Happy Halloween 2009!

Our 2009 Costume Report:

Medusa.
Found a thick knit ski cap at the thrift store. Found different-sized snakes at toy stores in the area and wove them through the cap. Love how the headpiece turned out, but didn't love the rest of the costume — I want a redo on this one. Oscar went back and forth on this costume for weeks. He was pretty sure he was actually going to be able to turn people to stone once he had the costume on — and that was stressing him out. Also. He had no issues that Medusa is a girl. In fact, for awhile he was trying to talk Ralph and Maude into being the Gorgon Sisters with him. (His current favorite book is Greece! Rome! Monsters!)



Raggedy Anne.
Found the dress at a thrift store and added the apron. Made the wig by attaching red yard to a red knit snow cap. This was my first attempt at making a wig. Not bad. Tights from the costume store. Ordered bloomers from Amazon, but when they arrived they were too silky and looked like lingerie. So we skipped them. I love classic costumes like this.



Oompa Loompa.
Found brown turtleneck at the thrift store. Gathered some white karate pants from our dressup box at the knee for the knickers. Ordered the wig, suspenders and socks from Amazon. The wig had to be trimmed and styled a bit, but it works. Ralph has performed the Thriller dance twice in this costume (at the school dance and at the church party) — I'm glad he can move easily in it.



Mary Poppins.
Made adjustments to a skirt and blazer found at a thrift shop. Attached bird to shoulder with a safety pin. The more I stared at the details in photos of Mary Poppins, the more I felt like we were missing the mark here. But. Olive loved this costume. And. She won best costume at the Trunk-or-Treat parade — so who knows?



Witch.
Bought a leotard at Target and recycled witch and tutu accessories from past years. It was very important to Betty that everyone was informed she was a nice witch. Also. Sometimes she'd call herself a princess witch. She loves this costume, but I bet she'd love it even more if it was pink.

Mom, you can find a million more photos of this year's (and last year's) costumes here. Oh! And don't miss my sister's spooky ghost photos here.

Happy Halloween-y Weekend!

Images from Martha's Pumpkin Gallery. Definitely worth a peek. So inspiring!

Friends. I have good news! I am officially in my second trimester. This is how I know:

1) I did throw-up today, but I didn't feel nauseous. (It's not perfect, but I'll take it!)

2) Food has been my enemy for weeks and weeks, but the last few days I've had a growing appetite. I think of it as a tender mercy that will help me make sure my kids' Halloween candy doesn't go to waste.

3) I checked the calendar.

But honestly, it's hard to focus on this exciting news because we've got a jam-packed schedule of Halloween for the next two days. On my to-do list:

1) Take $5 and some refreshments to the middle school so Ralph can get into the Halloween Dance. (It's his first dance. I am dying to get a report.) I wish I had time to make these rice-krispie mummy heads for the refreshments. They are fabulous.

2) Buy candy for Trunk-or-Treat tonight (will they really still do Trunk-or-Treat when there is two feet of snow on the ground? We'll find out tonight how truly hard-core Coloradoans are.)


3) Decorate the trunk of the car. The kids are thinking a "mad science lab" with dry ice smoke and Martha's specimen jars. But I confess, I'm trying to talk them out of it altogether because the snow is a total Halloween buzzkill.


Specimen jar images from Martha Stewart.

4) Make chili for tonight's cook-off.

5) Finish Oscar's Medusa costume. The headpiece is done, but the shirt still needs some work. I'll try to post pics of all my kids-in-costume this weekend. Halloween is the best.

6) Tomorrow, we'll carve the jack-o-lanterns and buy more candy for the trick-or-treaters.

Have a fantastic, spooky weekend. And please send spider-webby thoughts my way, because with so much snow outside it is taking every bit of self-restraint I've got not to pull out the Christmas cds.

P.S. — Don't miss the huge Trifle Shoppe Giveaway! Over $1000 worth of gorgeous goodies. Scroll down or click here to find it.

P.P.S. — Have you registered for Alt Design Summit yet? Early bird registration ends October 31st. $100 off!

All About a Character — By Guest Mom Kristy Glass

The younger me as Little Orphan Annie.

If you feel a little self-conscious about becoming someone else for the night, here are a few tips to help you shed the jitters, and have a good time.

Karaoke.
My husband was Billy Ray Cyrus last year, and he became Billy as soon as Achy Breaky Heart came over the speakers.

Phrases!
If you are playing someone from a book or movie, skim-read it for dialogue or re-watch the movie. IMDB is also a good source of quotes from movies. Or call that one friend that knows quotes from everything. This year my Judy Jetson has been practicing: “Outer-galactic!” and “Far-Out!” For the cowboys, check out cowboy sayings. For the pirates out there, pre-plan your phrases on this site.

Theme-dress.
If you and a buddy or your family all dress as a theme, you can take that to an extreme. You can speak in like dialect/accent/language!, act out a scene, improvise a scene, the sky's the limit.

Dance!
If your costume comes from an era like the 20’s, 50’s or 70’s....brush up on your moves and dance in character when the music starts at your Halloween party.

Hide.
If you are too shy, get a mask so that nobody knows it’s you.

Dressing up and getting into character for the night is fun for someone like me who enjoys playing a role, but I know it’s not for everyone. Maybe a few of these tips will help you loosen up and get into Halloween this year.

