Grandma's Punkins

Here is our pumpkin patch with vigorous vines, taken in the summer time. Grandma and Grandpa lovingly gave us their garden plot for pumpkins.















After trimming and watching and waiting - our fruitful yield was almost two. I remember saying "all we need is one".

Norah and I took a bike ride in early September while Simon was in kindergarten. We stopped at Grandma's on our way home, and decided that with one squashed pumpkin and one nibbled pumpkin, we'd better pick the good one.

Simon was excited to see the pumpkin when he came home.

Our pumpkin was a great centerpiece until the nibbled spot started to grow fuzzies. Simon decided it was time to cut it and see what was inside. So, we cut and scooped. Then I cooked and froze. Fresh pumpkin is now in our freezer. There is another pumpkin shortage this year! We harvested only two, if that is any indication, watch out!

Fall Fun

Last weekend we took a bike ride along a great new bike trail near us, and felt hidden in the woods. We stopped a a forest preserve. Where we sat on a rock, enjoyed small trees, found a water pump, laid in the grass, read a few books, then biked home with a stop at a park. What a lovely day!

Ta-Dum!!!

Photo thanks to Simon's dog (I think he remains name-less).

I totally have bragging rights this Halloween! My kindhearted boy's response, noted by K, drove me to make him a mouth, nose, and eyes; mainly because I did not want the boy mistaken for a cat or a mouse. Courtesy of left-over googly eyes from my Jonah-craft-Sunday-School stint last year. Who doesn't love googly eyes? And who doesn't acknowledge that in some crazy way, God provided those googly eyes because of Sunday School volunteerism? And I had enough fleece and fake fur scraps left over. Just.barely.enough.with.no.extras.for.do-overs! And I did not have a do-over thanks to Eric making the triangle eye & nose-holding piece for me!

I think I am sew done with sewing for a bit. As for Grandma G's earlier comment in regards to my early preparations, one can see why I started so early. I made it just in time.

To my Mom, it was good to hear you are proud of me for my projects tackled and conquered. I am not so sure I will be making many clothes for Norah. Just specialty items that cannot be purchased, maybe . . . Or when the mood strikes. As for me, I'll take a pass on making my own clothes.

This Sunday, my school is having a 3K Pumpkin Run/Walk. Middle schoolers here - who complain about running the mile - so it is just a 3K. Anyways, I plan on taking the kiddos in costume. Soon, very soon, you will see the finished products modeled.

THANK YOU to all for the encouragement, ideas, and Hippo's agreement that "Option Affordable" is actually A-DOR-ABLE!! If you all lived close, we would deliver glazed pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to you on Halloween. We give treats to get treats as we visit our dear neighbors on Halloween. And, well, you would get some, just for being neighborly!

"Mommy, you don't have to . . . "

Last night I placed my version of a wolf hat by Simon's chair, as all things special get that place of honor for a surprise morning discovery. Simon giggled with excitement and came down the basement to where I was ironing with it on his head. And a smile on his face.

"Mommy, you don't have to make a nose and eyes and a mouth, because I have them all right here." Imagine a 5 year old boy circling his face to indicate eyes, mouth, and nose.

"Can I put on all of my wolf?"

Happy, happy, content boy.

Adorable vs. Affordable

By now, I have come to the realization that Simon's wolf hat will not arrive in time for Halloween festivities. I have back-up options in the works. Tonight I attempted to create a wolf hat from scraps left over and from my small stash of miscellaneous fabric. The hat is completed (thanks to the hood pattern from Lil' Red), ears attached (thanks to scouring the Internet for visuals and a husband's head for pinning), and a velcro closure. I am pondering a snout.) This is option 2a, a.k.a. "Option Affordable".


Click here for option 2b, a.k.a. "Option Adorable".

Now while I am extremely tempted to place the order for Option Adorable. Really, I can make do without. I read Simon the e-mail posted below. He understood what I was reading, and sort of became teary eyed. He saw the etsy hat and watched me use Norah's hood pattern to make a hat. He has tried it on and has accepted option 2a. He did not ask, beg, cry, question, or demand option 2b. If my little guy can accept Option Affordable, then maybe I should as well!

an upsetting update

Here is an email recently received from the wolf hat company. Please note the company is in Hong Kong, China.

