Halloween fun

So I was given the ultimatum that I have been lackadaisical with posts, especially Halloween pictures of my kids, and thought that since I had a couple pictures on my camera before it died again--we need a new one--I would put them up. The bulk of my Halloween pictures and birthday pictures of both Benjamin and Lydia are on my mother-in-law's camera, so I will be posting the rest rather late. So, for the time being, enjoy the smattering of pictures I have to offer.

Lydia told me at least twenty different ideas for her costume. She would always say, "Mom I want to be ____ for Halloween, okay?" So about two weeks before Halloween, I asked her what she was going to be, and she said she wanted to be a butterfly. So butterfly she was.

She had to be a pink and purple butterfly, no exceptions. So I made her pink and purple wings with a pink and purple tutu. there is a little bit of black in there too.

She was so excited to trick or treat this year, and insisted on using her chicken wire basket she used last year with her chicken costume. She made such a beautiful butterfly, even though we could not figure out the pipe cleaners. Pipe cleaners work in Kindergarten. They do not work for grownups (except for teachers).

I had ideas about what I wanted Benjamin to be, but it was not set in stone until about four weeks before Halloween (yes, I make my kids' costumes, and yes, I am a procrastinator). I saw an idea for a baby owl costume on Martha Stewart and decided to run with it. I changed it drastically, like I made my own wing patterns, and put feathers on the back and front. Benjamin just looked at it and kept saying "pretty bird" all the time.

Well, when I got him to try it on, he would not take it off, including the eye "goggles" (which I will need to reinvent if I ever have another child wear it). By the end of the night the goggles had slipped down around his neck, but he would not let me take them off.

Our ward had a trunk or treat, a.k.a. bags of candy in ten minutes (visions of driving three hours to get a few pieces of candy when I was little flashed through my head the whole time). Ben just absolutely loved his costume, as I said, and ran around the whole time flapping his wings and saying "who, who". That is why all the pictures I have of him are of him running around, or the back of his costume. Works great when you have such a cute feathery back, though.

Aren't those feathers adorable???! I absolutely love how both costumes turned out!

The little owl did not like being in his natural habitat; he wanted to be running around, so the only picture we got of him in the tree was of him crying.

Ben's head grew from the time I measured it for the "hat"...I will need to remake that one too if it is ever worn again.

Will the madness ever end???

So I think Brian thinks I am having a love affair with burlap. Don't get me wrong, burlap is great, but I may have possibly gone overboard...it all started last year at Halloween, with this as the result: Yes, he is supposed to be a sack of potatoes. It was a very ambitious costume, and it turned out beautifully. I had yardage leftover from Ben's costume, and it morphed into a table runner, napkin rings, Christmas decorations, etc. I thought I was just being resourceful.

Well, here is where I may have gone too far. We have two large front windows sans covering; a.k.a. everyone can see into our house at night. So I did what any avid sewer would do...skip over the pre-made curtain panels at the store, and go directly to the fabric aisle; window mistreatment here I come.** Here was my thinking:

Angel Tia complete with wings and halo: "You must stay away from the burlap aisle...there is too much burlap in your house."

Devil Tia, you get the picture: "Buying twelve yards of burlap won't hurt...plus you will be saving so much more money than buying pre-made."

Angel: "But you will save your time!"

Devil: "Who needs to save time; it's all about frugality!"

You may wonder why the seemingly ovbious choice gets to be played by the devil...yes, the devil won out...but it is perfectly logical. I love to start projects; ask Brian. The finishing of projects, however, sometimes gets drawn out. I started these curtains last week, and six yards of burlap are sitting in my dining room with my sewing machine begging to be hemmed and hung up. Two panels are hung beautifully, but I had to take a break from the burlap. Staring at it while sewing it was giving me a monotonous beige headache, so I decided to make this post about burlap. Any Idahoan would completely appreciate burlap; Brian might not, so much. It may be because of the fact that our dining room is no longer a dining room, but a perpetual sewing room for the past week, or the fact that he is not an Idahoan. You decide, but I think I had better go finish some curtains! (Devil Tia is smiling sweetly on my shoulder.)

Oh, I will post pictures of my curtains when I get new batteries for my camera. Until then, I leave you in anticipation of the coolest curtains you have ever seen!

**If you want to learn about window mistreatments, visit this blog with cool mistreatment ideas (I completely owe this gem find to Elise, my good friend who just moved to Rio Rancho, NM): nestingplacenc.blogspot.com.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

So we decided that since I have never been, and the kids would love it, we would attend the balloon fiesta Saturday morning. We got up at 4:30 in the morning and headed to the train station to catch the 5:03 train to Albuquerque. Ben didn't want to wake up, and it wasn't until we were on the train that he started bouncing off the walls with excitement. Lydia kept asking if we got up in the night...to the perspective of a three year old, yes, we did get up in the middle of the night. We had so much fun, and it was only slightly cold...nothing that would make you think, "gosh I'm cold!" There were literaly a hundred thousand people there, no joke. It is a 360 acre field, and we were all there, crowded among the balloons as they were filled with hot air and launched. There were lots of "zebras" running around (kind of referees, but they literally call them "zebras.") getting the 700+ balloons safely off the ground. It was such an awe-inspiring site, and we will definitely go next year! Enjoy the pictures.

This is the first row of balloons getting ready to launch at about 6:30.

Benjamin and I enjoying the show.

Two of my cuties standing in the cold watching the balloons.

Rosy cheeks and noses.

The first few balloons lifting off.

This is the balloon we parked ourselves next to during the mass ascension. We thought it was an old lady...

as you can see by the pink fingernails...but...

it ended up being a Cupid complete with wings!

Lydia and Benjamin each had their different favorites...

Ben's favorite was the "fi-fi". He would not stop talking about it, except for the ten minute power nap he took on the train ride home.

Lydia could not stop talking about "Alpha Bader" (she can say Darth Vader, but she emphatically insists that: "No, he is Alpha Bader, not Darth Vader.")

It was a fantastic experience, one I would recommend to everyone before the end of their lifetime, so I guess I am suggesting you put it on your bucket list.