Thanks for having me! ~Kristy

Find more from Kristy at her blog Glass Posse.

Trifle Shoppe Giveaway

I've got a crazy huge giveaway for you today from one of the most stylish baby stores around: New Zealand's very own Trifle Shoppe. I'm not kidding when I say it's a big giveaway. It's so big I have to describe it in list form so that I don't forget anything. Take a look at what the winner will receive (just imagine the giant box waiting on her doorstep):

-Organic Merino Set by Natural Star — booties, beanie and mittens.
-Feeding Pillow and Skincare Pack by Babybaby.
-Merino Newborn Set by Three Bags Full — top, pants and hat.
-Nudey!Rudey! Trial Pack — including a pocket cloth nappy, a triple layer microfiber insert, one reuseable liner and six biodegradable liners.
-A Treasure Hand-stamped Customized Necklace by Lovestamp.
-Whimsical Giraffes Fabric Wall Decals by Sticky Tiki.
-Baby Hair clips with Matching Display Box and Kimono Frame by Mini Lala.
-A Babywedge.
-Millicent Mouse Toy by ATLDL.
-Unido Baby Sling.
-Blanket with Cocolatte Trim by Babyjo Bamboo.
-Baby Pack by Ramalama — bamboo bodysuit, baby wrap and bib.
-Nesting Kit by Westcoast Baby — Infant Kimono Wrap, Infant Beanie Hat and Cocoon Swaddling Blankets.
-Newborn gift pack by Green Bean Kids Ltd — baby gown and baby swaddle wrap.



Friends. That's one very big Giveaway. With a prize totaling over $1000 in goodies. ($1000!!)

You'd be crazy not to enter. If you're having a baby you'll be totally set up. If you're not having a baby, your gift closet will be totally set up. Just leave a comment and you're entered to win. I'll post a winner on Monday, November 2nd.

By the way, while you're browsing the Trifle website, which features over 60 designers hand-picked from around the globe, you should take a minute to sign up for their newsletter — then you'll be the first to know when the diligent buyers from Trifle have spotted a fantastic new line.

How's that for a Halloween treat?

________________

Update: Congratulations to Becky L! You are the lucky winner. I hope this package is as fun to receive as it was to write about.

All about Halloween Eve — by Guest Mom Kristy Glass

It crept up on you right? Your kids look at you disappointedly when they realize you have not planned a Halloween costume for yourself (or maybe even for them! whoops!). A few last-minute winners that I have seen over the years:

Be a color:
Dress solo or as a group — green-earth theme, orange/white/yellow=candycorns, a rainbow, a flag, school colors! If I were pink, I’d wear this beard. Grab every piece of clothing you have in one color, this is educational for young ones too! While you're at it, sort your closet by color...it looks pretty!

Crayons:
Kristie made these crayon costumes (seen above) for her family with paper. Gotta love paper crafts that you can do the night before!

Subway Train Sign:
Natasha did not make this last minute (also see above), but if you have a piece of felt, a magic marker and a glue gun, you could make a less-than-perfect version of this costume. For a full list of the subway lines, click here.

Get Literal:
Plastic spiders are plentiful this time of year. I witnessed a couple glue a ton of them to t-shirts and proclaim themselves Spider Man and Spider Woman. Another fun use for plastic spiders is to stick them in your hair or ears or other creative places.

My friend Helen velcroed a babydoll to her butt to become a Babysitter. Brilliant!

Blacked-eyed P's — You guessed it, a letter P on a t-shirt and a black eye, you have to do this as a pair to be peaZ.

Find more from Kristy at her blog Glass Posse.

A Pregnancy Trial from Brenna

I was 25 when my husband and I got pregnant with our first child. Several of my friends were pregnant too, and I was delighted that I would get to share this experience with them. I was so lucky at the beginning, because I didn't get sick at all. It was easy!

That was good because I was an incredibly busy kindergarten teacher and felt like I had something to prove since I was young. The first trimester passed with relatively few troubles. The only thing out of the ordinary was a small bump we had found near my collarbone. Probably lymph tissue, but no one seemed to concerned so I tried not to be. After 3 weeks on antibiotics, it was still there and starting to cause more worry. But I was busy, so it just got pushed to the back burner.

A few months later I was visiting a doctor for my eyes. His brother happened to be an ENT and when he saw my lump, he told me that I should go and get it checked out by a specialist, so I did. The specialist did a fine needle biopsy which had inconclusive results; we followed up with a full biopsy and the results were devastating. At 24 weeks along, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Cancer! I was too young for that!

Those first few weeks of diagnosis were incredibly difficult. Lots and lots of testing; some of it was quite painful. Each day we hoped for the best and we kept pushing through, but the fear consumed us in our quiet moments. No mother-to-be should ever have to wonder if she's going to be around to watch her baby grow up. As days passed we learned that the cancer had already advanced to "Stage 3." It was everywhere but my bone marrow. We had to make a choice. Start chemo right away or deliver early and start as soon as possible. We listened, we prayed, we cried some more. We decided that we would wait until I was 34 weeks to deliver and then start chemo.

