Halloween 2011 First Look

We had our church Halloween festival last night, so you get your first look at Halloween 2011!

The challenge I gave myself this year was to spend no money on Halloween costumes. Nada, zip, zilch. I usually do pretty good at keeping costs down, but it never fails that there is always something I have to buy, even when making my own costumes. However, I have so many supplies of all sort, shape, make and model that I knew I could do something with it all, so I was excited and up for the challenge this year. Let's see how I did...

A couple months ago, I showed Blair some of my childhood costumes, and instantly, she clung to the Minnie Mouse costume my mom made me when I was in 4th grade. I was really excited to pass that down to my own daughter. Well, then my sister sent some costumes that her kids had grown out of, and when Blair saw the Wonder Woman costume, THAT became the costume of choice. Well, one of them. If you know Blair, you know how she loves a good wardrobe change. When she grows up, I'm positive she will either be a runway model, where she gets to wear 15 outfits in one night, or a musical performer in the likes of Cher. So, with that in mind, you can guess that she decided to have more than one costume this year. She decided she would wear Wonder Woman to our church Halloween festival and to school and wear Minnie Mouse when trick or treating (because it's a warmer costume and would be better when running around outside). That plan was fine with me because they were both equally cute. However, at the last minute, a couple hours before the church party, she completely abandoned that plan and decided she would be Cinderella, wearing one of our ratty old dress-up dresses that we've had forever. I mean, this thing was so gross, we had to give it a quick wash in the bathtub (where the water quickly turned brown), and cut off all the frayed and torn edges. But, I knew I wouldn't be able to sway her otherwise, so that's what she wore. I was still hopeful that she would wear one of the other cute costumes for Halloween night, but she's already informed me she's going to be Cinderella and warm up with tights and a sweater. Yep, she already has it all planned out! Thinking back, I'm not sure why I thought she would be anything other than a princess...she was Ariel last year and Snow White the year before, so it's only fitting that she continue down the line.

Reid is much less concerned with his Halloween costume. Again, thanks to my sister, we had an Indiana Jones costume, an Obi Wan Kenobi costume, and this Luke Skywalker costume for him to choose from. The Luke costume was the largest of all 3, but that's the one he wanted to wear, so we went with it, even though he looks a little like a convict. I didn't realize until after we were at the church party and I saw a few other boys in the same costume that we forgot 2 important pieces of it, but I don't know if Reid even noticed. We'll get it right for Halloween night, though.  

When I asked Sloane what she wanted to be for Halloween, she kept going down the princess line too. Well, I knew that at her age, I might still have a little influence over what she wore, so I wouldn't give up. I saw her playing with a rainbow ornament (rainbows are one of her current fascinations), so I thought I'd throw that out there as a suggestion. To my surprise, she liked it! So in my effort to not spend any money, I rescued a long sleeve white shirt from our Goodwill-donation box and found some gray pants that were stained and that she wasn't going to wear anyway. I borrowed some paints, and started striping. I was trying to figure out how to make a sun for her head and lucked out when I came across this leftover foam crown in my craft supplies. More digging uncovered cotton batting that I was able to use for the cloud around her waist. When I asked her if she wanted to help me paint, she jumped right in. She asked my what we were painting this for and I reminded her of her rainbow costume. She said, "MAMA! I TOLD you I wanted to be a superhero!" I said, "No, you said you wanted to be a rainbow, remember?" She replied, "Oh, I was just teasing [about being a rainbow]." So I said, "Well then, you can be Rainbow Girl." We even made up a song and everything. :) In case you're wondering, her special power is making people happy by shining down her colors on them."

