Anna had her school Halloween parade and party today. She was also the daily helper, and I volunteered to help out with the class activities for the morning. Exciting day!
Anna is the daily helper!
The class made jack-o-lantern costumes out of paper bags over the last couple of weeks, and these were what they wore for the parade.
Pumpkins on Parade!
They also sang a cute song (to the tune of Frere Jacques):
Jack-o-lanterns, jack-o-lanterns
Halloween, Halloween
See the bats flying, cold black cats are hiding
Ghosts go “BOO!”, ghosts go “BOO!”
Not so many pictures today – it’s too dark and dreary out to get any decent photos – but I (mostly) finished the shirt. To do the sleeves, I had to pick out the seam with my trusty seam ripper. Then I sewed the strips on flat, starting near the cuffs. (I have plans to somehow make the cuffs come down over Carolyn’s hands since the sleeves are so long. I’ll figure that bit out later.) I cut a slit in the back neck because even before I started this project I could barely stretch the collar over her head. And then I sewed strips around the top of the chest and the shoulders, all the way up to the collar. Finally, I flipped the shirt inside out and sewed up the sleeve seams again. The shirt is now mostly done.
Mummy pants on the machine.
Now for the harder part. I thought I would do the pant legs the same as the sleeves, but I couldn’t get the seams open through all the many layers of stitching they must have done. Luckily, they *just* fit around the machine with the extension table bit taken off. Bonus: I didn’t have to stretch the fabric as I sewed since it was already stretched as much as it could go! However, this method only worked for the first few strips, after which there was too much material to push in between the needle and the rest of the machine. It worked out though, because by that point I was able to turn them around and work from the waistband side.
I didn’t put strips all the way up to the waistband. The shirt comes far enough that I figured I’d save some material and not cover the bits that don’t show! I have a mostly finished Mummy costume at this point. Just a few more details to work out in the next few days.
Carolyn wants to be a mummy for Halloween. However, we went looking for a mummy costume and were really disappointed in what we saw. They either looked goofy or, at one store we visited we were horrified to find an inappropriately “adult” mummy targeted towards 4-10 year old girls. Yes. A mummy with a bare midriff. Not. Happening.
DIY mummy it is, then. I drew some inspiration from this most amazing mummy costume tutorial, but I had already started by the time I found it so it’s probably not going to be nearly as awesome as that one is!
Future mummy costume here...just use your imagination!
That’s a set of $10 long underwear (a size or two big to fit over street clothes) and 2 yards of muslin (really nice muslin bought at a quilt shop, so another $10 – a bit of a splurge). A sheet would have worked as well, but I don’t have any unused white sheets at the moment.
Mmmm....a pot of tea and muslin. That should hit the spot!
I used a dozen tea bags, some hot water, and my spaghetti pot to soak the muslin for a half hour or so. Can’t have things looking too new, obviously! Then I squeezed out the fabric, ran it under some water until it ran mostly clear, and dried it for a bit.
A pile of wrinkly bandages. Now the real work begins!
I cut little snips into the fabric all along the selvedge edge, a couple of inches apart. (I didn’t measure, just tried to make it look about bandage width.) And then the easy and very satisfying bit: riiiiiiip!
The mummy begins to emerge...
You could probably hot-glue the strips on, but I decided it would be faster to just set my sewing machine to a long-ish stitch length and stitch them on. The first strip I sewed on had to be picked off – I forgot to stretch the knit a bit so that it would have some give after the muslin was stitched on. But then I was merrily on my way. So far, so good!
Today you are 7! It’s so hard to believe that – I know I say it every year, but I don’t have the slightest idea where the last year has gone…
Not quite raindrops on roses!
It being Monday, you went to school today. Of course! And Anna and I brought cupcakes later for you to share. You created a fabulous poster of your favorite things to share with the class while you were in the “spotlight” during morning meeting. One of your teachers played guitar while the class sang “Happy Birthday” in Spanish, and then the “Nursury Rhyme Song”. What a wonderful way to celebrate at school!