The hardest part was watching all my friends — the same friends I had been delighted to share pregnancy with. It seemed things were perfect for them. I remember visiting my best friend the day she had her baby. I was so happy for her, but I was incredibly jealous of how easy things seemed. I cried myself to sleep that night, and I can still feel that hurt in my heart to this day.

But blessings came to me too, although I was still working through the trials. At 34 weeks I delivered a healthy baby boy, who we named Caleb Roy. In fact, though he was 6 weeks early he weighed 6 lbs at birth! He spent 2 weeks in the NICU, but came home as normal as can be. I started chemo the same week I had Caleb. Caleb was the most mellow, easy baby I could imagine. Though I was sick quite a bit, we managed.



Six months later I finished chemo with a perfectly clean bill of health. I've been cancer free over a year now and I am grateful for each moment I have with my husband and son. Life is a beautiful blessing.

From Brenna.

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Note from Design Mom: for the duration of my pregnancy, I'll be posting stories about pregnancy, childbirth and growing a family on Wednesdays. You can find them all by clicking here.

A Dramatic Delivery Story from Danika Gunn

Note: Fair warning — it's a long story. Also. Times are estimated because I wasn't really looking at the clock. I just know I woke up around 2:30 AM and Lia was born at 3:15 AM.

September 15th, 2004, 2:30 AM- I woke up with really bad cramps. I thought they were just diarrhea cramps from the castor oil I'd taken to try and get labor started.

2:45 AM- I realize they are not diarrhea cramps. They are contractions. And they have now turned into super, incredible amazingly hard contractions. I had my first child without any medication and remembered that the contractions hurt pretty bad at 5 cm, so I think I am about 5 cm and go get in bed to do my hypnobirthing (a deep relaxation technique to help reduce the pain of labor). I told Matt (my husband) I was in labor and for him to start timing the contractions for me. I would tap his arm once when they started and once when it ended. Every time I tapped him it would wake him up and he would say "Oh it wasn't even a minute long" and fall asleep again. (Later he told me that he was just trying to count to 60 in his head.)

Finally the contractions are so hard I can actually feel and see my belly jerking or crunching as the muscles contract. I tell Matt, "I am in so much pain. Call the hospital and tell them to have that epidural at the door. I don't know how I can even get to the car it hurts so bad." He says "You're okay," and kinda rubs my arm a little and falls asleep again. In his defense I have to say that when I was talking it was in a very calm quiet voice, because in hypnobirthing you try not to tense up at all. Not even your eyebrows. I knew that if I lost concentration I would be in way more pain. I looked and sounded very calm, almost sleepy. So he thought I was just fine.

2:50 AM- I am ticked at Matt for not listening to me. Plus I am super scared because of this intense pain and I think I still have 6 more hours of it. I ask Matt to help me get ready to go. He doesn't move (I had false labor a couple times the week before and he just thought this was another one of those).

3:00 AM- I get so ticked off and can't control myself any longer and I say, "Fine I don't need any help! I'm only in labor and dying and I can do it myself!" and I rip the covers off and start moving as fast as I can for the bathroom. That got his attention! Again I told him to, "Call the hospital and tell them we're coming," and "I don't know how I can get to the car in this pain." I get to the bathroom and think I should go to the bathroom before I go to the hospital. I sit down and start another contraction and it is so intense that my legs shot straight out in front of me. I still think I have a couple more hours of this.

3:01 AM- I hear Matt talking on the phone saying our address and how old I am. I'm wondering, “Why he is even telling the hospital those things?” (Later I find out he was talking to a 911 operator, not someone at the hospital) “All he needs to do is to tell them to tell the doctor we are coming in.” But before I can yell at him to just get to the point, my body is overcome with this super intense pressure and I can't talk or breathe. I grabbed the side of the sink terrified. My body had never done that with Abe (my first baby). I didn't know what was going on. But then I felt "the burn." Most of the ladies should know what I'm talking about here. I realized that I did not have any hours left. The baby was coming now!

3:05 AM- I tried to tell Matt but I couldn't get my breath. He is still talking on the phone. I finally get a little voice back and tell Matt, "She's coming. She's coming out." The phone is not cordless so I hear him trying to make it over to me and telling the operator, "She says the baby is coming, but I don't think she is." Then he turns on the bathroom light and sees Lia's head starting to come through. He tells the operator that she is indeed coming and the operator says, "stay on the phone."

He can't reach me and stay on the phone at the same time. He chucks the phone and gets to me just as Lia's full head comes out. At this point I remember everything calming down a bit. I wasn't in pain anymore. So we were just sitting there trying to gather our thoughts. I asked Matt if the cord was around her neck. He said no, but then he checked a little harder and found that it was wrapped around her neck. Later he told me that due to all the pressure the cord was so, so hard to get off from around her neck that he was just pulling on that thing! He got the cord off her neck.

3:15 AM- Lia is born! And she is breathing! Hurray!

3:16 AM- I am sitting on the toilet looking at this beautiful baby in my arms, wondering what just happened. Matt gets back on the phone and tells the operator the baby is okay. We wrap her in a towel and try to figure out what the heck is going on. And just oohing and aahing over her. She was so sweet. We found out later that she was 8 lbs 10 oz. So beautiful!

3:19 AM- I am buck naked so Matt tries to put some grey sweat pants on me but the placenta hasn't come through yet so we decide no pants.

