This is Halloween, This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween....NIGHT!

Woot woot, Halloween finally came!  I am especially happy because as I write this Halloween is OVER and I don't have any sewing I HAVE to get done!  Yea Ha, Yippi-Dee-Do-Da!

The day started out with Livi's program, which was pretty adorable.

Livi and Carter.  Carter's costume came with a flat plastic replica of a bag, which for a boy who loves to put things in pockets was unacceptable.  I was able to make him a new, WORKING bag that was much better.  Toot, toot (my own horn)!

They sang quite a few songs and had lots of goodies.  Here is my favorite song:

That afternoon the big kids had their parade/parties.

The Bagleys went with a Star Wars theme, and it was pretty awesome! 

Poor McKay was pretty tuckered out at this point in the day and decided he needed a good spot to lay down.  Livi was so cute, stroking his hair and kissing his forehead!

Our ward, for whatever twisted reason, decided to do our Trunk-or-Treat ON Halloween, which I don't like because
a) they billed it as a "safe place to trick-or-treat" which is ridiculous because I live one of the nicest neighborhoods in a small town in NEBRASKA, it's not like we live in downtown Detroit!
b) that means I only got to dress everyone up once.  I like to get multiple uses out our costumes.
c) it makes the day feel more crazy to have one thing after another all day long!
d) I don't have a good reason for d, but I just didn't like it, so there.

The girls decided they wanted to be princesses...again.  In order to maintain my sanity while sewing I decided to put a twist on the princess theme.  They were suppose to be steam-punk princesses, but as Eric needed more help with paralegal work, and kids have 200 activities, time swiftly flew by.  I finished the basic costumes, but not much of the accessories that would have made it "steam-punk."  Instead we are just a Victorian twist on princesses.  Works for me!

Livi is Cinderella and Ella is Aurora.
 Okay, so I am not a princess.  I am THE MISTRESS OF ALL EVIL wha ha ha - Maleficent!!!

Ethan didn't want to partake in the awesomeness that is homemade costumes and opted to be Boba Fett, everyone's favorite Mandalorian.  He even has the quiet demeanor and slim build to pull it off!  Tonks (briefly) wore an ammo belt and went as his captive, Chewbacca.

After the trunk-or-treat we headed off to do a little trick-or-treating with the Bagleys.  Livi's bag ended up breaking, but Carter was nice and let her use his ammo belt (thank goodness I had added the working bag!) to put her treats in.  We decided she was a princess wookie, or "pookie", at that point and both thought it was great!

McKay made a GREAT Ewok!  He even kind of walks like one still, and he wanted to hold my hand all night, which basically means he will forever have me wrapped around his finger!

Here are a few detail shots of our costumes for Julia who pretended out of niceness to care:

Blurry bathroom pic of my make-up.  The eyelashes were AWESOME!

Ella's hat with mechanical bird

Livi's hat with mechanical mouse Gus-Gus

A nod to Cinderella's glass slipper on Livi's skirt.  I was going to embroider this in silver but ran out of time.

Livi's "corset."  I used an actual pattern from 1885 and thought it was the piece de resistance.

 

I embroidered roses on Ella's corset front in a nod to Briar Rose.

The back of my skirt.  Kind of like the back side of water in excitement, but thought I would add it.

In terms of hours my corset beat everything else combined.  Of course I had to make it hard.  I couldn't just make a costume corset.  I made a full lined, boned, grommet-ed, and busked corset. I used different fabrics for each section to add interest and some panels even have shear overlays.  Why did I do this?  I don't know.  Probably because it is written into my DNA (thanks Dad).  I hope I can come up with some way to wear it again, but right now I am drawing a blank.  Any ideas?

Well that is it for now.  I started this year in July and didn't get everything done I wanted to.  I guess next year I will have to start planning around Easter! (Just kidding, Eric, I promise not to undertake sewing costumes again until the year after next!)

P.S. The Disney Store has these amazing couture-esque Designer Villain Dolls.  I have to say I thought of my costume before I saw the doll, but I am flattered Disney thought to copy me!  Ha ha.  I totally want this for Christmas...hint hint!