And what's a rainbow without a leprechaun to live at the bottom of it?!! Jer and I were debating over who got to be the leprechaun...I ended up winning because I had the most leprechaun-ish clothes. In retrospect, I'm not sure that's a contest I should want to win. But anyway, the base for the costume was just a button-up white shirt and black pants rolled up like knickers. I paired it with some old white trouser socks that are a holdover from my office days and some black loafers. Our Goodwill donation box, again, provided the green overshirt. Some white felt clovers, a green ribbon tied like a bow tie, and a black purse filled with gold fabric (for the pot of gold...no, don't feel bad, I know I'm the only one that got that connection...that's okay...I'm happy just amusing myself) finished the outfit. Next came the hat...ahh, the hat...you see, years ago, we bought a leprechaun hat because we (or more likely, I) thought it would be cute to dress up a two-year-old Reid as a leprechaun. Well, that costume never materialized, and with each subsequent two-year-old, the thought always entered my mind but never came to fruition. Meanwhile, the hat continued to occupy the kids' dress up toybox. So imagine how thrilled I was that, finally, we were going to get to use that leprechaun hat! It was, afterall, the basis for my entire costume idea. I eagerly went to retrieve it. I couldn't find it. I looked everywhere. I could not find that stinkin' hat anywhere. I was so mad that my whole costume revolved around this hat and now I didn't even have it. (In hindsight, I think I threw it away this summer, as a desperate measure to get rid of things that always seemed to be in the middle of the floor yet were never actually played with. I know, seriously, of all the years to finally decide to be a leprechaun, I have to pick the year that I actually got ambitious in decluttering my life??) So, in keeping with the spirit of my challenge, I tried to make a couple other hats work, and they would have been great had I been going as a leprechaun who pimps in his spare time. But I wasn't. So I had to say no to those. I also tried to figure out how I could make a hat, but let's face it, hat millinery is not in my skill set. So I broke down and bought one. But--but!--I justified it as a legal purchase because we had had a leprechaun hat for many years that I would have worn had I not gotten all gung ho on my cleaning spree. Stupid New Year's Resolutions. Oh, how much did this new hat set me back? Only $2. :)

Finally we get to little Elise. For years, I've wanted to make someone a peacock costume. Feaful that she will be an overly independent 2-year-old next year and refuse to wear a cute, original costume that I want to make for her, I decided I better get my peacock costume in this year, just in case she refuses next year. I drew up a template and started assembling. The inner workings are a piece of cardboard, wires, skewers, a piece of thin quilted fabric, and elastic. For the outside, I had originally planned on using turquoise for the tail feathers, but alas, I did not have a large piece of turquoise fabric. I was really stressed about what I would use since I wouldn't allow myself to go buy anything, but then I lucked out (again!) and came across a big section of green fabric (leftover from mine and Jeremy's Jolly Green Giant costumes in my college days) in my fabric box! Any combo of green, teal, blue, and purple scream peacock to me, so I went with it! More digging uncovered enough fabric scraps to be used for all the accent pieces. When it was all said and done, I used leftover aqua fabric from Sloane's first-ever Halloween costume (Miss Piggy since she was quite the fat baby), gold fabric from one of Aunt Denise's--and then subsequently my--formal dresses from earlier years, lavendar fabric from one of Aunt Melissa's formal dresses from high school, and teal paisley fabric (which I added to the purple and white tutu) from Blair's Little Mermaid costume last year. It's like a modern-day version of a quilt! Speaking of the tutu, it was a past Christmas gift made by Aunt Amy (thank you Aunt Amy) and we already had a green shirt and purple pants to be used as the base. And the aqua beads in her head feathers were once salvaged from a broken dress-up necklace. (You're probably picking up on the fact that I can't convince myself to ever throw away perfectly good craft supplies, no matter how insignificant they seem at the time. You just never know when they will be the perfect accessory to another project!) In the end, I was happy with the way it turned out and even happier that I was able to do it without spending a dime! Mission accomplished!

This one I had to include just because I like it...her coping mechanism is sucking her thumb while playing with her belly button. We have (or had) a hair-player, a blanket-sniffer, a hair-twirler, and a belly-button-player. Odd bunch.  





“Baseball, this is Reid’s Nose. Nose, this is Baseball”

Yes, the two were introduced at baseball practice the other night. Judging by the looks of it, I don’t think they got along very well! It looks like a fight broke out and Reid was in the middle of it.

The night of the incident 9/6. It was worse than what it looks in these pictures. We didn't take him to the doctor, but we assume it wasn't broken. He was given the option of leaving practice right then or getting back out there, and to his credit, he wanted to go back out and finish practice, bloody nose, glove and all!



Two days after


3 days after


4 days after

First Day of School! First Day of School!

Does anyone else think of Finding Nemo when they hear those words? Maybe it’s just me. Anyhow, it was finally the first day of school for Sloane and Elise this week. They go to the Children’s Day Out program at our church. Sloane is in the 3-year old class and Elise is in the 1-year old class. And something new this year: I am teaching! My schedule opened up and they needed teachers, so I thought I’d give it a try. I’ve substituted in the 2-year old class in the past, and all my kids have been through this class, so I am familiar with it and with the whole program, but of course, it’s different when you’re in charge. My co-teacher is a good friend of mine; we created a curriculum and schedule that we like (or at least, we think we like it) so we’ll see how it goes! The first day was crazy and chaotic, but the second day went much smoother. Still a few kinks to work out, but I think it’s going to be a great year.

