Goth Barbie

Ellen was Goth Barbie for halloween this year. I found this cool dress at a consignment shop here in Marshall and it worked out perfectly! The super goth shoes I found on eBay and may have paid too much for them, but it all looked great! Ellen's barbie box was fun to make, we covered it with pink wrapping paper and wrote funny "goth" things on it. A couple of things we put were ... Accessories Included : Home Facial Piercing Kit, Punk Black Lipstick, Overall Bad Attitude....it was really funny. We had a lot of fun with the costumes this year. Halloween isnt officially over yet but we're already thinking about next year!....

Madi's costume 2008

Last night (10/28/2008) Madi went to "Trick or Treating on the Square" here in Marshall and her costume was a big success. We usually dont go to this event because their homemade halloween costumes always involve a lot of preparation and I dont want to go through it twice but Madi really wanted to go so we did. Im glad we did, it was so much fun seeing everyone come up to her and comment on the costume. She even had her picture taken twice by the local newspaper. Hopefully we will see her in the paper in the next few days.

Im now on facebook

Shyrock's Corn Maze

I took the girls to Shyrocks today for the big corn maze. We went a couple of years ago and it was a lot of fun. The last time we went it was dark out...and really cold...and a little muddy, which wasnt so great in the dark. This time we went in the afternoon and it was SO much better.

Madi went with me (against her will) and Meg went with Ellen and the competition was on! Madi and I found each check point and answered all of the questions without help. I think we won!

The great things about this maze are that ...

1. It is enormous!

2. They have 10 check points randomly placed throughout the maze with various questions.

3. They offer prizes to people that find and answer the questions.

4. They have really good hot chocolate waiting for you inside the barn when youre done.

5. The HUGE gumball roller coaster thing.

There are more things that make this place great, but you will have to visit and find out for yourself!

Past Homemade Halloween Costumes

I have always loved Halloween....as a child nothing is more fun than playing dress up and having the entire neighborhood play along by handing out candy for your efforts. I wonder if small children think they can get away with this every day.

Making the kids halloween costumes is one of the most fun things I do all year. The actual ' making of the costumes ' isnt so fun I guess...but taking them around Trick or Treating is just great. I love to listen to people comment on their cool, one of a kind costumes while I secretly hide out in the car. Its so much fun!

I have posted pics of some of the costumes from the last 3 years. The one of Meg as Pepperoni Pizza cracks me up because of how horrible my digital camera was back then....and I was so proud to have it. The pizza had a back crust as well with straps that hung over Meg's shoulders and straps down near her waist that kept it from flopping around too much. That year Madi was a bunch of grapes. I stitched purple grapes to a purple sweatshirt which was stitched closed between her legs so it would stay down. I hand sewed a little grape leaf with curly vines coming off for the top of her head. It was really cute and Im sad that I dont have a picture of it :(

I should also note that all of the costumes in these pictures were put together by hand, without a sewing maching...because I didnt have one back then. It would take me a VERY long time to make these costumes so that the kids could wear them for a couple of hours on one night....but it was so worth it to me! They are always a huge success!

Ellen & the Rip Cord

This is a video clip of Ellen and Bobby riding the Rip Cord at World's of Fun in Kansas City MO. It is basically a cable that pulls you up 180 feet in the air and you pull the "rip cord" to free fall up to speeds of 80 mph. I get scared just watching other people do it....I cant even explain how scary it was to watch my little Ellen do it! I obviously turned the camera sideways when I took the video...although I dont know why. I guess I wasnt thinking clearly. Its not the best quality...but here she is!

Madi's School Spirit

Madi's got spirit
Yes she do!
Madi's got spirit
How bout you?!
Madi wanted to go all out for homecoming Spirit Day.

So we got up really early and spray painted her hair and painted her face.
She loved how the look turned out.
The Owl's won their homecoming game....maybe because of Madi....who knows.

Bubble Letter T-Shirt

I saw someone with a shirt like this and decided to make some for the girls. This is the first one, which turned out pretty cute. The girls' school mascot is the Owl.

I cut bubble letters out of different colored fabric & iron on backing and ironed them together then stitched the letters on the t-shirt with a zig zag stitch. We thought it would be cute to cut and tie up the sides of the shirt and the tops of the sleeves. It did turn out cute....Ellen wore it to the football game last night and all of her friends want one. I could start a little side business. haha