A Little Fall Decor Inspo + Update

Well hello old friends! My goodness, it has been a while since I've written a blog post! As many of you know, I took a job to be the head cheer coach at my old high school. It was super unexpected and sudden but has been fun to get back into cheer. It has also come with a lot of challenges such as finding a balance between cheer stuff, mom stuff, church calling stuff, wife stuff, and blog stuff... I think it's clear which one got pushed out. But, I don't want to give up blogging! I'm still working on finding a balance and making it all work but I figured the first year coaching would be a lot so this is to be expected. Hunter works his full time job then comes home to take care of the girls while I'm at practice. In a couple weeks he is also going to be coaching the jv basketball team at the same high school as me. Sooo life is about to get even more insane! Oaklyn is in her second/last year of preschool and killing it. Every time I talk to her teachers they speak highly of her and she does awesome on all the worksheets they give her. She's a sassy child so I'm wishing she acted that way at home all the time...but I guess I'd rather her be good for others than me. She's also taking gymnastics/tumbling and loving that. Cam is my little bestie these days. She practically never leaves my side and we both like it that way. She'll be going to preschool next year and it's actually breaking my heart. I just want her to be my baby forever. 

I had fully planned on posting this in September... HA! But I guess better late than never! If you're like me, you already have Christmas on your mind. But if you're not like me, fall will be staying up for another month so I guess this post isn't superrr late. Right? I absolutely love this time of year. Fall is soo much fun. It's still too hot in San Diego so I can at least decorate for fall to feel festive! When Hunter and I first got married I bought a lot of fall decor with really strong and bright oranges. The traditional fall decor with leaves and orange pumpkins. While I don't mind that look, it was really clashing with the way my decor style has evolved so I tried to transition into more neutrals and muted burnt orange. 

Little fall signs are from the Target dollar section a few years ago. Fabric pumpkins are from the dollar section. Friend pumpkin is a chalkboard pumpkin and a friend did the calligraphy. The white pumpkin is from Hobby Lobby. I then bought fall florals and arranged them on the top of the pumpkin to my liking. The wood bead and tassel banner is from Hobby Lobby. 

The wood tray is from a cute local store called Finely Home. The mini fall sign and buffalo check pumpkin pillow is from the dollar section along with the orange ceramic pumpkin. The florals and vase are from Hobby Lobby. 

The grey and white vase is from Hobby Lobby and the stems and ceramic pumpkin are both from Target's fall section. 

Blanket ladder was a DIY and can be found here. Pumpkins are from Michaels and I did the ombre and glitter design on them. Little Happy Fall sign and leaf wood block are also DIY projects. All supplies were found at Michaels. Cotton wreath is from Hobby Lobby.

Metal wall hangers are from Hobby Lobby and spray painted silver. Stems inside of them are from Michaels. Buffalo check fabric pumpkins and wood signs are from Target Dollar Section. 

Little wood signs come in a two pack in the Target dollar section. 

Letterboard and wood beads from Hobby Lobby. Chalkboard from Walmart. Wood pumpkin from Target Dollar Section. "Home" cutout from Michaels and hot glued on. 

Grey and white pumpkins are from the Target dollar section. Cactus is from Shop Liv3. Black Pumpkin is old and I can't remember, ha! Buffalo Check pumpkin was a DIY project. The wood pumpkin cutout is from Hobby Lobby along with the M. I taped sections off and painted the stripes on then hot glued the M.

So there's a little fall inspo! I can't promise it'll be up much longer though... I'm kind of a Christmas fanatic. Anyone else??

Now on to finishing up our family costumes and getting ready for all the festivities next week! I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Halloween!

All my love,

Aleigh Joy

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Quick and Easy Thanksgiving Tablescape

When it comes to holidays, one of the very first things I think about is the meal. With the meal comes a pretty tablescape. Most holidays are spent with our families and even though I'm really grateful for that, I honestly crave being able to style the table. We're a little ways away from being able to host these holidays at our own home, so for now I like to make a special meal the Sunday before the actual holiday so I can still have fun with decorations. I tried to make this tablescape as easy to recreate as possible and quick to put together. 

So here's what you'll need:

-A white or cream lace tablecloth. If you want one for cheap, most thrift stores have awesome linens for like a couple bucks!

-Mini Cream pumpkins (I found mine at a local grocery store for 25 cents each. I got some orange ones too and thought about spray painting them, but that seemed like more work than I wanted to put in haha!)

