Halloween

A couple of years ago, I vowed to NOT make the girls' Halloween costumes. Yes, they could be anything they wanted. Yes, it was fun to make them all costumes that followed a theme. Yes, it was nice to have everyone comment on their cute costumes and know that I had made them. But, it took forever and the kids never seemed to appreciate all the time (I don't know what I was expecting they are kids.) After that I have happily taken the girls to Party City and let them pick from the gigantic wall of costumes. I paid for them and that was that. Well, this year a horrible thing happened. This:came in the mail and the girls saw it and insisted on me making their costumes. They even insisted on wigs!!!!

Well, what is a mother to say? So, I did it. Luckily a friend of ours had a Dorothy costume complete with a basket and Toto. All I had to make was the wig. Leighton was thrilled.Her favorite part....the ruby red slippers, of course. I bought them early in October and made her wait until Halloween to wear them. She was dying!

Carly loves Pippi Longstocking and was so excited to see her costume and wig. She was a little upset, because the 'real' Pippi wears a very short overall dress and Carly thought hers was a little too long (it covered her underwear).

She was looking a little more Raggedy Ann than Pippi and we gave her bangs a little hair cut.

Jensyn wanted to be El-O and we found the perfect costume for her.

She couldn't have been happier.

Until the neighbor dogs came over to give El-O a little love. She is running for her life.

We headed to Skyler's for our trick or treating.

The girls had a blast, as usual. Looking forward to next year. But, don't think I won't hide all magazines that come in September!

Pumpkins are Done

The girls always love carving pumpkins. This was Jensyn's first year to gut her own pumpkin.She was a little leery at first. She didn't love the guts on her hands.Then she decided it was fun.Leighton likes to see just how dirty she can get. Carly goes for the more subdued approach.They poked all the holes and Dee and I did the actual carving. They were very happy with their finished products. Jensyn was thrilled with her ghost trick or treating.This is my attempt at a night shot. This was a little better.

Dumpster Diving

Yes, I am a huge germ-a-phobe. However, I am not willing to pass up some great junk, even if it is in a dumpster. I actually did not dive for these, there was a door on the side and my friend Lisa, was the one who reached in for me. What a true friend. She even let me put them in the back of her SUV. Here they are in all their glory.Another view.A close up on the lovely sponge painting.I took the mirror out and sanded, sanded, sanded. Then I sanded some more. I spray painted them Colonial Red. Then I sanded the edges and wiped on some dark walnut stain. I put the mirrors back in, but wasn't loving them. I took the mirrors back out and hung them up. They were still missing something. Then it hit me! Letters! I found some large letters at Michael's, spray painted them black and then let the girls pick some Halloween paper to cover the front. What do you think?Don't mind my paint chips, I am trying to decide on paint colors for this room.When it is not decorated for a holiday I purchased the word EAT and used brown spray paint on the letters and then covered them with distressed paper. I thought I could use other three letter words for different holidays/seasons. The ones I have thought of so far are SUN, JOY, BRR, XOX, USA, EGG. Do you have any good ones? As I am sure you can tell, I have now moved onto painting the chosen colors and 'living' with them for a while. My walls look like I am trying to paint camouflage.

Decorating for My Favorite Holiday

HaLLoWeeN!

I saw these labels and had to print them out.

Leighton and I had such a fun time concocting the ingredients.

A list of our favorites:

Snake oil (cooking wine-I just put the scary label right over the real one),

Poison (water with green food coloring and a plastic roach-just to show the potency),

Eyeballs Preserved in Lemon Juice (marbles in water with yellow food coloring),

Werewolf Fur (cut fake fur),

Moon Dust (granulated sugar),

Graveyard Dust (brown sugar),

Swamp Fog (black cotton spider web),

Ethylene Glycol (water with blue food coloring),

Melted Witches (salsa),

Dead Man's Toes (jar of baby food bananas),

Vampire Fangs (candy corn),

Vampire Blood (strawberry jelly-I bought it on accident thought it said jam),

Spider Soup (Leighton's very own concoction of orange water with plastic spiders),

And the #1 Favorite:

Ogre Snot (corn syrup colored with yellow and green food coloring).

We just used jars that I have saved for just such a project. I either spray painted the lids (some are not yet painted in this picture) or used a black marker to cover them.

Leighton was so proud of these and couldn't wait to show anyone who came to the house.

(I felt the same way!)

We even made a huge spider egg sac. We used strips of cheesecloth and watered down Elmer's glue. We used a balloon for our form. Make sure you hold on to the balloon when you pop it or you will NEVER get it out. We looked everywhere for a large mommy spider, but couldn't find one. We will be on the lookout for next year.
We hung it in the entry to our family room.

Easter Fun!

Happy Easter!

The girls were very relieved to see that the Easter Bunny was not captured by Grandpa. He brought baskets full of sidewalk chalk, coloring books, candy, umbrellas, bubble swords, a hippity hop and scoops.












After a fancy breakfast cooked by Dee, we went outside to play.



Leighton was a natural on the hippity hop.

Carly is the champion at scoops.

Jensyn even got in on the fun, she took Carly's ball from the scoops and wouldn't give it back.













Then we were off to Grandma and Grandpa's for their famous Easter Egg Hunt.

Leighton in the rock garden finding a lot of eggs.

The crew off to find all of the eggs. There were 139 eggs, for two little girls. They found all but one.
Leighton in the 'forest'.

Leighton in the flower bed.

Carly found this one on the stump.

This one took them awhile, I think they thought it was a flower.

Carly's bag is getting full.

Jensyn even got in on the hunt. (I'm sure Grandpa helped her a little.)

After the hunt, it was time to play on the playground.

Leighton's fancy dismount.

and Carly starting her lastest high bar trick.

All in all the girls had a blast. They loved the hunt, baskets, dinner and a good time at Grandma and Grandpa's.

The only question now:

How am I going to keep from eating all the Easter candy?????