Happy National Chocolate Day!

It's almost here...Halloween.  Some of my friends L-O-V-E this event.  They love dressing up, they love going to haunted houses, the corn mazes, they love the candy (Ok, I love candy too)...they just can't get enough of it.

I have some more crafts that were made early on with my sweet friend Annette.  Here was her masterpiece with the concept of a layout (see blog post before this one).
She did an amazing job!

And a card I made using acetate, Annette's "Boo" die-cut and versa mark with embossing powder on vellum:

In all honesty, I'm not as all geared up for October 31st like I used to be.  When I was little, it was fun to dress up and go door to door.  It was fun to pick and choose candy and ration it to see how long it would last (ok, my mom made us ration it as it sat on top of the fridge and we were allowed 2 pieces a day).  It was fun to wear costumes to school and parade around the playground.

I just don't enjoy it as much.  It's dangerous for kids to go door to door, some of the candy could have razor-blades in them...some of the costumes are down-right SCARY, and there seems to be so much more evil associated with it than ever before.  I do love the corn mazes and celebration of fall harvest.  Hoorah for churches that provide safe environments for kids with trunk-or-treating and activities/games.  And for the farmers that magically create mazes with aerial designs in them to get lost in.  And the hayrides...and bonfires...Hmmm, all of a sudden I am craving s'mores and hot chocolate.  Nope!  It's almost 9:00pm at night.  That chocolate (Oh  -- happy National Chocolate day!) will gladly settle in my tooshie where it doesn't belong.  Ahh, the days of higher metabolism!

My kids did carve pumpkins yesterday.  Isaac carved the letter "I" and Olivia carved Stitch from Lilo & Stitch.  We did just visit Magic Kingdom where they had a L&S ride.  We'll put the pumpkins out this weekend to showcase their artwork.  How many other times do they ever carve in a vegetable that I get to showcase?

I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins recently.  Quite delicious and H-E-A-L-T-H-Y.  No kidding!!!  I would encourage you to double the recipe.  You can find it HERE.

So grab some candy corn (or just spoonfuls of sugar as it's practically the same thing), chocolate, marshmallows, support your local businesses, and get ready for the Christmas music.  It's coming and you know it is!