my little supers

I usually take a nap Sunday afternoon. Yesterday though I wasn't feeling very tired (miracle!) so I decided to venture into my sewing room. I hadn't touched my sewing machine in so long I just stood there trying to figure out what to work on. Cue Liam and Sutton coming in and begging for capes. I figured, why not?

don't you just love the post church throw-on-whatever-you-can-find mismatched outfits?

These are not the cute, well-made capes that you have seen around the blogosphere. I let the kids pick out whatever material they liked. Liam's is a cheap dress lining material and Suttons is some pink polyester stuff I inherited from my MIL. Because I was trying to get the capes done before the kids lost interest and I lost my energy, I quickly serged the all raw edges (except for Ezra's cape which I made from jersey), added a free handed felt letter applique with double sided fusible stuff (I use Steam-A-Seam), and sticky velcro dot finished them off.


I was unsure whether Ezra would like a cape. The child has refused to wear bibs since infancy (I am not even exaggerating!) but he loved it. He ran and jumped just like the big kids.


I even allowed a little furniture jumping which is usually off limits at our house. Sometimes it's fun to ignore the rules!

the cat in the hat

Last week at school all the first graders took part in a "Book Parade" where they made a poster and got to dress as favorite book character. Liam chose the cat from The Cat in the Hat. He had never mentioned that the Cat was his favorite character but I was on board because I figured that it was an easy costume to make.

It was Liam's idea (and he did it all himself) to add the curly-cue's to the letters.

The hat and bow-tie were made with felt. I copied Dana and added a pipe cleaner frame inside the hat. Although I should have added more pipe cleaners as the hat was still a little floppy.

Do you like the blue sharpie? It was near dinner time and in my rush I lost all attention to detail. Oh well.

The whiskers are my favorite part of the costume. I think it really makes the costume. Made with pipe cleaners sandwiched between two felt circles with elastic cord.

He loved his costume. Can you tell? And how cute is Thing One next to him?

chore charts

Go here to download the chore chart!

In December Liam, my oldest, was begging me to make a chore chart. Strange, I know. I finally got around to it a couple of weeks ago.

I found this one at ModEcoKids.com that I love. I love it because it is free, it is customizable, it is simple and it is cute. I copied the polka dot design (I LOVE polka dots) to spruce up our Family Rules page.


I made one for Liam and one for Sutton. Their chores are not identical (they are better at and enjoy doing different types of chores) but they are age appropriate. I wish I had left one line blank for extra credit type things. Like last week when Liam surprised me by cleaning his bathroom. After printing the charts I used self-laminating sheets to laminate them. Now we can make check marks with a dry erase marker and re-use the charts each week.

Um, I just realized that I spelled vacuum wrong. Please don't mock me! :)

Michael and I deliberated whether or not to pay them for their chores. On one hand we felt we didn't need to pay them for helping out around the house on the other hand we thought it was a good opportunity to teach them about saving, spending and giving money. In the end we decided that the kids will earn $.05 for every check mark at the end of the week. Not much, the most they could earn in a week is $2.80, but it is enough to get them excited. And they are! These charts are working better so far than any chore system we have tried before.

UPDATE: This is for you Celeste! Our family rules and daily expectations. (Click on the photo to enlarge)

 Go here to download the chore chart!

halloween

I was so entertained by my kids while we were trick or treating that I forgot to take pictures! Bad mom! There were a couple of houses that went all out and were pretty creepy. Only I didn't realize they were that creepy until we were already close the the houses (our neighborhood has long semi-steep driveways). Liam would pull his hat low so he couldn't see the scary stuff. His plan back fired a little because he couldn't see to walk either! Sutton forced me to carry her. I was laughing so hard at the two of them. See? Laughing at my kids fear? I am a bad mom!

Anyhow these poorly lit and staged photos are all I have. Oh well!

Gandolf and Belle (notice the bottom of Sutton's dress? It's totally wet. Trick or Treating in the rain? Not so fun!)

Gandolf

The up-do (thanks Lindsay!) looked much prettier before the rain!

My beautiful Belle.

the beard

Liam's Gandolf costume is done. You guys had such fantastic ideas for the beard. I would have put your ideas to use except I had already purchased the materials for making this beard. I am mostly happy with how it turned out. The length and shape (especially the crookedness of it) I think are perfect. The color is off though. I couldn't find and gray or white trim, only brown. Maybe Liam can be a young Gandolf?

All is not lost though... the beard has already seen a lot of use. Liam wore it constantly for two days after I made it. And it even looks good on me:


Maybe next Halloween I will be the bearded lady. Totally hot, right? RIGHT?

I'll be posting more pictures of the kids in their costumes soon.

one down one to go

For the last 8 months or so Sutton has insisted she will be Belle for Halloween. Last week, without a pattern, I turned an old sheet and 8 yards of tulle into the awesomest Belle ever (pardon my pride, I am REALLY happy with how this turned out). I probably spent at least five hours on the costume. Two days ago Sutton announced that she wanted to be a ballerina. I was not happy to hear that and happily I was able to convince her to where the Belle dress. She was pleased with it once she was dressed. I curled her hair and even put a touch of make-up on her.


Liam just recently made his final choice for his costume. He started describing it for me as he sketched "a wizard with no wand but a long staff. a pointy hat and a long beard. a belt and a money pouch."

Once I saw his sketch I said "you want to be Gandolf". Liam has no idea who Gandolf is. He has never seen Lord of the Rings (he is only 6) but somehow that is exactly what he was describing:

Creating a beard will be the most challenging part of this costume. I think I will use Merrilee's beard idea. The rest will be cake. I bought a braided belt at Salvation Army for $1.50 and I think I have enough fabric in my stash for the tunic, cape and hat. The staff will be found in the back yard.

I have no idea what Ezra will be. A friend of mine made the coolest Where the Wild Things Are costume for her baby. A brilliant idea but I don't want to copy her. I am running out of time...