A Doctor "Who-loween"

Each day that I log into my computer I look up at my bookmarks bar and see the link to my blog... the one I used to update at least weekly.  I look at the the link, look at the name, and feel as though I have failed.  Failed because I haven't taken the time to update the blog for not only friends and family, but also for my girls with all of their cherished memories.  And, once I quit updating, I found it all too easy to continue with the pattern.

But, I don't like it.  I want to be able to share the fun memories my girls are creating.  I want to be able to chronicle their childhood.  After all, memories are fleeting.  But once something is written down, it becomes a part of "forever."  It becomes a permanent memory that our family can remember for years to come.  So, as my first post back in the blog world, I thought it fun to share Halloween, 2012.
 

 

As some may remember, my family enjoys the show Doctor Who.  As a matter of fact, last year I posted about the interest that the Butterfly had in the show one day when it was playing.  We called her the latest Whovian.  So this year, sometime in September, I asked the girls what they wanted to be for Halloween.  The Ladybug shared that she wanted to be Amy Pond from Doctor Who!  I chuckled at the thought of her becoming the Doctor's latest companion, red-headed no less.  I then asked, with a bit of humor, "What would you like to be little Butterfly?  The TARDIS (the Doctor's time machine)?"  Without hesitation, the Butterfly exclaimed, "YES!!!"  So, that is how it all started.

I soon spent some time trying to figure out how in the world I was going to create a TARDIS that could fit my three-year-old.  My first thought was a box, painted blue, with a hole in the top for her head.  But then I did an internet search and saw all sorts of creative outfits that had been created by women, and rather than boxes, they wore dresses.  Blue, swaying dresses that looked like the TARDIS.  I knew then that is what I wanted to create for the Butterfly.

 

For the Ladybug, I decided to create the one very distinctive Amy Pond outfit, that of the kissogram Police Officer.  Of course, the Ladybug loved the idea!  So, she and I went to the fabric store and searched for fabric for her and her sister's outfits.  We found the perfect fabric, a pattern that would work for both girls' outfits, and all of the trim that we needed to create the costumes.

The process began with the cutting of the pattern and pinning the fabric to it.  Finally the sewing began.  Each night I did a little bit more on the dresses, and at the end of each night the Butterfly would ask if her TARDIS dress was completed... yet.  She was so excited to watch the creation of her dress, each day asking the same question.

After a little while I had a partial dress that I wanted her to try on for me so that I could check the fit and see if there were any alterations I needed to make.  Of course she jumpred at the chance to put on the dress and model it for me.  The Butterfly smiled from ear to ear with joy as she walked around the house in her new, albeit unfinished, TARDIS dress.
 

 

  

It didn't take long though before I completed the dress and moved onto the Ladybug's costume.  She was also so excited as each piece came together.  She also loved the UPS guy because each day (at least it seemed that way), he would deliver another piece of her costume... police belt, white shirt, boots, etc.

 

 

Before we knew it, Halloween, "Who-loween" was here.  The girls eagerly dressed in their new costumes and joyfully bounced around the house, playing their Doctor Who roles.  Before long, daddy also emerged from the bedroom dressed as the Doctor himself, just the perfect person to take the girls trick-or-treating.  Below are some photos from the evening.  As you can see, the night was a complete success.  Who knew that dressing as a time maching and a traveling companion would bring such joy to two little girls.

 Enjoy!

~~Aloha!

Halloween 2011

Halloween came and went. The girls, as can be expected, had a blast!

Living in the middle of the United States does keep us on our toes. Fortunately, things were on our side on the last day of October... weather-wise anyway. As I drove home from work, I checked the temperature gauge. Much to my surprise it was a balmy 71 degrees. Perfect for trick-or-treating!

I arrived home, got the girls dressed,

added a little makeup,

and took some photos...

Daddy then took the girls for a wonderful stroll around our great new neighborhood trick-or-treating. And yes, Daddy did dress up too... as Dr. Who! Gotta love the bow-tie.  Bow-ties are cool!

What a fun night for everyone. I love my girls, I love my husband, I love enjoying this life with them!

The Ladybug is such a loving child who smiles from the inside out...

The Butterfly's joy of life is contagious!

I love my family!

I am also happy that Halloween happened when it did. 24 hours later it was 30 degrees colder and snow flakes started to fall. Yuck!  Gotta love our weather (or not).

~~Aloha!

Halloween Fun 2011

The girls love to play dress-up, practically every day. Princess dresses are the most common choice (Nana F. lives in Florida and loves shopping when things are deeply discounted!), but the girls love dressing-up in anything that is not... normal school-wear clothing. Thus, as you can imagine, they love Halloween!

OK, so there are two reasons they like Halloween... dressing up and the candy. They are normal kids after all!

