Our Halloween

We had a fun Halloween!  It began the day before when we had friends over for dinner.  I wish I had taken pictures.  We had a candlelit dinner with four kids & my dear friend, Monica.  We ate pasta and bone bread, with apple & pumpkin pie for dessert.  Yummy! 

For Halloween we carved our pumpkins, put up spiders and webs and readied the house for trick-or-treaters.  We set up a trick!  We took the screen out of our kitchen window, which is right next to the front door.  We opened the window and when people came to ring the doorbell, we said "Boo", and handed them candy through the window instead.  We only were able to try it twice before we went trick or treating ourselves.  Surprisingly, most of the houses were dark in our neighborhood so when a friend spontaneously texted and said come over, we did.  She had her house lit up with candles and was dressed as Little Red Riding Hood.  She made the boys cocoa and read them her story.  I was suprised at how little my ghouls cared for trick-or-treating and how much they loved going to our friend's house.  I think we went to 10 houses all and all. 

Later that night the Sugar Fairy came and picked up most of our candy.  They boys picked out 15 pieces to keep and put the rest outside on the doorstep for the fairy.  She came and left some little toys and books and a tiny thank you note.  After a busy few days I am ready for a breather. 

How was your Halloween?

Until next time...

Embroidery Hoop Jack O' Lanterns

I thrift-ed these beautiful, vintage, embroidery hoops awhile ago and was looking for just the right project for them.  Finally a fun Halloween sewing project came to mind.  I found this bright orange patterned fabric and we cut up a black, felted wool sweater to make jack o' lanterns. I was going to have the boys cut out their own shapes for faces but they had their own ideas.  

Owen loved the idea of them but was not so interested in the actual making of them.  Instead, he was busy making his own Halloween project. More on that later.  Michael was excited to make a specific jack o' lantern he saw on some napkins we bought at Target. He wanted nothing to do with the cutting part.

The top jack o' lantern is Michael's.  For his I traced an oak leaf and cut out eye holes for the mask-like eyes.  He was thrilled with the spooky effect.  Then for mine, the one on the bottom, I did the same by tracing maple leaf patterns & cutting holes in them.  If you want to make these, Google leaf patterns and you'll find many to choose from.  Michael is still working on his bit by bit.

As for 4 year old Owen, a cute story:  lately he's been obsessed with cutting paper, gluing and drawing.  So this day he was busy making Halloween costumes for the birds.  He made a tiny shirt, pants, a mask and hat.  Without saying a word he put them outside under a tree.  It was only later I found out what he did when he came inside excited they were gone.  He just new some little bird was excited about his new Halloween costume!  Oh kid cuteness, my heart just swells...

So, how are you celebrating the season?  

Until next time...

Autumn & Halloween dolls...

Autumn has arrived at MamaWestWind, bringing a coven of witches, a monster and some new Autumn babies.  Visit them at MamaWestWind on etsy.

To keep up to date with my shop, "like" my MamaWestWind facebook page. 

Until next time...

fairy made...

So here is the completed Sugar Fairy gift, a little bit worn and played with. Last year Owen was really too little to care about the Sugar Fairy.  He loved trick or treating and the candy but he was 2 1/2 years old and not as aware as he is now.  This year I told him the story of the Sugar Fairy and he loved the story but as we got closer to Halloween he made comments like, "I am not giving my candy to the fairies!" Michael told him he had no compassion!  As we started off trick or treating in our neighborhood, Owen told one of the first people we saw, "This is supposed to go to the fairies but I am not giving them one bit!" lol.  So I figured I would maybe set their tree stump and owls aside and give it to them for Christmas. The problem is Michael still really wanted the Sugar Fairy to come! What would happen if Michael found a gift and Owen didn't?  I wasn't sure what to do. When we got home they ate plenty of candy.  Then we picked out 10 pieces and put them back in their bags.  The rest was to go to the fairy. I waited for arguments from Owen and none came. He was very happy to have his 10 pieces.  How much more does a child need, really?  So, we put the candy outside and I waited for their reaction in the morning.  They were both very excited to see their gift and played with it all morning.

I think Michael suspects this year.  He is almost 8 but really still wants to believe.  He said, "Mommy, the fairies stole your wool again!"  I said, 'Honey there is plenty of wool in the world".  Later when we were talking about what to make or buy for their cousins for Christmas, Michael said maybe you could make them a tree stump like ours?  I said, "I wouldn't know how Michael, that's fairy made! "  That seemed to satisfy him.  Oh, but that day is coming.  I have told him sincerely that Santa is the spirit of giving.  & that gnomes & fairies are something I've never really seen but choose to believe in & I have no evidence to say they don't exist. Don't we all love to play at these games?  It seems parents are having just as much fun as their children playing Santa, hiding gifts and keeping the magic alive.  What's more real than the love behind that?

