Halloween 2010

First up the costumes

Alden as Batman. He was NOT into having his picture taken. He said his stomach was hurting. Could had to do with the fact that he had not eaten any normal food all day but loads of candy. (I'm of the mindset of letting him gorge himself with it all and be done with it. He can learn from a stomach ache!) He begged for this costume 2 years ago and it was WAY to big for him, but I bought it anyways, and now he has worn it twice. So I guess I got my money out of it. I had tried to convince him to go with my Toy Story theme, but at 8, he has other ideas!


Lucy as Jesse
I made this for her. The wig was made with yarn. I used a honeydew melon to hold a toque and then sewed and glued the hair to it. Then added a braid. The added the hat which was originally white but I covered it in red ink.

The shirt used to be a men's white silk cowboy shirt that was in our dress up box. I cut off the sleeves. Then laid one of her shirts that fit her on top of the body and cut it to fit her and sewed it back together. Added the sleeves back on after I shortened them. It was totally sketchy, but it worked.

The pants are a pair of her regular jeans that I added some homemade felt chaps. I just cut them out and sewed on the brown shapes and basted them to the pants so I could easily unpick in after. She was totally happy with it all. So I was.


Eli as Woody. His choice. Costume loaned to use from Aunty Jenn.


This was most of the pictures of Eli. I wanted one of the two of them together, but he just wouldn't stay still for me. So this is as good as it gets!


Since we don't go trick or treating on Sundays, we had our congregation at the church Saturday night and the kids went "trick or treating" to each vehicle instead. Loads of candy and fun.

We got invited to two different Halloween parties. One I never even took out my camera but the second I was more on top of things! All the kiddos at the party.

Cupcakes by Abby that I thought were totally cute!


My mom ALWAYS handed out donuts for Halloween in our small town. And I have taken to that tradition. I don't hand them out to people I don't know, but if someone we know comes to the door, they get one. Some families know and come looking for them on Halloween now, just like they did to my childhood home.
And I always end up making pizza with some of the dough for our supper. So now add pizza to the tradition.


I took down all the decorations Monday morning. That made Reg happy!
That sums up our Halloween, how was yours?

Halloween Traditions

We had super Alden, a cute little bumblebee and princess Lucy.

I sewed Alden some shorts (isn't it strange how Super Hero's always wear their underwear on the outside?), a mask thing and his cape from last year's Christmas.
Lucy was wearing the crown and dress from her birthday.
And Eli is wearing a little hand-me down costume.

Tradition #1: Did you notice what they are holding? When I was a kid we ALWAYS used our pillowcases for trick or treating. So I decided to take that tradition (or maybe it was just easier for my mom?!?) and make it our own. So I sewed them some Halloween pillow cases. For a few days leading up to Halloween they can use them on their pillows and then take them off for the Trick or Treating :) I was given a whole whack of Halloweeny fabric a couple years ago and never got around to making them. (I'm not really a Halloween quilt kind a girl) Finally did it this past week. It was SUPER easy! Like if you can sew a straight line you could do it. Perhaps I'll make a tutorial for pillow cases.

Tradition #2: Donuts

My mom often handed out donuts on Halloween. I always thought it was interesting as she HATES Halloween. But she often made homemade donuts. (She had donuts days where she'd make them for the Elementary - JR high school we went to too). She is done with all that. I'm made them many times but haven't done it on Halloween to hand out. So I did it this year (but only gave them out to people we knew!) I've been asked to share the recipe so I will this week!

Jack and his buddies

I really have done nothing at all this year for Halloween. No decorating really. Just wasn't feelin' it I guess. Doesn't help that Reg's not really a fan of Halloween. My mind's already on Christmas I guess. :)

We did carve pumpkins. Had to do that at least! For Monday night's FHE we did this.


Mine and Lucy's: Jack


Dad's (its the transformer logo if you can't tell)


Alden's: (he drew on whatever he wanted and I cut it out for him)


And now Alden is sick (he slept 15 hours straight last night) with the flu (hopefully everyone else doesn't get it) and Reg is out of town til Saturday night. So we are just hunkering down. And watching movies and reading books and playing the game boy and playing games. And vegging.

