The bearded mime

This might be the most disturbing combination I've seen come out of our dress up box.

The white mime mask by itself kinda freaks me out.

But add a bushy beard.

And a cowboy belt.

(shudder)

That's scary.

You can reference this post in October when you are looking for a costume idea.

Halloween 2011 Recap

This was the year for Potter costumes!

 Here is the crew before going out trick-or-treating.

The kids had several opportunities to dress up so there was more than one costume worn.  Dylan was a cowboy and batman but not "inny yon" like he said he was going to be for the last two months.  Trek went from Mad-eye Moody to Spidey.  Joe stayed with the Harry Potter theme but swiched from the Slytherin house to the Gryffindor house.  Jono wouldn't let us help with his costume but based on what he came up with we declared him Lockhart.

Bring on the candy!

We also did some pumpkin carving with some friends.

Didn't they turn out great?!

Pumpkin seeds were saved for roasting with this recipe.

How was your Halloween?



How Tall This Fall?

I know I just posted about how much my kids have grown

but just look at this please.

The one on the left is 2007 (a couple months after we moved out here) 

and the one on the right is this year.

It just confirms what has been hitting me lately...

that I need to be grateful each day for the time I have with my kids because they will be grown and gone before I know it!

"I try not to let the good things go by unnoticed."

-from Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

Lord, help me to notice and remember the good things

and not focus on the little, fleeting frustrations.

At the Pumpkin Farm

This has been an annual trip for us since moving to California.

Bishop's Pumpkin Farm.

Aren't these pumpkins beautiful?!

It is quite the operation.

They have talking chickens that say things like:

Why did the rubber chicken cross the road?

'Cause he wanted to stretch his legs.

Ba dum chick.

What is a chicken's least favorite day of the week?

Fry-day!

Ba dum chick.





The big kids got to try out the corn maze for the first time.

I made Jono go with them.  I am directionally challenged so put me in a corn maze and you won't see me again until the new year.  I probably shouldn't have revealed that tidbit.  It could probably be used against me.

There are animals to pet and feed.  The piglets had not been born yet and that is the only time pigs are ever cute so I purposely neglected to take their picture.  But the goats were pretty sweet.

 

We accessorized a couple shirts for the occasion with puffy ghosts and iron-on letters that I had found on clearance last year.  Amazingly, I was still able to locate that stuff to use it.

Trek was so proud of his letters.  He kept saying "O-O-B spells boo!"

The finale was trying to get a cute family shot in the giant pumpkin patch...

So maybe not.

It was a good day with the fam even if they wouldn't cooperate for the picture.

We came home with several sugar pumpkins for baking.

Any pumpkin recipes you'd like to share???

Last Minute Costume Ideas

We happened to be in Ukiah for their annual Pumpkinfest!

It was cute.  They had a hometown parade where all the local peewee teams and dance classes and karate classes had a float.  And--what a stroke of genius to do this kind of thing in the fall instead of a Christmas parade.  You know the temperature is guaranteed to drop below freezing if you even think about scheduling a Christmas parade.

If you are looking for a last minute Halloween costume, you might find some inspiration in the following pictures.

1. Mariachi band member  2. Shriner  3.  Scary Hobo Clown  4.  Zombie Roller Derby Girl or Super Roller Derby Girl  5. Any Star Wars character  6. Super-serious Dirt Biker

There was other entertainment.

We watched our lost balloon fly away.

We played in the bounce houses.  Always fun.

Climbed the rock tower.

With the very foam-muscled purple superhero. 

I would have thought he was the LSU Superfan but he didn't have a cape. 

And that, folks, is costume suggestion number 7.

Harry Potter Wands

Remember the thrill of July?

The warmth of the summer sun.

The giant splash as you race into the water.

AND

The great, last battle against Volde--

I mean, He Who Must Not Be Named.

Ask the Big-uns what was their favorite part of summer and, without hesitation, they will tell you

The Deathly Hallows Part 2!!!

The excitement has not waned.  We have had multiple conversations about which parts were changed and what was left out or added to the movie.  Repeated favorite lines...

("that went well" and "i've always wanted to use that spell")

Re-enacted whole scenes. 