3:20 AM- The paramedics arrive. There are ambulance dudes and fireman there. Three of them cram into our tiny little apartment bathroom and stare at me. Naked and holding a baby on the toilet. They ask me if I'm bleeding. Duh. They just stare. I am still holding Lia and I am shaking. I feel like I should say something to them so I tell them, "I was just sitting here and I had a baby. Will you please take her? I'm afraid I might drop her from all this shaking." So they let Matt cut the cord and take her away.

Matt called the only friends we had, The Sanchez family, to see if Sarilu could come over and pick up Abe so we could go to the hospital. Sarilu had been an ER nurse for a long time so when she saw the baby was still not dried off and wrapped up warm she told them, "Get that baby wrapped in a space blanket," and then she had to leave. They didn't wrap her in a space blanket. I remember one of them saying "She looks kinda blue," and the next one answering, "Don't worry she'll pink up at the hospital when they dry her off and rub her a bit." I wish I could have been thinking clearly, because I would have just taken the baby from them and done it myself.

(No more time line because I have no concept of time or much else at this point).

I still have not delivered the placenta but one dude says "Well, let's get you to the hospital." I'm still buck naked and I am trying to stand up. Finally one of them notices I need a little help and grabs my arm to help me up. Then he waits for me to start walking out the bathroom door. (Sorry this gets a little gross). Problem. My umbilical cord is just dangling there dripping blood on the tile and I don't want to get blood on my carpet. So I tell the paramedics this. One of them glances around and then pulls one of my towels off the rack and says "Straddle this". I do. "Let's go," he says again.

Problem. I'm still naked. There are all kinds of lights flashing outside. "I don't want my neighbors to see me naked." One of them leaves to go find me something to wear. He returns with this dark green, really short, satin robe that I have not even seen for a long time. I put it on just happy not to be naked. And then out the door we go. No help. Just me waddling out into the cold, September Colorado night with no shoes or socks, a nighty, and a towel between my legs trying to make it down the flight of stairs to the ambulance.

If I had been able to think clearly I would have done things a lot differently. I think my husband and I were in a bit of shock and we were just doing what the guys in uniform told us to do. I had to stop 2 times on the stairs to have 2 more contractions. I was just shaking and gripping the rail. Matt was busy with the baby or else he would have been taking really good care of me. These paramedics had no idea what they were doing.

When I get to the bottom of the stairs I start to cross the sidewalk to get in the ambulance which is 10 feet away. However, the paramedics then decide it is too dangerous for me to walk that 10 feet, put me on a stretcher and then put me in the ambulance to go one block away. Ladies, you know how after you have a baby the nurse rubs your belly. Well these paramedics do that to me and they each take a turn learning how to do it. I kept telling them that it really hurt and that I needed a break. They just told me to take another breath. I wanted to hit them. I arrived at the hospital in my sexy little green robe and immediately the nurses ask why the baby is not in a space blanket and whisk her away.

I was taken to a super small room past the broom closet and was left alone there for a long time. I was covered in blood and really, really, really thirsty. Finally someone came in, and I asked for water, but couldn't have any because they were putting me on pitocin to try and get me to deliver the placenta. My doctor came in with crazy hair and I thought I woke him up so I say, "Sorry I woke you up," and he says in a dazed voice, "You didn't. This is like the 15th baby I delivered tonight." After his work is done, placenta and all, he leaves. The nurse says she'll get me some water but then leaves.

I was alone, and had patches of blood on me for a long time. Wondering how my baby is doing and what the heck just happened. Matt was with Lia and she was having a hard time. She was only around 95 degrees when she got to the hospital and was low on oxygen. She had to go to the NICU and Matt stayed with her until she was settled. I am so grateful that he would stay with her when I couldn't.



In hindsight we wish we had never called the paramedics. Matt could have done a better job, and drove us one block for free. But happily (so happily!) at the end of the story we had a healthy baby and a healthy me. Plus a really great story to tell. : )

(For those who are curious, I had my next two daughters at home with a midwife attending. With Hazel, labor started when my water suddenly broke and thirty five minutes later I held her in my arms. Olive's birth was very similar. It started with my water breaking and thirty minutes later I held her in my arms. I am so glad I was at home and not out in public!)

From Danika Gunn of LoGunns.

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Note from Design Mom: for the duration of my pregnancy, I'll be posting stories about pregnancy, childbirth and growing a family on Wednesdays. You can find them all by clicking here.

All in the Alternatives — By Guest Mom Kristy Glass

Haunted house image here.

My Dad is a dentist, so when we gathered our treats for Halloween to give away to the neighborhood kids, not only did we have the sweets, we also gave out toothbrushes with my Dad’s business address and phone number. A tiny part of me thought it was lame that my Dad did this, but most of me thought it was a pretty great idea. I had never gotten a toothbrush on Halloween before, I thought it was original.

When we got home, we would sort through our findings, trade with our siblings, your favorite for mine....until everyone was super satisfied. My faves: Kit Kats, Peanut M & Ms, Snickers and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. Those are still my faves, but I developed a peanut allergy after I finished my pregnancy with my second child, so now I am just mad when I see all of my faves in my kids pumpkins.

