Candy Overload 2009

We rocked the neighborhood in superhero style this Halloween. Super Girl, Batman, and baby Superman all raked in a pretty good chocolate haul, due to a large neighborhood and few kids. Basic 'supply and demand', people. "Take more, take more" said everyone and their dog. Music to a dental-bill-paying mother's ears. We carefully avoided the slugs that cover Northwest sidewalks, and kept passing other families that kept saying "Hello, Super Family!" Sammy's pumpkin treat bag laughed a menacing "Mwuh-ha-ha-ha" when he pushed the button...every time someone opened their door. Then, when they complimented the costumes, Sammy would offer up "These are actually my pajamas"; I cringed and smiled every time. It's true. Because, why would I waste money on an expensive Batman costume if we had perfectly good Batman pajamas? Seriously. But I digress. If there was just a candy bowl on the porch, the kids would yell out, "Happy Halloween, whoever you are!!!" J kept taking "Candy Taxes", presumably for his chaperoning efforts that night.

Monday night was spent elbow-deep in pumpkin guts. Girlie dove right in, while Wild Man repeatedly asked, "How about we get some gloves to do this?"

Once he finally dove in, he thought it necessary to come terrorize me.

We meant to have the 'happy' one using himself to roast a marshmallow, but never got around to it.

This was Salon a la Mommy. Girlie was not too pleased about the poofy super hero hair I was creating for her.

She changed her tune when she realized the volume of sugar we were talking about.

Wild Man Sam's first candy choice were some disturbingly real-looking and gross gummy teeth and fangs (or, 'thangs' as he calls them). Of course, and why not?

All in all, an excellent Halloween. Hope yours was spooktacular too!

Us in a Nutshell

We've had a week. Let me rephrase: we've had a week of swine flu, bronchitis and pneumonia. Today my kids were chanting "H1N1, otherwise know as swiiiiiiine flu, H1N1 otherwise known as swiiiiiine flu!" Poor Girlie got taken down by the bug. It actually wasn't as bad as regular flu, but she's had to stay home. We've all been climbing the walls. Haven't gone anywhere--except for KFC drive thru, when they had free chicken Monday night. Doc gave us the all clear today, though. She'll head back to the wild world of 1st grade on Friday, just in time for her Halloween party. In the words of Nurse Deb, "Take your time. This place is toxic. People are sliming all over each other here." The thing is, J is taking off for a week in the UK. I asked him, Wasn't it this time last year that the kids all got sick and you took off for a week in Hong Kong? We've GOT to kick this tradition!


My birthday was yesterday. J took the kids to the Dollar Store to pick out gifts. My birthday loot included a Dora jump rope, a photo mouse pad, and a pink calculator. And the cutest coat in the world that I picked out on a date a couple weeks ago (the date happened to include a stop at Nordstrom Rack) and thought that it was something that J would love to give me for my birthday. He also surprised me with an ice cream cake, and "made" dinner that looked and tasted just like the Fiesta Lime Chicken from Applebees. It was a lovely evening, spent in my favorite place with my favorite people in the world. J had a mission buddy that once told us he was marrying a "smokin' hot 21 year old." That made us laugh, and all the time I ask J if I'm still his smokin' hot (now) 32 year old. He says yes, always, but I think it's going to be really funny when I'm his smokin' hot 75 year old.


We're gearing up for Superhero Halloween 2009. I'll take Super Girl, Batman, and Baby Superman trick-or-treating to the 12 houses in our neighborhood. I'm trying to decide if I make them wear coats, or layer sweats underneath their costumes. A tiny part of me says I shouldn't take them out in the cold at all, but a bigger part scoffs I laugh in the face of swine flu.

A Closet Full of Nothing to Wear

I got three shirts at Target last week. Only three, and at Target, of all places. A wild hair detour somewhere in between diapers and antibacterial wipes. Yet, I felt like a million bucks when I got the first compliment on the olive green, cable knit sweater.

Why is that? I wondered. My closet is busting at the seams. I stared at all the pretty fabrics, textures, all the varying lengths of sleeves and pants. Why is it that I feel I've got nothing to wear? Am I really reduced to being thrilled at a cream-colored cardigan on sale at Target? Then I figured it out.

I took a closer look at my clothes. It didn't take long to figure that I could categorize my clothes by size. Ever since the body-rollercoaster of kids "happened" to me, I have fluctuated a total of FIVE sizes in the last seven years of child bearing. This is how it breaks down.

I have the PRE-BABY SIZES. Mostly work clothes. Wardrobe classics. Trim dress pants, darling skirts. Things that I would use to dress for success. I coordinated lighting schemes, picked out the perfect rug, and explained the benefits of leather furniture in these clothes. They didn't get worn out, because there was no one spitting up or exploding their diaper on them. I wasn't crawling on the floor, and having sippy cups spilled on them. So I hung onto them. And I swore that someday, SOMEDAY I would fit them once again.