 

eek!

While I was putting my makeup on at the dining room table one day, I told the girls that they could put some on too. Since I was nearby and since I assumed they would just play with the concealer and eyebrow brush like they normally do, I didn’t think I needed to keep a very close eye on their activity.

It's looking like I should have.


YIKES!

Things to Do This Summer #12: Get a snow cone!

Once again, this is actually something that was on my summer to-do list, not the kids’. It’s been on there the last couple of summers, but we could never seem to cross it off. Until now! Nothing says Summer like snow cones and baseball in 106-degree heat!

Once we discovered the snow cone truck at the ball field, the girls had to get one every time. Luckily Reid joined this team at the end of their season.


How we spent our time when we weren’t eating snow cones…

Creating an obstacle course


Lying under the bleachers watching a movie on mom’s phone


Being the only girl playing in the dirt with 4 boys


Oh, and look, a baseball game. Reid was filling in on this team, so he only played the last 2 tournaments. The first tournament was pitching machine, which is what he played earlier this summer, but the second was kid-pitch. This was his first experience at the kid-pitch level and in this league. It’s much more competitive than his league. They have real umps, real uniforms, and they follow all the regular rules of baseball. He did pretty good for a rookie! We were very proud of him. The fall league just began so we're anxious to see how he does. I think he's probably most excited about their team name--Prime, as in Optimus Prime, there's even a Transformers logo on the jersey--and the fact that they get a free drink from the concession stand after every game.

Things To Do This Summer #19: Go bowling!

Ok, so bowling wasn’t actually on our list of things to do this summer. But the kids earned a free game through the library's summer reading program so we decided to cash in on it. Any free activity I can get my hands on, I’m using! This game of bowling, though, was not at your typical beer and pizza type of bowling alley. No, this bowling alley is actually a bowling alley and lounge. Fancy! It’s downtown, and it’s kind of trendy…urban…swanky…what’s the word I’m looking for? I don’t know—obviously that tells you it’s not the kind of place a family of 6 usually frequents. Or at least not THIS family of 6. When you walk in, you are greeted by a hostess at a hostess stand. She walks you to one of only 10 lanes where you wait for your server to take your name and shoe size so she can set up the game and bring you your shoes. Then she comes back to take your lunch and drink order. Well it’s practically impossible to feed 4 little ones when you’re not at a proper table with chairs and a highchair so we just bowled and saved lunch for home! These photos were taken on my phone, so they’re not all great, but you get the idea.

Reid’s excited to see his score after letting loose of the the ball. He’s a pretty good little bowler. He’ll tell you it’s because of Wii bowling.  

Before we discovered the ramp-thing, it took so long for Blair’s roll to make it all the way down the lane that she just sat down to watch and wait. She is ecstatic that she hit a pin. Yes, I said a pin. (I was trying to get a picture of her socks—brown, turquoise, and purple zigzag stripes, pulled all the way up to her knees!)

Sloane could barely carry the ball, but with the help of the ramp-thing, she was able to knock out some pins!

 

After bowling, we stopped at the water fountain in the plaza just outside. I think the kids actually liked it better than the bowling!

I could not keep Blair and Sloane from climbing through the railing and trying to touch it. I don’t know how Sloane didn’t fall in!

 

“I command you, ‘Rise before me!’”

Elise wasn’t sure about the water spray at first.

But then thoroughly enjoyed it.

Basketball Trainer Girl

Blair is not what you would call “athletic.” She likes to occasionally play baseball, but other than that, she’s the one to whom we have to yell, “Blair, stop running or you’ll fall!” Seriously, we can’t allow her to run! And when she does, I brace myself, face cringed, for the fall that is soon to come. Well, the other day, she got some new athletic shorts. She assured us she would wear them but I know she just said that because they’re pink and because she wanted to buy something—anything—at the store. When we got home, she immediately put them on and felt the need to dress the part. So she grabbed some sweat bands, socks and tennis shoes (at least she’s wearing socks—she played her whole t-ball season without socks) and a basketball. You should have seen her bouncing that ball and leaping after it around the house—she looked like a jellyfish darting through rough waters. (If you can’t imagine what that looks like, just know it’s not graceful.) Anyway, sure enough, she quickly fell while being "a basketball trainer girl." (Does that lingo say "athlete" to you?) :) And she hasn’t worn the shorts since. Probably not fashionable enough for her girly tastes. I guess that’s okay. Someone has to be the princess.