This year my daughter’s school is sponsoring Healthy Halloween. Without knowing all the details, I have been thinking about alternatives to sugar treats, and junky plasticky stuff. Ideas....GO!:

-MEMORY game-using classmates photos or halloween images on back of cards
-Slap bracelets (they’re back!) I’ve spotted them at Oriental Trading Co. and Claire’s Accessories
-Homemade Halloween Bookmarks
-Homemade Necklaces
-Instruments...we have a beloved maraca made out of a witches head.
-My favorite idea (probably for a small group of children as opposed to handing it out to the neighborhood): Halloween Music CD

My fave halloween tracks:

Justin Roberts:
Maybe the Monster (Meltdown!)
Thought it was a Monster (Yellowbus)

Harry Connick, Jr. Songs I Heard Album:
Spoonful of Sugar, Jitterbug, Land of Oz, Candy Man

Oingo Boingo:
Who do you want to be?
Weird Science
When the Lights Go Out

Barbra Streisand:
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf
Ding-Dong, the witch is dead

Laurie Berkner:
Chock-o-lot in my Pock-o-lot

What are your favorite candy alternatives?

Find more from Kristy at her blog Glass Posse.

Better Late Than Never

Creepy pancake photo from Not Martha (lots more photos and instructions here).

It's Wednesday night. And I'm just sitting at my computer for the first time today. We have at least 12 inches of snow in our yard (wha?). Which ended up giving us a crazy schedule of ever-changing is it canceled? is it delayed? is it early out? for 3 different schools. And a Halloween parade.

But we made it through. We baked a batch of Rebecca's Sugar Cookies and cut them into Halloween shapes. Green, orange and yellow frosting. And Ben Blair made a huge pot of (award-winning) chili for dinner. So all is well.

Everyone is settling into bed now. And if you still happen to be checking in tonight, I have a treat for you. Actually 3 treats: a great Halloween post from Guest Mom Kristy Glass. Plus. Two more pregnancy stories. I'll get them all posted as soon as I hit publish on this.

P.S. - You can see a glimpse of my snowy backyard here.

More Halloween-y Links

-Don't miss Trick-or-Eat. Nine of your favorite food bloggers got together for a delightfully frightful Halloween blog collaboration. So fun! Find links to all the participating blogs here.

-See Robert Mahar, of the always fabulous Mahar Drygoods, demonstrate how to make a darling Sock Skeleton on the Martha Stewart Show. You can get your own sock skeleton kits here.

-Need last-minute party activities for your Spooky Shindig? Marie has created a downloadable book on Monster crafts.

-You Can Make This is offering free downloadable patterns for tutus and vests through Halloween. Find them here. Need ideas on what costumes to make with the free patterns? Watch this.

Not Halloween-y, but it's spooking me (or at least making me sad) — my friend Lindsey of Cafe Johnsonia has decided to take down her blog. : (

Image of Trick-or-Eat from Tongue-n-Cheeky.

MJ

If you've stopped into a Halloween store this month, then you've seen the 50,000 Michael Jackson costumes available. Totally understandable. We've had him on constant play at our house for the last few months. And Ralph has now memorized the Thriller choreography (just in time for his first school dance this coming Friday).

If you're looking for your own MJ tribute, but would prefer something more subtle than a sequined glove, I like this sweater from Toobydoo. It was designed well before Michael's untimely death, but it hits just the right note.

All About the Makeup — by Guest Mom Kristy Glass

This is me as the "Book Witch" and as Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. I did the makeup myself(!).

A few years ago, my daughter’s kindergarten teacher and I planned a Halloween Surprise for her class. I was to come in as the Book Witch and read some Halloween stories to the children. I love surprises so much, so I did not tell my daughter anything about this, and I wanted to be unrecognizable to her and her classmates.

My mind immediately turned to the Broadway production of Wicked and the green makeup that Elphaba wears. I emailed a makeup artist friend of mine to see if she could give me some tips on how to transform my face into a witch. She suggested I visit Alcone, a makeup company in Manhattan. I zipped over there and waited in line for the makeup artist of The Little Mermaid to plow through her very long list of needs, and felt quite sheepish when all I asked for was Elphaba Green. Unfortunately they did not have that green, so I settled for more of an emerald color of Kryolan’s Aqua.

I also wanted to have a prosthetic nose, but I am allergic to latex, and could not find any noses that were latex-free. Instead I picked up some wax and glued some warts onto my face. The other important element of the Book Witch Makeup was Mac’s Pigment in “Push the Edge”, which is a purple color. I used it to accent my cheeks, lips and eyes. I had purple going on with the hat I bought at Ricky’s and the purple gloves. As for the costume itself...I just threw on all the black clothes in my closet and sprayed a little black in my hair.

I brought my books along in a vintage Samsonite, bright pink train case, as opposed to a cauldron or black basket or jack-o-lantern. I wanted to be less witchy and more booky because some parents had expressed concerns about Witch Lore and I didn’t want to give the wrong message to the impressionable young children. The teacher is convinced that my daughter didn’t recognize me, and I am pretty sure none of the other children recognized me until little sister landed on the scene, suddenly it was pretty obvious who was under all that makeup. My daughter insists she was never fooled. She’s been known to lie.

