Bits&Pieces Halloween

1/2 Max, Iam going to eat you up!

3 My rad pumpkin I picked on Lilly's school field trip

4 Fall/Halloween Color matching 

5 Halloween Gingerbread House 

6 A House full of decorations

7 Halloween Bunting and Houses I made of local "Haunted" Houses

8 Our Spider I Hide every day, the girls knew I hide and would love to look for it every day

9 My hooded cape for part of my Halloween costume. Lilly wanted me to go as Eleanor, Merida's mom.

10 Classic Halloween coloring book

11 "Booing" our neighbors and friends, we made these on the cricut   

12 Halloween water balls. The girls would pull out all the different hidden items and graph them 

12 Halloween popcorn for one of our "Family Friday Movie Nights"

Hamilton

Took Hamilton to the Apple Orchard to see if he would like it there. It went down hill the second he saw all of the other ducks... He ran away scared from them and hide behind the kids. He would not get in the pond. Decided to take himself on a tour threw the event barn and walk around with the groom whose wedding was going on. Tried preening on the large dogs who did not appreciate it. Thought he would go shopping in their cider store. At one point I looked over and a group of women were standing in a circle talking... and so was Hamilton like he was one of them.... He thoroughly enjoyed his day, I think his highlight was riding shotgun and watching the birds out the sunroof... I think I have given him a complex..

Tilly Monster

We have finally named this little gal! Her name is Tilly. I call her Tilly Monster or Monster..Because she is. The breeder named her Jude and we were not sure if we were going to keep it.  Lilly wanted to name her peaches. Raley wanted to name her Noona. I liked Indie or Tatters.. because she looks like a tater tot. My mom liked Tilly because shes french and so is the name or Josie for her housekeeper that raised my mom. As far as Jude my mom like the name and thought it was funny, Lilly hated it, and for myself it would have been weird. When I was married that would have been the name if we had a son. But I was blessed with two daughters! Lilly and Raley are over the moon for their new puppy that my parents got for them. Shes perfect. She loves to play and is really wild but is such a snuggle bug she always has to be sitting on you. Remy finally warmed up to her and Raley calls them the papa lion and baby lion because that is what they sound like when they play. Lilly has been feeding her and "training" her, we took her to Show and Tell at school the last week and she was a hit!  

Thankful Basket

This year I am starting a new tradition to do with my family. I made these little felt baskets one for each of us ( Lilly, Raley, my Mother, my Father, and myself). Each night we write one thing we are thankful for that the other person did. So I will stick a note in everyone's but myself same with everyone else will do the same. Then on Thanksgiving eve we will open all the notes and read them. Its a great way to appreciate the little things your loved ones do on a daily basis and to teach little ones about the value of the small things to be Thankful for.  

Thankful Tree

Got all the Halloween stuff up today and Thanksgiving is no out! This is our Thanksgiving Thankful Tree. It has 22 hands from each girl on it. Everyday I am are going to write down 1 thing they are each Thankful for! Today Lilly's was "Her Friends and mommy" Raley's was "Her Minnie Mouse game" that I got her for her birthday. Its going to be fun seeing all the hands and their thoughts when it all done and going back over the years seeing the different sets! On the back I wrote there names and will number them.

DIY costume Max from Where The Wild Things Are

 I have had both of these costumes done for a month or more now...My goal was to get these up so other people could use the idea.. but celebrating Halloween and doing activities for that kiiiind of trumped. Sorry, maybe next year! For Raley's costume this year, she was Max from Where The Wild Things Are. It has always been my favorite children's book, from when I was little to now. I always wanted to do it if I ever had a son, but I think it is very fitting for Raley. She is wild and fearless and full of imagination. When she was little ( she still does it now sometimes) she would growl at Lilly and me and snap her teeth and cackle because it would always make Lilly squeal and run. Whenever she did  it always made me think of Max when he yell to his mom "Iam going to eat you up!!"

To make the costume, I wanted soft white snuggly fabric. I took Raley and gave her the choices and she picked this one and it is exactly the one that I had in mind! For the body I folded the fabric in half ( so the fluffy sides were touching) and laid her on the fold so half of her body was on the fabric and I traced it. For the arms and hood I used Simplicity pattern 5520 because it was what was in front of me. I used the arms for the little boys knight costume on the pattern and the hood that was on there also along with the "ears" I did make four of these pieces so it was lined when it was down. The ears I just stuffed and sewed on the outside. I cut the legs and arms so they looked like claws. The tail I just cut out what I thought a wolf tail would look like. I cut a little hole in the but and sewed it in from the inside. It pulls up on her so I did not put a zipper or buttons on. For the crown, I used the same fur as the tail. I also got the heaviest fusible interface  that I could but I did not iron it because I was afraid it would melt the fabric. I hand sewed the fur on and I wanted it to be detached from the hood so she could wear it alone.I put all the tips of the crown together and clipped them with a clothes pin so it would give it that funky curl. I really love it, so does Raley!  FYI This outfit cost $10 to make, in your face $90 pottery barn kids costume, Ha!

DIY Merida Brave Costume Part 2

 

Lilly and I love the movie "Brave" so it was a easy do decided on a Halloween costume this year. For those who have not seen it, It is probably on of my favorite "Princess" movies. Its about changing your fate and she does not need a prince to save her. Since I am a single moma of girls this message is huge for me. Anyways, For a long time there was only the blue "Princess" dress out, and we wanted the Green "Adventure" dress that she wears for most of the movie. So naturally I made her one!  I would have made it even if it was out for sale. Because I love to make their costumes, I have always made them, except one year when my mother made it because I was super sick. I had this pattern from Lilly's costume last year. 

I used Simplicity pattern 5520. But I did not use the whole pattern and used pieces from both patterns. I used the (referring to the pattern front) purple dress for the body, the sleeves from the brown dress but chopped them so they were not as long and took them in so they were more fitting. Once they were attached to the body I then chopped them in half and and added the gold band. I used gold folded ribbon for the sleeves and collar. I did not use the collar from the pattern. For the bottom Satin with this pattern because of the curve that goes around the bottom is really hard to get a good looking seem and I was not wanting to spend a ton of time messing with it so I zig zagged the green so it would not fray and then cut a gold band and sewed that to the outside. 

For the pouch I used a fake leather fabric.

For the arrows I used sticks from the yard and hot glued feathers and wrapped floss around it and black felt for the tip. Her bow is not in the pictures but it was made with a curved stick and string  and wraped with the same colored floss.