Fall is in the air

Fall is here, and I couldn't be happier! We don't have much of a color show yet, but slowly, slowly the leaves are changing color. In North Carolina we usually have great color for about 1 week and then all of the leaves are gone. Winter here is pretty ugly with naked trees, unless it snows (fingers crossed for snow) but the fall makes up for it in my book, even if it's only 1 week.

I'd say that year round I am not a crafty person. I don't make valentine or Easter projects with the girls, I don't decorate for St. Patrick's day or fourth of July. But, I am ALL over fall and Christmas! Maybe I'll get more organized as the girls get older and balance out the year with crafts for every holiday but for now they get 3 months of craft heaven. A couple days ago we made a pine cone wreath! The construction of the wreath was my job and I think I was successful at it other than severely burning my finger with a glue gun. Glue guns seriously hate me! The girls painted the wreath with red, yellow and orange paint (Charlotte also painted her face) and Maddie helped me to put gold glitter all over it.

NO Charlotte, don't eat paint!!

Yeah, she did it anyway. (notice painty face)

"Look Mama, I got paint on my hand"
(I'm sure it was an accident.....*sarcasm*)

Glitter application

I was really surprised with how well both girls handled this project! They stayed engaged, they painted really well and they hardly made a mess. We always do better sitting at the kitchen table where they are stationary and aren't able to run off and get paint everywhere. I also informed them right from the start that they were going to go straight to the bath once we were done.....and I stripped them down so they wouldn't paint on their clothes! Washable paint is fantastic!! Some splatters got on our kitchen wall and it wiped right off even after it had dried! It also completely comes out of clothing in the wash. What did we do before we had washable paint?!? :) We had to let the wreath dry over night which caused excruciating pain for Maddie lol. And the next day I put a bow on it, tied some string on and hung it on our front door. Every time we open our front door Maddie tells me, "Mama, look at our pine cones, they are so beautiful," and I tell her, "Yes honey, they ARE beautiful!"