C2H: Our Spookified Porch 2012

We usually don't decorate much for Halloween but this year we went all out for Jada! Halloween decor is kind of cheesy to me but I'm into the cheese this year! We put up:

• A Crashing Witch that has been in my Halloween bin for years and I never used it
• Some cheesy cardboard decorations on the windows. A witch, a skeleton, Frankenstein, etc.
• 2 sets of orange twinkle lights from Big Lots
• 1 set of 3 purple tree stakes also from Big Lots
• An electric pumpkin that I've had for years
• My carved "P" pumpkin
• A pumpkin scarecrow (not pictured)
• And 2 sets of spider webs from Walmart

C2H: Pumpkin Carving 2012

Saturday night I had my parents and my grandmother over for dinner and some pumpkin carving. After a delicious dinner of stove top chicken, mac & cheese, cranberry sauce, rolls, and pumpkin spice pudding we got to work on our pumpkins! Every one's came out so cute and we had a lot of fun!

Grandma and her pumpkin face

Everyone hard at work and so serious

Mom's, Dad's, and Grandma's

I did a "P" for our front porch

Easy Peasy Pumpkin Dessert

After being at the beach for the past week I came back home to very fall weather at home. It made me feel like I'd almost missed the start of Halloween season while we were gone. So tonight I wanted to celebrate Halloween with a movie and a special treat. I had no time at all to really cook anything. I still had tons to unpack and get ready to start back to work tomorrow. So while I was at Wal-Mart grocery shopping I came across this pumpkin spice instant pudding mix.

Perfect! All you have to do is add 2 cups of milk, give it a quick whisk and it sets in 5 minutes. After picking this up I decided to get some Cool Whip to add on top when I saw this:

Cool Whip Frosting??? I hadn't heard of it but it sounded yummy so I picked it up on a whim to go with the pudding. (I think they had a chocolate flavor too)

I served the pumpkin spice pudding in little dishes with a dollop of the Cool Whip on top and it made the yummiest little desserts!!! My husband even mentioned that with a little crumbled graham cracker on top it would be just like pumpkin pie. 

We enjoyed our desserts while watching this little gem that just came out on blu ray:

Woo hoo Halloween season has officially begun and I am pumped!!!!! Now if I could only make a decision on my daughters costume..............

C2H: Halloween TV Episodes Part 2

Continuing the Countdown to Halloween posts today is part 2 of my favorite Halloween episodes! My first post was more family friendly shows and these are more adult shows. I just couldn't narrow it down to 5 so I decided to do 10 and make it 2 parts. So here's part 2 and I hope you enjoy!

NCIS "Witch Hunt" Season 4 Episode 6

Recognize Abby? In this episode the NCIS team investigates a marine's daughter that's been kidnapped. On Halloween night. You can buy this episode on Amazon or iTunes.

CSI: Miami "Curse of the Coffin" Season 5 Episode 6

It's Halloween and strange things are happening at the lab leading everyone to believe it's cursed. You can watch CSI: Miami on Netflix! Or buy this episode from Amazon or iTunes.

The Dick Van Dyke Show "The Ghost of A. Chantz" Season 4 Episode 2

Taking you real old school now! I grew up watching Nick at Nite and the Dick Van Dyke Show was one of my favorites. They never had an official Halloween show but they had a lot of shows about ghosts and haunting and different things. This is one of my favorites. Rob and the girls are stuck in a haunted cabin. You can watch this episode on Netflix!

Reba "Best Li'l Haunted House in Texas" Season 5 Episode 6

Great Reba episode! I don't want to give the plot away because it's a little bit of a mystery. Check it out for yourself. You can watch it on Hulu Plus.

Friends "The One With the Halloween Party" Season 8 Episode 6

The picture above says it all! A funny Friends episode where they throw a Halloween party. You can buy this episode on Amazon or iTunes. It also regularly comes on tv a lot.

C2H: Halloween Party Food

Oreo Pumpkins from Charmed Life Diva

Halloween Parfaits from the Butterfly Jungle

Halloween Cheeseburgers. (I couldn't find the original post for credit)

Pumpkin Cheese ball from BHG

Pumpkin Veggie Tray from Taste of Home

A Spooky healthy snack from Pimp My Dinner

Ghost Cookies from Delish

Pumpkin Eggs from Foodista

C2H: My Favorite Halloween Themed Movies

C2H: My Favorite Halloween Kids Books

Today's "Countdown 2 Halloween" post is a list of my favorite Halloween books!! These are all books I enjoyed reading around Halloween when I was a little girl and I can't wait to carry on the tradition with my daughter starting this year. 