-One large cream pumpkin. Or a couple large ones... that would be even prettier! Mine is just a craft pumpkin I've had for a while from Michaels. I added the glitter dots. 

-Tall candlesticks. Both of these are my moms and I love them so much! But these would also be perfect. 

- Eucalyptus branches. We have tonssss of eucalyptus trees around here and I'm thanking my lucky stars! I love the silver dollar leaves but I thought the skinnier ones would lay well for a table like this. If you don't have eucalyptus near by honestly any form of greenery will work. 

- Orange and red leaves. I just grabbed a few from a tree at my parents house. They're pretty tiny and I liked it that way.

-Wood chargers. Kay, these are my moms and they're incredible. Hers are from World Market but LOOK WHAT I JUST FOUND! They have really similar ones from wait for it... Dollar Tree! Here's the link! 

- The beaded plates are also my mom's and I'm not sure where she found them but I have some very similar from the dollar store. I don't think they sell them right now, but keep an eye out! In the meantime, here's some cute ones from Target. 

- Some pretty glasses. And believe it or not, they totally have those at the Dollar Store too! But here's some from Target also! 

- And last but not least, some silverware! I'm sure you all already have some but if not, go with gold. Holy moly these would be gorgeous for Thanksgiving! 

As far as styling goes, first lay your tablecloth down. I then placed my chargers and plates to know how much room I'd have for the centerpiece. I just used a 6 ft table so most dining tables will definitely have more space but setting the plates first will still help. I then made my eucalyptus runner and then just started placing the rest! It hardly took any time and was super festive and fun! I think the reason I love holidays so much is because I love having the creative side of my brain have fun with this sort of stuff. I promise if you make holidays special, they will feel soo much more special!

I really hope you all have a wonderful holiday. I also want you all to know how grateful I am for each of you! Your constant love and support means so much to our family! xoxo

All my love,

Aleigh Joy

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A Spooktacular Kids Halloween Party

Today we threw a little Halloween party for kiddos and their mamas. It was so much fun to get together and let the kids play and the moms get some real conversation in, ha! But in all seriousness, I think play dates are so fun for both moms and kids. I used to have weekly play dates with my best friends in Utah and we all loved it. I looked forward to it each week because I craved that social interaction with other women. I love using any excuse out there to get together with other moms and give Oaks and Cam the opportunity to interact with other kids sooo a Halloween Party definitely seemed in order ;) 

I wasn't planning on doing this until a couple weeks ago when I walked by the dollar section at Target and saw all the adorable stuff. Honestly, I got most of the decor from the dollar store or the dollar section at Target! The dollar store is probably the best kept secret when it comes to party and holiday decorations. They always have festive decor for only $1, tons of serving dishes, lots of colors of plastic tablecloths, they even have costumes! The rest of it was from miscellaneous stores like Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Handmade, or things I already had. For lunch we had regular chili, white chicken chili, mac n cheese, Halloween Pretzels, salad, caramel apple dip with green apples, and some tortilla chips and Fritos for the chilis. For the activities we let the kiddos run around all they want and the trampoline was a huge hit. But, we also made lollipop ghosts with tootsie pops, napkins, and string. I also set out some coloring pages and crayons, and the dollar store had these cute foam projects but they didn't come with anything to stick them together so people just took those home haha. The last activity was cookie decorating! If you have an Albertsons near by they have the BEST sugar cookies, I bought a few packs of those, store bought frosting, and some festive sprinkles. 

The banners and witch hats are from the dollar section at Target. The felt kitties are from the dollar store. The spider web runners are from Target as well as the magic potion wood sign, the geometric white pumpkin, the black boo bowls, and the metal buckets. The black roses, vases, orange twig branches, bats, and spider web bowls are from the dollar store. 

The ceramic boo pumpkins are from the dollar store

Half of the paper fans are pre made from hobby lobby and the other ones I made with scrapbook paper. It's really easy and there's tons of tutorials on pinterest! The little ghosts are from Michael's. The chalkboard is really old but I think was from Hobby Lobby. The balloons are from the dollar store as well as the black spider webs.

The little pumpkin lanterns are from the dollar store and the Happy Halloween tape is from Target.

If you're planning on throwing a Halloween party or just need some festive inspiration, I hope this helped! Let me know if you have any more questions about anything! You can also find both of the chili recipes here and here. Happy Halloween everyone!

All my love,

Aleigh Joy

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