Anyway, I digress. Halloween was a fabulous time. I put no effort into their costumes.  Owen was a bee, Michael a vampire.  We wanted to draw a vampire face with our Lyra face pencils but Michael refused. We had friends over, a Ninja & Star wars character.  I took horrible dark, blurry pictures all night and no pictures of the food!  We had pumpkin stew, bone bread, warm cider & cream cheese pumpkin muffins.  It was too much fun.  How was your Halloween? 

Until next time...

The Cutest Costume...

So I have to tell you about this awesome giveaway at Under the Humble Moon.  We won this dragon tail last year and were thrilled!  Especially little Owen. We loved it so much we had to get the sweet hood too.

This costume is in our daily dress up basket and he wears it at least a few times a week.  It's sturdy and holds up to all the play. Thank you again Heidi for our sweet costume.  Head on over to Under the Humble Moon to win a dragon tail! 

Until next time...

The Sugar Fairy

Halloween is coming up and I'm panicking a bit!  What do I make or get for Sugar Fairy gifts this year?  I'm over at Natural Kids writing about our beloved Halloween Sugar Fairy and sharing a few of my Natural kids Team picks for her to bring.

Does the Sugar Fairy come to your house?  What are you planning? 

Until next time...

Shop Update: first family!

So excited to introduce my first peg doll family!  They are Mama, Papa, big sister, toddler & baby in a leaf pouch.  I have had so much fun making them. 

Mama & daughter.  I'm loving their red hair. 

& here are the children of the family. 

 

Also I've made some leaf pouch playsets and a peekaboo pumpkin baby. These can be playsets or I can add a string to make them ornaments for the nature table.

 Maple Leaf Pouch

Sage green leaf pouch playset.

And here's the pumpkin pouch   These are fun for Halloween or Sugar Fairy gifts.  Does anyone have any good ideas for sugar fairy gifts this year? I need some that my kids haven't already seen!

Until next time...

Spiderman, a Dragon, Bones and the Sugar Fairy!

We had a fun Halloween!  I made pumpkin stew and bone bread sticks from the recipe "Rose Room Rolls", The Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book. When I saw this post on mamaroots, I knew we had to have them!  The boys loved our yummy, scary bones.

We also had warm cider, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin pie and apple tart.  Yum!

My eldest, who had planned to be a dragon to match his little brother decided last minute to change to Spiderman (gasp!).

Spiderman, spiderman!
What to do?
Daddy loves Spiderman,
so they do too!

Do you like my little poem?  Even though to Mommy's aesthetic Spiderman is way overdone and not very creative, (just like the poem above).  It just can't be helped. I won't interfere with their Papa & sons fun! 

So instead of two dragons we had one.

Owen was really cute!  Before we left I ran over the rules of trick or treating at dinner.  "Say Trick or Treat, don't forget to say Thank you,  choose only one piece of candy unless they tell you different".  Owen was really listening, he was a model trick or treater.  He even doled out the Dragon roar's for everyone except at this house. Where instead of roaring he stuck out his tail and made a farting sound to their "roars" of laughter. Typical.

Everyone loved his tail!
 

And Michael was the cutest Spiderman on the block, in my unbiased opinion! 

Last night I tried and tried but I just couldn't get any good pictures.  So today the boys put on a little photo shoot for me.  Yes, bare feet!  It was quite warm last night and today it's 70 some. 

Michael's jack o 'lantern is on the left.  I wish I had gotten a picture of Michael & Daddy carving pumpkins but I was busy with our bones!  Owen was taking a rare nap, which saved our Trick or Treating eve! 

If it seems I have a million pictures of Owen, it's because I was trying to capture this adorable costume.  I won this dragon tail in a giveaway!  Heidi at Under the Humble Moon makes the most adorable dragon costumes!  She even let me choose the colors!  Check out her etsy store, Humble Luna! 

Roaring his fierce roar!

This costume will live in our dress up basket.  It even fits Michael. I have a feeling we'll get a lot of use out of it.  With Michaelmas having just passed and my Mom sending us knight shirts, (Not to be confused with night shirts, I'll have to show you those another time.)  We have had a lot of dragon slaying going on here. 

 

This year I told the boys the Sugar Fairy's story. I wasn't sure how interested they would be about giving their candy away.  But Michael was super excited.  He asked me to tell him the story again and wholeheartedly agreed to it.  We wrote a note together to the Sugar Fairy. With Michael practicing some writing and making her a picture, we asked her to come and take our candy on Halloween night. (We saved a few pieces.)

And these are the gifts the boys woke up to on our doorstep this morning. Left in the same bag the candy had been in! How does she do it?  The DVD is a fantastic series of not so scary, Halloween stories from Scholastic Storybook Treasures called, A Very Brave Witch.  There was only one story the boys were a bit afraid of.

They are thrilled with their monsters.  Funny, I ahem, the sugar fairy must have been thinking of the story we just read in the Seven Year Old Wonder book, "Sylvia & the Black Imp". Even though Michael's black imp isn't black but green and there isn't a picture in the book. Michael said, "Look Mom!  The black Imp!"  He loves it but says it's too hairy, I guess I have to shave the little bugger.

Hope you had a fantastic Halloween!  Until next time...