A Patch of Pumpkins

We have gotten rather unceremonious about picking out pumpkins the last few years. This year was by far the worst. We remembered at dinner last night that we hadn't picked out or carved pumpkins yet. Trick-or-treat is Thursday evening, so the kids and I went to the store after school to pick out a pumpkin for each of us. Here are a couple pictures of the kids picking out their special pumpkins. Good times.

A Rare Sighting

No, it wasn't sasquatch, big foot, or the legendary skunk ape, but it was something almost as rare: the kids willingly playing a board game together (and enjoying it!).

Painting Practice

Danielle and I talked about possibly painting a design on her face to go along with her Halloween costume. We found lots of cool ideas online, but I'm not sure my hands are steady enough to create anything too elaborate. I bought a Klutz face painting book because it came with the paints and instructions (and I had a 15% off coupon). I figured we would have fun with it even if it didn't amount to anything for Halloween, and I was right. Danielle and I had fun practicing today. Between the balloon animals and now the face painting, I'm thinking maybe I should start hiring her out for birthday parties.

Soaking Up the Sun

Today's Pic

My friend ran her first marathon today. Danielle and I were thankful to have the opportunity to cheer her on. I've started and deleted about 20 sentences, because I just can't find a way to adequately capture the emotion of the day. All those runners, so many different stories and journeys to get to that point. Such a huge accomplishment.

 

 

Peacock Costume

Danielle and I finished most of her Halloween costume today.

First we made the skirt. We used 5 different colors of tulle, cut into strips, and alternated them around a piece of elastic I sewed together to fit Danielle's waist. There were only supposed to be 4 colors, but the 2 rolls of turquoise didn't quite match, despite being the same brand from the same supplier. Thankfully it didn't matter. (The rolls were each 6" by 25 yards. The 6" width was perfect.)

The skirt was actually very easy to make. We worked together to cut all the tulle at once, and then made the skirt in about an hour. It's huge and poofy. Just perfect!

The tail took a bit more time, but it really wasn't difficult. We started with a piece of cardboard cut into a fan shape. We used tacky glue & hot glue to glue a 6' turquoise boa to the cardboard. (We covered the entire cardboard, I just didn't post a picture of it completed.)

While the boa was drying, we sorted our peacock feathers by eye size. We started with the feathers with the big eyes and worked our way to the smaller ones.

This part was definitely easier with two. I held the peacock feathers in place while Danielle added the hot glue. I won't lie. It was painful at times. I have a nice little 3rd degree burn blister on my thumb, but it was all part of the experience. I loved working on this with Danielle.

Once all the feathers were meticulously hot glued to the tail, we turned it over and hot glued a piece of ribbon onto the cardboard. The ribbon is long enough to wrap around her waist and tie in a bow in the back if we decide to do that. If we don't, I'll just cut off the excess. I left it long so we had options.

The finished tail and skirt. We still need to make a headband, but that should be easy. If I get ambitious, we might add a couple more feathers here and there. Can't wait until Halloween!

I snapped a cell phone pic of the tail on her so she could see how it looks. She hates this picture because she thinks she looks short and like a little kid, but I'm posting it so you can see how the tail lays on the skirt. I'll post a better picture of the complete outfit on Halloween.

Costume Supplies

Time to get busy!

Catch with Dad

Running plays between the giggles

More Volleyball

Here are a couple pictures from today's volleyball games. My shutter speed was a little too slow, but I wasn't trying very hard. :) We only have one more week left in this league. She's planning to try out for club volleyball in a couple weeks. You know, because she doesn't have enough to do already.

Practicing

I think she's a little frustrated with how she sounds, but I think she sounds just right for as long as she's been playing...which is about one month.

Today's Picture

This was actually yesterday's picture. I didn't have a chance to touch my camera today other than removing it from the table so we could eat dinner.

Our butterfly bush has been full of butterflies lately, primarily painted ladies and clouded sulphurs. I did see a late migrating monarch and this buckeye butterfly yesterday.

Sparkling Personality

 

Halloween Luminaries II

The boys humored me with minimal grumbling, and we finished our luminaries this weekend. I was afraid I was going to lose them at any moment, so I just snapped a couple quick cell phone pics.

There's no doubt the luminaries are homemade, but I like them. I like that we all sat down at the table to work on them together, too. That's no small task any more.

Photo Sundries

Halloween Luminaries

We had a rare evening with no obligations, so Danielle and I enjoyed working on a Halloween craft that has been on our to do list. We have some larger jars we are planning to paint, too, but we are hoping to recruit the boys to join us with those.

Salt & pepper shakers from the dollar store



 





One of Danielle's cute little pumpkin luminaries