.

Andre, Grandmere, and Luc wondering how far Cash will go into the water.

Yep! We went with the tighties. Luc went for it, too. Grandpere, for some reason, chose to stay in his shorts. :)

The two Crosby men...father and son.

Luc is LOVING it!

These kids were having the time of their lives!

"Look! I am swimming!" Cash kept shouting, but um...really he was just crawling around in a shallow part.

I guess now the sign in the first pic makes more sense.

Well. It wasn't the prettiest beach in the world, but it wouldn't have made any difference if it had been. The kids had WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY more fun than we ever expected. We thought we would do a little drive by, and then head back to the bayou. NOPE. Those kids played and played. We didn't even have towels.

Good times, I tell you, good times.

Tracy

Jack O Lantern Jars

Last week was a week of sickness at my house. Monday Cash came home with a stomach virus, and was out of school Tuesday. Wednesday night Andre came down with it. To top the week off, it attacked me on Thursday night. Whew! Harsh.

Anyway, Saturday afternoon Cash was out running an errand with his dad, and Luc started to get restless. I still wasn't feeling 100%, so I wasn't super interested in going outside to play. (Or playing at all for that matter) Then I remembered this little project from the Family Fun Magazine! Luc loves to paint, and we could do it in a stationary position. Win/win!

Yeah, Luc desperately needs a haircut. BUT look how he loves to paint!

Here's what you need:

glass jars ( I recycled some old jelly jars)

orange acrylic paint

paintbrush

masking tape

Here's what you do:

* Cut out geometric shapes, to use for the jack o lantern face, out of the masking tape

* Stick shapes onto a jar.

* Paint the outside of the jar. (YES, paint over the tape)

* When paint is dry, carefully pull the tape off.

* Place a votive or battery candle inside jar

These were super easy, having all the materials on hand, and really cute.

Have a spook-i-lious weekend!-

Tracy

Bangles & Buttons!

Ok, so I love these bangles. Isn't it sad that I am making them, yet don't have my own? Everything I make nowdays has been going into the Chatty Crafty box. Prime example: velevet bangles. Love'em. I am making them in other colors as well. OH! Also, on some I have added a fabric flower. Can't picture it? I know, sounds "too much," but seriously cute. Will post pic soon.

For these, I simply hot glued my velvet ribbon to a bangle, and started wrapping. Hot glue the end down when the bangle is completely covered. Be sure your ends are on the inside of the bracelet. No time?? Ok, just come to Chatty Crafty (of course, you'll have to wait a couple of months..), and pick some up from Paper Wings. ;)
Another fab example: Button earrings. I think I love these because they are so BIG. It gives them kind of a retro feel, doesn't it? I also love the saucy little prints on these. Excuse the hideous ears...those are mine...I just wanted to show how, exactly, they looked on.

Fall break is next week, and this year we are staying home. Normally, I would be sad not to be traveling to the beach like we usually do...HOWEVER, this year I am psyched. I am going to lock myself in my craft room for 8 hours everyday, and kick these bigger Chatty Crafty projects out. It really excites me to think there will be more than an hour to work on something. Whoo hooo- real progress.

Pondering Halloween costumes-

(for me, not the boys)

Tracy

My Halloween'd Up House

Hey everyone! Long time no see...right? Yeah, I was trying to get back on track...still am...BUT there is still hope out there for me! I promise. Don't turn your back on me, 'k? :)

Seriously, now that September is over (super busy month) I am really planning on gettting my blog act together. Fo. Sho.

SO! Halloween! I pulled my decor out of the attic, and even though I didn't add anything new (boo hoo)

I did rearrange things a little bit, so it seems new-ish. :)

The pic above shows my mantle.

Still my mantle, but different view -of course. I love that sitting skeleton.

The quality of this picture leaves something to be desired, but you get it....

SPOOKY banner.

Close up of candles on mantle.

Again, same wreath as last year. For tutorial, see HERE.

Shelves inside the living room.

Even though I haven't been posting, I have been working on some things for Chatty Crafty.

I plan to share some of the little things I've made in the next few days!

Thanks for being spook-i-licious, and not forgetting about me!

Tracella

aka- My halloween name.