Mud puddles, Quidditch, and Duct Tape Superman

Hey guys!  Have you seen Panic! At The Disco’s cover of Bohemian Rhapsody?  Pretty awesome.  I’ve been fairly busy this week.  I bought a sewing machine finally!  I’ve wanted one since the dawn of time seemingly.  I got it second hand and only paid $30 (retail $100).  I’m fairly pleased with myself in case you can’t tell. 

 

Made my daughter a new lovely blanket to replace her old ragged thing.  She loved it, and it took a fraction of the time with a machine.

Here in Indiana, we just experienced a cold snap.  It feels like October all of a sudden, which really has me buckling down on planning for Halloween.  A few years ago, we decided we wanted to start throwing Halloween parties instead of doing trick-or-treating.  Fewer and fewer houses are participating, and most people take their children to relative’s homes or truck-or-treats.  Trunk-or-treats bore me, and I don’t feel like driving all over town with two or three minutes to visit at each home; thus, the Halloween party. 

We threw our first Halloween bash last year.  It was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone themed.  The Great Hall (dining room) was decked out with floating candles (fishing line and wall hooks stuck to ceiling and tied to the wick of the candles) and “live” (die cut) bats.  The sorting hat sat on a stool, and pumpkins were painted for decoration as well.  There were letters to Harry Potter everywhere.  I even painted a Mirror of Erised.  I created a scavenger hunt and a potions bottle contest (mimicking the chamber challenge issued by Snape), with a prize for the winner.  People dressed up, ate good food, and had more sweets than they could carry.  It was great.

Me, as McGonagall

A friend of mine brought this cake

My husband, the mountain troll -_-

This year, we’re doing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (if you didn’t see this coming, you clearly don’t yet know me.  Keep reading and you will!).  I’ve been gathering supplies.  I’m mostly just accumulating spiders, webbing, and hula hoops.  The spiders and webbing are obviously for the acromantulas in the forest.  The hula hoops are for Quidditch goals!  I haven’t decided who I will be dressing as, or rather I think I know but I don’t want to ruin the surprise. 

 

Quidditch goals

The Golden Snitch

bludgers

The kids want to be Superman and Elsa this year.  I like to make the kids’ costumes, so I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of sewing these by hand.  Luckily, I now have that sewing machine.

 

Bumblebee and Spiderman 2013

Superman is coming along nicely.  I started his first, because I’m pretty sure it will take the least time.  I used duct tape, which my sewing machine hates apparently.  It was hard to keep it from bunching.  I used thermal underwear as my costume base, because I could, I like short cuts, and shut up!  I couldn’t find the right color blue, so I ordered navy.  When they came, they were the wrong size.  I was hacked off, but I decided to keep them.  He’ll use them when he’s bigger.  I bought a pair in the correct size at the store, but I either had to get a pattern or a solid in black or gray.  We decided black would work out.  I still have a cape and boots to make.  I got my son spray in hair dye for black Superman hair.  That should be interesting. 

I haven’t started on my daughter’s costume yet.  I’m planning to make a dress form with a tee shirt and duct tape.  I have the fabric picked out, and I have a design in mind.  I’m worried I’ll screw it up, but I think it will be okay. 

I’m supposed to be working on my novel more now that I quit blogging regularly on The Case of the Missing Cheerios, but I’m not sure that’s happening.  I’m taking more time to dedicate to it, but most of it has been research.  I’m way too much of a Hermione sometimes.  My book is about a man wrongfully accused of a murder.  It’s actually more interesting than that, but I don’t want to give away too much.  

I'm also auditioning for Jesus Christ Superstar at a local theater in a few weeks.  I'm going out for Mary Magdalene.  I have no theater experience, but they said it wasn't required.  Fingers crossed!

I home school my kiddos, and yesterday was the best day ever.  My daughter’s curriculum is based on the book “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”.  In the book, one of the obstacles they tackle is a ton of mud.  I watered down a segment of our yard, and they got crazy.  It was the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages.  At first, they were really hesitant.  You want me to do what now?  After they found out they could splash, they were totally sold.  They were stomping around, crawling through it, running through it, rolling through it.  My daughter discovered she could soak her sleeves (her sweater was a bit long) and smack her brother with them, which wasn’t hurting him and frankly was hilarious.  He got mad and flipped mud in her face, but she burst out laughing.  Pretty soon we were all laughing.  The kids got in a wrestling match (MUD WRESTLING!!!), and then laid on the ground in the mud for a minute.  They were so joyful and happy, it really was moving and lovely.  It was one of the best moments of my life.  My husband said he will remember it forever.  I hope they remember it too.  It was a rare, beautiful picture of childhood.

Thanks for reading!  See ya next time!