Hellooooo...

Fall is approaching, and that means the Boo!Bash3 will be here before you know it! I can't believe this is the third year for it! I am soo excited and can't wait to share my plans for it with you in the coming weeks. The date for this year's party is October 24. It's always the Saturday before Halloween. Next year, that'll mean it's the DAY before Halloween. This leaves Halloween open to attend other parties or carnivals or to trick or treat with the kiddies! Fun, yes?

In the meantime, over at Magical Holiday Home we are planning another Fall Tour of Homes. The date has been set, and details will be posted here on the host blog soon! You don't have to be a member of MHH to join in!! So get those leaves and pumpkins out of storage, and take lots of photos to share. I'll be giving you an email address to send a link to if you are not part of MHH. But if you're not, why aren't you? It's a great place to hang out year round, and it's about to kick into high gear with the beginning of all of the holidays and holiday plans. Check out Organized Christmas if you want to begin your own holiday prep plan. CEO has several of them to choose from. It'll make your holidays that much sweeter!!

Ok, see you in September!! I can't believe it's almost fall, ya'll but I am sooo glad!!

Boo!
Cathy

Spooky Jack O Lanterns and a Good Night!

The boys carved their own jack o lanterns this year...I helped with the lids, and they did the rest. We roasted the seeds and ate them all! They were nice big, plump seeds and so crunchy and good. I always love freshly roasted pumpkin seeds.

Here's Benjie cleaning out his pumpkin....


And here's the spooky result:
Count Spook-yala!

Here's Jonah carefully working on his...

And the masterpiece!

Jonah named his "Spookily"

We had a grand time trick or treating with our friends the Smecks...unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of that night! We ate chili, Mexican chicken stew, cheese dip, chocolate cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies. Yum! Our favorite Halloween menu! We've trick or treated together for at least 9 years now!

I hope you've enjoyed the Haunted Hamlet this fall. It'll be going to bed now, but there will be periodic posts on Great Pumpkin Day, which is the 30th of each month. After all, we do have Boo!Bash3 to plan! Don't forget to check out Scarecrow Soup for all of the November doings of the Miller clan!!

Happy Haunting!

Cathy

More Boo!Bash2 pics!

This just in! More Boo!Bash2 pictures!



This was hysterical...and the runners-up in the couples costume contest (Mummies and Daddies division!)...a hunter and a white tail deer, complete with the white tail!!

And, the winner in the couples division...the newest bride and groom! This is my brother Mark and his new wife, Laura! Congratulations on winning, the contest and each other!! What a way to spend your honeymoon!!

The prettiest witch I've ever seen! And a pretty good looking shepherd, complete with lamb! Sorry this is so dark...

The Whoopie Cushion won the individual costume contest...but the sock monkey was a riot!! Too funny!!

Hannah, Billy Ray and Ellie May!!

The Flintstones (see below) won the group award, and Jacob (the younger Joker) won the Teenage Werewolf division. Thanks again to everyone who came and dressed up, and a special thanks to Mom and Dana (aka Grandmother Joker and Ellie May) for sending the pictures I missed!!

Boo!Bash3 is already in the works! Planned for the Saturday before Halloween, it is going to be bigger and better than ever!! Mark your 2009 calendars! (Stop laughing, Michael, or I'll tell everyone that you are Fred Flintstone! )

I'll post pictures from Halloween night this weekend!

Happy Haunting!!

Cathy

Success!

Boo!Bash2 was a big success. We had around 45 attending, most in costume, and what costumes they were! Oh! My! Here's a few pictures...I didn't get any of the decorations, duh! I was so busy putting them out I forgot to document them. And, I didn't get any of the Johnson family, the Carter family and the newest bride and groom, Mark and Laura, so if you attended and took pictures and got any of the ones I missed or the decorations, email them to me and I'll do another post. They all had great costumes...and we didn't get pictures of them. But I know one of you did, so please? Please??



We had candy bars and cavemen, sock monkeys and whoopie cushions...

Fred and Betty and BamBam were here...no word on where Wilma and Barney were...

A couple of sweeties and their dad...

Father and son farmers....

Spiderman and his mom...

Whoopie!!

Candy bars.....

A pair of Jokers...

Hanna Montana and Billy Ray....

And an unlucky skier...

Thanks to everyone who showed up and participated!