My Top 5 Halloween Book Witch Read-Alouds:

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
Room on the Broom Book by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler
In the Haunted House by Eve Bunting
The Ugly Pumpkin by Dave Horowitz
The Halloween Play by Felicia Bond

Last year my daughter wanted me to be Maleficent to her Princess Aurora. I purchased the costume and staff and was disappointed with the quality of the frock. I spruced it up by stuffing the foam-shaped Antlers with poly-fil and putting a back on them, then twirling some purple cord around each point, but I knew what would really sell the costume would be my face.

I studied graphics from the film, but mostly studied a Golden Book Version of Sleeping Beauty that we already had on our bookshelf. I ordered the Aqua color that was closest to Maleficent’s turquoise hue and then I was all set. I had the purple pigment from Book Witch the year before and the black paint from my Mrs. Incredible costume already in my stores, so I didn’t need to buy anything else. The photo at top was taken after my third try at applying this makeup, and I think it turned out really well: red lips, yellow around the eyes, purple eyeshadow, exaggerated eyebrows, and that sallow, turquoise skin. Spooky.

Great makeup can make a costume go from good to great, or can be the costume itself. Just looking at those aqua colors I had a few ideas come to mind right away: silver-ghoul, dark blue-blue man group, Violet — that girl from charlie and the chocolate factory who turns into a blueberry, yellow-banana...use your imagination and make sure you practice before the night of Halloween!

Find more from Kristy at her blog Glass Posse.

Parent Child Dance Shoes

Did you see these? Seems like the sweetest toddler gift ever.

spotted on kirtsy via Handmade Charlotte

All In The Details — by Guest Mom Kristy Glass

When the store-bought costume is not doing it for you, you gotta take things into your own hands. When I decided; “I am going to be Mrs. Incredible,” and I found Disney’s Mrs. Incredible costume online to be UNcredible, I needed to take matters into my own hands.

I pulled up an image of Mrs. Incredible from the Pixar film and compared the two side by side: What? Horror! I was amazed at how lame Disney’s offering was.



The boots were not tall enough, neck too thin, and where are the gloves? I started staring at this cartoon picture and trying to figure out how my non-seamstress self could make my own costume.

I ordered black gloves, black briefs, black tall boots and a full-body red unitard. I stopped by the fabric store to get some orange and black stretch fabric to add to the waistband and neck of the unitard. I also picked up some felt and glitter to create the “i” graphic on the chest.

My sewer friend whipped that orange waistband on the briefs and the black on the outside of the neck. I spent an evening burning my fingers (literally) glueing that incredible logo together. The last thing I needed to do was order the black makeup from Ben Nye, and voila! I had a much more incredible costume then the store-bought, and for around the same price.

As an added bonus, I already had a short sassy hairdo similar to Mrs. I, and the big booty to boot!



I know this is a good costume because 4 other friends have borrowed it. I have also worn it for school appearances at my daughter’s schools and sometimes the prospect of wearing that costume again someday in the future, is all the motivation I need to do my morning workout.

This year I have used the Mrs. Incredible Model to put together 2 costumes that I am pleased-as-punch about.

My daughter will be Olivia Pig, from the Olivia books by Ian Falconer. Her outfit is modeled after the illustration on the cover of Olivia Counts. Each piece (striped tights, striped shirt, white blouse, jumper) will be worn the rest of the year as separates and together for upcoming holidays (Christmas, Valentine’s Day). I had no guilt purchasing these items as they will be worn again! (Unlike the Judy Jetson store-bought catastrophe that looks cute but wears MEH, that my other daughter insisted upon purchasing!)

I had to make the ears and for fun I made a duct-tape purse to go with it. I enjoy having a little hand-made bit of the costume, preferably one that does not involve me sewing.



Also this year I have used the Mrs. Incredible Model for my own costume. I chose to be Cruella Deville, circa 1960’s. I bought each piece off ebay: red boots, red gloves, black vintage dress, white furry coat, wig. After studying the cartoon drawings of Ms. Deville, I decided to get some green jewelry as well. My good friend etsy helped me find just the right set of earrings and a ring.

So, there you have it! Incredible Costumes, to make your Halloween the most memorable!

Find more from Kristy at her blog Glass Posse.

Welcome Kristy Glass!

Photo by Rachel Gundersen

I'm so delighted to have Kristy Glass with us this week! I have only briefly met her in real life (and under odd circumstances, where we had to whisper quick hellos), but I've been exchanging emails with her since I started blogging and feel like she's an old friend. Here's Kristy's introduction in her own words:

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In a recent audition, I was interviewed to see how much I knew about entertainment, celebrities and pop culture. I was asked if I read US Weekly or “the blogs”. Sadly I could not answer in the affirmative. “Then, what is your favorite blog?”

“DESIGN MOM!”

Thanks for having me.

I’m an urban mom of two daughters, thanks to my husband of 11 years, who pushed me to finish college even though I was being lured away by that intoxicating world of the theatre. After graduating in 3 jam-packed years, I pursued my dream of ACTING in Washington DC. There I had a lot of great success, including doing 2 different shows while I was pregnant with my first baby! 5 weeks after her birth, I was back in the theatre one last time in DC before picking up and moving to Queens, NY in 2002.

I am a working mother and I strive to spend as much time with my children as possible. I do not have a nanny. My career has now expanded beyond theatre to singing, recording, modeling, baby wrangling and tv, which basically means, I am a professional job-seeker. I have dragged my babies (now children) to 90% of my auditions and they have even accompanied me on a few jobs.

