The final images from The Doyle Haunting!

The first area, the "talking head" with the crazy doctor feeding him!!


One of our first victims to walk through!


Around the corner from the table, the entrance to the graveyard! My daughter hid inside the wardrobe storage to the far left of the image. She did a great job, even scared a few adults!!


The graveyard! This side of the basement had a fog machine, black light and lots of thing to walk through. We put leaves all over the floor and hung toilet paper from the ceiling. My son was a mummy inside the coffin to the right of the image.


Finally at the very end. My husband isn't he hansom?!


Sorry they took so long! I had more to do that weekend than I thought! It was so busy and crazy trying to get everyone at the right place at the right time. Not to mention getting the kids dressed! The haunted house turned out GREAT though! Some of the guest were too scared to go all the way through, which I guess means we did a good job! As odd as that sounds ;)
I'm already thinking about next year!! My kids had so much fun and were such a big help I think this will become a family tradition for sure!

The Doyle Haunting 2009

The Invite!
The kids and I made invitations for their friends to come to our haunted house.


We used black garbage bags to make a divider wall in the middle of our basement. The lights show you the path they'll walk .


Scary stuff!!


Our Creepy table! Still more work in this room, we're about 75% finished.


The door way into the next room.


This will be the a very cool room, lot of work tomorrow!



We LOVE Halloween here at my house! We've been planning a haunted house for months. Our family and a few friends will be helping with the set up. The kids are super excited, they invited friends from school to come this Friday evening. Both of my kids will be hiding and ready to scare their friends!
We just started the decorating of the basement tonight. I'm documenting the stage's of creating the haunted house. I really get into the decor so I hope you enjoy the photos! Just a few snap shots from tonight. I will hopefully update again tomorrow so, check back!!

Pocket of Spring

Gage's amazing photo!


Kiley's amazing photo!


A plant, roots and all from Kiley


A wonderful worm, my son found in our fishing gear, imagine that!


So with my wedding season going into full force next month, the family and I have been outdoors every chance we get! This weekend we went to a great fishing lake (kid friendly) in West Chester called Voice of America Park. I thought it would be fun to collect things that have to do with spring. It turned out to be a great idea since the fish weren't biting!

We used filing folders, stapled two sides shut and decorated the cover to make our "pocket of Spring". The kids found some great spring plants and critters. We took photos of the things they found and put them in the "pockets". The kids got to use a "big" camera and we're pretty proud of the results!

Kid friendly project

I like to spend time looking through magazines and websites for fun activities do with my kids. I thought it would be nice to share some ideas with my clients. I plan to have a new post a couple times a month, so make sure you check back on the blog!

The first idea originated from my daughter's 100 piece school project. The only requirements were, each student have a parent's help and the project had to include 100 pieces. With this much freedom, it was difficult to come up with an idea at first. My daughter is a very creative person, so her project had to be different and "cool". We finally came up with, "100 things to be recycled". As most of you may know the, Rumpke recycling bins are small and most weeks are not big enough to hold everything. A bigger can would be useful to our family of four.

We went to our local hardware store and purchased a large metal can with a lid, for about $25.00. Then, we also found metal paint that wasn't spray paint. (Spray paint and kids are not a good mix usually!) When we got home, my daughter painted pictures of trees, grass and flowers with butterflies and big puffy clouds on the outside of the can. The lid was painted yellow like the sun. We talked about how recycling is not only important for us, but for all living things. I explained how even the bugs can be effected by littering and recycling is our job to help take care of the environment. Once the painting was finished, as a family, we started collecting our 100 things to be recycled.

This project was rewarding in so many ways; spending quality time with my daughter painting, something we both enjoy very much, and also teaching both my kids about recycling and it's importance. Since the project I've seen a big difference in all of us. We pay more attention to things that can be recycled and also things that can also be reduced or reused.

Supplies:
Large Metal Trash Can
Rust-Oleum Paint, indoor outdoor use
Small sponge brushes (one for each color is easier)

The school project cost more than I would ever plan to spend, but I think it was worth it in this case. After all the fun, we still have a beautiful can to hold all of our recyclables! FYI: make sure your recycling truck will pick up with this can!