And I'm editing lots of pictures. There are lots of new sessions on my photo blog for you to peruse. :)

In the Craft room: Few things...

1. Thanks for all the encouragement about Lucy. I will let you know when my momma gets the Nativities in. They are absolutely beautiful. I will also be getting one for myself. My mom does have lots of pens to sell at the moment. Next time I see her in February I will take pictures of all the stuff she has so you can see.

2. It's been a bit since a Scrapbook share. So here are some creations from the January Scraptivity kit.





3. We had Ukrainian Christmas this past Saturday night. It was fun. We invited a few friends and held it at the church since we don't have a very big place. Got to have Heather and Susie and Lora and lots of other good friends too. I didn't take any pictures. There was just too much going on. 12 dishes. 7 desserts. 7 Meats (my relatives added the meat to the meal when they came to Canada). As well as Eli and my oven stopping working right when it was time to put in the duck. Of course. hahaha But it all was great. And I just love sharing that wonderful family tradition with friends. Love love love it.

4. I am completely annoyed with Lucy not being potty trained and EVERYONE else her age is. It was really getting to me today. But sadly enough I was thinking back to when Alden was potty training. And he was 3 years and 10 months old. Lucy is only 3 years and 3 months now..... I could make a whole post on this ALONE.....

5. I have been meaning to do a 6 month post on Eli. I will this week.

Happy New Year!!!

Everyone says it, but I can't believe it's 2009!! Crazy!
I have been putting off updating since it seems like there is so much to post, I don't know where to start!
Christmas was good.
Loved
....seeing family.
... taking pictures at a wedding

...enjoying the hot tub and Wii
... spending lots of time with Regan and my kiddos
...going out to dinner with old friends from high school & laughing and enjoying each other
...giving gifts I made to people i love
...feeling the spirit of Christmas
..receiving Christmas cards from all over
...visiting with my mom and dad
... seeing how the three little cousin babies are growing and changing
....sledding

... gingerbread houses with grandma davis


..attending the temple

...enjoying being out of the city

Christmas Traditions

Some things we try to do every year to celebrate Christmas.
Haven't gotten to all of our usual things.
These are ones we've done so far...

Our advent calendar.
I made this last year. This is the first year trying it out.

(I got my advent calendar published in this magazine.)


Decorate the house.
We didn't do a tree this year, so instead I put all my ornaments in a hurricane lantern on the piano.
My angel. I just love it. Bought it a few years ago in Nova Scotia and I still love it every year I pull it out. And my lantern I taught at Super Saturday.
More ornaments from Super Saturday.
Paper Chains.
We love to make these each year. The kids were pretty excited at how long this was. Goes all around our dining room.
Reading Christmas Stories.
Love the costumes with the stories....

Seeing Santa.



I thought this was pretty cool. It's a book and activity to count down to Christmas. And totally an idea I want to do next year. Even if I don't use their books, but use the ones we have, I think it is a good idea. Totally fun!

Halloween & All that Jazz

I've been running around like a crazy woman all week.
But here are some pictures from our Halloween celebrations...

Pumpkin carving with the Matthews...
My Halloween tree I made for a table decoration...

With a close up of some of the decorations.
Artwork from Cosmo Cricket


We always used to make these when I was a kid. From egg cartons.
The kids trick or treating with a neighborhood friend.
We had a trunk or treat at the church.
And lots of friends to dress up with...



How was your Halloween??
I've got a mini album to share tomorrow!

the past weeks we've been...

having friday night parties at Bowness park before dad left for three weeks for a Peds rotation...

practicing our fire building skills....

learning about roasting marshmallows...

learning about smores
eating hot diggity dogs
playing chase and swords at the park....having pillow fights on mom and dad's bed...
practicing our smiling...

playing in the sandbox turned pool
having picnics in the kitchen...
shooting a wedding..... (more on my photo blog)
and just surviving until Regan comes home.

Got a flat tire that I found Saturday night (and no spare on our van) so we are house bound and at the mercy of friends to help us with getting the tire fixed, picking up milk since have none, etc.

It's been interesting and challenging (I hate asking people to help me with so many things!) since Regan started his rotation in Medicine Hat. And we are only down one week.

Good thing there is lots of this around here now...