Halloween 2012

Two fairy princesses and a tarantula went trick or treating tonight. And fir the first time ever Tom and I both went with them.

The girls were precious and Nick was the most courteous spider you ever saw. We just took the girls around the block, then Tom and Nock went around a little more.

Before trick or treat time, we had a pizza dinner and carved pumpkins. We're what you might call last-minute kinds of folks around here.

But we got it all done, and the kids had fun and stated warm. That was a bit of a concern since it was down in the forties. But I found purple and pink tights and shirts, and purple and black pants for the girls to wear under their dresses, and I sewed their wings onto their wool peacoats so they HAD to wear coats to have wings. I thought that was pretty clever.

Nick just had a black hoodie on inside out (so it was fuzzy and solid black) for his top and with the spider hood over that it was enough for him.

I had a hard time getting any good photos, but here we go:

Sandy better not mess up trick or treating!

I've worked on Nick's tarantula costume for over 2 weeks. It better not rain Wednesday!

I sewed it all by hand using old t-shirts and pants for material, old pillows for stuffing and some eyelash yarn i had on hand. I got the idea for the design from here: http://www.eclecticmom.com/home/2011/9/26/halloween-costume-spider.html

Taking the eyelash yarn down by hand took the longest, about 10-15 hours I'd guess. He's gonna be a cute tarantula!

Nick is doing great!

We are loving first grade and i think it is clear the benadryl deserves a lot of credit. Tom missed giving it to Nick one morning and it was very apparent from his behavior sheet.

But with just that little bit of help, Nick is doing awesome! He is in the living room right now reading a book to Grandma JM who is visiting. It's the book 'Snow' by P.D. Eastman.

This was his timeline project he turned in this month. His teacher raved about it and his oral presentation. Nana helped with her cricut machine and printing the photos. But he picked out the photos and events with me, came up with the sentences, wrote them, came up with the title, and glued it all down.

It's such a drastic change from the constant struggle of last year!

Photo interlude brought to you by Hurricane Sandy

Dinner at the real table in our real dining room. So nice to have space!

Photos up and Rearrangement done!

There has to be a better way to get all the things done that need doing AND be able to blog about them.

I did finally have to get the photos and videos off my phone. There wasn't anymore room, and I'd already had to delete some just to be able to take more.

Moving them off the phone and labeling them all with the dates and which girl was which took a good 3 hours last night. Choosing some and uploading them to photobucket took another hour tonight. But that's just the photos. To upload movies will mean I have to watch them all first, sort thru which to upload and then upload them. That'll take at least 4-5 hours of computer time.

GAH! There has to be a better way? How do people get their stuff off their phone and online efficently?

Anyway, I've been thinking about my mom and wanted to get some photos up for her. The kids are growing so fast! August, September and October are up. Videos to come when I find time.

On the home front, we have finished rearranging the house. Actually we finished last weekend. Every piece of furniture in the house except the sofa and recliner were moved. It was a lot of work, but it was nice to vacuum up the dustbunnies and get it all arranged. The kids room looks great. They have glow in the dark stars on the ceiling over Nick's bed, and the girls have butterfly wallies above theirs. then there are glow in the dark insects and spiders scattered around too. The girls pulled the drapes down, so they have no curtain. Not sure what to do about that. If I put it up they'll just pull it down again. It is on the 2nd floor, so not too big a deal, but the morning sun goes right in there and wakes them, hence we get woken up too. That kind of sucks on the weekends.

Our room is great except that it really needs to be organized now. I'll find the time somewhere...

The dining room is really wonderful! We do still have a round table in there piled up with kid crafts and games, but once I figure out what to do with those it will serve as a drinks table or something. It is so nice to have room for everyone AND all the food on one table now.

The den is ok, it's really a man-cave for Tom and Nick at this point. Computer parts and assorted electronics everywhere. I'm thinking I'll just let that be their responsibility to deal with.

The guest room is still in progress. The treadmill is in there but needs assembly. The kids' clothes are in there on the bed, but need to be sorted and put away. It's kind of between fall and summer right now, so once we can put away the summer clothes that will help. We have about a week to get it in shape for Grandma's visit though! JM is coming to spend Halloween here. The kids are excited!