Last Friday night Kole and I got serious. Serious about our front porch game. We were more than ready for some Halloween porch decor, but my little buddy sternly reminded me that we needed to clean the porch first. Ha. He gets so excited to clean the front porch! It’s one of his favorite things ever which cracks me up. He is definitely my child. :) Washing off the lanterns and pumpkins is his favorite chore, quickly followed by watering the plants and sweeping. What would I do without my little helper? I wouldn’t have nearly as much fun.. that’s for sure. :)
Ad joined us for part of the evening and while Kole and I sprayed and scrubbed, she let the tortoises out to do their nightly exercises. ;) I put this picture on IG stories one day and got so many questions about these little guys! For those asking.. yes – they are our pets. The girls each got one for Christmas years ago because when you have a child with severe fur/saliva animal allergies, reptiles are the answer. :) Yes – they are low maintenance pets which I love. They eat lettuce and vegetables and aside from the occasional outing in the yard, they chill in their cage in our garage. (We are able to keep them in the garage year round because of our mild weather.) The girls named them Coco and Spring. They get homemade Halloween costumes in October and their own mini Christmas stockings in December and are truly part of the family. As in I will NEVER be able to get rid of them. They will live in my garage feasting on lettuce FOREVER. Can you tell how excited that makes me?
Wait.. you came here to see my Halloween porch decor? Not to learn all about the daily habits of our pet tortoises? Just a slight detour… ;)
Here is my Halloween porch decor! And thanks to Kole, our pumpkins are sparkling while being displayed on the cleanest porch you’ve ever seen. ;)
I used the same things I’ve used in past years, but clumped everything together near the door this year.
I wrote the “Trick or Treat” chalkboard art last year too and just never erased it! Might as well use that baby again. :)
A few Cinderella pumpkins with a few bright orange pumpkins from the grocery store and we were in business! I usually use a little wooden stool to add some height.
My favorite part of our porch this year? The mini pumpkins in the greenery. :)
(The plant with the little white flowers is called “Bacopa” for those who have asked.)
Still love our BOO pumpkin as much as the day I bought it! Looks so cool lit up at night and is back in stock this year.
My black lanterns are another favorite porch staple and look especially fun for Halloween. Without a speck of dust on them. ;) #thankskole
This view of the pumpkins just makes me smile. Pumpkins make everything better, don’t they?
Especially the mini white pumpkins. I adore them.
This is a picture of our Halloween porch decor last year. I kept it simple by the front door last year and spread things out next to our bench. (You can see better pics of it in this post.)
This year I moved the bench to our back yard so I just added our spider web to the porch window. He’s spooky enough to stand alone.
I can’t believe it’s already the middle of October!
This time of year needs to slow down! I love it and it always flies by too quickly. So much to do.. so little time..
so many pumpkins that need a good scrub.
;)
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What a fun and sparkling clean post, Erin. So glad you have a superstar helper to keep you on the clean and sparkly path. ;) Your front porch looks like it’s ready to par-tay for Halloween! Woot, woot! Those pumpkins are really fun and look great. Even nestled in the Bacopa (the name of which I knew, go me). The little story about the tortoises is great. I’m glad you can have some sort of pet desptie allergies. Will they get much bigger? I mean, I’ve seen some pretty big tortoises. Would hate to think your cars have to leave the garage or something to make room! (a slight exaggeration, I’m sure). All around fun post to get us in the mood for the spookilicious night that will be here before we know it. Hope you have a great week, my friend! :) Hugs!
Ha ha.. I am cracking up at the thought of those tortoises filling up our garage! Jeanne you make me laugh! :) They will get bigger but no.. not that big. ;) I do think they live for a LONG time though so unless the girls take them away to college someday (which I don’t see happening) we’re stuck with them a while. Thanks for making me laugh out loud today! Always a good thing. ;) xo
You and Kole hit it out of the park again! Love it all. Those mini pumpkins in the greenery are so cute. What a nice touch. Are all your pumpkins real or are some fake? (besides the BOO one) I just adore your porch decorated or not.
Your little family pets are cute too! It is funny how much they do become part of your family. xxoo
Thank you so much Pam! I’m happy you like it! All of the outside pumpkins are real. Yes.. aside from the BOO one. :) It’s crazy how much my girls love those tortoises! Especially since they aren’t the most loving and enthusiastic pets.. ha. But yes – definitely part of the family now. ;) xo
Super cute!!!
Where does the black door on the left side of the porch go to? Garage?
Thanks Lori! The garage is on the other side of the house. That door goes to my husband’s office. :)
I’ve always loved those lanterns! I’m not sure if I’ve asked this before or not but does washing them not cause them to rust at all?
Hi Debbie! They don’t rust! We spray them off about every other month. :)
Such a cute lil helper!! Your front porch looks so good. Erin, I wish we had a tortoise. Marty has a golden retriever. I’m not a dog person as they shed. I know this might sound mean, but I just can’t have him in the house with the fur. So he has a ( condo,) dog house. He hangs out with Marty in his man cave until it’s time for bed then he goes into his dog house. He is a sweet dog but we’re done after this one . Please tell Kole that he did an amazing job :) xo
Cathy that made me laugh! I totally get it! Sometimes I feel like the silver lining to all of Ad’s allergy issues is that we don’t have to get a dog! Ha. I had a dog growing up and loved it so I feel bad I can’t give that to my kids – nothing like having a dog when you’re a kid with all that unconditional love! But I honestly couldn’t handle one more thing on my plate right now (or the shedding!) and we all know it would be ME taking care of it, not the kids! So I totally get being ready to be done with the dog. I think I would feel the same way. Tortoises are a good back up. Especially when they can live in the garage. ;) Thanks for making me smile this morning! :) xo
We love our tortoises! They eat any fruit or veggie you can get them. We always fed ours our strawberry tops and leaves, apple cores, etc. So low maintenance. Something we did each week after church, is give them a shower. I’d use baby shampoo on their shells and feet and tails. They can last well over 80 years. They don’t make noise and hardly make a “bathroom” mess. Ours only seemed to poop when they were over their wood chips or sand. We named ours William and Jack 😊 anyway, hopefully that’s a few more ideas for those interested in getting some for Christmas for little kids!
Love it Mandi! Thanks for sharing! I’m sure William and Jack would be great friends with Coco and Spring. ;)