Halloween And The Making Of Queen Elsa

So I know Halloween is gone, but I'm finally finishing this post! 

Trick or treat! 

 

We didn't do much on the actual day of Halloween but we went to a few local events leading up to it and did a few things at home.

I wanted to carve pumpkins; however, we never did.  We didn't mainly because I wanted to take the kids to a pumpkin patch and let them pick out a pumpkin. This never happened, so instead we bought them each a pumpkin from Walmart to paint.

 Of course, Caleb just went ham on his, Cate was making a masterpiece, and AJ got bored easily and just said he's done. After watching them paint theirs, I wish I would have bought me one to paint. They are currently on display in the hall.

 

"Let it go!" "Let it go!" Everyone in the world has probably heard this song and been forced against their will to watch the movie countless times. I know we have and I looooved the movie. However, instead of learning the lyrics like the husband and being able to actually sing it, I was busy writing spoofs to the song. You know, because I think I'm largely hysterical and besides God blessed me with sarcasm and a pen. I couldn't just let that go to waste.

Okay, so for halloween I knew Cate was going to want to be Queen Elsa.

Caleb was Spiderman and you mustn't ever call him Caleb while he's in costume or he might unleash his spidey powers on you. He was also certain that I wasn't fixing his mask right. It kept digging in his eyes so we finally got annoyed with it and took it off.  He was also very certain that Spiderman doesn't use a car seat. Tough luck kid.  Tough luck.   Aj, who initially wasn't going to dress up (He's too cool now.), decided to be the Scream thing again this year.  I heard some older men questioning him about Scream.  I think they were trying to see if he had seen it.  He hasn't. 

Dear Lord, thank you for my sarcastic and sometimes sick sense of humor. We have so much fun. Lol.  I kept nudging him to just glare out the window at people and even stare the cop down next to us at the red light. I really wanted to put him in the trunk when we got home to scare his daddy but he was sleepy by the time we arrived.  Doggit!

So onwards, shall we.  Everybody in the house knew Cate would want to be Queen Elsa, like almost every little girl in the county.  When we first looked at the Queen Elsa costume in the store, I didn't like it that much. It was pretty, but I just didn't like it that much. This is what's wrong with creative people. We always think we can do something. So we headed right over to the fabric department of Walmart and checked out some fabric.

Initially, this is what I came up with. Now keep in mind, that I have basic basic sewing knowledge and I operate on a "I'll figure it out" mentality. I had this idea in my head, but I just didn't know how it was going to actually manifest into a dress.

So I only had two days to pull this together because there was this school Halloween dance.  However, the whole first day I literally just sat on the sofa looking at that fabric on the floor...thinking.  On day 2, I really didn't have a choice but to get on the ball and I knew there was a good chance that I wasn't going to finish. 

I honestly had very little clue how I was going to pull it off. I found a cape tutorial online that looked simple. I didn't have butcher paper so I had to tape printer paper together! I do think I picked just the write fabric for the cape. What do you think?

The actual dress is what almost sent me to hell. When that bobbin start getting tangled up and acting foolish....Except for one side of this skirt, the entire dress was sewn by hand. If I had started earlier, it wouldn't have been so bad. However, I was under pressure.  So here are my very basic basics.

 

For the sleeves, I literally wrapped the fabric around her arms, pinned, cut and sew. Tada! The shimmery part initially was hard to figure out. I folded a piece of fabric less than half and I used a bowl to trace halfway for the head hole. I believe I sew the arms on next. Initially, the bodice was going to be the same light blue color but then all the pics I looked at on the internet there was a darker bodice. So I went back to Walmart and bought a darker shade of fabric to go with it.  Then, just like you'd drape a sheet around you and play princess, that's exactly how I made this piece and cut. I then didn't know how the child was supposed to get in and out of the dress. Would she been Queen Elsa forever? So of the clearish and bodice part, I just cut straight up the middle of her back. This probably isn't making much sense.  Next, I sew the clearish piece to blue bodice and sew that to the skirt. Follow? I'm sure you didn't. If you sew, regularly, you're probably wondering what the world did she do? Lol.

Here's what happened next. Sort of.  I took a knee length skirt she had and laid it on top of the butcher paper and just finished drawing it out like a cone for back. I measured her from waist down and did same thing for front, this time drawing out like a triangle.

