I made a bustle for my costume using a tutorial I found online. 25 feet of plastic coated wire, and a couple hours of grunting (that wire is HARD to bend!) later:

It is very difficult to sit in a car with a bustle. One may or may not be able to buckle one's seatbelt.

We went to the DreamWorks trick-or-treat party on Friday at lunchtime, and then the Trunk-or-Treat at the church last night. We were wildly popular, and only partly because of our fabulous costumes. (oh yes, I DO say so myself)

Craig found a bubble machine that fills the bubbles with fog so whenever the bubbles pop you get this little puff ... we had a mob of kids and parents around our car the whole night, popping the bubbles and asking "where did you get that" "how does it do that?".

Oh yes, it's good to be king.

This week:

Sewed 2 baptismal dresses, and shipped them to Montana.

Changed 2 pair ladies slacks from the thrift store into breeches for my kids.

Altered a ladies jacket into a vest.

Sewed leather straps onto 2 pair of goggles, and made a holster for a nerf gun.

Altered a skirt to fit over my bustle.

Built a bustle.

Sewed a collar and bows onto a Lucy from Peanuts costume.

Sewed dozens of gears and buttons onto vests and jackets.

Constructed a miniature top hat.

Never went to bed before 1 a.m.

Made pumpkin cheesecake.

That last item on the list made all the other items no big deal.

I'll post pictures of it all after the trick-or-treating at DreamWorks tomorrow. We all got to go see the screening of MegaMind today and it was good. Very funny, and the boys loved it. There was some romance though, which disgusted Fletcher.

Right now, it's 12:30 in the morning and my 1 year old is wide awake (having happed from 7-10 pm, nice) and watching Bob the Builder.

again.

Craig convinced the boys to do a Steampunk theme this year for Halloween. Of course, this makes tons of work for him:

Taking apart nerf guns and painting, and rubbing, and sanding; and building a jet pack (dry ice compartment included) for Fletch.

Here are two of the nerf guns transformed. I think they look fantastic and the boys are so excited they can barely contain themselves.

He rocks my world, he does.

My 10 year old is murder on book covers, apparently. When he asked if I would make him some new ones, I asked if he'd prefer I sew them so they'd be guaranteed to last all year, rather than 5 more weeks. He was thrilled, and picked this fabric for his American History book.

It's padded and quilted (I sewed around a few of the stars) and he loves it. "It's a great pillow for when I get sleepy in class Mom!"

He was joking.

I think.

See? That's the rain. On my welcome mat. Because of lack of gutters. My welcome mat is totally thrashed now. Poor thing.

But we do love the rain!

got the sheers up in the dining room in time for our housewarming a couple of weeks ago. I love the blue tablecloth with the black/white/grey room. And I'm becoming a little addicted to having roses in the house.

Yesterday and today have been rainy and cold and just wonderful! I've had Christmas carols playing in the car and banana bread and cookies baking at home (thank heaven for neighbors and friends who eat them all for me).

Just one teensy drawback to the rain - we have NO GUTTERS on the house! If you want to visit me in the rain, you have to walk underneath a waterfall to get through the front door!

Dear Mom,

I was thinking the other day about how horrible it is that you can't eat yogurt, because I finally like the stuff after 30 odd years and this particular brand is very very scrumptious-albeit-expensive.

And I was feeling like I was really awesome for not eating ice cream anymore because I was having this instead:

Well I did a little light reading the other day and this lovely honey yogurt has 47% of my daily saturated fat intake. So I can eat this, and salad. All day. And that's it. 0_0

I got a new haircut the other week. I love it. Don't worry, it's not dreadlocks. Dreads would be too hot in this crazy weather.

hi mom!

Also, my baby is still incredibly cute. See? Can you believe it hasn't even been 3 months since we visited you? It feels like half a year. I miss you.

Love, Kristie