Halloween 2010

Halloween came and went in full force. We made a week’s worth of Halloween meals- mummy hot dogs, pumpkin pizza, pumpkin soup, spiderweb and ghost pretzels. (Spiderweb idea from my friend Delia- they were great!)

 

 

On Friday we went to our ward Trunk or Treat. Here is elephant Leo on the hayride with John. Great picture, right? No, not great picture. Didn’t take another all night. Maybe we’ll do a photo shoot tomorrow. He was so dang cute, as always.

 

  

 

Here’s the girls ready for the party, all decked out. We had coats under the costumes. 

The highlight was the donut on a string. Hilarious.

On Saturday I took the kids to the park for their Halloween festivities.   I love it enough to do it alone without John. We trick or treated around the woods, got a free balloon, had a balloon get poked by a branch and fly away, and bought a huge bag of Kettle Corn.

And posed on a log while we waited for our turn to touch witch’s eyeballs and hair.

We went around our neighborhood- it was like a ghost town. No street lights, no kids, every 3 houses had a bowl of candy on the front porch, every 10th house had someone home. I guess the neighborhood next to us is packed. I kind of like only going for a half hour then coming home. The kids enjoyed passing out the candy right at 6 oclock to the huge masses of people starting during daylight.

And we never did carve pumpkins. Maybe for Family Home Evening tomorrow night. We’ll see.

Hooray for Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch and Chicago (LegoLand!)

 

Obligatory pumpkin patch trip. Here we are picking out pumpkins. (Like Leo’s hat? Crocheted it all. by.myself. Kind of excited about that.)

And here’s us on the hayride back from the pumpkin patch.

 

The pumpkin eating dinosaur…

 

Sophia’s highlight was petting the ponies.

The next day we headed to Chicago. We realized half way there that we gained an hour going to Illinois. Wohoo! Then Chicago traffic took it back and we just barely made it to meet John’s parents in time for the session.

 

John’s Mom and Dad watched the kids while we went to the Temple. Here she is keeping them busy around the parking lot. Sophia is a little Houdini. On the way to the Temple I was really chilly. Then a fever developed by the time we were done. I think it was not nursing Leo on his normal schedule. He was boycotting nursing when we made pitstops. So I ended up nursing him every 2 hours at night.

We went to IKEA for dinner, (mmmm Meatballs mmm). I bought some Christmas presents for the girls. some pots and pans, and random things for around the house- curtain wires for hanging kid’s artwork, magazine organization, tea lights, a mortar and pestel. Good trip.

Then we checked into our swanky Marriott hotel. I was so happy I had a luxurious cushy mattress to sleep on with my low grade fever. (Sophia took the picture below. Pretty good, considering she usually takes pictures of bananas and VHS’s lying around our house)

The next day we swam in the pool and I enjoyed the hot tub. The girls were all about watching cable. We finally checked out and went to the Rainforest cafe down the street in the Schaumberg Woodfield Mall. I’d never been, only heard about it from my sister and friends. The girls loved it, and the prices weren’t too bad, the food was good. The best part? Kids meal purchases meant a BOGO coupon for the Legoland discovery center. The same place we’d already hyped up for the kids trip. And the same place that charges almost 15 bucks a kid. Good deal.

Even though the kids got in free, LegoLand Discovery center was kind of anti-climatic. Sure, they had cool stuff made out of Legos. But there wasn’t much to DO…it was mainly looking at stuff made out of Legos, riding a cart to see a huge dragon made out of Legos, and then seeing a kind of lame instruction on how legos are made out of molds. The only thing to do was play with big legos at the end and endless legos at tables all around. Granted, it was packed when we went (on a Saturday), but I think it’s a one time trip- and probably best for 8-9 year old boys.

 

        

 

 

This was by far the coolest part: riding and pedaling this ride to make your seat go up and down.

John and the girls liked playing with humungous blocks.

 

Ahhh! King Kong Leo almost crashed the tower. Watch out! That lady on the right sat there and didn’t crack a smile once while Leo climbed up it.. Sorry Lady, I think it’s funny.

Ok, so maybe this was really the best part of Lego land- the Jamba Juice across the street. Strawberry Surf Rider, how I’ve missed you.

Hooray for Chicago!

Ice Cream Cone Costume- Pottery Barn Style

As seen on...

Cute, right? Let’s make it!

You’ll need (for 3-6 yr old)

1/2 to 1 yd white fleece

1/2 yd brown fleece

fleece for chocolate chips and sprinkles

Poly-fill stuffing , small amount

These are the four pieces you’re making, to be sewn together:

Ice cream top, Ice cream tube, scallop cone and waffle cone skirt.

Now let’s go!

Trace an A-line dress that fits the child onto pattern paper. I did that, then drew on it where I wanted the ice cream scoop tube to be, where the waffle cone would end and where the scallops would be. Then I cut the pattern from the waist up, and drew things like below- side darts in back and a middle dart for the front, and a center line to cut on the fold. You could just cut straight from the dress if you’re bold like that.

Then I cut out the white fleece, and sewed darts in the middle front and back sides.

Sew the shoulders and side seams, with ride sides together.

Cut a slit in the back for opening, then fold down the neckline, back slit, and arm holes 1/2 inch and sew all the way around.

Cut out the chocolate chips and sprinkles and sew them on. I didn’t turn under to applique. Just sewed on, then trimmed with the scissors flush with the fabric.

Ok, top is done. Hooray! Go get yourself some mm’s. You deserve it.

For the waffle cone bottom:

Cut out the cone brown fleece, basically two rectangles the width of the bottom of the dress, from knee to top of hip Sew together at sides. Then sew on waffle cone topstitching. I pinned out the lines, then sewed 1/2 to the side of the pins (so I wouldn’t have to take them out as I sewed fast). I used thick denim gold thread on stitch length 4 so I could go fast. Sew all one direction then the other direction.

Hem the bottom. And it will look like this.

For the scallop part, cut out fleece about 6 inches high and the width of the dress, times two. Sew up the sides. Cut out scallops along the edge.

Sew along just above the scallops to the top of the waffle cone skirt.

Now let’s do the tube for the waist. Cut out a strip about 8 inches wide and 6 inches wider than the child’s waist. This will make a tube and be stuffed and add body to the dress. Cut out the chocolate chips and sew on the bottom 4 inches of the strip.

Ok, so I should have pics for this part but didn’t for some reason:

Sew the short sides together, right sides together, making a loop. Fold over the chocolate chip part to the midline of the fabric. Sew along this midline, stuffing every few inches. When you’re finished it should look like this:

You might be wondering why you have a 3 inch strip of extra fabric. It will make it easier to sew later, I promise.

Now you have the pieces we saw earlier (only the skirt pieces are attached.

Now take the top and the tube and sew the tube onto the top. I did this by pinning the tube seam line onto the bottom 1/2 inch of the top, and wedged it into my sewing machine like this. Then I continually pushed the tube over so I could sew. Push and smush all the way around.

Then I sewed the skirt piece onto this seam line. I put the skirt ontop and flipped it up so right sides are together and the excess white strip is hanging down. Sew around. Smush and push.

And you’re done!