A Simple Lacing Activity. Fruit. Ages 2+ and Up.

Last Halloween, when Nye-Nye got dressed up as a Fruit Fly, I created a Trash Bag Stroller for the Del Ray Halloween Parade.

My Sissy helped me created several Fruit Peels using card stock, Sharpies and watercolors. I drew out the shapes in pencil and then went over them with a Sharpie.

Aunt Mimi cut out the shapes and then I painted them with the watercolors. It took about an hour to make them. 

I liked how they looked, so I didn't want to throw them in the Recycling Bin, after Halloween was over. 

Recently, I figured out a new use for them.

"A Lacing Activity."

All I had to do was use a hole-punch around the edge and then tie a ribbon around one hole.

I say "all I had to do is" but honestly, those little suckers are hard to punch. As you can see, I haven't finished the Banana Peel or the Apple Core. The paper was closer to cardboard weight and hurt my hands to punch through...so spending 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there may be the way to go.

I can't wait until Nye-Nye expresses more interest in lacing. Then, I'll create some more with a different theme.

I think this is such an easy, cheap Activity for Preschoolers.

The possibilities are endless!

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!

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Del Ray Halloween Parade: Some Serious Costume Inspiration

Better late than never, eh? Here is my post on Del Ray's Halloween Parade.

The weather was gorgeous, the baby cooperated and I was blown over by all the creative costumes. Thank God for my Mama and her spicing up her grand-baby's costume and wagon. I feel sad that I didn't have anything to do with my daughter's Halloween get-up this year but that's motherhood for you. Expectations run smack into Reality and sometimes don't get met. But I have lots of inspiration for the next few years.

Here are My Top Family Halloween Costume Themes...

1. Gotham City (Lots of super-heroes and a cityscape coming out of the wagon)

2. Bakers and Cake (I think you can figure that one out)

3. Hot-dog Stand (Stroller was a picnic table, Mom was a cashier, Grandmother was a bottle of mustard, Dog was a hot dog with relish and the baby was a hot dog without relish)

4. Lily Pad (Stroller was a two-level pond, on the top level perched the baby dressed as a frog, second level was the actual stroller seats, where the family dog sat dressed as a dragon-fly. Mama was a pond fairy and Daddy and Big Sis were frogs)  

5. Tooth-fairy (Stroller was made to look like a pillow, baby was the "tooth", Big Sis the Tooth fairy and the parents were giant teeth)

6. Firetruck (Sitting in the wagon was the "fireman" and a large apartment building that had tissue-paper fire coming out of the windows)

7. Santa's Sleigh (Santa was the preschooler, the parents were elves and the stroller was an elaborate sleigh bursting with presents)

8. Peter Pan (Lots of variations on this one but I saw a handful of strollers decked out like tepees)

Other Interesting ideas included....

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Three Amigos and a handmade Peacock costume for a preschooler that included a beautifully painted cardboard tail

The stroller that stole the show wasn't technically a stroller. It was a massive wagon that sat at least 10 babies who were all dressed up as baby chicks. The wagon was decorated to look like an egg carton and had a sigh that read "Just Hatched." Pure Adorableness.

This parade is definitely worthy of becoming a beloved family tradition. Hope to see you there next year!