Hi, I am really sorry for making you wait for so long a time. We have shipped the item out on October 4th because of the delay caused by the national day. However, on ctober 15th, the post office inform us that they have met a accident and most of the items damaged or lost. They gave us a listing. And we have checked and found that your package is included. I am really sorry. It is also out of my expectation.
Under the situation, I have no choice but to send the item out again on October 15th. I am really sorry for not informing this earlier, as we are really busy fixing this problem. Sorry! Hope that you can understand this kindly!
As we ship through China Post air mail, it normally takes 12-20 business days for delivery(NOT include the Sat & Sun). It equals to 16-28 days.
So could you please wait some more days with patience? We hope that you can understand why this process takes so long. Be assured your package is on its way, and it will arrive soon!
If you still have not received the item after the delivery time, please contact me. And I will surely make up for you.
Best regards!

So, I am quite on edge waiting for this wolf hat thing to arrive. I doubt it will, and then I will have to deal with the company as an angered customer. I don't want the item after Halloween. I don't want to pay for it or for shipping when I ordered it on 9/30/10 and if it does not arrive in time for Simon's Halloween school party, trick or treating, and other Halloween fun. The thing is . . . the hat MAKES the costume . . . . UGHHHH!!!!

Perhaps I should start planning option #2 :(

Big Bad Wolf, Sew Far

Here it is, my portion of Simon's Big Bad Wolf Costume. The jacket is fake fur on the outside and fleece on the inside, however; not a true reversible jacket. He put it on and instantly turned into a wolf and gobbled up Norah, a.k.a. Lil' Red. She actually became scared. We shall see how it all goes! Monday found us at Goodwill with success in purchasing items for Granny and the Woodcutter. Oh, the joy!

The front of the jacket, with gloves tucked in the sleeves.

The back of the jacket with the paws facing outwards and a view of the tail.

Close-up of the paws and jacket. I had to tack down the collar as Simon kept spitting out fur during the 5 minutes he wore the costume.

And a view of the next project. Good thing mine are done, as Eric is completing this project. Not that all my projects are truly ever done. Just the ones for Halloween. Any guesses as to what it could be?

Sewing Right Along - dozen style

Either I am picking up some sewing with pattern skills, or because the wolf project is just for a costume, I am not requiring perfection. However; close to perfection on this is coming along rather nicely. (Don't jinx it!) Update on the big bad wolf - dozen style:

1. Fake fur is not that scary to sew.
2. Adding a lining of fleece is not that difficult to figure out.
3. I can make my own sleeve pattern and attach it to the arm hole! And I did it without asking the architect husband for drafting assitance!
4. Purchasing a zipper that is the correct length and color is an art! After 3 tries, I may have purchased one that will work. A bit short, but not too long, and perfectly grey!
5. Again, I realize that costumes are all about the accessories. Like those thin, stretchy gloves that never keep hands warm in the midwest - but if you add small felt pieces cut from the googled image of a grey wolf's paw, then you have an awesome paw. Need to consider adding fake fur to the front of the gloves.
6. Oh, and the dilemma on this one - creating a grey wolf's tail. I have googled it and found a pattern with mulitple and not-so-clear steps. This will get attached to the grey fake fur jacket. I may call on the drafting abilities of previously referred to architect husband (has great visual skills with the ability to move from 3D to 2D. I.can.not.)
7. The discovery of finding those plastic teeth that you pop in your mouth and drool like crazy? Simon loves it, but his mouth is a bit small. The teeth don't last in his mouth for very long. But with practice and the love of the wolf, he may surprise us all.
8. Hoping and praying and praying and hoping the wolf hat ordered from an international location on ebay will arrive on time! It is on its way, with declared 13-22 days for it to arrive. Thank goodness I discovered it on September 30th, and it was mailed out a few days later.
9. Explaining again and again that Norah's bow and shirt arrived because they were mailed from a location closer than his wolf hat.
10. Hoping and praying the wolf hat arrives on time. The hat will make the costume; I do not want to make the hat.
11. Thinking that Simon is insistent on having his parents be the woodcutter and Granny. It doesn't help that he drew and colored in a picture scene of the wolf, Lil' Red, the forest, Granny, and Granny's house. He cut out each one and taped it in our front picture window. This is the VERY FIRST time that he free drew ANYTHING! He never would before, claiming he didn't know how. I had to give him verbal ideas, pointed out the shapes of the parts, showed him how to "research" by looking in his library books, and drew some examples for each piece. I had so much fun watching him finally draw and color and not give up! These pieces will go into the Halloween photo book. (That I have yet to start, ugh)
12. At least costumes for the woodcutter and Granny are just assembling a flannel shirt, boots, cardboard & reynolds wrap ax, ladies nightgown, and sleeping cap.

