Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Elf on the Shelf

This is our Elf on the Shelf. His name is Christmas. I didn't name him that. It's what happens when you let your seven year pick the name.


So far, we haven't noticed any improvement in behavior, but the girls do love looking for him in the mornings. I kid! We totally aren't pushing the behavior side of it. We're just doing it for fun.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Halloween

This wasn't our favorite Halloween, due to the loss of a good friend a week and a half before (and the incredibly stressful last month of his life leading up to it). Sometimes a holiday is just what you need to take your mind off things and cheer you up. Other times, the holiday is just a cold, rainy mess, which does nothing to improve your spirits. Add a couple of whiny kids--one of whom refuses to trick-or-treat (fine), then falls asleep halfway though (not so fine), and, yeah.

But at least the costumes were cute!


I think this was Lissie's first year with a store bought costume. I love making costumes for the girls, but she had her heart set on Wonder Woman, and I didn't feel up to the task (especially not this year). She loves it though, and I'm thinking it will get a lot of use in the dress up bin. I don't normally buy specific dress up outfits like this, but she pretends to be Wonder Woman all the time anyway, so I don't see the harm in just this one.


Maxine wanted to be a black cat, which was all well and good, until we looked up cat costumes on Amazon. And she saw the one with the lavender tutu. So then she wanted to be a black cat, with a lavender tutu. At least, as costumes go, it was an easy one to put together. She wore black clothes that she already had, and I made ears to go on a black headband I found at a craft store. I used wool felt for the ears, and they didn't take long at all. The tutu came from Target, and like the Wonder Woman costume, will likely see a lot of use even after Halloween is over!




We did the Halloween Fairy again this year, and the girls loved it. They actually looked forward to getting their treats this time, and weren't at all sad about not being able to eat the candy--which once again, we got home early enough to hand out to late trick-or-treaters, and Lissie had a great time doing it! 

An early, rushed Halloween gathering where we met more neighbors, and pizza with friends after trick-or-treating were fun, so the evening wasn't a complete bust.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Room for Posterity

Well, I entered a room in Apartment Therapy's Room for Color contest again this year. This time, in the "cool" category. I wrote about last year's entry here. Unfortunately, we had a lot going on, and I didn't have a chance to post about the contest while it was was still going on. I'm going to post about it now, even though the contest is over, because I still think it's exciting!

This is our "green" room, which I already posted about here. Here is my entry: Natasha's "Outside In" Room. Be sure to check out the other entries too. Even though you can't vote anymore, there is some great inspiration there!



Here are the photos from my entry, along with a couple that didn't make the cut. I took new photos, because I wasn't thrilled with the first ones I took right after I painted the room.