All The Prep Was Worth It

and now off to get some candy!

Grant (14),Jeff,and Elena(15)



Elena



Josh (8)and Nolan (9)



Joel (4)



Alan (12) and Cyrus (11)



Lily (1)



Anya (7), Odel (8), Ekie (8), Grace (5), Naomi (7),and Lily



Joyce (13)

Tell Me I Am Finished!

I should finally be finished with my part of the costume making. Although I kind of start to panic that I will not finish, I really, really enjoy the costume making.I wish I could go all out and make all the kids fancy costumes but those days were about ten children ago. Now days I just do things as inexpensively as I can still with keeping the costumes fun and special.

This evening I made a green vest for a child who wanted to be The Joker,two chain maul (is that how it is spelled?) things, and one poodle skirt. I am not real happy at all with how the Joker's vest turned out. It is not even photo worthy!The perfectionist in me is cringing. The poodle skirt turned out REAL cute and making something out of fake fabric net chain maul is difficult but mistakes are hidden easily besides I only made sashes out of the chain maul stuff. Joyce wants to be a STOP sign for Halloween. Now anything other than fabric is Jeff's territory. That should be a very fun costume. I will be sure to get lots of fun pictures of the kids in their costumes.

By the way, one is NEVER too old to trick-or-treat. I am very glad my teens are still exited about costumes and the fun. Although Elena and Grant are going to a party with their church youth group,I think they might hit a few houses before they go.


Here are a few fun pictures I took today you might like.

Today is Floor Friday which means all floors are washed. We do not do one big cleaning day each week.What we have done is divide our house into ten different chore areas (or zones).Ten of the children have a zone for a week. Within that week each zone has a daily core,Mirror Monday,Toilet Tuesday,etc...

That said, here is Joyce doing her Floor Friday in her zone which is the dining room with her helpers. She has a lot more patience than I do.




Anya is a big Tinkerbell fan. Elena's surprise birthday gift to Anya was to rent and watch the new Tinkerbell movie with her once it came out on DVD. Elena has been pretty exited about surprising Anya. Here they are just after they finished watching the movie this evening. Grant,Alan,and Joel joined them. A quote from my 14 year old Grant after the movie was over, "that really was not a bad movie after all,mom ". Maybe we have two Tink fans in the house,now! OK,maybe not but I'm glad the bigger boys were not too big boyish to appreciate Anya's 7 year old interests.

A Few More Things...

before I call it a night.

Making pancakes. We only made 56. That gives each child only four. What a horrible mom I am. I can hear the whispers,"What only four!What's the deal.Is mom crabby today,or what? Why do we only get four?" I am sure if I had made 100 they would have all been eaten. Adding insult to injury...I controlled the syrup usage. I guess I am kind of crabby...



Lily decided to dress herself today.



Just in case you could not fully appreciate her sense of style I give you the 'side view'.



I had a little tulle left over so I decided to actually follow the correct way to make a tulle skirt as opposed to my apron kind of way. This skirt needs a trim but I really think it is cute! I helped Lily a little with her sweatshirt before I took this picture. Lily might march to a different drum beat as far as fashion is concerned but I kind of like to conform.

Princess Costumes Part II

So, I tackled the tulle skirts last night. Next,the princess t-shirts. I was not sure exactly how to go about this.I had lots of tie-dye dye left over from my last year's tie-dye craze. Remember that craze? Anyway,I was thinking I would use that to dye each t-shirt to match each skirt. Lots of work. Elena to my rescue! She suggested I put the dye in a spray bottle and spray the dye on. What a terrific idea! Here is what we came up with. Thanks Elena!!!









Here is a ruff look at the final costume. Not real fancy but the girls will like them. These were inexpensive to make considering I had to make six costumes.



I should have had the girls each make there own t-shirt but I did not.They would have loved it. I thought it would be too messy and we only had one spray bottle. Maybe, if it was summer and I was feeling relaxed I would have.Instead it was cold out and I was kind of on edge today. I did have a lot of helpers and a lot of creative input,though.

Sweet Gifts and A Little Tulle

Josh made me the sweetest gifts and slid them under my bedroom door this morning so I would have a special morning surprise to greet me. Josh is a sweet boy!



