I'm scrambling getting ready for the Halloween party so I can't write much but I thought I'd share a photo of one of the many construction paper bats that are flying around my house. Martha Stewart's Halloween magazine from a few years ago had the basic bat silhouette.

And I finished our Ward and June Cleaver names tags. They make me laugh every time I look at them… we're going to be the scary, bloody Cleavers!

…and we are having a party! Steve and I are going as June and Ward Cleaver. I still have to make my "cleaver" name tags but my dress and apron are ready. I made my red polka dot dress from Simplicity's  NewLook pattern #6824. I copied an apron that my mom made for me last year that made from an authentic 1950s pattern. I made a slip from netting to make the skirt stand out.

I also made some swizzle sticks to liven up the drinks.

I glued together a 1/2" and 3/8" pompom. Then I glued on the little eyes. Cut one pipe cleaner in half, then cut the halves in half. Twist them together to make 8 legs. Bend the legs and glue the spider bodies onto them.

You can make an army of little spiders or you can hot glue them onto the ends of tall, skinny wooden sticks.

Cute and creepy!

…both a color and a flower! Like orange which is both a color and a fruit. I'm going to have to think about other colors that are both color and something else. At any rate, fuschias are pretty!

I taught in both San Diego and Danvile, CA, last week. The bouganvilla was blooming in San Diego…

In the sunlight, these were very pink. At home, on my monitor, they are distinctly salmon. In either case, pretty flowers.

The flowers look sort of spooky in this lighting…

You may have seen this already, but I didn't see it until yesterday. I prefer to take the stairs unless I am pulling suitcases and I would love climbing musical stairs!

Jack and Elanor on Thursday, October 15. Jack wanted his photo taken and sat still long enough to pose! I think he wanted to show off his new sweatshirt.

Jack, in the box…

…he climbed in all by himself and stayed there awhile. The blocks (in the basket and all over the floor) and the wooden truck belonged to our boys when they were Jack's age! Glad we kept them.

He really wanted to make a pipe cleaner into a headband. Didn't exactly work as you can tell by his expression.

Elanor joined in!