I have my POST BABY FAT CLOTHES. These are the ones tearfully purchased when I admitted defeat. When I sorrowfully conceeded, that I could no longer zip myself into the black pencil skirt with the beading at the bottom. When the extra 55 lbs (that's right, fifty-five) I gained with Baby #1 didn't all melt away, as I planned. This is the stash that I turn to when I realize that my baby is 2 months old and it's time to stop wearing my maternity jeans. A goodly number of these were purchased with a skinny friend, who, sensing my distress, comforted me (very sincerely) with the admission that she had some fat clothes that were (gasp) size 8. I no longer shop with her. But, I can't throw these away, because if I have another baby (if...), I'm going to need those fat clothes.

Then comes all the stuff in the middle. I have Skinny Day clothes, and Fat Day clothes. There are my very comfortable-but-unstylish Mom Day clothes and the Going Out with Girlfriends ones. There are the ones that are a little more forgiving--the type that are kinder to the parts of your body that won't (after 3 kids) ever be the same without the help of a good surgeon. Shirts that are huge now, but you know as soon as your milk comes in can barely contain busty you.

It comes down to this: Only a small percentage of my wardrobe is flattering at any given time. This revolving body of mine is the reason. The reason I have a closet full of nothing to wear. And the reason I rejoice in the three new shirts that fit me.

Milk and More

Sammy: Is milk made from water and white?

Me: No, where does milk come from?

Girlie: Milk comes from cows.

Sammy: So, cows drink milk?

Me: No, cows produce milk.

Girlie: Like mommies make milk too.

Me: That's right. Mommy cows make milk.

Girlie concludes: So mommies are cows.

________________________________________

Girlie: Oh, my ear hurts.

Sammy: Why?

Girlie: I don't know. I hope I don't have a middle ear infection. (She had one in Jan.)

Sammy: WHAT? A METAL ear infection??

Girlie: NO, a miT-Tle ear infection.

Sammy: Oh, that is not awesome.

________________________________________

Sammy: Mommy, everyone starts on earth as a baby, right?

Me: Yep, everyone starts as a baby.


(Pause)

Sammy: Except grandmas. Grandmas and mommies and daddies. Because someone has to feed the babies.

Going Batty

In the spirit of the spooky season, we made some bat hair clips! Who doesn't need flying rodents (I know, I know, they're actually mammals--it's just that "flying mammals" doesn't sound spooky enough) tangled up in their tresses? If you want some, too, there are two ways to get them.

#1-Make them

If you can't tell, this is sparkly black felt. Fold it in half and cut a bat shape, like so.

I used pinking shears to cut the bottom of the wings.

Cut a body out of regular black felt.

Stitch them together with white embroidery floss.

You can add eyes if you want. After all, no two bats are alike.

I covered the clip (I bought a whole box at a beauty supply store for just a few dollars) with ribbon, using hot glue.

Then I used hot glue to attach the bat to the clip.

And, #2 (perhaps even easier than #1)--Leave a comment and I'll pick some lucky people to receive their own batty clip! Just like you always wanted.

As you can see, I made more than we could ever use.

Halloweening at My Place

Okay, is this not the cutest "pumpkin tree" you've ever seen? I don't know what it really is--I'm guessing some variety of tomato, but isn't it darling? I found it with the cut flowers in my local grocery store.

Here's a Halloween countdown calendar that I made with my friend, Chelsea. It was inexpensive and fun, but extremely time consuming. It's a great project that you could start for next year! To start you out, I included a couple shots of some of my sketches for the pocket designs below. You could also use the designs to do a billion other crafty things. If you can't get the pictures big enough to be useful, let me know and I'll email you a scanned copy of them along with some detailed directions. A supply list is below.

We use the calendar, and each day I put a slip of paper in the appropriate pocket of a place to look for that day's Halloween activity or treat. The kids love it. You could also use the designs to make a single pocket or Halloween scene where you hide something every day.

Supplies you'll need to make a calendar:

Black canvas, 30"x37"

Felt--orange, white, black, green, purple, yellow, brown, sparkly black, tan.

White and black stiff felt with adhesive on the back (got mine at Michaels), 1 sheet each

Eyes--very small ones, 2 very big ones

Metallic stars

Orange ric rac, 11 feet

Black bias tape and white ribbon for hanging loops

4 medium purple buttons

1 big black button for spider body

Color coordinating thread and embroidery floss

Pinking shears

Who doesn't love spiders in their cupcakes?

We had some fun making spiderweb cupcakes this week. I tried to ignore the nagging feeling that perhaps I should lay off the baked goods, but it started raining here in Seattle. And there's nothing quite like chocolate cupcakes to make the rain feel cozy. We started by frosting them orange (you can use my favorite Cream Cheese Frosting recipe at the bottom of my cinnamon roll post).

Then we used black decorator gel to draw concentric circles, like so.

Then we used toothpicks to drag "spiderwebs" from the center dot to the outside edge.

And we finished with assorted-color arachnid rings. Yummy!