Costume Collection Part 2: Halloween Costumes For My Kids

My last post was Part 1 of Halloween Costumes for my kids, part of my October series Costume Collection.  Here is Part 2.  

This was actually my real-life dress from my 8th grade prom!  And it is one of my first memories of the realization that my mother was so super-skilled and could alter clothing:  It was a strapless dress.  She added the straps and the lacy sleeves.  She was amazing!  I gained my love of creating and sewing from her no doubt!  And then my daughter wears the dress and some 80s accessories with a Prom crown!

 

I had inherited a Karate costume (it was white) from someone.  My kids wear it all the time for dress-up but we wanted to go a little more exciting for Halloween for my boys.  So I took a pattern from it.  I had this really cool fabric with symbols all-over it and through the magic of the creative process, this Karate Kid outfit was born!  

And his brother got a matching smaller version, but sleeveless.

Then of course, the Ninja!  (That goes with Karate Kid right?)  This one was very cool but difficult to make.  I wanted it to have no visible opening but still be one-piece!  So it unzips at the back of the neck, down to the waist.  Tricky, but worth it!

This one was very original indeed.  But my favorite touch was the mustache - his idea!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!  

He loves Mickey Mouse like nothing I have ever seen!  So of course he loved to BE Mickey!  

At our church Halloween party, he found Minnie Mouse (she was a little older, but she could not resist him)!  And there is Minnie's Prom Queen friend...

 

We attended several parties that year and switched out costumes for some older stand-bys...Winnie The Pooh and a Superhero/ Scooby Doo...?

Halloween is so much fun ~ what costumes do your kids love the most?

I link up to these parties. ~If you are interested in receiving updates and future posts from this blog, please sign up to "FOLLOW" on the top right of this page. Let's keep in touch!~

Costume Collection Part 1: Halloween Costumes for My Kids

I was going through pictures of all the Halloween costumes from years past and I decided I would share them with you!  Most of them I have made.  It is actually one of my favorite times of the year - not all the spooky haunted-ness part of Halloween - I just put up with that BUT I love doing costumes for anyone who asks me).

So - I am going to do a series of Costume Collections - some with themes and others just random collections by year or family or whatever...  so stay tuned during October for Halloween Costumes!!!!

The first one is of my kids' Halloween in 2009.  Each kid wanted to do their own thing that year...

He wanted to be a bum.  A hobo.  

Hopefully he got this out of his system.

She and I love the"Anne of Green Gables" series and she was the perfect age to play the Anne from the beginning of the story.  We even made the carpet bag she arrived with, the one with the loose fastener.  It doubled as the trick-or-treat bag.  She's the perfect Anne, personality and everything!

He really wanted to be a vampire.  Actually this kid was fascinated with magic and had asked me for a magician cape, so I made it for him.  Then he used it at Halloween to be Dracula.  It was perfect!  I made this from two flat twin-size bedsheets - black and red - so that it was lined and could be worn with either side showing.

Cute little vampire isn't he?

He wore what his brother had me make the year before (fascination with Wizards and magic...) and I think he looks just as darling (where are the pics of his brother last year?  I do not know) as his brother did last year!  

We went to a Halloween party and it was like pulling teeth to get a pose.  There was candy and games to be had, mom!  Oh, well...  

We got better pics at home on the stairs.

He was Winnie the Pooh, as were all his brothers before him when they were that age.  (Maybe I will put together a collage of all the Winnie the Poohs in our family - and Piglet, too...)

This was his first Halloween - and I just love a baby in a Pumpkin costume - not only is it cute but it stays as warm as you need it to be.  You can layer under it with warm coats (can you tell I am from Canada?) or just leave a diaper on underneath if it's warm enough.  

Hope you have enjoyed this first installment of Halloween costumes during the month of October.


What are your favorite kids' costumes form years past?


I link up to these parties. ~If you are interested in receiving updates and future posts from this blog, please sign up to "FOLLOW" on the top right of this page. Let's keep in touch!~

A Happy Mother's Day

I think I have the best kids on the planet! I am so lucky! I had a lovely Mother's Day - did I say PERFECT Mother's Day? No. I don't know anyone who really does. You see, I have learned that kids have their own personalities and what they bring to Mother's Day is who they are! And I am happy to have them as the kiddos they are!

Breakfast in bed was accompanied by these wonderful handmade gifts that I treasure. I love all their sweet letters and cards and the cute reminders that they made for me, that they love me. (do you see that necklace I am wearing in the picture on the stairs? The beaded one - my sweet 8-year-old made that for me during church and came right into my class to give it to me because he couldn't wait! It did not make it into this picture...I wore it all day).


Then off to church, where my favorite thing is when the kids and the youth and the dads sing songs to us moms. The best!

We had a version of these yummy sandwiches for Mother's Day lunch, which was a good thing to make because all my kids AND husband could help with something and it was actuallly a nice time together. My favorite part was my 15-year-old son volunteering to cook the bacon and doing an excellent job of it. Seriously, I was wowed. He is hired.


Then we watched a movie. "The Wizard of Oz" - I had wanted to see it after my experience attending Wicked with my husband last week. Trust me, it was nothing in comparison. But still, fun to watch.


