Easy Peter Pan Costume

It's that time of year, the time for the annual 2nd grade Fairy Tale Ball!  Although the teacher said to not buy anything, but use costumes or clothes around the house; my boy insisted on being Peter Pan.  Instead of buying a costume, I opted on making one.  I bought a $4 shirt from Hobby Lobby and cut off the bottom and the sleeves.  I also poked some holes in the top and wove a strip of leather to "lace" it up.  

For the pants, they didn't have ANY green knit, so I had to use brown.  I bought $4 worth of knit and used a pajama pants pattern I have.  It's honestly the WORST sewing job I've ever done .... BUT, the beauty of knit is that you don't have to finish it and it won't unravel.  It honestly took less than 30 minutes to make since I didn't have to hem or worry about the seams.  If you don't sew, you could easily just pick up some cheap leggings in the girls section.  I would have done this since he has little sisters who could use the leggings after Halloween, but my Target only had bright colors like yellow, teal, and pink.  Isn't that crazy?  It's not like it's Fall, Target.

For the hat - I took a $.79 big sheet of stiff felt and made a "paper hat" with it, then stuck a red feather in the side.

Total cost = $9, total time = maybe an hour

He is so happy and proud and excited, I don't think he'll be able to go to sleep tonight! 



Peter Pan's shadow



In other news .....in Living this month, Martha Stewart showed how to make ghost using a foam head and cheesecloth.  Trust me, hers looked much more ghastly than mine turned out.  Although I will say that his reflection in the photo turned out a little freaky.  This apparition is supposed to be hanging from the porch, but he fell down yesterday and is now perched on a broom in the corner of my foyer.  It's just another thing that Martha makes it look totally cool and my version is a flop.

FFotW

Never too old or too manly to play Polly Pockets with your sister.

Pleased With Myself

My Mom and I got to spend the day together last week having an afternoon tea at the tahCha Teahouse.  Side note, they have GREAT hot teas if you ever have a chance to stop by.  On the way, we stopped by Intown Quilters.  It was a GREAT fabric store that we've been wanting to go to for two years and I'm so glad we finally made it.

I fell in love with the Oliver + S Jump Rope Dress  pattern over the internet, but I couldn't find it in the 4-8 size.  Well Intown Quilters had it!  I snatched it up and found this crazy cute argyle fabric and got to work right way.  However, I quickly lost steam when I read the directions and saw I had to do a placket.  Words like "precise" scared me a bit, because as you can see from my interfacing strips, I'm not exactly precise.  Now that I look at the picture, the pattern is off on the argyle, too - although I cut that on the fold, so not my fault.

Anyway, I persevered and followed step by step ......

 

Outside right placket

 

Inside right placket



 And sewed my first placket!

In the end, the plackets were not near as bad as I thought they'd be; and like the title of my post says, I'm pleased.

Too bad I have 5 bushels of apples that need tending to and I can't finish the dress.

Pumpkin Picking

We spent Saturday with my sister and her family going to find deals on apples and also to stop by Bradley's Pumpkin Patch to pick up pumpkins for carving later this month.  We had a lot of fun riding with the thousands of other people in Elijay doing the same thing.  We found a farm off the rode that sold huge mountain cabbage for $2 a head, and a big basket of sweet potatoes for $7, which we split between the two families; but we got some of the biggest laughs stopping by a tiny shed on the side of the road that sold garlic.

I don't know ... maybe it was from driving in a car with 12 people for over two hours... but my sister, brother-in-law, and I found the jumbo garlic in the back left corner funny as we waited in the car and watched Derek dealing. 

Of course that's the garlic he bought and posed with.



My sweet taters and cabbage



We spent the night with my sister on Saturday night, who happened to be having "allergy" trouble but ended up running a fever for the following two days.  I think the fun was worth catching her funk, although I have been drinking all kinds of vitamins through teas.

One the way home my family ate supper at Cracker Barrel where I found the coolest candle.  It's a Woodwick candle and the wick is made out of .....wood.  It crackles as it burns and in this great spooky jar it gives off a dancing type glow.  I love it!

Apple Hunting

We headed up to north Georgia over the weekend for our annual apple run.

One of my favorite stops, Hudson Apple House



My sister and her husband with a peck of Gingergolds, or as my sis calls them Ginger Doodles (she could never remember the name - but in her defense, she was on TheraFlu)



I ended up with five bushels of apples.  Let me tell you my secret on how to get LOTS of apples for little money.  I go in and ask for culls, or seconds.  They aren't near as pretty and are usually smaller apples; some are bruised and have rotting spots on them - so you have to cook them or eat them fast.  While the regular price of most apples were $12 for a 1/2 bushel, I got mine for $4 - $5 per 1/2 bushel bag.  I also got a great variety - Mutzu, Pink Lady, Fuji, Stayman Winesap, Empire, Sonata, Rome Beauty, and Granny Smith.

I looks like I have my work cut out for me this week making apple sauce and my kids favorite .... APPLE BUTTER!

One of the boy's favorite things about buying seconds is picking through the bags when we get home and finding some rotting apples for a game of pitch.

I will tell you that the birds were extremely happy in my yard this morning!

FFotW

New kitty

Beautiful Outfits

Remember the hemp design the girls and I got on our hands?  Well, the wife of Derek's co-worker fell in love with my daughters (who wouldn't, right??) and bought them these beautiful Indian dresses!

The little one initially wanted the pink dress and the redhead wanted the blue.  Here they are with the full garb on - the dress and the lowers, or as we yanks call them, pants, and scarf.

Most of what I know of Indian culture was learned from So You Think You Can Dance's Bollywood routine, so I had them do a pose.

They ended up switching dresses and ditching the lowers, as the pink fit Red much better and they didn't like the balloon feel to the drawstring pants.

If I were smart, I would've taken some closeups of the dresses so you could see the detailing with the sequins and beads, but I'm not.

The girls LOVE these dresses and already wore them to church the next Sunday.  My little one has some gold gladiator type sandals that matched the blue and gold dress PERFECTLY!  Thanks Rasheed and Jabeen!

Huey Helicopter Ride

A Huey Helicopter came to our town for rides over the weekend and my folks came for a ride and loved it so much, they treated the kids to a ride!  As you can see, not all were brave enough to go for it, myself included.  Photos were taken by the man of the house.

My Dad was medevaced out on a Huey a couple of times in Vietnam when he was shot; I imagine this ride was a little more fun for him.  My Mom and Dad got to sit in the gunner sits in the back, so they were facing out instead of straight.

Below is an aerial view of our town's square.

Yikes, I don't think I would've liked being on the edge seat when it banked like this!

My children's schools: A - the elementary where the younger three attend, B - the middle school where boy #3 attends, C - Jr. High where the older two attend, and D- the high school where I'll have one NEXT YEAR!

My Dad took this picture of them walking off the field and sent it to me.  I think they look ultra cool and imagine music from Top Gun playing as they walk away slowly.  One of my 13 year old friends (friend of my boys) on Facebook describes them as looking "beast", which I think, is a good thing.

Favorite Foto of the Week

My girls