Can You Believe It's November?

Halloween is over! :)

S. F. decided to be a panda bear for Halloween. We forgot about stuffing the costume with a pillow, and since we were over at a friends' house to trick-0r-treat, she looked more like a severely anorexic panda.

The kids had a great time. S. D. in her skunk costume charmed everyone with her excessive cuteness. Of course we had the obligatory touching of her curly hair by total strangers. I think we'll have to enroll her in martial arts classes soon. ;)

Of course we forgot to take our camera, so I'm going to have to make them dress up this weekend in order to get photos. Thank goodness that Halloween is on a Friday next year. Thank you Leap Year. I hate it when Halloween is on a week night. Even though the kids were angels last night, they were a bit testy and tired this morning. All in all it's pretty good though.

On to Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Yea! I'm Accomplishing Something!

Here it is the night before Halloween, and I'm finishing up my eldest's costume, baking cupcakes for my middle one's Halloween party, and freezing food I cooked tonight for the next few nights. This feels like the most I've accomplished in weeks.

For the past month and a half it seems like all I've done is transport one child or another back and forth to the pediatrician or orthopedist. The baby and the four year old keep getting ear infections, and we keep having to tinker with the baby's Zantac dosage since he has acid reflux. S. F. broke her wrist playing field hockey. Now she's getting an orthosis, which is a fancy word for back brace, to try to halt the progression of her scoliosis. I think if the kid gets anymore x-rays she's either going to glow in the dark or develop super powers.

Thank goodness I don't have to take anyone to the doctor again until next month when the kids get their flu shots, and S.F. goes back for her next orthosis adjustment. Wait a minute, next month is the day after tomorrow. Oh well, maybe I'll get a break from being the super chauffeur after the New Year. ;)

I will say it does feel good to produce something you can see. The cooked food in the 'fridge, the cupcakes cooling on the counter, and the costume drying on dining room table (gotta love that fabric glue) do make me feel better. Now if I could just make the dishes magically get clean.

One Costume Crisis Averted

Thank you, S. F.

She got out the old skunk costume and convinced S. D., the 4 year old, to try it on. She immediately started to wiggle the tail of the costume which sent Little G, the 7 month old, into hysterics. S. D. is now happily proclaiming to everyone that she's going to be a skunk for Halloween.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, S. F.

Now we just have one costume to figure out. If only I could convince S. F. to be a ghost. ;)

Halloween Costume Dilemna

Halloween is less than a week away, and here I am searching the Family Fun website to come up with ideas for simple, homemade costumes for my 12 and 4 year old daughters. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. :)

The 12 year old wants her costume to be cool, which probably means creepy. Thankfully the 4 year old doesn't get scared by creepy things, and creepy is easy - a little face paint, black garb, teased hair, you're good to go. But the 4 year old, she's hard.

I pulled out the skunk costume my 12 year old wore when she was 4, but of course S.D. says, "No way!" So much for frugality. Even telling her that Grandmother helped to make it, (meaning did all the sewing part because I would have sewn my sleeve to the thing) didn't work. S.D. wants to be a Super Spy. The trick is trying to figure out how to make a Super Spy costume for a little girl that's recognizable. Trying to explain what the costume is as you go out trick-or-treating is really not much fun - been there, done that. Maybe I'll just print up a costume explanation on a business card and hand it out as we get questions and quizzical looks.

Maybe I'll just convince them both to be ghosts or vampires. Wish me luck.