Getting Baby Hungry....Nope, It's Gone...(or Livi turns 4!)!!

To clarify some comments, I do LOOK skinny in that picture at the pumpkin patch, but I was standing sideways, Ella took the photo from a downwards angle, and the photo tips Aunt Diane gave made me look better than in real life.  I have actually gained back almost half the weight I lost before summer.  Hopefully now that some stresses have been eliminated I can go back to eating healthy (wait, sugar cookies for breakfast isn't healthy?) and exercising more!

Onto Livi:
Olivia, my tiny baby, turned 4 on Sunday.  I can hardly believe it.  With having 3 sisters pregnant, and lots of friends expecting it has been a little bit of a struggle remembering why we are done having kids.  I really don't want another baby, and I totally feel like our family is complete, but I do feel a little like I am being left out of a club.  Or like I was a member of the club, but stopped my membership just before everyone else joined (I'm hipster Mom I guess).  I just feel a little left out is all.

Eric was kind enough to remind me of diapers, midnight feedings, lactose intolerance, monetary cost and I think the biggest for him, my severe postpartum depression.  Once he started the list I snapped back to reality, and decided I am just going to have to spoil all the little ones coming into my life, cuddle them to bits, and then send them off home to their moms to feed, bathe, and change!  Works for me!

Sunday is a hard time to have a birthday since you can't go out to eat, or see a movie, but Livi did get to have everyone around all day, sing in the primary program, go to primary, and play with friends.  She seemed to have a great day!

A pile of presents seem to make the early morning more than bearable!

At church I was on the stand, and the only free row was sitting with the Bagleys, so Eric took the kids over there.  I looked up and realized Eric had let all the kids sit with their respective friends so Livi even got to sit by Carter during Sacrament meeting.  They got into Livi's stickers and put them to good use!

I only had a couple hours to make Livi's cake, so it wasn't as well executed as Ella's, but Livi seemed to like it anyways!

Livi loved Carter's (and the whole Bagley clan's) present, a PURPLE GUITAR!!!  She is still carrying it around the house "composing" songs to "serenade" us all with.

 

Happy Birthday sweet girl, we love you!

Punkins in the Pumpkins

Livi's preschool set up a trip to the local pumpkin patch.  We have an honest-to-goodness pumpkin patch IN town!!! (I put the exclamations in to make it seem more exciting, and less hicksville than it actually is). 

Livi's first time EVER on a school bus.

Yes, this really is in town (ok...on the edge, but still in town)

The kids could pick out ANY pumpkins they wanted.  Any at all.  Big, giant, tall, expensive pumpkins that would save their parents so much money it's insane, so they naturally wanted...

the littlest ones they could find.

Most of the whole group.

When the big kids got home and found out that Livi got to go to the pumpkin patch they naturally took it well, if by well you mean were so outraged at the injustice of life that they somehow whined and complained until I gave up and promised we would go as a family that Saturday.

Luckily Saturday was much warmer:

Yes, it snowed today, but less than a week ago Ethan was wearing shorts.

Ella thought we needed a picture of me and Eric.  Since it wasn't horrible and I'm almost never in pictures, I decided to add it.

Eric loved this pumpkin/gourd/mushroom hybrid and decided we NEEDED it at home.

The only bad thing about this patch is there are a TON of stickers, which meant that one member of our family...

was relegated to doggy jail in the car.

The fruits of our labors, which was surprisingly cheap.  Yee Ha Nebraska!

Pro-cras-ti-naaaaaaaaa-tion (sung like Carley Simons "Anticipation.")

Well.  Deep breath.  I can survive this week.  Maybe...

Oh well, to take my mind off of it all here is something completely different:

Tonks REALLY, REALLY likes freshly washed clothing.  Maybe it is because it is warm, maybe it is the smell, whatever it is laundry time has turned into:

Where's Tonks???

She IS a great dog, but she does have a very bad habit; she takes everything she can get her paws onto outside.  This was the latest pile Eric collected before mowing the lawn.  I think she likes it that I have to wash them all making... more yummy smelling laundry!!!

