Comic Con Chicago 2015

Like last year, we had decided to go to Chicago Wizard World (Comic Con). The kids had decided to go with their Pokemon costumes still.

Adam and I came up with our costumes fairly early. We were going as Mary Poppins and Burt! Adam pretty much had everything already in his closet. The few things still needed were either picked up at Goodwill for cheap, or made with found items around the house. My costume was a bit more of a challenge. Luckily I found the skirt, shoes, and tights already in my closet. For the blouse and bag, I hit up Goodwill. The bag was a lucky find! It was a large stained piece of luggage, and then I found an carpet like valance and was able to glue the fabric to the bag. The red ribbon belt and bow was made with ribbon already in my crafting bins. Now the hat.... I found a few tutorials online and made it myself. The first go was way too big, but with a few modifications the second time around was perfect. The flowers and berries were found at Dollar Tree and hot glued to the hat. Adam made the parrot head on the end of an umbrella we already had. He molded it with clay, then covered in paper and lastly painted it.

I think we look pretty cute!

D was very excited to take her picture with anyone she was a fan of.

The lines for food were crazy long, and then they ran out. So we stayed just a bit longer and the kids begged for Al's beef again.

And as we were leaving Adam suggested we hit up Chinatown for dessert and a nice walk around. The kids each picked out a pastry from a bakery and weren't terribly thrilled with it. But were good sports about it.

It was a very long day, and after walking in heels for most of it, I had blister on my feet, but boy was it worth it! We already can't wait for next year!

Halloween 2014

Wow, has it really been a month since my last post? Is it really November already?? Where has this past year gone! I figured that I would recap all of our fun Halloween events in just one quick post.



While visiting Grandma and Grandpa's house one weekend with cousins, the kids were all allowed to head out to the garden and pick a pumpkin. My two were even allowed to use a drywall saw to cut the vine on their own. They all had fun searching for the perfect pumpkin.

We co-hosted/attending a Trunk or Treat with some of our oldest local friends (and some new ones as well). We have been doing this since 2009 with a handful of the same families and it is so much fun to look back over the pictures and see how they have all grown.

I finally got a madeleine pan and the first ones I needed to make were these candy corn cookies!

I taught L's class on how to draw 3-d pumpkins using chalk pastels, and discussing shadow, lines, shape, and color.

We went to Frightful Fridays at a local library. The kids had off that day due to Fall Break, so we put on our costumes and headed in for games, crafts, and trick or treating to some local businesses tables set up.

We had a fun Halloween party with Cub Scouts! Each den made a game to play, we did Frankensteins head filled with brains, eyes, and spiders in his mouth. I also made these brain cupcakes with blood filling. Most boys were too grossed out to try one, and I must say that shocked me.

I went out of town for the day and Adam took the kids to carve pumpkins at a local place downtown. They then got to head back after dark to see all the pumpkins lit up along the street and bring their own pumpkins home. We also carved the pumpkins we picked from Grandpa's garden. Those were tough little pumpkins and I thought for sure I was going to walk away with a knife in my hand. Thankfully they were finished without incident.

Halloween night brought with it high winds, a severe drop in temps to the 30's, and rain/snow during trick or treat hours. We still braved it, but only hit up about half the houses we normally visit. D was of course the first one to get cold and complain (even though I told her to wear warm items under her costume and only be told that she was fine).

And last but not least friends of ours had a Halloween/Housewarming party the day after Halloween. The kids were excited to go to a "grown up" party, and that most people understood their costumes. (L was Han Solo, and D was Black Widow) (also see: Chicago Comic Con) The kids did an amazing job of being well behaved, and carrying on conversations with a bunch of people they had just met. At one point they were in charge of getting everyone's vote for the costume contest. There were a few different categories, each one making their own, and they then asked each person for their vote. They took this as serious work.

They then had fun announcing the winners! (They won one of the prizes)

Trunk or Treat 2013

Every year we would participate in a trunk or treat with the mom's group we were a part of. This year, a few of us close friends are no longer part of the group (aged out), and still wanted to carry on this fun tradition! So we used what we did in the past and invited friends from everywhere. All of our kids go to different schools, so we invited school friends, and any of our remaining friends from the old group. We had a fantastic turn out!!! There were all kinds of goodies that were handed out. We started with a costume parade, the kids then went car to car, then we all headed to a picnic shelter for a pot luck lunch. After lunch the kids were able to go a run all that sugar energy out on the play ground!

Costume Play Date

We had a costume play date that was suppose to take place at a park, but we got rained out and the person bringing the costumes had to cancel, both her boys were sick. So I quickly told everyone to come here and I pulled out our bins full of hat, scarves, and mittens for winter. The kids had a blast! They totally came up with some crazy combinations! I also pulled out capes from the Halloween box. The red cape that L is wearing is from this Halloween, and the yellow cape that D is wearing is actually from L's first Halloween ( he was Robin to Adam's Batman!).

Zoo Boo!

So sorry that I haven't been on in awhile, but with everyone coming down with yet another cold/flu, and all the Halloween fun it has been hard to post about everything! Last weekend the local zoo held a zoo boo, and because we have a membership it was totally free. So the kids got a trial run in the costumes that I put together. L was super L with the power to rock, and D was a pretty in pink fairy princess. The costumes were super easy because I used clothing that they already had, or borrowed from family. I did make L's sign on his shirt and his cape, and D was easy, I didn't have to make anything. Now the only problem is I don't have a costume. Adam is going as Super Dad! Back to the zoo boo, tons of local companies set up tables and gave out shit tons of candy and other goodies. It was awesome! And the cool thing was that the whole zoo was decorated with carved pumpkins. L totally got the hang of saying trick or treat and thank you. He was really really excited about the candy, the only thing is that he won't get most of it. D did say trick or treat maybe twice, and thank you a few times, but that's good since she rarely talks in public. For Halloween night we will take the kids to the university to visit friends and family, and then we will go just around the block that we live on. It won't be a huge night for the kids, but we will still have fun. We did take the kids to Borders for a kids costume party, but it was more for older kids. And I'm sick of everyone asking if L is Captian Underpants! Oh well!! I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween!


Please ignore the messy house. The kids were being crazy that day!!