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.

Spoiled

Sometimes you just gotta give the kids a treat to make it through a shopping trip. For Zoey, she chose some bubbles. For Ian....

Nothin's sweeter than a crown of fresh broccoli.

Love That Bug

On our drive back from camping a week ago I got a call from a lady that works for Simplicity and she told me that I had won second prize in the Baby category for Ian's stinkbug Halloween costume! I was super excited to find out I had been one of the top 5, but I was beside myself thrilled to learn I had actually placed! I really didn't think that I even had a chance knowing I was going up against so much talent out there. While there was virtually no creativity in the sewing of the pants and jacket, I figure it must have come down to subject matter. Stinkbugs aren't a common Halloween costume choice. That and Ian is downright adorable as a stinkbug. How could you not love this:

So what did I win? Other than bragging rights, I got a fabulous certificate declaring my awesomeness and a check for $250! Nice! Maybe I'll have to enter more contests.

Happy Birthday Ian!

Two years have passed since Ian was born into this world and the world hasn't been the same since! We decided to keep things low key this year since we have been pretty busy as a family. We just went to Mardi Gras and we're going camping in a week. Spur of the moment we decided to have a little family party to celebrate Ian's birthday on Feb 29th, which would technically be 365 days since his last birthday. I picked up an ice cream cake and we had some gifts and a lot of spending time together.

Birthday Boy enjoys an apple for dinner chillaxing on Lowla's house.

The Baskin Robbins ice cream cake I so conveniently mushed while getting in the car. doh!

He's pretty excited about the candles.

After Zoey blew them out once, Ian got his turn and was a professional!

Mmmm cookies.

The moment he realizes the gift from Grandma is Chuggington.

No other gifts exist after Chuggington.

I just love this little guy, he's so energetic, sweet, inquisitive, adventurous, imaginative and just plain adorable. Our family wouldn't be the same without him. Even though his will is strong and his tantrums stronger, those cuddles at the end of the day just make up for all his mischief.

HAPPY TWO YEARS IAN

and many more!

The Price of Things

What's the price of 15 more minutes of sleep in the morning?

A bed full of granola bar crumbs. Was it worth it? Sure was. I enjoyed every minute of staying in bed sleeping while Ian crunched away happily next to me. Better still when he was done he was happy to get out of bed and go play by himself for a while.

Following Footsteps

The kids always do the cutest things when you're not watching (also the worst things too!). I was making dinner and stopped to check on Ian outside. Seriously, if it's warmer than 65 degrees I can't keep that kid in the house. He had snuck out the dog door to play outside so I peered through the back window to find he had found some unused boards from Masten Park and a level and he pretending to build something. SO cute. I didn't want to open the door so I snapped a few pictures from between the blinds. I guess he was inspired by Brandon's recent building project.

Zoey had gotten a lot of dress up stuff for Christmas and had developed full princess mode by decking out in all her dress up stuff at once. Unfortunately (?) a lot of the accessories have already gotten lost or broken, but some days she still manages to princess up. I dunno where she gets that because I never was a girly girl dress up type. Maybe she gets it from her Aunt Pennie, whom always paints her nails so pretty. I'm guessing it was all that girly nail stuff that finally got her to quit sucking her fingers all on her own. The callouses on her fingers where her teeth always hit are finally softening and peeling away. So proud of her for giving it up. For a little purple nail polish, it's worth it to be girly sometimes.

Clean Up

When I ask Ian if he'll help me pick up toys or clean up the house:

Ian: Yeeahhhh. Cween up Cween up. *fewefs  ncjhehkan snjknads* body cween up.

He'll repeat this about 5 or 6 times or until he finds a toy while cleaning up that he wants to play with and then he's done helping. I guess they sing that song in nursery because we don't sing it here very often. It's so adorable to hear him sing it and help!

Some Videos

Sometimes the kids will play together alone at Masten Park. When I saw this I didn't want to interrupt the fun by opening the door so I'm spying between the blinds at the back door. I dunno what all the background noise is. It's pretty hilarious watching them smack their heads numerous times and still keep playing.

Ian picks up on things a lot faster than Zoey did. Here you can see he has learned how to open a door and knows what the bathroom is for. He will frequently run to the bathroom right after he wets his diaper. We've sat  him on there a couple times but he doesn't go. He's really obsessed with the bathroom lately, but I worry  because not only does he know how to flush the toilet he realizes that it makes things disappear. He has yet to connect all those dots, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time we're fishing things out of the toilet that don't belong there.

