Day at Home

 I have so many things that need to be taken care of, but I only ventured as far as the school to pick up Gray this afternoon.  Katherine has had a runny nose for a few days that makes her miserable, but she doesn't feel bad or have a fever.  Because of the strangeness of the whole health situation, it was decided to keep her home, which was the best of happy days for her.  She was full of energy and excitement and snack-seeking.  I had a little housework to finish up, so she played by herself a while and asked a whole lot of questions and made even more comments.  

I decided to get out the fall decoration boxes and let her dig through those, and she got totally into it.  She wanted to find a place for everything, and I kept sneaking things back into the box.  We are pleased with the tables and some candles, and I let her do a few little spots herself.  I think Gray was disappointed not to have something when she got home, so I'll let her decide how to do the front porch.  

I don't normally do much "decorating," but it was fun to have pumpkin- and apple cider-flavored candles and put some fall colors in the house.  I like to read my favorite blogs and see all the new ways people are decorating their homes, but I can enjoy seeing them and just pull out my few things with lots of memories.  

Emily brought me these putka pods from South Dakota one fall.  I think she found them at an arts and crafts festival.  There once were a lot more, but they've gotten cracked and lost, and we need to find some more.

I always put them in a little bowl that Mike brought from Mexico that seems to be just the place, along with some glittery acorns from Greensboro and a few tiny wooden leaves I found last year (and don't know what else to do with).  The girls have never been able to keep their fingers from sifting through them and dropping them on the floor for the cats, and this year I caught Layla with her paw in the box on the floor, taking them out one by one and tossing them across the room.  

 

The friend who gave me this shelf has moved to Florida, but it's a fun little place to make the kitchen cheery.  

This was Katherine's favorite thing to display, and she wanted it in the living room window.  I told her I would buy some candy corn to fill the little glass pumpkin, and she was so excited.  I'm afraid the cats will knock it down when they jump up there to people watch, but we'll try it there.

Grayson got home from school and noticed that ALL those people coming by to view our handiwork couldn't see the little beads, so she propped it up with some of her books.  Perfect!  

We just filled my grandmother's bread bowl with odds and ends of things we found and put out the placemats and napkins.  

I made these last year for the girls, but it's not quite time for using them yet.  Or maybe it is.

I need flowers, pumpkins and some big branches of fall leaves on the porch and a few little fabric pumpkins to fill in the gaps inside, and we'll be done with that.  I'm not sure what we'll add as Halloween approaches.

They do want some ribbon ribbon streamers for their hair, and I have quite a few ribbons left over.

It looks like I need to stop at Hobby Lobby or Michaels after all.

Today is normally the end of my "work" week, but tomorrow we're meeting a friend of Graysen's after school along with her grandmother and having a playdate.  It will probably rain, so we'll be inside, but it will give Lil and me a chance to visit while the girls play.

And Noreen and I are hoping to find a spot of sunshine to drink a cup of coffee and catch up on our busy lives over the past two weeks.

Then I hope to go nowhere at all until Monday while the rain takes over.