Then, I got a Mother's Day Nap. Bliss. No one even TRIED to wake me up. (After ten minutes anyway.)

I decided for dinner we would have Cinnamon Roll cake. (I used this recipe for cream cheese glaze instead of the frosting in the recipe.) It was so delicious! Perfect for the end of a relaxing and special day.

Later in the evening, all six of my kids came marching into the kitchen carrying these babies. Each of them had their own birthstone baby charm for me. I will string them on a necklace and wear them with pride.

Some of my funny kids even knelt down and pretended to ask me to marry them. See why I love my kids?!

It was a great day. And I am happy to be their mom.


I hope you had a great Mother's Day!


~If you are interested in receiving updates and future posts from this blog, please sign up to "FOLLOW" on the top right of this page. Let's keep in touch!~

Mother's Day

I wanted to share a printable I made for my for hallway "seasonal frame". It sits right in my entryway and I pass by it one hundred times day. In this frame, I like to put reminders of whatever season it is, or the latest quote that is inspring me.


Here is one I made for Mother's day.

It's even my background on my laptop. To remind me.


~If you are interested in receiving updates and future posts from this blog, please sign up to "FOLLOW" on the top right of this page. Let's keep in touch!~

Shortening Sleeves - The "Cheater" Way

Spring is here in full swing! Let's put away or get rid of the winter stuff!


(I actually enjoy what I call "Clothing Inventory" time in Spring and Winter. I check off what clothing we have stored and what needs to be added that I could not find on clearance the season before.)


Here is one idea I love!

I really love these long sleeve shirts for colder weather - but what about when spring hits and there is still lots of good life left in the shirt?

Or what if it's not spring, but your son has trashed his sleeves because that's what happens to white sleeves when they belong to a boy?


Well, you can get rid of it (if it is so dirty and trashed - obviously toss it - unless you can do my "cheater" trick) OR pack it away for the next boy (remember I have five of them) OR save it in hopes it will fit that same boy next year, OR you can make it into a short-sleeve shirt!

This "cheater" trick only works on those sleeves where the short sleeve is attached to a long sleeve, to look like it is double layered.


All you have to do is turn it inside out, and cut off the long sleeve part! Cut it carefully - right next to the seam where it is attached.

Then turn it back right side out and it's done! A brand new shirt for spring and summer!

He seems thrilled with the new life of his shirt! And for the awesome weather we have been having here in Colorado.

I think Spring is my favorite! (Until Fall rolls along and I wish it could just be a longer season here...)

But the new growth and warmer and longer days have such a renewing feeling to them, don't you think? I love my daffodils and tulips that greet me first and Mmmm, I can smell the lilacs from the backyard...


One of my favorite blogs, http://www.makeit-loveit.com/ is doing a similar post right now about cutting off pants turning them into shorts
She does a great job! This is another thing I do in the Spring to Recycle or "Upcycle" my kids clothing to stretch them out just one more season!


What can you do to lengthen your kids' wardrobe?


I am linking up to:






~If you are interested in receiving updates and future posts from this blog, please sign up to "FOLLOW" on the top right of this page. Let's keep in touch!~

EASTER 2012

We decorated eggs on Saturday night - I had pinned a lot of really cool decorating ideas but my kids wanted to stick to the regular way. Mostly - my daughter did try the "wrap twine around the egg after the first color, then dye it a second color" way. It was pretty neat.

We cracked some of them a little (this of course was learned several years ago when we accidentally cracked them, then decide we liked the cool effect even after they are peeled - you still get coloring) - it's food-safe dye, you know.

Then we always have egg salad sandwiches for Easter lunch. (It's pretty-colored, too). It's a quick lunch before Easter Dinner. I wish I had pictures of our yummy ham and Famous Ham Gravy with Mashed Potatoes. We swoon over this gravy - next time I make it I will post...

Sunday afternoon, I took all the kids on a walk, and the Easter Bunny decide to visit us while we were gone. When we got back, the porch was filled with Easter Baskets and the house was littered with candy-filled eggs for the kiddos to find. My older kids know that it's really for the little kiddos to find the most - then they all just share anyway.

They streak all over in less than five minutes and hope they have found every egg. My favorite is when I secretly find more later - then the candy is MINE! We sometimes find eggs much later - like in the drawer under Christmas tablecloths or something. Or in the freezer. That Easter Bunny - so creative in the hiding of eggs.

The counting and sharing of the Easter Eggs is awesome: "12, 13, 15, 19, 62, 22, fwee"

THEN. Something I have never done before but WILL do again. I made homemade marshmallows. Holy cow, who knew? Not me, I guess. Until this year. I read a bunch of recipes and tutorials on how to do this and the BEST one I found was this one. It's from Our Best Bites, adapted from Alton Brown. I cut them into egg shapes, and dipped them in melted milk chocolate. They dried overnight and were perfect. (Not the prettiest aesthetically - but who cares?) My kids would not even let me pose them for a cute picture! They were SO YUMMY!



How do you celebrate Easter with your family?



I am linked up to:




~If you are interested in receiving updates and future posts from this blog, please sign up to "FOLLOW" on the top right of this page. Let's keep in touch!~