He's Such a Boy

The phrase "Boys will be Boys" is totally the truth. I used to think it was just kids will be kids, but there are definitely distinct differences between Boys and Girls. Their drives, personalities, and preferences are just so opposite sometimes. That isn't to say they aren't the same also. Ian is a very boy boy, the most boy they get. He loves cars and building things, dirt, playing outside, being loud, running, but most of all this kid loves to climb and investigate. If he wants to get to something he is going to figure out how to get there. This kid is seriously fearless. He loves to climb on the back of the furniture and try to take things off the walls, shelves, or reach switches which he then relentlessly turns on and off. He likes to hang on the side of the counter top, use his feet to walk up the side of the wall and then flip around backwards through his arms. Yes, he's only 21 months old. Just this morning he figured out how to climb on the tub, stand on the faucet and get into the window sill in our master bathroom He also likes to open the pedestal drawers under the washer and dryer and sit and play in them. He has recently discovered that he can use those drawers as steps to push all the buttons and knobs on the washer, and most recently to climb into the washer and/or dryer when the doors are open.

He's pretty mad because the barrel would rotate every time he tried to get out.

Boy LOVES to eat, here he's enjoying some whoppers candy

I may not survive the raising of this child. Miraculously, he has not yet been to the Emergency Room.

Bugs in my Shortcake!

I've been RREEEAAALLLY super excited this Halloween to make costumes for the kids. I finally got Zoey to settle on a "Strawberry Shortcake Princess" and since Ian couldn't really tell me what he wanted to be, I decided for him, a Stinkbug, because that's what I call him.

For Zoey I used Simplicty pattern 2073 and New Look 6880. They're both the same company so merging the two to integrate the sleeves only required some minor adjustments. When I saw the costume pattern I totally fell in love with it, it was the boning in the skirt. I just love that poofy flared look and I knew it would really suit Zoey. After I bought the pattern I scoured the internet for hours and hours looking for the right fabric and it just wasn't out there. Finally days later I came up with a solution, sequins! I wanted it all to be as shiny and sparkly as possible because she was a princess too, not just strawberry shortcake. It took 4 tries to find the right color pink satin. Thankfully it was cheap at 3 dollars or less a yard. I glued on the sequins because it was less work that way but Ian has since ripped many of them off so I reinforced by sewing them on and gluing. It was not as easy as I thought it would be to arrange all those dots evenly on the dress because of the shape of the fabric I couldn't just measure and mark and have everything square. So it's not perfect, but at a glance I bet you can't tell many of them are off.

2009 Version Strawberry Shortcake. She has a show on The Hub.

Once the dress was all put together I just couldn't figure out the right head accessory. I kept coming back to a tiara for the princess effect but I couldn't figure out how to tailor it to what I wanted. As I was browsing around the internet for ideas I came across this Strawberry Fairy Hat and decided that style was the perfect accessory. So it kinda fits in the fairy category than princess, but I figured I was taking creative liberties on the Strawberry Shortcake character anyway I might as well do what I thought fit the style of the dress best. It took me three pattern drafts and mock up hats before I got the flare, ripple and crown all fitting and looking just right. The last thing left was to make the strawberry stem and leaves. That also took several drafts and tries to get it right. The green satin I bought was "costume" satin. Read: low quality and ravels easily. The rest of the satin for the dress was made with "special occasion" fabric, it was much more cooperative to sew with. With a butane lighter to melt the edges I was able to make it work. I decided to skip the glue for the hat and just sew all the sequins on.

The pattern did include tights but I decided to just purchase some from www.welovecolors.com. To let me have time to focus on Ian's costume. And so, I give you the Strawberry Shortcake Princess Fairy in all her glory!

I'm so happy with how her costume turned out that I'm entering it in two contests. One from Simplicity and one from We Love Colors. WLCs has a people's choice prize so head over to their page and Like Zoey's picture! The Simplicty contest is much more hard core, if you make the first cut you have to send them the costume for examination! I'd be really lucky to make the first cut, I'd be going up against some of the most talented sewers! Although, I did use a bit of creativity in altering the pattern and the inside of the dress is crazy neat thanks to my serger!

Totals for Zoey's Costume:
Pattern: $1
Fabric (3/4 yard pink, 1/2 yard white, 1/4 yard green): $4
Notions (thread, glue, sequins, zipper, boning, etc): $13
Tights: $9
Total: $27

Now what about Ian? I call him Stink bug because 1. His poop stinks 2. He can't ever stay out of the garden, just like the stink bugs this summer wouldn't get out of my tomatoes! I decided to go with the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug because those were the variety eating up my plants and they seemed less boring looking than the green ones. I originally wanted to just go find a hoodie and pants for Ian's outfit but after much searching, I could not find anything I liked reasonably priced. Then I remembered some fabric I had that my mom had given me two years ago to use for Brandon's Jedi costume, but I wound up not using it then, glad I still had it, it was just right for Ian's costume!