My interests include blogging, writing, photography, makeup, working out, church service, journaling, networking, reading, online grocery shopping, MACing, and knitting for the lovescarf project. I spend hours a day riding the subway to make sure my children are dropped off and picked up at their respective schools on the upper west side and lower east side (remember, I live in Queens). I attend suzuki violin lessons twice a week with my daughter and practice with her for an hour most days. I have recently discovered the iphone, jogging and Raisenets made with Cranberries (not in combination).


As an actor, one of my favorite holidays is Halloween. I pretty much know who I am going to be for Halloween by January of every year, and enjoy spending the rest of the year finding just the right details to make my costume complete. It’s contagious, my whole family is into it. I hope I can add to your holiday this year, and if not, maybe you can start planning Halloween 2010 in a few months!

Halloween Week!

Can you believe it is the last week of October? So exciting! I counted up, and between the 3 different schools my children attend, plus church parties and friend parties, we have 8 events plus trick-or-treating to keep track of. I am crossing my fingers our costumes are sturdy enough to withstand the week. : ) To help us celebrate, I have invited Kristy Glass to be a Guest Mom this week. She is awesome. And really into Halloween. I will tell you more about her in the next post.


Images from past Halloweens. See more Blair costumes here and here.

Creepy Food

October is humming along. I love every bit of it. Including this idea for tomato soup with eyeballs that I spotted on kirtsy. More spooky food ideas here.

Running for Office — 5th Grade Edition

Maude, our 5th grader, recently ran for student council. Our school in New York didn't offer student council, so this was our first opportunity to try something like this.

Maude was allowed to make 1 poster-board size poster. And give one speech. Here's our report on both. These ideas worked well (she was elected!) and would be a good fit for 4th, 5th or 6th grade. Feel free to use the ideas if you have the need.



The Poster
I was out of full sheets of poster board, but I had a stack of orange poster board sections from a previous project (bonus point for using up what we had), so we pieced those together with lengths of ribbon to make a full-size poster. The sections broke up the space nicely and ultimately inspired the poster content.

We started with Maude writing her name in her regular handwriting. Then we thickened that up to make it something we could use as a template and cut out. We cut out 3 "maudes" from additional posterboard scrap, sprayed them with a light coat of spraymount and completely covered them with glitter (from the Martha Stewart collection — my all-time favorite glitter). We attached the names to the sections with double-sided tape.

On the 3rd-panel, in her own handwriting, Maude wrote little slogans about herself. Some rhymed with Maude (Maude is not flawed). Some didn't.



The Speech
Before we started working on this, we assessed the situation. What had Maude heard? What kind of speeches were typical? From what we could gather, the legendary speech that her classmates still talked about was given by a boy who showed up with a bunch of helium balloons. He started by popping a balloon and saying: Now that I've got your attention... and continued to pop balloons throughout his speech. Knowing this was the pinnacle, we aimed to hit somewhere between balloon popping and reading the speech straight off a paper.

Here's the transcript Maude ended up with:

I'd love to promise you, that if I get elected, homework will be abolished for the rest of the year! I'd love to promise that your favorite celebrities will visit our class. Like Taylor Swift and Carmelo Anthony!! I'd love to promise that each of you will get a million dollars!!!

But I can't.

What I can promise, is that I'll work hard, attend my meetings and give my best ideas.

To show you how dedicated I'll be as your student council rep, I'm going to put 26 marshmellows in my mouth — one for each of you. Please count with me.

[Maude then proceeds to put full-size marshmallows in her mouth. She can only fit 3. At which point she puts her hand up in a stop motion and spits the marshmallows in a paper bag.]

Let's try this again.

[Maude then pulls out a bag of mini-marshmallows, and the class counts with her as she stuffs her mouth with 26 mini-marshmallows. When she reaches 26, she spits them into the same paper bag.]

Thanks, everybody! Vote for Maude!!

Initials

So the question has come up: how'd we transport all the goodies from Broad Summit? A good question. Which leads nicely into my final summit report (no really, this is my last post about it, I promise). There are two answers to the question: Totebags. And Toyotas.

Each attendee was given a personalized totebag from Lands' End so they could haul their lovely gifties home. The bags are ginormous. And I totally have a thing for ginormous totebags — you know, roomy enough for beach towels or blankets, plus food, plus a camera bag, plus all the things your children are likely to collect on any given outing. So I lurve my new bag. I used mine as my carry-on during the flight home. I was wearing navy and stripes and the red looked totally awesome with my outfit. (Because red + navy is yummy.)

To haul the peoples around, Toyota lent us a fleet of their prettiest cars. I did most of my driving in a Highlander and a Sienna (with Laurie and Jordan and Megan and Dorothy). Both cars are very roomy. And extra-nice for me, I was able to see some of the friends I'd made at the Toyota Studio Tour last year — including Jean Aw of NotCot. Whom I adore. At one point, Jean, who attends far more techy-ish events (and far fewer girly events like the summit) said something like: Geez. I can't believe all the camera equipment attendees brought to the summit — the tech companies should be targeting this crowd...



