Last year for Halloween, I went all out for Katherine's costume.  She was a Rockford Peach last year and her costume was perfection (because I was obsessed with authenticity).  Read about last year's costume here.

This year, I went simple and created a Kitty Cat costume for her.  I chose this because it was an easy DIY costume (any costume involving a tutu is adorable) and because she can say "kee cat" which added to it's cuteness.  This costume was really easy and she wore it well.  In fact, she's worn it three times already and kept every piece on, even her face make-up.  I just knew she would smear her make-up right away, but she didn't.

{Cat ears and tail set HOBBY LOBBY, black onesie HOBBY LOBBY, costume make-up TARGET, black tights TARGET, tulle and elastic for tutu HOBBY LOBBY}

She knows she's a kitty cat and will tell you so.  I love that she's so excited about her costume this year.  When ever I pick up her tutu she'll say "Oh!  Kee cat!"  I love her so much.

Warning:  I'm about to overload you with adorable photos from our week of Halloween fun.  

We've really been getting into the Halloween spirit around here this week, packing as much fall fun into each day as humanly possible.

We've spent almost every afternoon playing outside in the yard.  Katherine loves picking up the fallen leaves and has started an impressive leaf collection.

{Pumpkin pancakes.  Similar recipe here.}

{Carousel riding is the best.}

{"The park is SO FUN!"}

{"This slide is lame."}

{"It's ok.  I know what I'm doing,"}

{"THIS.  SLIDE!"}

{"No.  I will not turn around."}

{Refusing to smile.  As usual.}

{Walking with Aunt Mandy and getting lots of attention from strangers.}

{Every where we go, we must ride the carousel.}

She really did have fun at the zoo, despite the look on her face in most of the pictures.  And if all these fun activities weren't enough, on Sunday we went to Trunk or Treat.  Katherine had a blast and got lots of candy.  Because I didn't have a chance to wash her costume before Trunk or Treat, she technically went as "Smelly Cat."  By the end of the night, she had half of her cat make-up still on her face and she was covered in Cheetos crumbs and cupcake icing.  I'll be shaking crumbs out of her tutu for days.  

{Photo credit: Kelli Lowe}

After a much needed bath, Katherine passed out as soon as her head hit the mattress.  Is it possible for kids to have a candy hangover?

I'm exhausted and Halloween is still a few days away!  Monday is also the beginning of my birthday week.  Yay!

It's been a while since I did an Etsy finds post, so I thought I'd share a few of my most recent Etsy purchases with you.

I stumbled upon Glass Poppies' shop a while back and loved her hand stamped jewelry. She has lots of different items available in her shop and can personalize your item for you.  Plus, I've never had a faster delivery for a custom personalized item.  She was super fast.  I think I had my necklace in less than a week.

B.Stamped popped up on my Instagram feed one day and I fell in love with her hand stamped wrap bracelets.  She has a bracelet for everybody and every occasion.  Everything from firefighter wives to police wives to deployment bracelets to mothers' bracelets.  Mine has "to the moon and back" stamped on it, along with Katherine's birth date.  Again, I got my bracelet in less than a week, which is super fast for a personalized item!

This was my first purchase from The Little Lady Bug and I'll definitely be back.  She has the most adorable bows, it was hard to pick just one.  I got Katherine this Halloween witch hat bow.  You may have seen it when we went to the library Halloween party.  It's the cutest thing ever!

Etsy is my favorite site for Christmas shopping!  I'm already eyeing some awesome gift possibilities.

Speaking of Etsy, the Halloween scarves in my own shop are now just $10!  (Nice plug there, right?)

It's been raining for days here in St. Louis, and I'm running out of ideas to keep this rambunctious toddler occupied.  On Monday we were expecting severe weather, so I set up the kiddie table in the living room, threw some coloring books and crayons on the table and let Katherine go at it.

This turned into an all day affair for me, as she thought it was more fun to hand me a crayon and tell me where to color.  I was having to color hair purple and faces yellow for most of the morning.

That afternoon, I got the paints out and we made Halloween hand and foot art.  Katherine hated it.  So, we went back to coloring.  Or me coloring for her.  




On Tuesday night, we went to the Halloween party at the library (in the rain of course).  We colored some more, because we weren't quite ready for the big kid Halloween crafts.

{Katherine's Witch Hat bow}

During Halloween story time, my child was the wild child who wouldn't sit still.
  And then she just sprawled out on the floor.

A lot of the kids were dressed in their Halloween costumes.  One little girl was dressed as Elsa from Frozen.  Katherine stalked that poor girl for most of the night, because she recognized the dress.  The little dress also had a picture of Elsa on the bodice that Katherine kept pointing at and trying to touch.  The little girl kept looking at Katherine like she was crazy.  I completely understood her aggravation.    Note to self:  When Halloween costumes go on sale, buy Katherine an Elsa dress of her own.  

I'm hoping it stops raining long enough this week to take Katherine to a pumpkin patch.  We need some outside time.

It's been one of those weeks around here.  Bad news keeps getting worse, plans keep getting interrupted, and my faith in humanity in general is fading.  Fast.

"No Make-Up Monday" turned into "No Make-Up Tuesday," which turned into "Maybe Some Mascara Wednesday," followed by "Why Bother Thursday" and "WTF Friday."

What do we do when things get tough?  Make pumpkin smoothies, go outside, and paint pumpkins.




I put Katherine's finger paints on a paper plate, set her up on her plastic picnic table on the back deck, and let her have at it.  The paint was washable so it didn't really matter if she got messy.  She enjoyed painting so much that we'll probably bust out the paints again next week for more fun Halloween art projects.  

To top it off, Katherine chose this week (a week where daddy is stretched thin at work and mommy is stressed to the max) to challenge me on everything.  She was ignoring my "no, no" commands so often, I wondered briefly if she had a hearing problem.  Nope.  She can hear.  She just chooses not to.  Jason was working late each night, so it was just Katherine and I as she emptied the hamper...and ate handfuls of dog food before throwing it through the air like freaking confetti.....and dipping her drink cup in the dog's water bowl before dumping the water out of the bowl completely....and hitting one of the dogs with the TV remote.....and waking daddy up early after a late night at work with two maracas and a tambourine.

Here's hoping for a better week this week.  

Oh Halloween, how I love thee.  Our Halloween decorations have been out for about a week now, and with a brand new shiny Hobby Lobby store just 8 whole minutes from my house, you can bet I've been stocking up on goodies.

I like to reuse most of our decorations from year to year (See previous years' decorations here, here, and here.), but this year I decided "less was more" and went with a simpler look.

Let's start with Katherine's room.  I like to put holiday decorations in her room and she "oooooo's" and "ahhhh's" over them each morning.

It's no secret that Katherine loves books, so the top shelf of her book case is filled with Halloween books.

Side note:  Her favorite book is "Goodnight Moon," which we have to read every single night, so I bought her "Goodnight Goon" for Halloween.  She immediately knows if it's not the actual "Goodnight Moon" and insists we read the real thing.  

In the living room, I added our usual decor plus some new additions from Hobby Lobby.







I fell in love with these Halloween jammies from Carter's and ordered them for Katherine right away. (And they glow in the dark!)


Happy Wednesday!