Halloween Twins.

 

 

Sometimes, I have difficulty looking at photos and saying which girl is which . Bright Eyes is starting to look a little less like her Sissy did at the same age, but there is still a strong resemblance, don't you think?

 

Can you tell who is who?



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The two photos in the wagon are Big Sissy and the rest are all of our sweet Bright Eyes.

 

Big Sissy was about 7 weeks older than Bright Eyes in these photos and was a week away from walking. Luckily, our Chunky Monkey is heavier and has shown little interest in standing (unlike her Sissy's constant need to stand). I am going to savor having more baby time this go around. What a Golden Age!

 



Here is my first Twin Post.

 



Halloween Night.

We got off on a bad foot.

Everyone was cranky. It was raining. We were running late, due to late naps. Our 2 1/2 year old wanted to eat all the Snickers, we got for the few Trick-or-Treaters that came by. We almost scrapped the drive into Old Town. Did I mention everyone was cranky?

 Parking was a pain. Papa Bear and I bickered most of the 7 minutes it took to drive to Lee Street. And then we bickered some more for the 10 minutes it took to park.

But, somehow...we ended up having a great time.

The rain stopped.

Nye kept her Costume on and didn't demand Milky.

The Baby was content, despite it literally being her "Witching Hour." She sleepily took in all the sights.

And, boy were there some sights.

 

 

 

 

 

Lee Street is one of the oldest streets in Old Town. Barricades are put up, so hundreds of folks can walk down the street with their Super-Heroes and Bumblebees.

Most of the houses are crazy decked out with Halloween Spirit. Plus, if you are nosey like me...it's a chance to peek into other people's houses. You know the multi-million dollar ones built in the 1700's. Everybody is out and everybody is smiling.

This year there were even drummers!

 

Here is a photo of Papa Bear and Nye-Nye sadly looking out into the rain, hoping some Trick-or-Treaters would stop by (they did...but only about 5 or 6 groups).

 

 

 

A cranky Black Widow Spider sporting what every Spider needs...a Puppy pacifier.

 

 

Giving Daddy her candy trash. Thankfully, because we were only there between 8-9 pm, many houses had already run out of candy. Her stash is very, very small...so I won't have to listen to weeks of whining for candy.

 

Chocolate. It beings me to my knees. She is my daughter. Need I say more?

 

 

Hope you had a Magical Halloween!

Halloween Costume Failures

I shared some details about my 2 1/2 year old's Fly Costume, right here.

Now, I want to share a super-easy and fast Halloween Costume to go with that theme (and maybe you can learn from my mistakes).

Originally, I thought I would be a Fly-Swatter.

But, you know what? Making a giant Fly-swatter is REALLY HARD. Below is my first attempt, which I gave up after my roll of duck tape was done. I had already spent 2 hours working on it. But, I just had to LET IT GO.

Cutting duck tape is so time consuming, so I figured I just paint it.

WRONG again.

After 1/2 hour of painting all those lines, I had only finished 1/4 of ONE SIDE. That's when I realized it was time to shift gears and change my Costume idea.

I already had a foam core board that I had begun to paint. I still wanted to use it.

I wanted something simple, something that made sense with one kid being a Fly.

We had been having an issue with Fruit Flies in our house, so those little buggers have been on my mind recently. That's when it hit me...an Apple Peel.

Not much to paint. Not hard to cut out with a utility knife. A simple ribbon with knots on the back to hold it in place. And three seeds drawn with a sharpie.

Bam.

It took 1/2 hour to make.

It's interesting, until you really LOOK and have to make something, you often don't realize the details of something.

At first, I kind of went a little crazy drawing the Apple Peel Seeds. They were fun to draw. See...

It looked a little off to me. That's when I realized there were way too many seeds. Nothing a little bit of white paint couldn't fix.

Speaking of not noticing details (until you have to make something) I had never understood how Spider webs were constructed.

This was my go-with-flow first attempt of making Papa Bear's "Spider Web Costume."

It looked more like a net than a web. That didn't bother me. The baby pulling and chewing on it bothered me.

That prompted me to draw a Spider web on both arms and the back of a white sweatshirt. And that's when I learned more about how Spiders built their webs.

 

In the end, I ended up spending way more time than I would have liked on the adult Costumes for our family. But, I learned a few things about fly-swatters, webs and apple peels...so I can't complain.

Happy Halloween!

"Last Minute Halloween Costume"

This is the first year (since having kids) that I had the motivation to make any Halloween Costumes.

My requirements were simple.

#1  Cheap

 

#2  Re-use what we have

 

#3  No sewing

 

#4 Minimal time

 

#5 Easy for 2 1/2 year to wear

 

I had already decided that the baby would be a Spider and Papa Bear would be her Web. What works with that theme?

A Fly.

We already had some Fairy Wings (see requirement # 2) and she had plenty of black clothes. She needed some new sneakers anyway, so I just bought some black ones that would go with her "Fly Costume."

I didn't want to spend oodles of time working on a Halloween Costume that my Contrary One would then refused to wear. It took about 1/2 hour to make her "Fruit Fly Hat" (see requirement #4).

I spent about 20 minutes fussing with the wings, trying to make them less Fairy and more Fly-like with some paint and gold glitter. But that wasn't really necessary.

