03 November 2010

I made some new Magic Pillowcases!
The eyes glow in the dark!!!
And since I no longer believe that only kids should have fun pillowcases, I made one for myself too!

I love that the fabrics look like they were knit and it makes me ever so happy to wake up on this fun pillowcase!

02 November 2010

Spidey Ghost

Tyler's school had a "Storybook Dress Up Day" for "Harvest Time" (it's a Christian school and they stay away from the word Halloween). Originally he was going to dress up as the Road from Cars and we had an all black outfit and reflective tape to put down the center of his body, but at the last minute he couldn't find the book and while looking on his bookshelf saw that the Spiderman book was right there and he knew that if he found his book really quickly, we'd have time for a Curious George show before bed. So...He went as Spiderman instead. Don't get me wrong, he makes a cute Spidey, but I really really really liked the Road idea.

On the Saturday before Halloween, Tyler's friend from school invited him to her church Trunk-or-Treat. It was really fun to see Tyler with his friends. and he had a great time seeing all the cars and people dressed up.


Tyler also decided at the very beginning of all Halloween Costume talks that he was going to be a ghost. So I found a white sheet and planned to make him a ghost costume. Knowing how particular Tyler is about these things, I knew that he would have to be a main contributor to the design of the costume. He had a very specific idea in mind and so I had him draw out exactly what he expected and he supervised the whole process to make sure it was right. I learned that I will never be a costume designer, but it was still fun to have Tyler be involved from the very beginning. It was kind of funny to have him be so emphatic about having the waves at the hem and that there were to be absolutely NO arm holes. However, at the last minute, when he realized that if he had no arm holes he would not be able to carry a trick or treat bag, he condescended to allow me to cut holes for his arms...It was in the parking lot...

Tyler and his cousin, Jake, had a blast playing the carnival games at Doug's church Trunk-0r-Treat:
My dad was there in his Fresno County SAR/CARDA Capacity (Doesn't he look all official in the orange?)
This stance from the Trunk-of-Treat should probably have been my first warning of "boys will be boys".
Tyler got into his first fist fight at school--with a boy who is about 5 inches taller and probably 30 pounds heavier than him. On the one hand, I cried over the fact that my 5 year old was in a schoolyard brawl (Kim said we should call is a fisticuffs because that was more civilized and therefore more socially acceptable, but I think it was a brawl), but on the other hand, I am kind of proud of his guts and gusto for taking on a kid so much larger than him...and winning.

Halloween Hilarity

Tyler and I were in Joann's a few weeks ago and decided it would be a good idea to buy one of those gingerbread build your own Halloween spooky mansion thingys. So, we scheduled a day where we would have a lot of uninterrupted time when Grandma Maggie and Auntie Kiki were also available (these things are better managed with reinforcments). We got out the table, mixed the frosting, lined up the pieces and put on an Art Overshirt (orange and black frosting stains). We jumped right in!
We knew we were in trouble when the frosting started spilling all over (mostly because what I thought was tight enough on the rubber band was, in fact, NOT tight enough at all) and the house kept tipping over and falling apart. Tyler's face says it all:

That face quickly turned into this face:

I learned that I do not like these events very much at all. I don't think I fully appreciate the creative spirit and the whimsy that goes into messy unplanned projects like this. Don't get me wrong...I like creative spirit. I really like whimsy...and I'm all for not having a plan. HOWEVER, this project brought home to me just how much I do not like building gingerbread houses...
So, in an effort to alleviate the heartache (Tyler's and my own) I quickly developed a new plan. We are going to take this dumb house apart, lay each piece flat and decorate the heck out of it. This plan seemed to work well, since the grumpy faced boy turned into a very happy boy:

And all three adults were very happy as well!

Tyler took a few bites of the piece he decorated, declared that he didn't really like the cookie and went to jump on the trampoline.
Then we played a few rousing games of Chess...Tyler is very creative.