DIY Costumes

I love this time of year. It's not Halloween itself, or all things scary, or even pumpkin lattes.

It's costume-making.

Oh, how I love it. I like everything about it. I like asking the kids what they want to be, which is always followed by disappointment when it's not what I envisioned, which quickly turns into my acceptance of the challenge (this year it was two ninja turtles and one Cinderella).

I like plotting out my plan for the craft store; just thinking about going gets me excited. Then I get to actually visit the craft store... this year - all by myself! I didn't even mind that I lost cell service and all access to lists and images of their characters. I was still on a high. Oh my goodness, walking around JoAnn's, shopping for costume fabric and various sundries is my happy place.

I love tackling the costumes - with no real plan to speak of. I don't use patterns; I make it up as I go. This is apparently how my mind works best. I thrive on figuring it out, which isn't always pretty.

I love finishing and presenting the costume to the child (or, this year, trying it on them every two minutes while they whined about the pins sticking out of it - kids these days!).

And, perhaps my favorite part? Seeing them wear them year 'round. At least when it's a costume I haven't deemed worthy of preserving in the attic and then end up throwing out when we move.

Now what you may not understand, is how perplexing all of this is. I am not someone who has ten craft projects going at all times. I don't need to be busy. Some days, I am so fatigued that it takes all my effort just to make everyone three meals.

But thanks to the magic of Autumn, I come alive in October. And if I'm lucky, it carries through to December and I bang out three birthdays that delight my kids.

Then I'm done. Until next October.

This year, Clara wanted to be Cinderella. Not Elsa or Anna, like every other four-year-old in America. She's a Cinderella girl. In the name of creativity, I tried very hard to convince her to be Cinderella "before the ball." Original, adorable, easy to throw together with some beige and brown fabric.

My sweet girl eventually even agreed to it, but I knew her heart wasn't in it. So I let her have her first choice, and tackled a ball gown.

I ordered the gloves, headband, choker (totally could have made that, but it was part of a package deal with the headband), and the pettiskirt she's wearing underneath. But the dress is all me. Who do I think I am making a dress? Well, clearly someone who doesn't know fabric very well. Because the darker blue material on her chest stains when it comes in contact with anything, even water. PERFECT fabric for a child.

Also, if you see her in person and look closely, you'll see green sharpie lines on her skirt from where I thought I was going to cut. Classy.

Aaaaand I left not one - but TWO - threaded needles attached to the dress for a while. I swear I just could NOT figure out where I put them!

And then I have my ninja turtles.

Luke was always going to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. And the costume was pretty easy to make (notice Essie's signature backwards jammies).

I even had a helper. Luke had some very specific plans for how he wanted his costume to look (he definitely takes after his mother). The "R" on the belt was his demand idea.

If it were up to Luke, our entire family would be dressing up as all the turtles and their instructor guy. That was not to be, but he did get a Leonardo to go along with his Raphael.

As soon as Luke settled on a ninja turtle, I knew Essie would be the same. The only way my wild child would agree to dress up in something would be if it was the same as her brother.

The hand she's holding here, at the neighborhood Halloween parade last Saturday? Not her father. No, this would be a complete stranger. Don't worry, we were close by, although she sure didn't care.

They'll put them on again tomorrow, of course, for the big day (although I'm kicking myself for telling them that last weekend wasn't, actually, Halloween). Our plan is to visit the embassies, many of which are right out our doorstep, and who apparently open their doors to trick-or-treaters.

Hopefully these three don't cause an international incident.

Adventures in the city

I had big plans to document our little two-month adventure living in a high-rise apartment in the city, and then I remembered I am a combination of busy and lazy and that never ends well. But I have taken pictures with every intention of sharing them here, and we do have a little over a month left until we head out to the burbs, so there's still time. I'm going to get caught up tonight and then hopefully I can share quick little stories here and there in the days ahead.

Or I could post again sometime in 2015. It could honestly go either way.

I was also about to transfer about a gazillion iphone photos from my phone to my laptop to share with you all, and then I remembered that lazy thing. I also remembered they're already up on my instagram. No need to expend any extra time and energy doubling up on social media sharing. So check it out if you want to see our daily life in the District.

And that means you're stuck with the few images I've taken on my big camera. Like this one...

That's our hotel-like bedroom (but with our comforter). Seriously people, I could get used to this bedroom furniture thing. There's a dresser and two night stands!!! I feel so grown up here.

It is like a hotel. It is completely furnished, down to the towels and linens. Or are towels actually linens? I don't know, but you get the picture. There was toilet paper and dish soap and little shampoos and even tooth paste when we got here. There are plates and utensils and pots and pans. Although I did have to buy a whisk today. They aren't perfect.

The kids love it here. They enjoy looking in the windows of the building across the street (the "worker building," according to Luke) and run to the windows every time they hear a siren below. They get to ride in an elevator every day (who am I kidding... I never leave the house/apartment every day) and fight over who gets to the push the buttons. It's so cute.

Although they are slowly starting to become less than enthused about all the walking we do. For Ryan and me, the fact that everything is walkable is the best part. We're all about being city dwellers, walking to Mass, to dinner, to the Whole Foods (don't be fooled - it's our closest grocery store so we just make quick runs there while throwing our money away; and they have amazing apple fritters). But our double stroller only seats two and the odd man out (usually Clara, since she's my best walker), grows weary very quickly.

Like the day we walked to the White House.

It was hot, and five city blocks is longer than you think, for a kid. And they might have thought the park in front of Pennsylvania Avenue was going to have a playground. Which it did not.

But they were excited to see the much-talked-about president's home. Although Luke was perplexed as to why there needed to be two fences between us and it. I told him it was to keep the president safe, which he did not easily accept. What did he need to be kept safe from? Later on he and Clara together decided it was lions and tigers.

One place they're always up for walking to is the playground, which is just two blocks away.

That makes it sound like we go all the time. They, technically, are always up for a walk there, but due to a combination of my low energy and irrational fears of ebola, we've only been once. In my defense, though, watching three kids at a playground is hard. Right? You can't possibly see them all at all times and that means momentary freak-outs on my part. Not good for my adrenals.

We had some visitors last weekend, that we were all very excited about.

Clara took the move very hard. In fact, she was just sobbing once again tonight about leaving all her friends behind. So it was very cool that she got to spend an entire day with one of her best friends, who requested a visit to the city for his birthday. How cute is that? 

So, what else? Well, Ryan loves his new job. And I seriously cannot believe his hours. For the last seven years (and even more before that), he has worked afternoon until midnight. That's been our life, and I figured that would always be our life, with him working in TV news. But he now works days. Days, people! Bankers' hours! He also works some early mornings (like tomorrow, which is why I found time to blog since he's fast asleep next to me), and he'll be traveling a lot. Just as my good fortune at his amazing hours hasn't sunk in, neither has the realization that he'll be gone for days at a time. But we'll deal with that when it comes. And in the meantime, pray for no hurricanes.

Oh, and I can't leave out house-hunting, which takes up most of my time lately. This has got to be one of the worst places to look for a home in the world. Of course, the commutes are ridiculous here, and expensive doesn't even begin to describe it. But we're plugging along, going to see homes for rent, and praying that St. Joseph comes through.

Now I'm all caught up, and I will be back. I'm not sure if that's a promise or a threat. I'll leave that up to you.