I'll have a couple of more posts this week, hopefully with more Boo!Bash2 pictures and then one for Halloween...then I'll put this blog to bed except for monthly Great Pumpkin Day updates...but keep an eye on Scarecrow Soup! We've got Thanksgiving to plan! Yay!

Have a great Halloween week!

Happy Haunting!

Cathy

Boo!Bash2 final countdown!!

Tomorrow is the big day! Todd the Weather Man (who was filling in for Melinda the Weather Lady) says that at kick-off time for the Razorback game the temperature should be about 53 degrees, dropping into the 40s during the evening. Since we're kicking off the party at the same time, I figure that's what we can expect, too! Perfect!!

We are having roasted hot dogs, nachos, toasted marshmallows (s'mores anyone??), cupcakes, cookies, candy, candy, candy...and to wash it all down, iced tea and water, iced lemon cider (oohh..me and Benjie LOVE that stuff!!), hot apple cider, hot coffee and hot chocolate. To dress up the hot drinks I have caramel syrup, pumpkin spice and caramel apple creamers, whipped cream, marshmallows, ghost shaped Peeps and cinnamon to sprinkle on top, as desired. Good stuff!

We're having a costume contest with a written ballot and a ballot pumpkin (rather than box) for voting...cute little winner's badges and bags of candy for the little goblins who will all be winners, no doubt!

My brother Michael made the ballots, and they are cute! I'll post pictures Sunday!

Happy Haunting!
Cathy

Fall Tour of Homes

I love fall decorations and I usually do much more than I've done this year. And, I do plan to do a little more, but I'm waiting until closer to the Boo!Bash2, which is only 11 days away! I'll try to post more photos when I get it all done. But, in the meantime, here's a quick tour of what I have gotten done.

I'll start my tour in the kitchen. This is one of my favorite pieces of furniture, and a favorite for decorating as well! I made the banner from scraps of other projects and really did it just for fun, but ended up liking it, especially on this cabinet!

Here's a close up of the top...the copper piece that the pumpkin is sitting in was from Hobby Lobby, on clearance for $2. It was not copper, but I spray painted it and added the feathers you see at the bottom of the pumpkin. I love how it looks with my copper chicken basket.

These are permanant residents in what I call the "chicken coop". It's a yard sale find that I bought a couple of years ago for $10. I have paint to paint it white and chicken wire to go in the doors, but as of yet I haven't managed to get it done!

I change the tapers in this white candleabra often. Most recently, it held gold tapers and an amber colored ornament hanging on it...but I changed it for Halloween. I'll put gold back in for Thanksgiving, then switch to cranberry red for Christmas. After Christmas, it's back to black to match the toile curtains!

The chicken coop.

Here's my Halloween tree...a little different this year than in years past, and it looks prettier in person than in these pictures...I bought a bunch of foam masks and glittered them up....

This turquoise feathered mask came from New Orleans!!

The Halloween Tree!

These hydrangeas came from a bush in my brother Michael's back yard...they were fresh in this picture.....

And here's some of them after being dried. This is my mantle in the living room.

More pictures coming soon! Be sure to check out everyone's homes in the Fall Tour of Homes!

The links are in the post above this one!

Thanks a lot for looking!

Happy Haunting!

Cathy

Edited to add: Ok, for some odd reason this posted wrong...I'm sure it was nothing I did...well, it really probably was, but I have no idea what. So, anyway, the links for the tour are in the post BELOW this one instead of above! Also, the spacing is weird...so please forgive me, just enjoy the pretty pictures everyone has posted!!

Virtual Fall Tour of Homes

It's today!


Here's the bloggers who've chosen to participate in our tour:
Our first stop is at Carrie's home.
Next up is Linda who always has the cutest things on her blog.
Be sure you check out Jessica's ghost ring...too, too cute!
Next we stop by Leann's Fall Festivities and see what she's been up to.
Jack Frosty is next...
And here's what Starflake has for us to look at...
Natalie has some things for us to see, too...
And another Cathi has joined us!

Check out Ginger's Great Pumpkin Day blog for her cute decor!

And, if you check out the post below this one, you'll find my home!!

Thanks so much for everyone who has participated. Don't forget that we'll be doing a Christmas tour in December, hosted by Pumpkins and Reindeer!

Enjoy!

Happy Haunting!

Cathy