I’m sick. It’s just a cold, but it (and the fact that Tim’s been out of town all week) has made everything a little more challenging around here. I’m sure you know the feeling. I just want to crawl back into bed, but there’s so much to do. Like finishing up our Halloween costumes.

Are you dressing up for Halloween? Tim and I are going as Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Andrew’s not dressing up this year, but Lexie will be Annabeth Chase from The Lightning Thief, Will is going as a phantom with glowing eyes, and Lily will be your classic witch. My cold needs to scoot, pronto, because our friends are hosting their annual Halloween party tomorrow, complete with horseback riding, giant pumpkins, a band (new this year!), and a haunted hay ride. I can’t miss it, even if I end up just sitting by the bonfire, nursing a cup of hot tea.

The Halloween wreath in the photo is something my mom made with the kids last year. First they wrapped a styrofoam floral wreath with orange crepe streamers. Then Mom drew some little bat wings for the kids to cut out, they glued black pom-poms together to make the bat bodies and heads, and then glued on some googly eyes. They glued the bats onto the wreath, glued on an orange pipe cleaner onto the back as a hanger and, voila! Instant Halloween wreath. Here’s a close-up of one of the bats:

Here are some fun links for the weekend. Hope to see you back on Monday!

• Video on how to peel an entire head of garlic in less than 10 seconds. Amazing!
• This may be the cutest play mat I’ve ever seen.
• Liz Stanley pulled together 15 favorite Halloween crafts. I think my favorite is the bat sock puppet.
• Free Halloween dress-up printables.
• And while you’re there, check out these adorable kids’ rooms and play areas.
• Ghost cake.
• I like a good old-fashioned jack-o-lantern, but check this out if you want to do something different with your pumpkins this year.
• Halloween breakfast ideas, including cute DIY mummy cups here.