Livi's latest picture from preschool.  I didn't know being in a furnace was such a pleasant experience for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego!  I know they weren't hurt at all, but man, they look like they are ready to toast marshmallows and sing campfire songs!

To preface this next picture I had a melt down tonight.  Not a panic attach, thank goodness, but a good old fashioned melt down.  Mostly I am sad that I am not going to be anywhere close to having a costume for Halloween, plus my super crazy week combined with not enough sleep for a week.  Basically I needed a cookie.  Badly.  So I made some, because that, my friends, is how I roll.  Not enough time to do what you need to?  Procrastinate and make cookies.  Not just any cookies, time consuming sugar cookies!  Not just any sugar cookies, super awesome sugar cookies:

For me I made Doctor Who cookie cutters (because that is also how I roll) so I could make Doctor Who cookies.  The TARDIS needs some work on the decorating end, but the Daleks turned out pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

I made ninjas for the kids because I needed more sugar cookie ninjas in my life.

Turns out I made ninjas for Eric too.  He had a little too much fun with his cookies:

Hi Yah!

I'm Not Sure I'm Getting My Moneys Worth...

Olivia started preschool at the YMCA last month, and honestly I am a little skeptical.  Not only is the class size WAY to big, but this is a conversation I had with Livi last week:

To preface, they do Bible stories every week. I thought they had talked about Noah, but it really was Moses, which almost makes it sadder.

Me: What did you talk about today? Was it Noah?
Livi: Yes
Me: Did you talk about the ark?
Livi: What are you talking about? (unfortunately she really does say that too me, and with a lovely bit of sass)
Me: Noah...he built an ark...put all the animals on it.  We've talked about it in Home Evening.  The ark... a boat???
Livi: No Mommy, it wasn't an ark, it was a pirate ship.
Me: What...Huh??? Noah wasn't a pirate.
Livi: YES!!! He was pirate and he went and got things.  We wouldn't be here, but he had a pirate ship.
Me:???

Later I went through her bag and found this:

I guess Christopher Columbus' boat does look a little like a pirate ship.

Also we have what can only call the prayer of allegiance:

Randomness, or My September in Pictures

Cadbury made this just for me, I am sure.  A HALLOWEEN CREME EGG!!!

At scouts we played Hymn Book Limbo.  The boys LOVED it! We got down to 4 hymnals.  The trick: Don't forget about your heels.

Livi eating an Olive Garden bread stick for the first time.

The pure cuteness exuded from Tonks is pretty much the only thing keeping me sane.

Super Bailey.  Ethan found this card at Menards that looks exactly like James and Jes' dog in her alternate life.

Livi and Carter on Police Day.

We put up our Halloween decorations and our new thing this year was our graveyard.  Note to self that Styrofoam tombstones don't stand up to Scottsbluff 55 mph wind.  I guess I should change my burial plans now...

Technically not September, but Ella and Maddi wanted their own picture up on a blog (like Ethan and Caleb).  They worked on this cute picture of two princesses under a rainbow for over 30 minutes! Good job girls, it is GREAT!

I Like To Go To The Y...M...C...A... Everybody now!!

Caleb, Ethan's best friend, had a birthday last month.  For his party he decided to do something a little different (all parties here seem to be at either the bowling alley or skating rink because nothing says Happy Birthday like "disinfected" yet still smelly foot ware).  They reserved the climbing wall and party room at our YMCA and it was a ton of fun.

Ethan didn't want to do the big wall, but he did try out the smaller "cave" that they could free climb.

Livi got to go to so she could hang out with her two favorite guys!

Eric, helping McKay dunk, and I helped with the little ones in return for yummy pizza and cupcakes. Best deal ever!

(It DID worry me a little that the "trained" worker, who wouldn't let any parents near the ropes, was barely taller than my 7 year older.  Maybe he is a hobbit.  A well trained, fully certified and insured climbing instructor hobbit that just happens to look like a 12 year old)  Ella had to show up a little late because of dance, but my fearless girl didn't let me down.  Still wearing her dance clothes, she geared up....

...and conquered the wall!

Our big group having way too much fun eating pizza (too many 10 year olds in one room=lots of gas jokes).