Belated Trick or Treat

The Girl decided to go T/T as a princess instead of as Kiki. Don't worry, my feelings were not hurt. She was a team player and wore the costume to our party so it's only fair that she gets to go as a princess on the day that's all about her (well, and other kids).



Check out this house! This is why I love going T/T-ing in this neighbourhood even though it is always crazy busy. This is a residence, a single family home! This picture was taken in their courtyard. People go into great lengths to decorate.


My Belle found another Belle.


My Belle found a werewolf! Looking at her expression, you'd think she found something funny. What she was saying was, "look, scary werewolf!" Why the smile on her face, I don't understand.


Here she is T/T-ing with her pal Dorothy. I love Dorothy's ruby slippers.


So while I was helping the girl dress up as Belle, the Boy hovered in the background asking to be dressed as Cinderella or Snow White. I guess that's where I draw the line. My Boy is not getting dressed by me and then going out in public in a dress. So we convinced him to be Totoro again. Here is my big plan when all the craziness in the near future is over: I am going to start sewing him dress up costumes that are appropriate for him. At the moment, I plan on sewing a prince costume, a cape of some sort and a car costume. We'll see how far I get.

"This one is so BIG! I think I like those people the best!"


We had a very respectable loot this year - full sized Kit Kats, lots of chocolate bites, full sized Twix, Twizzlers, etc. The kids made good choices (I did train the Girl before I sent her out. Always choose chocolates over suckers.) and they were very proud of their work. They each got to choose 3 pieces of candies to be devoured whenever they wanted. The rest went to the parents. I am also letting them bring some on our trip. Did I mention we are going on a trip to Florida? Like... tomorrow?

Anyway, we had a great Halloween. I am already starting to think about our costumes for next year. Here is a final picture - a group shot of all the kids we went T/T-ing with.

Costume Production Phase 3

Here are the rest of the pictures. We may do one more photo shoot on Halloween but this may be it.

Here is what we were trying for Hubby's costume. If you haven't seen it yet, Ponyo is a very sweet little movie.



Here is what we did:


This is Ponyo's front and back. Her back is arguably the most successful part of the doll. Ponyo is the only thing I hand sewed this Halloween. We made her 2 hours before the party.





Pumpkin head modeling the wig. His hair was maybe the hardest part of the project. I was inspired to make a felt hat after seeing this amazing work! Too bad I can't find the link anymore.



This is the costume I was trying for me:


Here is her wig. I can hardly call this sewing. This is more of a hot glue gun project.


I did sew the dress and cut up a white t-shirt to make the top slip. I think it's the mask that makes the costume though. Thanks, Carolyn, for loaning me the shoes to complete the outfit.



One last picture of Totoro caught causing all kinds of trouble before we headed out for the party.


Happy Halloween!

Costume Production Phase 2

Lots of sewing, not very much of anything else happening around here.

"Check us out!"


"What's that in your arms? A friend?"


"You check out my friend, I want to see yours. What's in your bag?"


So girly girl.



"I am ready to party!"


Totoro and his friend.


Totoro momentarily distracted by a rubber ducky.


In case you are interested, here are the resources I used:

The black dress - Based on the Prairie Top in the book Seams To Me. I just lengthened the top and added an strip of elastic on the inside of the front to give it a little more shape.

The black kitty - Based on the Pointy Kitty by Wee Wonderful. I used fleece instead of cotton and stitched the ears a little differently. I placed the eyes and nose based on this picture.

The orange bag - It is practically identical to this.

The Totoro Plush - I didn't even use a pattern. I started with sort of an egg shape for the body. Then I put on the tummy patch and shaped the body by sewing a couple of darts on the bottom. Once the body was sewn, the rest of added on as I went.

The Totoro costume body - It's based on McCall 8938. I think I followed mostly the skunk instructions. I made up the tail by sewing a baton type shape and added darts.

Totoro cap - I used this tutorial for the hat part. Then I improvised based on this picture.

While I am at it, I thought I'd find the pattern I used last year as well.

Little Red Riding Hood - I knitted the hood based on this pattern and the girl just wore whichever dress she wanted.

Wolfie - The hat was based on this book. I can't remember much else. I don't even think I can do it again if I had to. :-)

So there. Still a week to go. Is anyone else still sewing like mad?

Pumpkin Patch

Hubby took a day off to go to a fancy pumpkin patch with the kids. It was pretty expensive so the crazy deal seeker woman in me made sure we were there for a long time and did everything.

We started the adventure off by visiting the goats. They were super cute. There were some baby ones there that were only a couple weeks old.




Then we went on a pony ride. The kids loved it. They each went on at least 4 times. I think the girl might have gone on 5 times.


The girl was totally in a trance when she was on the pony. At one point, she sang to the pony and looked very purposeful, as if she and the pony were going on a journey. Then there were times when she rode like a bobble head. Check it out.



The boy looked totally confident and comfortable on the pony.


Then we went on the train ride to Ghost Town. The Boy was very excited about the train. We ended up going on the train ride 4 or 5 times.


The Girl did go on the train ride multiple times but she and her friend were more interested in the bouncy houses.


Almost forgot the hay ride. It wasn't very exciting and was very dusty. We only went on it once and nobody wanted to go on it again.


While the girl was busy chasing her friend around, we took the time to take some nice pictures for the boy.








It was a long day but also a super fun family day. We concluded the day by decorating the house and having pizza. I love this time of year. Halloween is so much fun and then comes Thanksgiving and Christmas. 2009 is going to be over before I know it!

Costume Production Phase 1

Following with the dress up theme... I have been working on Halloween costumes. We are planning a theme. It all started with the girl. Remember this post? I've always loved Kiki's Delivery Service and I think my girl is a real life anime character. I still have to make her a bag, a cat and a radio.



Once I figured what I wanted the girl to be, the choice for the boy was obvious. Remember my obsession with this guy? Well, this is what I did. Obviously this is a work in progress. I am still trying to figure out the head. I will also make him a sack for like that little pouch Totoro is carrying for all his candy loot.


I am not making much progress on Hubby and my costume. So much sewing, so little time!

Happy Halloween!!

Party 4

There actually was a party 4. Our pre-school lesson this week was about Halloween as well. We've really gotten a lot of use out of these costumes.

From left: Wolfie, Tiger, Tinker Bell, Firefighter on a break, Little Red


Animals, fairies and people all need to snack.



Stay tuned. I am working on a special post for tomorrow.

Party 3

The third Halloween party was more of a Halloween playgroup. We have this tradition to host a costumed playgroup and taking a group shot of all the children in our group. In the past, the picture taking is a stressful event filled with tears, screams, shrieks, escape attempts and yells. (Don't make the assumption that the kids are doing all these things. The moms sure did participate.) This year, I thought we actually did quite well. Of course we still didn't get a picture in which everyone looked at the camera (in all fairness, there were at least 6 cameras flashing away) but I think between these two pictures from my camera, we can at least see all the precious little faces.




Here is how we got it done:

Party 2

The second party we went to was the MOMS Club party. It's a little more low key. We had great weather and the host family has a wonderful outdoor area for all the kids to run around. We had a grand time and the pot-luck food was yum yum yum.

Gramama and Little Red enjoying some fine dining.


While Wolfie was a good sport it got pretty hot wearing his fur/fleece head piece. Here are pictures of Wolfie on a break.


These were our contribution to the buffet table.