I can't tell you how many sticks have been gathered to use for wands and how many times I've heard "expeliarmus".   Even the toddler is saying it (actually he says it more like his father--"smellyourarmpits")

And, of course, we will be dressing up as characters from Harry Potter for Halloween. 

Not surprising, I know.

So, in preparing for this fantastic event, we needed certain wands.

You know that the wand chooses the wizard and each wizard has a specific wand.

Can you believe these wands were made with paper and a glue gun?!!  I got major mom points for coming across this tutorial on Pinterest.

Much safer than a second grader trying to whittle them with his dollar store pocket knife.

It's really fairly simple:

Roll the paper.

Glue it together and let dry.

Add details with the glue gun.

Paint.

Definitely check out the complete tutorial here.

We still have to make a mad eye for Professor Moody but at least the wands are ready!

By the way, anyone know who it was that said the quotes from above or just knew from looking which wizards' wands we made???  Just wondering how many other Harry Potter nerds are out there!

Zip Tie Spiders for the Kiddos

Here are the materials I started with..

old rusty bolt (don't worry my kids are up to date on their tetanus shots)

+

zip ties

+

googley eyes

You could use any small ring.  We were just using what we found around.

Put 8 zip ties onto the ring/bolt.

 It should look like this...

Scooch 4 over to one side and 4 on the other.

Bend in a couple places for legs and feet.

Add googley eyes and there you go--

spiders!

Who knew spiders loved to slide?

They do.

They really do.

I'm not sure at what age you grow out of zip tie spiders, but my 7 year old was not the least bit interested.

Instead, he made a "war tool".

Rusty metal and zip ties.

Yep--the enemy better watch out!

Halloween Wreath Tutorial

Here is what I started with:

plastic lids

+

zip ties

The zip ties I found at a Big Lots that was relocating--got them for half price which means the grand total for this project was a little over $1!!!  Oh yeah!

I cut the middle out of the plastic lids.



Start putting zip ties on the ring.  Pull them tight and slide them close together.

Cover the entire ring.

And, well, that's pretty much it.  Easy peasy.

This is my finished product...

I snagged a spider from the boys room and added a bit of orange berries left over from last year's wreath.

Boo-tiful, don't ya think? (ha. ha. ha.)

Parting Thoughts:

I had 200 ties to start with. 

It made 2 spiders (show you those tomorrow), covered the ring of 1 gallon ice cream container and about 3/4 of the smaller plastic ring.

My 3 year old was totally into putting the zip ties on.  I need to remember this for the dark days of winter.

one bag of zip ties = at least 30 minutes of preschooler entertainment



Canoe Garden

Usually you use water craft like this:

But what do you do when they get old and leaky and unpatchable?

You stick them in the barn and leave them for 10 years or so.

This summer we repurposed a few of those old canoes in our garden. 

This one grew lettuce and peas.

This one grew squash and pumpkin.

It grew.

And grew. 

And grew.

All the pumpkins that showed up in our garden were renegades.  I suppose from the seeds of pumpkins that we composted last year.  So, I have no idea what varieties we have.  But they look really cool.

Anybody know what they are?

I can't wait to decorate with these little guys!

Happy October!

By the way, look for a Halloween craft DIY later this week.

And as usual, there is a kids version and a me version!

Cigon Lincoln is back!

So he went to camp half blood for Halloween.  Camp half blood is this camp for kids that are half god half human (also for other crazy species like saders and sentaurs.)  Anyways Cigon Lincoln was there.  It was crazy.  He was as famaus as the Missing Link.  He must have been really good friends with the pegasi because they about bucked everyone off because they were so excited.  They all had a HUGE party.  They are extra s'mores, stayed up later, and had this big duel at midnight.  And that was the biggest party Camp half blood ever had on Halloween night.  And it was all because of Cigon Lincoln the awesome.

How to make a good cyclops pumpkin

by Abby

First you have to put only one eye (Duh). It has to look a little funny. You have to name it. I named mine Tyson but I'll give you some ideas like Kallob, Seth, Ira, Dan, Backondorf, Jason, Percy, Travis, and Foalan. The rest you do on your own!