Project Runway: Halloween

Good grief, I love this holiday. And I decided to make the girls' costumes again, which apparently means I decided I didn't want adequate sleep in the month of October. But I did have fun doing it, and I did get caught up on my NPR podcasts in the middle of the night.

Anyway, I give you-

Hermione Granger:
(I love that Malan picked this! Smart, lovely, talented, strong. Like Malan.)
Alice in Wonderland:

(it cracks me up so much to see Jane like this.)

 Little Red:

(this was maybe the most fun to make because Olivia was SO excited about it and
told everyone we met all month "I'm be Red Riding Hood.")

 Little Bones:

(this one I just embellished a little. How I love her toothy grin!)

 I remember many a time my mom staying up late to sew things for me while she listened to books on tape. Thanks Mom. I sure loved all those costumes and prom dresses. I hope you enjoyed it like I do now. It's so rewarding for me to see the girls all decked out and happy.

That said, this may be the last year I do this for a while. I think it's time to simplify our life. We'll see if I have to eat my words next Halloween...

I sure am enjoying seeing all the great costumes you (family and friends) have come up with, too.
Happy Halloween!

Our New Roomie

Every night for the last little while (since we started trying to sleep train her roommate Emme)
Olivia has pitter-pattered her way into our room,
seeking a quieter place to sleep and dragging her quilt behind her.

 At some point, for the sake of her own good night's sleep, we'll probably need to re-train her to stay in her bed all night.

But for now, it's kind of sweet to wake up to this little face each morning.

Hope you get some sleep this weekend. We're headed here. Cannot wait.

The Party

First you must know: I am opposed to birthday parties. I am a birthday scroodge. I'm stingy. I want to share my girls' birthdays with no one and keep them all to myself. Plus, I feel guilty making other kids' parents buy my kid presents.
But Malan had her heart set on a friend party this year and chose a party over a family outing and/or more presents. So we partied.

She debated and researched online with me and finally settled on a theme. With a little pinterest assistance and several trips to the dollar store, we whipped up a pretty fun day.
Here are some tidbits from Malan's fairy birthday party:

 We painted and decorated fairy treasure boxes, filled our own pixie dust bottles, sifted for "lost treasure" and used it to make fairy bracelets, and had some fairy themed snacks.

Malan had the best time, and her friends are all very sweet (it was good to see that.)

A worthwhile event, all in all.

Though when the parents arrived for pickup and found their little girls jumping off the furniture trying to spear ceiling balloons with bamboo fruit skewers, I realized I hadn't thought through everything as thoroughly as I should have. Bad combination there.

P.S. Caleb used our air compressor to fill the balloons (brilliant) and did all the food prep. What a stud.

For my part, I am working on my birthday Scroodginess. I will honor birthdays in my heart and try to keep them all the year.

Seven

Sweet Malan, you were so excited for this birthday.

You counted the days, you prepared the menus: strudel for breakfast in bed, crepes with berries and creme for dinner.

 You wanted a "nature cake" and you took your birthday wish oh so seriously.

All my wishes are for all your wishes to come true.

We had fun today bandaging your and Jane's dolls, who must have been through something horrible, with your new doll first aid kit:

Malan: "Oh no! What happened to you?"
Jane: "I broke my arm and my finger and got lots of cuts on my face.
What happened to you?"
Malan: "I broke my leg and sprained my ankle and got lots of cuts on my arms and legs.
I need an ice pack. Oh look, here's one. Do you want to borrow my crutches?"
Jane: "No, thanks. You're the one with the broken legs."


Sure love you, sweet, thoughtful, bright, creative, beautiful Malan.
Happy Birthday.

Happiness This Week

For Olivia, it came in the form of a red balloon:

 For Jane, it was finding an old friend out in the yard who went missing last winter,

and fixing her up a dainty flower bed where she could recover from her ordeal.

For me, my cup pretty much runneth over after hearing this conversation earlier:

Malan: "I like Justin Beaver."
Jane: "No, I like Justin Beaver."
Malan "No, I like Justin Beaver!"
Jane: "No, I like Justin Beaver!!"
(giggle giggle giggle. Repeat.)

If Justin "Beaver" could only be so lucky. . .

Note to self: Begin Wilson girls' music education tomorrow.

Insights

(Aside: is anyone else as burned out on blogging as I am? Wow.
Dear distant family: I will try to persevere a little longer.)

It was conference weekend. Such a good weekend. Loved staying home with my family. Loved the words of hope and inspiration. Besides the spiritual insights, here are a few familial ones from the weekend:

Emme is low maintenance. Caleb is tired. I mean really tired, weary to the bone. This last year of school has been a doozy. Last month up at 3 am and gone until after dinner each day, and not unusual for the year, so if he sits down for a minute he's a goner. Mostly home this month (huzzah!) to study for boards. Hoping to sneak in a few naps as well.

 Jane is concerned about fire safety. Each day this week before she left for school she made a little basket full of her best things and said on her way out, "Mom, this basket is right here by the door, so if the house burns down while I'm at school you can just grab it on your way out."

 Jane also enjoyed conference. When President Monson said "Hello!" she laughed for about 30 seconds and then added enthusiastically, "Oh, I just LOVE that kind of guy!"

Olivia is "looking good." (Her words.)

 Malan helped me deck the house for Halloween yesterday. She is such a mini me and I love it.

 Final insight: these are yummy. If I had known you could make donuts at home my life would have been very different up to this point. Wow. Try them?

 (Aside: please forgive lack of commenting etc., I'm reevaluating this blog thing. Meaning the hour or two a week I've spent in blog land is becoming harder to spare. I'm sure you can relate, and I won't be offended if you're less present here as well.)