The festivities started this year when we visited our favorite greenhouse to purchase some pumpkins. After a fun time of roasting marshmallows, a horse-drawn wagon ride, feeding the chickens and fish, and playing in a hay-bale maze, we found the perfect pumpkins.

The girls finding their way through the maze.

Riding on the horse-drawn wagon.

The girls and their pumpkin loot!

Playing on one of the garden statues.

Now that we had the pumpkins, it was time to start carving! The Baby Butterfly had her own perfect pumpkin, and was so excited that she was going to be a part of the process of cleaning and carving her pumpkin. That was... until... she actually had all of the pumpkin guts on her hands. It truly amazes me that a child who devours her food with gusto, and in the process will get food on her from head to toe and she won't even bat an eye. But, cleaning out a pumpkin really freaks her out and makes her seem like she has OCD. Who knew?

Daddy and Mommy did all of the carving of the pumpkins.  Of course Daddy did all of the drawing of the pumpkin faces.  I just love that Daddy is so artistic... not a stencil in site!

The Butterfly's pumpkin being devoured by a larger pumpkin!

This pumpkin was grossed out by the cannibal pumpkin!

The Ladybug's... ladybug pumpkin!

Anyway, after Mommy cleaned out her pumpkin, the Bug was more than happy to supervise the carving process. She is a girl who really enjoys being in charge! (BTW, she is munching on freshly cooked pumpkin seeds.)

Daddy came up with a great idea of having the Butterfly's little pumpkin being devoured by one of the larger ones. The little one loved the idea and was so excited that her pumpkin was such a pivotal part of the pumpkin decorations.

Following the pumpkin carving, the Ladybug and I decided to make some special holiday treats... chocolate chocolate chip cupcakes. Yum! You cannot deny, this kiddo has come baking skills!

With all of this fun, I can only imagine all of the fun the girls will have tomorrow when they walk around the neighborhood trick-or-treating. This will be so much fun! I cannot wait. In the mean time, here are the girls in their costumes. They had a Halloween party today and I took the opportunity to get some pics of them in their outfits.

Sassy Alice in Wonderland.

Cutie-pie Minnie Mouse.

My beautiful Ladybug as Alice.

My retro Minnie!

Enjoy a wonderful Halloween!!!

~~Aloha!

Pumpkin Festival

We attended a local pumpkin festival the other day and had a great time! The Butterfly ran from place to place, looking at everything with such great interest. Her favorite... this cool pumpkin.

Wouldn't you love it too? I cannot wait because Autumn is around the corner! Pumpkins, apple pie, and lots of Halloween fun. Woohoo!

~~Aloha!

Halloween ~ AKA Photos Galore!

Halloween has come and gone this year, and the girls had a wonderful time. I was out of town for a conference for the days leading up to the day (I will post about my great time in New Orleans soon, but for now I will keep focused on the girls!), so I missed a couple of fun parties that the girls (and daddy) attended, but I did arrive home just in time to take the girls Trick-or-Treating around the neighborhood. 

While I was away, Daddy took the girls, in their matching Halloween t-shirts, to the park to play. I was so excited because he grabbed my camera and took some great photos (thanks honey!). Below are some of the cute photos of the girls while they played together.

Following the fun at the park, Daddy and the girls went to a couple parties.  The Butterfly dressed as a Bumble Bee, with her hair sticking straight up as antennas.  The Ladybug went as a sassy Dorothy Gale with sequined red tennies.  The girls had a great time playing with friends, bobbing for apples, and laughing and singing the night away.

I finally made it home from New Orleans late Saturday, so I rested up on Sunday, and then it was time to take the girls trick-or-treating.  We had an adorable outfit for our Butterfly... keeping with the bug theme she dressed as a Bumble Bee, antenna and all.  To finish off the cute outfit, we put some fun little ladybug squeakie shoes on her feet.  Yup, a Butterfly dressed as a bumble bee, wearing ladybug squeakie shoes.  Gotta love bugs!  The Ladybug kept her "cool" by dressing as an Ice Princess, and sparkled her way around the neighborhood the whole night.  She looked magical.

Since the Butterfly had never experienced Halloween, she wasn't quite sure what was going on when we started.  We walked her up to the path of the first house, then let her sister walk her to the door.  As soon as she started walking, the squeakies started squeaking, and people started oohing and aahing.  She started grinning from ear to ear, especially when she realized that people were giving her things at each house we visited.  She LOVED it!

The Ladybug, of course, also loved her time trick-or-treating, but what made the evening more enjoyable for all of us was watching the Butterfly "float" from house to house.  We stayed out for about an hour and then had to call it quits as the baby soon tired herself out with all of the fun.

All in all it was a great night for the family.  It will be fun to see what will happen next year.

(As you can tell, this is my favorite photo from our fun evening.)

~~Aloha!