Question inspired by the initials on my totebag: How many of you weren't given a middle name when you were born? And related question: How many of you have not given middle names to your own children?

I'm so curious. I didn't have a middle name while growing up. I was Gabrielle Stanley. And then when I married, I (conveniently) took Stanley as my middle name. I didn't think not having a middle name was that unusual, but at the summit, the topic came up and I was the only one out of 30 that didn't have a middle name as a child.

Have you heard about ALT?

Big announcement! Have you heard about Alt? It's short for Altitude Design Summit. And it's awesome x 10.

The basics:

-It's the first conference geared specifically to design & lifestyle bloggers, trend & shopping sites — and the companies that want to connect with them. All the social media/new media people who want to get together, talk shop and love on design for a weekend. Great info for design peeps and great info for companies with design-minded products or design-minded clients that want to connect with the design-blog-world.

-It's happening January 21-23, in Salt Lake City, during the first weekend of the Sundance Film Festival. (Celebrity spotting! World-class skiing!)



Doesn't that sound perfect? I'm especially excited because Kirtsy is in charge of putting together the conference programming. The speakers. The topics. The keynotes. The break-out sessions. Which is basically the funnest assignment ever. We made the formal announcement about Alt in the Kirtsy newsletter this morning and the response has been tremendous. My inbox is filling up with speaker suggestions and great ideas for topics. (Speaking of which, a lot of it is still hush-hush, but the speaker list so far is out-of-sight-fantastic.)

If you have thoughts/ideas/suggestions about Alt, I'd love to hear them. Please send me an email at: gabrielle@kirtsy.com

Listography

A few weeks ago, in her great post about journals, Guest Mom Carrie Lundell introduced us to Listography. And then. Happy coincidence. I received a copy from Chronicle Books in my gift bag from Broad Summit.

Um. Brillant! So many great topics I can't pick a favorite. List the people you love the most. List the things you like to do on your day off. List the times you've had an audience. List the bad things you did as a kid. List your favorite books. And on and on. Plus, each list is accompanied by a funky illustration.

It would be fun for a teenager and his/her grandparent to work on this together. Or a husband and wife. Or a parent and child.

Get a few copies for your gift stash and you'll be good to go for those holiday gift emergencies. (I know exactly who I'm going to gift my copy to.)

Leap Design

Such a funny snowy day her in Colorado. The kids had a delayed school start so it was a lazy morning. I heart lazy mornings. But they'll be home any minute — it's time for me to get the fire started and warm up some hot cocoa to greet them. In the meantime, here's something pretty:




My dear friend and business partner, Laurie Smithwick owns a graphic design company with her husband Bob, called Leap Design. They recently re-designed their website and it is freaking awesome. If you are looking for a design team for print or web (Laurie does design, Bob does programming), you should for sure give them a whistle. You will love working with them.

The photos are of Laurie & Bob's wedding invitations. The wedding took place at a summer camp. So fabulous! Lots more pics in the portfolio section of their website.

Oh. And don't miss: I just posted more stories about pregnancy and growing families below.

Pregnancy Story from Aimee Giese

Learning to Love Your Stomach

Whenever someone asks me about pregnancy, I just tell them it was the time I learned to love my gut. I loved people to touch it, loved that it was hard and round. Love loved loved my stomach.

Because the rest of it was weird.

I got pregnant on vacation, a business trip that we both happened to be on in Vancouver if you want to get technical, which makes Declan half-Canadian if you want to get more technical, and if you want to get really really really technical - there is only one time in one day where he could have been conceived. February 8th, 2002. Around 3pm in the afternoon. IF you want to get technical.

Have you ever told your co-workers you may have become pregnant the day before? It's weird.

Flash forward three months and we're tra-la-la-laing through the pregnancy like it we're running through a sunny meadow and the doctor suddenly puzzles over my urine. Have you ever had anyone puzzle over your urine? It's weird.

Come to find out, I was spilling sugars like crazy, so they move up my glucose test. Which I abjectly fail. Fail so badly I had to lay down after drinking the un-fizzy orange drink. Lime they had to FIND a place for me to lay down because that had never happened before. Have YOU ever had to lay down during a glucose test? It's weird.

The test results come back and my doctor is yelling at me so loud I have to hold the phone about 10 feet from my ear, then was rushed on to insulin shots THAT NIGHT and once wave after shocking wave of realization washed over me that, yes, I have been diabetic for what could have been years before this pregnancy, I thought, "this is really weird."

So, I get over my fear of needles, I get the blood sugars under control and I am back on the merry happy path that was my pregnancy. Except for Declan had other plans. He decided he wanted to come two months early in a very spectacular fashion. Not even anything related to the diabetes even. I will spare you all the details, but let's just say it involved more yelling from my doctor and some knives. Oh, and me on my hands and knees on a gurney with my booty in the air.

THAT. WAS. WEIRD.

But it all worked out. Declan was fine, I was fine. My husband? Maybe not so fine, but he could deal.

So, maybe in the end, I didn't get all huge and puffy and wobbly like some ladies who go the full nine months - which is why I loved my stomach so much.

But that's OK. It's what came out of it that matters.

From Aimee of Greeblemonkey.

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Note: for the duration of my pregnancy, I'll be posting stories about pregnancy, childbirth and growing a family on Wednesdays. You can find them all by clicking here.