I know I am putting a lot of time into their Halloween costumes, but I'm having fun. And it is fun to see their joy.

Little Red Riding Hood

Well, here it is - Ta-Dum - the finished product. Little Red Riding Hood will be adorable, warm and cozy. I had no idea how coat-like this would turn out. The warm and natural middle layer sure was nice and easy to work with. I don't have to worry about a chilly, flimsy costume walking around our neighborhood!

The hood at finished length looked proportionate to the cape and was fantastic, when not worn on Norah' head. I made it too big. So, I thought, and wondered, and pondered, and tested my ideas with pinning and made my conclusion. I sewed it a bit smaller in an unconventional way. I did NOT want to undue what I succeeded to properly trim the hood and re-sew all those seams again, after trimming and snipping, and pressing had occurred. It looks a bit goofy on the hanger or laid flat. But on Norah, the hood looks great on her head, does not hang over her eyes, and she leaves it on! All for the grand total of 10.5 seconds! The extra seam just adds a collar-like affect. (I'm sure if some of my sewing expert readers clicked on the photos, they would know exactly what I should have done instead.)

My theory - Norah needs a big bad wolf. She KNOWS and DECLARES Simon is a big bad wolf constantly. I think once the big bad wolf costume is made, she will gladly be Lil' Red for longer periods of time.

Today, at the library, we checked out our 2nd Little Red Riding Hood. Yep, we had a bawling dispute about who got to sleep with the one copy we had. Somehow, that version had a boy for Little Red. Who knew? So, Simon gets to sleep with the book with a boy Lil' Red and Norah can now sleep with the book with a girl Lil' Red!

Christmas in my Trunk

Yep, I have about 80% of the Christmas shopping completed for my children. Late last winter I hit a great sale for this year's winter clothes for Norah and a niece. They will totally get wrapped.

And recently, I feel God answered my prayers and supplied me with my wish list at great church resales. Two weeks ago I stocked up on some girl clothes and a few boy items. Between Friday evening and Saturday morning, I hit the jackpot at 3 church resales and purchased a new-looking boys bike, an awesome Imaginarium train set, track for hot-wheels, doll house, doll house accessories, adorable clothes, 4 pairs of shoes, snow pants, boys dress shirts, boys comfy pants, boys sweatshirts, and a long sleeve boys shirt with a wolf on it!!!! All for a grand price! There is absolutely no way possible that I could have purchased a new boys bike, a decent train set, and a doll house for what I paid for everything! Man, do I love church resales! The only thing on my shopping list that I could not find were boy's winter boots. That I can handle!

We will have a blessed Christmas with much joy and happiness. I know it isn't about getting toys. But it feels good to give my children something they have wanted and waited for a long time at a price we can handle spread over time.

I passed up a girls' weekend at a cabin on the lake due to ringing bells on Sunday and these resales. First of all, I was feeling under the weather so it felt good to be home. It also felt great to have Eric at home instead of working crazy hours. And I feel ecstatic about the treasures in my trunk!

Only now I must hide them at Grandma's house to prevent sneaky peeks!