Carolyn in the spotlight!Having happy birthday sung to her...in Spanish!
After school you had your first piano lesson since school started. And then it was off to Denny’s for “breakfast for dinner”. Your choice, of course!
I think she likes the pop-up card!
We wrapped up the evening with presents. Anna gave you a black Webkinz cat, and we gave you your very first musical instrument all your own: a 3/4 size steel string guitar. You are very excited to start learning how to play!
What could be in here?
Let’s see…little factoids about your life right now… You still haven’t lost any teeth, but your two bottom middle teeth are so wiggly they can’t possibly hang on for too much longer! You love Phineas and Ferb, Inspector Gadget, every book you can get your hands on, playing computer, trying out musical instruments (harmonica is a current favorite) and helping cook things.
This finger goes here, that one goes there...
You are growing up and becoming a wonderful person, and I’m so excited to see what this next year brings!
Today we had a birthday party for Carolyn at a bowling alley. What fun!
Birthday girl on a bench
We only had to bring the birthday child and a cake. Or, in this case, cupcakes.
The bowling balls and pins are fondant.A tower of birthday cupcakes!I hate writing directly on cakes, the banner is much better!
I was heavily inspired by thesetwobowling cupcake projects. And honestly, this was probably the easiest birthday “cake” I’ve ever made. Cupcakes, piped swirls of icing, and fondant decor. There was so little work and they turned out so cute!
A souvenier bowling pin for everyone to sign!
Everyone seemed to have a great time! The fancy shoes on the slippery floor were an especially huge hit. As were the “lightsaber” battles with the glow stick necklaces we gave out…
Super stylish footwear. With velcro, too!
Neither of my children have bowled very much – actually, this might have been Anna’s very first time. Luckily, they were far more interested in throwing the ball down the lane than their scores!
Watching the ball...how many pins will fall down?Three hands are better than two!
I would definitely do a bowling party again. It’s by far one of the easiest birthday parties we’ve had for either child. Carolyn was absolutely thrilled with it!
This is our first experience with daily homework: spelling lists. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday have pretty normal assignments. Thursday is a more open-ended assignment, where we have to, as a family, come up with a “creative” way to use & practice the words. We knew it would be tough, since we are so new at this, but we realized that if we put our heads together and thought about it, we could figure something out!
We had to get even more creative to make them fit!
This afternoon I tried to clear off our overflowing bookshelves. When the books are all crammed together it’s hard to find anything, and the kids get frustrated looking for what they want. I thought, OK, I can get rid of most of the board books – I’ll keep a few for when Anna starts reading, but let the rest go. They’re covered with dust. Nobody looks at them anymore.
But I can’t.
I tried. I really did. There are piles of books strewn all over my living room as evidence of my failed attempt to let go.
Sandra Boynton, Karen Katz, Eric Carl, Eric Hill. Lift the flaps and crinkly, noisy, touchy books. This beautiful library of board books started both girls down the path of loving to read. How could they have been left behind so quickly?
In my head I know that keeping board books won’t keep my girls little, but my heart just isn’t ready to part with them yet.
Halloween is just two weeks away, so we needed to get some pumpkins!
We headed to a local farm market and parked in what must have been the last space available – everyone had the same idea for this drizzly Sunday morning.
Girls sitting amongst the pumpkins.Pumpkin perfection. Where's the carving knife??
We checked out the pumpkins and walked through the tepees they had set up. Those were very cool, they were dark inside and there were dozens and dozens of carved jack-o-lanterns lining the walls of the biggest one.
Just a few of the amazing carved pumpkins.
We skipped the hay ride because it was cold and rainy, but it was very popular. Hopefully next year the weather will be better!
Anna's pumpkin is nearly as big as she is!Carolyn really liked this little white pumpkin.
When all was said and done, we came home with three pumpkins, a half dozen pumpkin donuts, some cider, a butternut squash and Indian corn to hang on the door. What a fun way to spend the morning!
