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!

Who Doesn't Love a See-Saw?

 

 

We had a Grand Ole Time on Sunday at Claude Moore Colonial Farm. Nye-Nye's favorite part? The See-Saw.

 

Yet, more practice for me on Letting Her Go.

 

Other photos coming soon from our Adventures on Sunday.

 

 

 

The Month of Letting Go. Riding the Rides.

 

 

 

 

Friday was a first for our family.

It was the first time that our 2 1/2 year old went on some Carnival Rides.

Eight to be exact.

We went to Fort Belvior's Oktoberfest with some friends who have a 3 year old. The weather was 80 degrees and it felt like a perfect Summer night at the Carnival.

After eating and grabbing some pitchers of beer, we followed our kiddos around as they went from ride to ride.  Luckily, in our group, there was the sweetest older girl who gladly held the hands of our munchkins and got on each and every ride with them.

This meant the first time my daughter EVER got on any rides, she did it without either parent. She's fairly tall for her age and just squeaked by the minimum height requirement.

Did I mention that she is fearless child? Did I mentioned I was anxious about letting my baby go hurling through the air in some small open-air contraption?

But, Motherhood is all about letting go.

I just shut my mouth and waved every time she rode by.

After a few different rides, I relaxed and just soaked up all her smiles. Here she is on her first ride. She's in the last car.

 

Letting Go. Being Okay With the Mess.

 

Sometimes it's easy to find yourself saying "no" when your child is getting caught up in playing and making a big mess. All you can focus on is "oh, no...how long is this going to take to clean?"

I am trying to just to LET GO. And, enjoy her smile and her pure Joy at being completely and utterly engaged in her work.

I feel like I am finally getting to the place where I can be okay and say...the clean-up is totally worth it. What's a few minutes of scrubbing and sweeping compared to an hour or so of utter enchantment?

 

 

 

 

And Yet There is Such a Thing as Happiness.

 

One of the most Talented-Hit-Me-in-the-Gut-With-Her-Wisdom authors that I've stumbled across recently is the writer, Karen Maezen Miller. She's a Mama and a Zen Teacher.

Her book, Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood, is a treasure. I've underlined half the book. No joke.

Here is one of my favorite passages,

And yet there is such a thing as happiness. There is such a place as bliss. When you drop your expectations, forget your grievances, give up your worries, abandon the plan, stop your striving, let it out, let it go, let things pass, take a breath, take a break, quiet down, be still, empty your mind, open your heart, and come alive, what else is there to be but happy?

I know I feel so much happier when I let go of all the hundreds of little annoyances that occur when spending the day with a toddler. My daughter constantly reminds me of the folly of clinging TOO tightly to my plan.  She reminds me that it's not the end of the world when I don't get my way. She reminds me to frequently take deep breaths. Whenever I start feeling resentful or stressed out, I need to read this passage again.

Karen Maezen Miller will be in D.C. teaching the The Art of Non-Parenting: Discovering the Wisdom of Easy on October 20th and Deeper Still: A Breath and Meditation Workshop on October 21st. $40 for each workshop. I can't wait.