Halloween 2013

Annika dressed up as the Little Mermaid for her class party this morning.

 

"Mummy dogs" for supper.

 

Tinker Bell is ready to go trick or treating.

Thomas the Train and Tinker Bell

Hello Thomas!

The haul!  

I don't think we've ever collected this much candy before!! We always dump the kids' bags together, so it's not so noticeable when Mom and Dad start sneaking treats! ;)

My costume.  

One of these years I'll be something more exciting and creative.

Happy Halloween!!

Pumpkin carving

Our pumpkins - probably not going to win any awards, but we had fun doing them. Annika chose the moon and star design and Emmett stuck with a classic jack-o-latern face. Now to wait for the seeds to finish roasting...

PS. I have a bunch of pictures from our vacation that I've been meaning to post, just haven't had the time yet. Soon!

Getaway

It was time for a change in scenery.

Family pictures

Last week we had some family photos done, and I absolutely love them. It always seems like a bit of a hassle to do family pictures (what to wear, where to go, the cost of the photographer, will the weather cooperate, will the kids cooperate, etc) but it's totally worth it.  I actually have a few nice photos of Emmett now!! (Some of you on FB or Instagram will have seen his terrible school photo proofs :P).  Sorry for tons and tons of pictures, but I just had to share them.  How am I going to pick only one or two to put on the Christmas card??

 

Pie

I made my first lemon meringue pie today for our church Thanksgiving supper (and I use the term "made" pretty loosely - I used a frozen pie shell and a mix for the filling). Annika (my sour-lovin' girl) declared it a success!

Mine

Lookie lookie, what's hiding in mama's purse? And I'm not sharing!!

Play date

Annika had her first play date with a school friend this afternoon, and it went really well. She was so excited about it - she couldn't wait for her friend to arrive.

Mini

I think this is my favorite thing to bake - banana chocolate chip loaf as mini muffins. It's quick and easy and gets rave reviews every time.

Thankful

Today in Sunday School I had the kids make "thankful" collages. I cut out a ton of pictures beforehand (after learning last week that 7 preschoolers with scissors is a bad idea) and they chose what they wanted on their collage and glued it on. Here is Emmett's (apparently he's very thankful for drills and trains). :)

Thanksgiving supper

Thanksgiving supper #1 of 3 (in the next week).

"3 shots"

Tonight at book club I ordered something that was supposed to be 3 "shooters" of dessert (chocolate mousse, hot fudge sundae, and strawberry cheesecake). The "shot" glasses were quite a bit bigger than I expected!!  Yikes!!!

Leaves

21

I was just about ready to turn on the furnace, but the last few days have been a bit nicer and it's not even that bad in the house (although I'm still cold most of the time).

Funny how things change

I used to despise onions (except for onion rings and French onion soup) and now I happily fry up a pan-full for in tonight's supper (although I still won't eat them raw). Gives me hope that maybe someday my own picky eaters may be not so picky.

Black & white

I'm not usually a scarf-wearer (other than with my winter parka), but given that we haven't turned on the heat yet, I'm really enjoying this one today!

Go Jets go!

Having fun with the "glow sticks" we brought home from last night's Jets game.

Hole-y tights upcycled into new treasures

As I've mentioned before, Annika loves to wear skirts and dresses, and she has an impressive collection of tights to go with them.  There are 13 pairs pictured here in her drawer, plus 3 not pictured.  The majority of them came from my mom, who found a great deal last year when she was in the States (3 pairs for $10) and bought 9 pairs for Annika (so sad they didn't come in my size!).  However, as you probably saw yesterday, they're not all in great condition anymore.  The toes are usually the first to go - then what?  Seems like a shame to just throw them away, so today I went looking for ways to "upcycle" tights with holes in the toes.

I found two different ideas - both great and very easy.  The first idea is the simplest - turn your tights into "fingerless" gloves by simply cutting off the legs and toes and adding a small hole in the heel for your thumb to go through. I absolutely love the second idea I found - turn your tights in leggings.  This took a little longer (about half an hour with my sewing machine, since I'm a little out of practice), but they turned out great (forgive me for the poor lighting in my photos - it's really the same pair of tights, despite the color differences).

Annika loved my new creations.  The fingerless gloves are a little big on her (understandably, since her arms are smaller than her legs), but they've already been referred to as "princess gloves" and a "cast" for a broken arm.  I'm thinking they'll get lots of play as dress up items.  The leggings are great, and I can see her getting a lot of wear out of them.  I'll probably do this with all her other tights, as she wears them out.  Even the ones that are too short for full-length leggings would make good capri leggings for those "in-between" type days (which sadly it looks like we are past - brrr it's chilly today!).

Hurray for upcycling!

Peek-a-boo

I guess last year's tights won't make it through another season.

Volunteer morning

I spent my morning volunteering in Annika's classroom. I took pictures of the kids for their portfolios, sorted pages for the portfolios, organized the weekly take-home folders and pasted their color collages onto construction paper.  I also got to be a bit of a "fly on the wall" and watch Annika in class, which was neat.  She's quiet (of course), but she did interact with the teacher and the other kids, and she looked like she was having a good time.  I'm hoping to be able to volunteer somewhat regularly (maybe twice a month), while Emmett is at preschool.  It's nice to get to know the kids she's with in class.  I had to laugh, after the teacher introduced me as "Annika's mom", one little girl took one look at me and said right away "you look like Annika".  ;)