• Nov. 1, 2007
It just adds to the excitement of Halloween to wait until the last possible minute to finish the costumes!
Halloween is always an interesting day. Yesterday was no exception. Megan has only been talking about being Little Bo Peep (with Lily as her sheep) since July. You'd have thought that an organized, well-prepared mother would have taken steps to have completed the costumes months ago. Well, unfortunately, THAT mother doesn't live in my house, I do. Fortunately, Darcy had her heart set on being a cheerleader and I was able to secure a *real* cheerleader uniform from ebay. Slam dunk on the cheerleader costume. But, as of yesterday morning, Lily's costume was half complete, and Megan had a dress (another ebay find), stockings and shoes......no hat and no staff. No problem, right?? Yeah, right!
Meg and I pulled out a baby bonnet, just to see if it might fit. No way, Jose. I looked at it to see if I could somehow use it as a pattern. Too complicated. I remembered a teacher's book I have with a pattern for a pilgrim bonnet. Not really appropriate. I googled bonnet pattern and found a couple that I thought I could work with. The creative juices began to flow. I ended up being able to modify two different patterns to get the look I wanted. I had some white felt, so I "laminated" a piece of posterboard between 2 pieces of felt and used some bias tape to finish off the edges. Then I hot glued no less than 7 YARDS of lace to the top. I have a very impressive blister on my thumb to prove I used hot glue. I had to call Mom to help me figure out how to secure the back, but she came through and Megan had the most adorable Little Bo Peep bonnet she could have hoped for considering she had none when the morning began. We took a clost pole and spray-painted it black and then twined white and blue ribbon around it with a bow at the top. It really was too cute. Well, by the time I finished all that, it was time to go (as in, it had taken ALL DAY to make the bonnet and staff--ugh) and Lily's costume still needed velcro fasteners, a tail and ribbon ties sewn to her hood. Because I am and have always been a stubborn and determined person, and because I was absolutely determined that my baby (who doesn't know the difference and might not even cooperate enough to even *wear* a costume) would be adorably outfitted, I did it in the car, which made me quite nauseous. What joy.
We ate dinner with the little girls at McDonald's. Then, it was off to the Harvest Party. This was the little girls' first Harvest Party and at the last minute Megan decided she wanted to go Trick or Treating instead. She began bawling. Wonderful. The drama just adds so much to the total effect of the day. I was quite tempted to just let her stay home with Rachel, but we convinced her to come. The first thing that greeted the girls when we got there was a castle-moonbounce. Megan's attitude changed immediately. Imagine that! There were lots of games and lots of candy. The girls had a great time and Megan even said she is looking forward to going again next year.
In the gym, while Meg and Darcy were playing games, Lily came face to face with a "creature" from another world. She was stupified that anyone could possibly look as other-worldly as this little guy standing in front of her. It was soon quite obvious that the "little creature" returned the sentiment. They stood there just looking at each other for a very long time. Neither smiled at the other. Neither spoke a word. I caught the shot at the last second when the "creature" looked away. He was so adorable!
After the Harvest Party and 2 more rounds on the moon-bounce, we proceeded to head home. A happy ending to an interesting day, right? Well, apparently the day hadn't been quite interesting enough. We headed to the grocery store because we needed to pick up more milk. We always need more milk. Even though I had just bought 2 gallons of milk the day before, we needed more milk. And ice cream. And Oreos. Even though we had gobs and gobs of candy. Apparently, there's not enough sugar coursing through our bloodstreams. While Danny and the girls were in the store, and I was trying to entertain Lily, who absolutely abhors being strapped into a carseat, I realized that someone needed to go and pick up Zak and Josh from the 2 different parties they were attending. So, nearly back in the direction we came, we headed out to pick up Zak. Lily had had enough of the day. She was terribly unhappy. The only thing that will keep her quiet in the car is if we sing. So, we sang. Last night it just didn't have the same effect and she cried anyway. The little girls sang anyway. My head hurt anyway. Danny fell asleep anyway.
We got Zak and headed out to get Josh. Lily was still not happy. By now it was about 10:45pm. Considering that Lily typically goes to bed around 8, I'd say that she was just a little bit tired. No singing in the world was going to soothe the savage beast in her last night. Even Zak, who can usually get her quiet, failed in his attempts. As we pulled up to pick up Josh, Lily vomited all over the front of the van. Twice. What a delightful way to end the evening's festivities. And she hadn't even had any candy at all.
All things considered, it was a successful day. Here's my favorite picture of the day: little lamb Lily with her Daddy.
Comments
• Nov. 1, 2007
Untitled Comment
Posted by Arby
In all of the time that I have written about my children, General Mayhem, Major Havoc, and Captain Chaos, it never occured to call them Arby's Army. That was brilliant! Thanks for the comment on my blog. I'm going to use this one!
