Let's Dress Up - Halloween Costumes 2017

2017 has literally flown by. Here it is, the end of October and I have not even caught up on my posts from September! One of my favorite things about fall, besides the cooler, weather, changing colors, crunching leaves . . . .  Okay, let’s be real. I love almost everything about fall! But, one of the most fun things I do is to create Halloween costumes for each of our grandkids.  And this year is no exception.

We now have six grandchildren, ranging in ages from 11 years to 16 months.  For the first time since I’ve known him, Michael picked out a store-bought “morph suit” costume and I can’t wait to see him all dressed up.  But, each of the others had special requests that I was happy to comply with. First up was Adellelyn. I received this picture in a text and knew I needed to follow up with a Facetime consultation to be sure I could capture her vision.

Adellelyn had very specific instructions for her Blue Maccaw (from RIO) costume:

·      Feathers under her arms to be her wings using the boa below

·      Light aqua blue color

·      Tulle is too scratchy

·      Soft full skirt for tail feathers 

For some reason, I can't find any photos of the outfit while working on it--I could have sworn I took some.  :-(  While she added different pants for a book character day costume, you can get a glimpse of what I created in this picture:

Archer loves dinosaurs! Last year I made a fun triceratops costume from a pattern I found online, but this year he wanted to be a T Rex.  There aren’t lots of great tutorials or patterns for a T Rex, so with old episodes of “Project Runway” playing, I channeled my inner Tim Gunn and “made it work”.  I pretty much love the way it all turned out!

Toddler D has been talking about his costume for months: a pumpkin! He went to the fabric store with me and also requested that it be very soft, so soft he gets!

For comparison's sake, here is a picture of his daddy at about the same age.  :-)

His other request was that his baby brother be his pumpkin seed. Instead, I was able to negotiate with him to carry seeds and let BabyD2 have a different costume. I made a treat bag with felt seeds on the front, but he really wanted to carry real seeds, so I added a clear plastic pocket to the front to hold his real pumpkin seeds.

Silas didn’t quite understand what picking out a costume meant, so his parents and I decided to go with one of his favorite books:  Dragons Love Tacos.  Silas will be the dragon, Jana the taco and Rob will be the jar of spicy salsa.

One of my favorite features of Silas's dragon costume is the fact that I made slits on the inside for his hands, so that when he raises his hands, his wings soar a bit.  :-)

Of course, he discovered that they still don't let him actually fly, but I think he's okay with that. 

Last, but not least, is our tiniest grandson, BabyD2. He loves dogs and cats, so a black cat seemed like the natural choice for him.

Well, Halloween is just hours (or days) away, so I'd better hit the Publish button and move on. I can't wait to see all of our little goblins decked out for the holiday!

Bees, Birds and Blooms (+ a Lot of Slipping)

Michael and Adellelyn spent the week with us while their parents were chaperoning a youth camp last month. They are now 11 and 8 years old (HARD to believe), and are busy, busy, busy. Ron was on call the week they were here, but fortunately didn't get called out much at all and was able to spend the evenings and Saturday with us.  I picked them up on Sunday afternoon and they were excited for the adventure!

On the way home, we played car games, made a grocery list and discussed what they wanted to do while at our house. The top things on their list were:
        *Slip & Sliding in the backyard
        *Picking Blueberries
        *Going to Sewing Camp
        *Going to the Duck Pond
        * Going to a bee Farm (added after hearing about buying honey at the Farmer's Market)

Since Callie's boys don't go to school on Mondays, we used that day to play outdoors with Toddler D.

They climbed the fig tree and picked figs. . .

Looked for lizards & bugs, played in the sandbox and on the swingset . . .

And had tons of fun on the Slip & Slide!!! Toddler D even got brave enough to try it out!

And that was just the morning!!! In the afternoon, they began the Kids Sew Camp at Fabric Boutique. Before signing them up, I made sure that both wanted to attend (they did) and that there would be boy-friendly projects to make (there were).

Tuesday morning, I made a call to a local honey business and when I didn't get a response, we decided to drive over to check it out. Hummer & Sons is small establishment and though they don't normally offer tours, the owner came out and offered to show us around.  It was great! We learned the process of getting the honey, getting the water out of it, packaging it and even got to taste honey from the comb.

We drove out to the Sunflower Trail near Gilliam one day and the kids had a great time running down the dirt road and selecting flowers to bring home with us.

We even found a nest tucked in the stems.

With two eggs inside!!  Soon there will be 2 tiny red-winged blackbirds babies begging for food!

We kept busy around the house on Thursday morning, creating Father's Day gifts for Papaw and their Daddy.

We also tie-dyed some shirts in patriotic colors to wear on the Fourth of July.

It was the last day of Sewing Camp, so they had a small ceremony to receive their certificates and show off what they had made.

That evening, Michael and Adellelyn joined us for one of the Summer Fun Runs.  Michael ran the 3.1 miles with Papaw and I joined Adellelyn for the kids' 1.5 mile run. It was quite hot and humid!

On Friday, we went berry picking with Callie and the little boys.  It was hot, but fun!

Miles enjoyed the berries as much as anyone, picking them right off the vine or out of the bucket and popping them into his mouth.

Adellelyn helped me make some cobbler that afternoon and we enjoyed dinner on the deck that evening.

There was more Slip & Sliding in the afternoon, and Luke and Adellelyn spent some time talking to the fairies. (She is so sweet and patient with the little cousins)

Ron was off on Saturday, so we were able to work at the food pantry in the morning and explore Norton Gallery and the Refuge in the afternoon.

I've said it before, but anytime these kids are outdoors, they are happy!!!

We had such a good week together. I was pretty exhausted when it was finished, but Michael and Adellelyn seemed to have lots of fun and I enjoyed being with them.