"Clifford's First Halloween" by Norman Bridwell

I loved the Clifford books as a kid! And this is a great one about the first Halloween Clifford experiences.

"The Berenstain Bears and the Ghost of the Forest" by Stan & Jan Berenstain

Who didn't love these books? I loved them all and enjoy reading them to my daughter. This one is a little scary but funny because Papa Bear tries to play a trick on the kids while camping by scaring them and ends up scaring himself. 

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" by Charles M. Schultz

This is my must read the night before Halloween. I love this book and I love the movie. My husband and I both have fond memories of Charlie Brown and Snoopy around the holidays growing up and we can't wait to pass this tradition on to Jada.

"The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything" by Linda Williams

0nce upon a time, there was a little old lady who was not afraid of anything! But one autumn night, while walking in the woods, the little old lady heard . . . CLOMP, CLOMP, SHAKE, SHAKE, CLAP, CLAP. And the little old lady who was not afraid of anything had the scare of her life!

"It's Halloween" by Jack Prelutsky

I remember the librarian at my elementary school reading this book to us on Halloween day. This books is full of poems about Halloween and the illustrations are fabulous.

Welcome October!!

Happy October 1st! October is my favorite month of the year. I love the arrival of Fall and colder weather, I love Halloween, and I love the promise of the holidays coming up! All month on the blog I will be featuring posts all about Halloween. I have lots of exciting things planned and I hope to be posting every day during the week! So join me this month as we Countdown to Halloween!!!

Haulin: Bath and Body Works!

Fall is my absolute favorite time for Bath and Body Works!! Getting their soaps and candles are pretty much tradition for me this time of year. I pretty much only shop there 3 times a year. Fall, Christmas, and their Semi-Annual sale. They released their Fall / Halloween line to the stores last week so I had to go get some for the season.

I love the $5 for $15 anti-bacterial soaps. I always keep one at my kitchen sink and two bathroom sinks.

Fun tip::: The anti-bacterial soaps are highly concentrated. I always buy the original soap as opposed to the foam soap if it's available in the scent I want because it lasts a lot longer then the foam. When my soaps get down about half way, I always fill them back up with water and shake a little bit! They are full again and you don't lose anything. It makes them last so much longer!!

Sweet cinnamon pumpkin is one of my all time favorites. The cinnamon is pretty strong so beware of that if you don't like cinnamon scents. How cute is the label on this bottle?!?

I think this Warm Apple Cider is new this year! At least I don't remember it. It smells sooooo good. It has a very apple pie smell. Apples and vanilla plus a little bit of citrus. I can imagine almost everyone would love this scent.

This pumpkin hand soap is exactly what is says. Pumpkin. It smells like a can of pumpkin. Nothing else. I like it plus the label on this one is just too cute.

This BrewBerry soap is super cute. I love the green witch label and the soap is a pretty purple color. The scent is a simple clean berry scent. I like it to break up all the cinnamon and pumpkin scents that I have everywhere else.

This BooHoo hand soap is in the Creamy Pumpkin scent. Creamy Pumpkin is my absolute favorite fall time smell. I am one of those people who associate smells with certain memories and feelings year. Last Fall when my daughter came 8 weeks early and endured a 3 week NICU stay, this was the scent that was always at my kitchen sink. When I smell it, all those memories of those days come flooding back. I'm sure I will be heartbroken when they dis-continue this. I need to stock up...

Pocket Baks are 5 for $5!! I keep one of these in my diaper bag and purse so we go thru them like crazy. Good think they're cheap. They had 8 or so halloween ones so I picked my 5 favorite. Vampire Blood is a plum scent. Boo is a marshmallow scent, Bat Bite is an apple scent. BrewBerry is berry scented. And candy corn smells like candy corn. As a fun little extra, some of the labels glow in the dark! I know Bat Bite does and I think Boo! does as well.

This was my favorite thing from their new Halloween line! How cute is she?!? She is a Pocket Bak holder. I just love how detailed they made her from her red lips to her pink diamond - studded bow. She will be hanging out on my diaper bag for the season.

And that's my haul!! I really want to get some Fall candles but I'm going to wait until they're on sale. They also had their Wallflowers $6 but I'm not really a fan of those.

What's your favorite Fall scent?!? Comment below I would love to know!