 I used Simplicty pattern 5316 without alterations (other than shortening the legs and cinching in the waist band because my kids are tiny). My first time putting in a separating zipper and I think it worked out pretty great. Then I just sewed some pipe cleaners to the hoodie for his antennae. I twisted two colors together that gave it just the right verigation. Though it is hard to tell the fabric is also sorta stripy in tan and cream. While in reality the bug's underside is more solid cream colored, it seemed to make more sense overall to have it just be brownish. The shell is where I dedicated the most work to Ian's costume. Yes, sewing the hoodie and pants took time, but only a couple hours overall. I spent that and more on the shell.

Since stink bugs don't really have very curved shells, I wanted it to be mostly flat but with some dimension. I glued together about 20 layers of newspaper on the hood of Brandon's car to get some slight curvature. I used this great paper mache paste recipe. I like it better than raw flour and water, it's smooth and seems to dry stronger. It's best used warm, once it cools it gets kinda chunky jelly like. I loved the way it came out but after searching more pictures, it needed way more dimension. I cut out a shield shape and then added another 10 layers of paper mache with some extra padding to bring it out more. It ended up rehydrating the bottom layers and they lost their shape. I guess it didn't really matter in the end.

I originally planned to paint the shell myself and I was really dreading this part. My artistic skills are basically nil when it comes to drawing, painting, coloring, or using any kind of medium in that range. After looking over lots and lots of pictures, the task seemed even more daunting because of all the variation in colors and pattern in the shell and wings. Then I had the great idea to blow up a picture of an actual stink bug and paper mache it to the form I made! Bingo! I found a high resolution picture, blew it up a little, shaped it to fit the shell I had made and paper mached it on. Perfection! I painted the back of the shell plan gray and then attached two straps I made from leftover fabric. I'm actually still struggling with this part, the straps work, but as long as Ian doesn't do anything toddler like, ie: run, fall, twist, or otherwise struggle in the thing or the straps break away from the paper mache. I've tried hot glue and heavy duty staples to keep the straps attached but it just isn't strong enough. I'm thinking I'll probably have to drill some holes and thread the straps in so it's holding to more than just the surface layer of paper.

I realize if I wanted to be proportionally correct the shell would have to be much much bigger, but he's a reluctant toddler as it is, I was lucky to get him to wear this much. Overall, I am very pleased. Ian makes a great stinkbug!

I'm going to enter Ian's costume in the Simplicity contest as well since I did use one of their patterns, but I doubt his will place since there is no real creativity in it on the sewing front.

Totals for Ian's costume:
Pattern: $5
Fabric: Free
Notions: $6
Shell: lets just say $1 in the cost of flour and paper, and glue, even though I got the newspapers free and I already had everything else.
Total: $12

Man Purse

Lets face it, sewing really does lend itself to the female side of the equation. All the creative puffs and ruffles and cutsey fabrics and decorative stitches just are easier to incorporate into a some female garment or accessory. I decided that my first project on my new machine would be for Ian. He really likes the handbag that Grandma made for Zoey so I thought I'd make him his own bag to put things in and tote around. I happened to have a pattern for a dress and matching purse for Zoey but the purse could easily pass for a messenger bag and was rather plain, a good start to add some embellishment with my new machine's capabilities. His first man purse was born. It's too hard for him to carry around so he doesn't use it much, oh well I had fun making it anyway.

Button closure is not really a good idea for a bag, but I just love using the button maker function on my new machine, it works so awesome. As you can tell I had some fun with the built in decorative stitches. I tried to pick some manly ones.

What kid doesn't love some shapes eh? Used the satin stitch foot to sew those on, nothing special there really.

Haircuts are overrated!

Ian has been pretty blessed to have a full head of hair, though it is a bit thin and wispy, it was getting pretty long. While hanging out in the hammock the other day I decided it was time to cut his hair since I could pull it into some pretty decent pig tails.

I thought, "How hard can this be, I cut Brandon's hair and give the kid a Popsicle and he'll be fine"

"I'm not really liking this mom"

"AAAAHHHH!!!! I don't like haircuts!!! LET ME GO!!"

So yeah, he wouldn't let me finish fading the sides so it's pretty choppy, with the fact that it is thin, all the cuts are very obvious.

His Masten hairline is very apparent now

I think the back turned out the best. haha. I suppose it will grow out soon enough and I can try again...or maybe I'll just leave that to the professionals.