After I finished, I just had to stand back and watch my creation like I was on Project Runway.  I was completely baffled by the fact that I had actually made the thing and it was recognized as the Queen Elsa costume.  Now had I knew what I was doing, this probably could have been a bit better. I actually tied the cape around her neck because someone stepped on it at school and tore the Velcro off and I forgot to sew it on this time.  I didn't sew it on the first time because I ran out of time and was hoping it would stay put. 

Getting snow cones at the frat houses at GSU.

Buy you know what, this costume got me the title of "Best Mom Ever!"  Whoop! Whoop!  However after she said that, she corrected herself and said well actually you're my only mom ever.  I'm going with the first one.  It also won 2nd place in the school costume contest! Alright Project Runway, I think I'm ready! 

Hope all the kiddos had a great Halloween.

Peek A Boo

I've been hiding lately...a lot.  Mostly, I haven't figured out how to manage my time since school started and the fact that I was keeping two other little boys (not at same time) in house. (I'm still keeping one.) I felt like I was working again, a real 9 to 5. I was passed out sleep on the sofa every night! That exhaustion brought back all those old memories from teaching preschool. Lol. Caleb has been enjoying it though. He's had someone to play with on a regular basis besides me and the ducks.

We also geared up and did our annual back to school supply drive and free clothes giveaway. I'm a big believer that we should be helping one another and promoting growth and success. We all are. We even started a non profit to get this show on the road, Open Heart Outreach, Inc. This great project has been another factor of my non existence posts. We have so many ideas and projects that we can't wait to start working on! I would have linked the fb page, but I'm on my phone on the sofa under a blanket and...ummm...well...I'm just too lazy to go get on the computer. (Hey, atleast I'm honest right?)

So at night before I fall asleep on the sofa (the hubby and I are usually exhausted and fall out on the sofa), I'm on pinterest looking up everything from fundraising ideas to budget proposals to grant writing. Oh yeah and clothes, home organization, and every and anything. You know how it goes.  I'm sure you've been on pinterest.  If you haven't, don't go.  It's a trap.

The kids have been enjoying school so far. Well, Cate has. Miss Thang is pulling in straight A's, nothing less than a 95! Awesome!! She has also made up her mind to do gymnastics again.  She wakes up in the morning doing handstands and goes to sleep doing them.  I think she'll likely stick with it this time.  You can just see the light in her eyes when she watches gymnastics on tv.  I think there is a dream in the making.  She's also joined the school chorus and is very excited about performing.  I think she's making fourth grade her year to go "boom!"

 

Aj is adapting to middle school okay though he's trying to get slack on his work. He made all As and Bs and a 78.  We don't do C's at all in this house.  In fact he has never made one, neither of them. It's one thing to do your absolute best and make a C vs. not doing your best and making a C.  So we both know he wasn't performing his best and I have no desire to "handicap" my child by making him feel like that was good enough. He did good though, but I know he can do better.  I know, you may be thinking that's not that bad, but for him it is.  This is a child that excels in every area of standardized testing (which I hate by the way) and has always made mostly A's.  He is teetering into that "I need to be cool" stage. God give me strength to get through that so I don't jack him up.  He knows I'm not about that. Items have already been confiscated and priveledges revoked.

This was also his first year playing football, which I assume is part of the problem (time management wise). We didn't let him play last year to see how he adjusted to middle school and he was soooo excited about it this year.  It was like the best thing ever for him.  However, as always with our family, disaster strikes.

Apparently in his weight lifting class, he couldn't lift the bar anymore while doing bench.  Instead of easing the bar down, he just gave out fracturing his sternum.  There is nothing scarier than getting a call from the school nurse saying your child is having trouble breathing.  It's been about 8 weeks and as of now, and he's healing well.  Most of his restrictions have been lifted. However, he can't play any kind of contact sports which really sucks for him.  He couldn't even jog for the first three weeks. Not to mention that I couldn't stop yelling at the child for the first whole month: "Be Still!"  "Put that down!"  "You know you're not supposed to be doing that!" You know, I was half afraid the child was just going to break. So glad he's doing so much better!

So that's a few of the happenings that have been going on, mostly chaos.  Mostly not organized chaos.  I feel there are some huge things about to happen and I'm excited.  You know when you're not quite sure what it is, but you know God is about to do something.  Yeah.  And it was only confirmation, when a guest Pastor came to church and his wife told me that my worse days are behind me.  Hello! Can I get a AMEN!  Then she proceeded to say that I was about to come into a position of power and authority like I have never seen before.  What?  I was like wow.  I wonder what's about to happen.
Then the next day, I was like wait a minute.  That mean busy, don't it? 


Haha! Lord give me strength... and rest!