The World According to Zoey

Sometimes I just let Zoey take the point and shoot camera and go capture the world. For a 4-year-old she can be pretty photographically artistic. Granted this is 1 photo for every 10 she took....

Pumpkins Away

Picking the perfect pumpkins at Houston Garden Center.

Gutting them for Jack-o-lanterns. Zoey really enjoyed this part this year. Ian reluctantly agreed to grab a few handfuls but then went his own way to do other things. Zoey actually helped carve this year with the little saws. It was hard work for her, but she wouldn't give up. She was very proud of her work. I didn't take a picture but she chose a cat design to carve into the pumpkin.

And then there is November 1st, which is almost as great as October 31st. Pumpkin Stew, Braised Mustard Greens with Bacon, and Pumpkin Pie. Mmmm fall food is so yummy.

A Look back at Halloween

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, there's so many decorations you can get/make and dressing up is fun. Mostly I like the ability to be wildly creative with my kids's costumes. It seems a little counter intuitive for me since I was never anything but a black cat...except one year I was forced to be a unicorn because my cat costume was lost.

This year Zoey decided she wanted to be Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time. I used Simplicty 2330 which I had to alter slightly to accommodate the purple belt. It was pretty easy except I decided to put in an invisible zipper and that was a best! I also had difficulties with the collar and had to do a lot of hand tacking on it to get it to sit properly. Initially I was going to buy a wig for her to wear but I couldn't find anything I liked at a reasonable price that would fit her well so I decided to just crochet up something. Since technically her hair is actually bubblegum, a crochet wig seemed to bridge the gab between cartoon and realistic. And yes, I did crochet this incorrectly. If I were crocheting into the stitch instead of the space it wouldn't have been so hole-y. I also wished I had used a darker color, but due to time constraints I just used what I had enough of in my stash. The construction paper crown also suffered from my lack of time. Brandon fashioned it and it worked surprisingly well.

Costs:

Pattern: $1

Fabric: $6

Notions and accessories: $5

Total: $12

Ian was originally supposed to be Jake, and then we decided on BMO when I got some great boxes that would have worked just right. As I set to fitting the box for his costume, it became blatantly apparent he was NOT going to wear that. A short freak out later, I decided to go with "Super Ian." It was the most I could hope to get him to wear. I could have drafted my own cape pattern, but I decided to buy one I found because I didn't want to deal with the stress of failures, I was out of time. I also decided to just use some fabric I had in my stash in case Ian still refused to wear it. So, not the most coordinating, but I didn't really care.

Costs:

Pattern: $3

Fabric & notions: free from stash

Total: $3

They had a good time at the ward Trunk-or-Treat and Trick-or-Treating. Zoey decided to give her candy to the Great Pumpkin and she got some stickers and games in return. Ian ate the majority of his candy, with a little help it was gone in just a few days. Whew, glad that is over. I hope work isn't so busy next year and I can make costumes for the whole family.