Aren't his stitches just perfect?



Now, if I actually searched around on the Internet I would have found an easier way to create long tulle skirts for the girls. Being a mom of 'little brain' at times, I did this all the hard way and then I researched. These that I made are apron style without elastic. Hmm...don't laugh. What was I thinking!? Nobody makes their tulle skirts this way. I was pretty impressed with my efforts until I researched. Thinking about it I should have gotten twice as much tulle for each skirt to make them not as see-through. Well at least,I got it done. The girls will not know I did the skirts wrong.They will be so exited. Now,I just need to dye the t-shirts to match. That will be a task for tomorrow.

Little Cowboys and Double Dunking

Cowboy Joel was pretty wild this evening and I'm not referring to his choice of pajamas.Wait,I just realized he had these pj's on after his bath last night and he never actually changed out of his pj's this morning.He has been wearing these all day!Now,how did he sneak this past me?



He did stop long enough to make little Lids a pretty bracelet and help her put it on. No,Lily really isn't going anywhere or brushing her teeth in the dinning room. She just loves her jacket and runs off with her siblings toothbrushes and the toothpaste every chance she gets.



The fine art of gram cracker dunking. Lily is catching on quickly!



I finished six baby blankets tonight. Here is my stack of the two I made last night and tonight's six. I ran out of flannel batting so the six still waiting to be made will have to wait a few days.

A Peek Into Our Evening

I finished up two of my baby blankets this evening.My goal was four but I will settle for two.



I know some wonder how I can get all the sewing accomplished that I do having such a full household. Well,much thanks goes to Jeff for being the one who puts the middle kids to bed at night.

I thought I would take a break from sewing and show you via pictures what everyone is up to while I accomplish my sewing tasks. These pictures were taken around 9pm within a five minute time span just for a little reference.

Here goes...

Grace, Ekie, and Naomi are playing a card game in their room as they wait for dad to pray with them and tuck them in.



Josh,Joyce,Cyrus,Anya,and Nolan playing a multi card deck matching game as they wait for Jeff to put them to bed after the girls.



Lily in the hallway playing with a few 'treasures' she found in someones bedroom.



Elena is on the couch in the living room where I am sewing reading the church phone directory.We have not gone to the library lately.



Joel is taking a bath.Ignore the dirty tub.



Back upstairs here is Grant making his round of good nights to the kids.Umm..maybe stirring up a little craziness as well.



Alan walks around in the hall waiting for Grant to finish up his good nights so they can make a bowl of popcorn for their nightly snack.



Here dad is. It is Odell and Anya's night to have a book read to them. Anya opted out of the book read to play the matching game with the other kids.



After Jeff was done reading a book to Odell Lily wanted a little 'Odell time' before lights out.



I believe I accounted for everyone! Our evenings get pretty loud and as I sew I sometimes get pretty stresses at the noise level but I figure I either tolerate the volume or put the sewing away and be the wet blanket on their nightly fun with dad. Hands down they (and dad)would all rather I stay sewing. So I sew!

Sunday Happenings

Jeff and some of the kids went to a Missions Fellowship Luncheon after the church service this morning. The Wheelers, who are missionaries in Bolivia but back in Waseca for a while, made a Bolivian appetizer and main dish for everyone at the luncheon. They sent home with Jeff and the kids some main dish extras for the rest of us to try. It was very good. I did not get a good photo of it but trust me,it was very good.



Sometimes, it is hard to find a little peace and quiet in a home as full as ours. Leave it to two small young ones to look for a simple solution.



I did not get any more baby blankets made today but I though I would show you the waiting to be made baby blanket pile. Isn't it a beautiful pile? I have these 14 waiting to be made. More than half are fun Heidi Grace fabrics. I have each blanket top and bottom measured and cut to the right size.I just need to add the batting.It takes about an hour or a little more to make each blanket so the pile should go down quick enough. Looking at the pile,I noticed that there are only two boy looking ones.I should think about making more boy blankets in the future.



As I was measuring and cutting the fabric for my baby blankets,Lily was sitting by me eating a snack. I think it was Elena who used some blanket scraps to add a little extra adorable-ness to our already adorable Lids.



This is my 'soon to be made into five simple (and cheap) fairy/princess costumes' pile.