I bought a $5 fleece hat from the Boys section in Target (see requirement #1).

I purchased a large Styrofoam ball, some red glitter and a tiny feather boa from Michael's (around $9 total...see requirement #1 and #3). 

How to Make a "Common House Fly Costume" or "Fruit Fly Costume"

 

 

1. Cut Styrofoam ball in half.

 

2. Paint red.

 

3. While the paint is still wet, cover with red glitter.

 

4. Let dry (this takes the longest amount of time and isn't included in the 1/2 hour time frame)

 

5. Cut mini-feather boa to fit the hat and glue with Tacky Glue.

 

6. Glue on eyes to hat.

 

 

So easy, right? It was easy enough that I didn't freak out when she kept taking off her hat. I hadn't spent that much time on her Halloween Costume, so I didn't care.

 

I think this makes a great last minute Halloween Costume, don't you?

 

Hopefully, I can get some better photos of my little Fly in action tomorrow!

 

 

Halloween Art

 

 

Art Makin' has been on the back burner, recently.

The kiddo has been immersed in constant Imaginary Play and lots of Block Building. So, it's been well over a month since I busted out some Art Materials.

I realized that we should send a few Halloween cards to an Auntie who greatly appreciates them. So that's what we did this Morning, while our Bright Eyes slept.

Lots of painting with black, white and orange. I had a stash of black envelopes that I just kept handing Nye. She would paint for 30 seconds or so and say, "all done" and then I would hand her the next one.

She's sponged painted a pumpkin and worked on several watercolor paintings (wax resist...so fun with kids).

It was a nice way to spend 45 minutes or so together.

I love the white and black combo, if I have the energy, maybe we'll do some charcoal together tomorrow.

Hope you'll having fun getting ready for Halloween!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sneak Peak: Halloween Costumes

 

 

 

 

 

Still in the throes of making our Halloween Costumes. Can you figure out what each of us is going to be this year? Can't wait until they are FINALLY finished.

 

 

 

 

Making Elderberry Syrup

Instead of dressing up in her dragon costume and going out in the World to collect bags of candy this Halloween, my daughter helped me make "Elderberry Syrup".

She helped pour the 1/2 cup of dried Elderberries I got from Frontier Herbs into the pan. She carefully added the tablespoon of crushed ginger, the cinnamon stick, and the 5 cloves to the mix. She then stirred the mixture for a few minutes (totally unnecessary...but she was having so much fun).

Together we added the 2 cups of water and then I put the pan on the stove. I covered it and brought it to a boil and then down to a simmer for 15 minutes.

She watched as I strained the mixture and used a spoon to squeeze out all the liquid from the berries. "HOT, HOT, HOT," she reminded me. Together, we sampled the syrup after it cooled.

GOOD.

I agree.  

I had hoped to gather some Elderberries this summer but only found bushes along side the road (a Big No-No when making your own herbal medicine).

By the time I had finally gotten my act together and decided to order some Elderberries from my Go-to-Herb-Store, Mountain Rose Herbs, they were sold out!

This was the first time I had ever bought anything from Frontier Herbs and I've been happy with their service and their product.

I had to buy a 1 lb bag of dried organic Elderberries which at $21 seems expensive. But...when you look at an 8 oz bottle of Commercial Elderberry Syrup costing $16, you quickly realize how much money you can save by making your own!

Each member of my family will be taking a tablespoon of Elderberry Syrup every day this Flu and Cold Season. Hopefully, all those wonderful immune-boosting flavonoids will keep us all healthy this Winter (or at least lessen the length of our sickness).

I'm taking a tablespoon every hour to help subdue the virus I caught, a few weeks ago. I know Elderberry works best at the beginning of a cold or flu...but we'll see if it helps a little.

Check out this nice video on how to make your own! Enjoy and stay healthy this Winter...

The Cow, the Farmer and Some Tiramisu: Happy Halloween!

It's been a rough day with Lina still battling her first cold on top of teething unhappiness. We couldn't go to her Music Together class because her cough is the kind that produces immediate stink-eyes from other parents. We stayed indoors until 3:30 pm. Neither of us could take it any longer, so we busted out of jail and went for a walk in the sunshine. Both of our moods improved after that and we ended up having a wonderful first Halloween together as a trio.

She was her favorite animal....a cow and I was her faithful farmer. My mother had fancied up our little red wagon for the Del Ray Halloween Parade yesterday. But, she was in a "Mommy-Must-Carry-Me" Mood. I popped her in the Ergo and tied a cow-bell and ribbon to the front of it and off we went with Papa Bear carrying our metal milk jug (aka the candy bag).

We wandered down King Street until we stumbled onto an entire street blocked off for Trick-or-Treaters. The baby took her evening nap during most of the walk but Papa Bear and I had fun being able to peek into all the lovely homes. We played "What House Would We Buy If We Won the Lottery."

Our candy stash was embarrassingly small which meant we were required to stop somewhere for dessert. Luckily, la Madeleine was still open. I savored my fruit tart, Papa Bear had some tiramisu and the baby crawled around in her cow suit. It was perfect. I can't wait until next Halloween!

More details coming on the Del Ray Halloween Parade and all the inspiring costumes the baby and I drooled over!