Make Up Call

When Mitchell was in K-2nd grade, he always made a Valentine's sack at school to put all his valentines in. I thought it was kind of a cop-out. What happened to decorating a shoe box or constructing something hugely creative, like my brother's poster board size Pacman? He came to me last year, the night before the party at school, and said he was supposed to take a shoe box (nothing bigger) for his loot. I had not seen a note about this (I guess they figure 3rd graders are responsible enough to relay messages home), so I didn't know exactly what he was supposed to do. I asked him if he was supposed to decorate it and his reply was "eh, we can if we want". I asked him if he wanted to and his reply was "nah, I'll be okay" (whose kid is this??). Now, we don't buy a lot of shoes in the box (I'm more of a find-a-great-deal-at-TJ Maxx kind of gal), so the chances of me finding a box around the house were pretty slim. I remembered that I had bought a pair of shoes for Addison to grow into (thank you Famous Footwear cousin discount) and they were still in the box up in her closet. I gave the tiny size shoe box to him to take. As I waited for him after school, I watched all the kids exit with their extravagantly-decorated-bigger-than-shoe-boxes-box. I felt like the worst.mom.ever. I managed a craft store for 2 years for crying out loud, and I sent my kid to school with a girl's Esprit box for his valentines? Right then, I vowed to make it up next year. I am usually one of those moms who doesn't do their kid's school stuff (poster's, oral presentation cue cards, etc.) for them. I help them, but I really think it's important that they do it themselves. But I needed a make up call.

I present this year's make up call.

I know, it doesn't have a cord. I'd appreciate you getting off my back about it.


Thank goodness for Pepsi products being on sale last week.



To be fair, he did help, I let him think up the tin foil and cover it.

All I Can Make is Cold Cereal and Maybe Toast

This is our traditional Thanksgiving Eve dinner. The kids love it. I wonder why?

This is Halloween, Everybody Make a Scene

Batman, Robin, Penguin, The Flash, Storm, Wonder Woman. You know we had
to separate the Marvel comics from the DC comics.

Never could talk her into anything else. Her costume was definitely the easiest to make. She gathered up random pieces from her dress up box and called herself a fairy princess. She was more than happy. I was ecstatic that it was one less costume for me to recreate.

The Force is Strong With This One

Archer is all about Star Wars these days. Naturally, he wanted a Star Wars birthday party. I have a bone to pick with George Lucas. The lack of Star Wars party supplies around here was very limited. Nothing at Fred Meyer, Target, Shopko, K-Mart and I even resorted to Wal Mart (where I don't shop) and all they had was wrapping paper. From the local party store we grabbed a pack of plates and napkins (because Matt thought the Yoda on the napkins looked cool, not because 6 year olds would actually use them). We also found a Darth Vader helmet pinata. Very cool. When I was informed that my total was $30 and change, I almost lost consciousness. The pinata was $22.99! For something a bunch of kids were going to smack open in less than 5 minutes.

I put my crafty mind to work, and decided to make one. What I won't show you is my feeble first attempt (because no documentation exists). I bombed. Second attempt involved buying a baseball pinata, removing the stitches, spray painting (by dad), adding some electrical tape and voila, the Death Star.The cupcakes Archer wanted had Storm Trooper and Darth Vader helmet rings and were $18 at Fred Meyer. However, they were gone and the bakery wouldn't have sold me the rings even if they had more. Instead, I traced an image of a Clone Trooper helmet onto wax paper 40 times. Then I melted chocolate candy melts, tried to dye it black and piped the outlines.
When those hardened I filled them in with white candy melts.
I peeled them off and this is the final product on the cupcakes. Pretty ingenious if I do say so myself. The kids loved the fact that they were edible!
The arsenal of light sabers waiting for the party to start (pool noodles cut in half, duct tape and electrical tape). Of course, the princess of the house had to have a pink one. Archer said to just pretend it was purple because Mace Windu has a purple light saber. Of course.
And of course, what kid doesn't dream of attacking the Death Star with their own light saber? I don't think I needed to have planned any other games (Lego Star Wars bingo, pin the light saber on Anakin, pass the Thermal Detonator aka hot potato), they were totally content running around outside. I'm sure one or two moms were less than thrilled that I sent their kid home with a weapon.

"Hey Santa, Hey Santa"

Cameron was happy for just this long.

This was as close as Addison would get

Archer would not sit on his lap.

Mitchell was very into the specifications of his wish

p.s. I hope you now have the Wilson Phillips song stuck in your head. I have for a week.

Use the Force...

I know, pre-light saber Anakin, but for an 8-year-old it's all about the light-saber.

"Doot doo doo bleep blip bleep"


"Go Yoda! Use the force!" (I know, random costume. We couldn't talk her into anything Star Wars related. There are just not enough little girl characters.)


"Candy on the floor I see."

"Aren't you a little short to be a Storm Trooper ?"

All the Star Wars characters at our Trunk or Treat. You can't see Matt very well, but he was dressed as Luke Skywalker on Dagobah and he carried Yoda in the backpack all night.

Frankenstein Knocked Me Up

(I hope that doesn't reflect too negatively on my character.)

Along with two of my cousin's wives (two different cousins not one cousin's two wives), we have been reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in time for Halloween. In the spirit of all things tradition, we decided to dress the parts this year. No one recognized us at our ward Trunk-or-Treat until our kids came running up to us.

That's the sign of a good costume.

The Year of the Pokemon

Because of my disappointing afternoon (see previous post), I was really not looking forward to taking the kids Trick-or-Treating. But I ended up having a good time. It brought back some of the tradition that I knew should be there. The kids were excited about their costumes. I make their costumes every year that I can. Something about tradition for me. The pictures are from our Trunk-or-Treat the previous Friday night (which was everything a Halloween party should be and then some).

For those not yet introduced to the way of the Pokemon, I've included pics of the original characters so you can see who they are supposed to be.

a. is a Pokemon named Butterfree. I know it's not the most authentic, but she had her wings and that was all that mattered to her. Oh and she got to wear her purple snow boots.

M. was Ash, a Pokemon Trainer and owner of the Pokemon Pikachu who you can see in the green backpack. I was honestly surprised at how many kids actually recognized the character he was portraying. (I hope that says something for my costume making abilities.)

A. is an Pokemon named Riolu. He actually evolves into Lucario who is his favorite. But he says he chose this one because he's not as scary. (Lucario reminds me of a mean wolf, so I can see where he is coming from.) Because not every parent gets the opportunity to learn as much about Pokemon as I have, no one really knew who A. was supposed to be. One of my friends asked him if he was a bat-dog. Sure, whatever. It beats trying to explain it. He knew who he was and that's what mattered.