The Great Costume Experiment!

I am not one to brag, but I have to say I am pretty pleased with how the boys' costumes turned out! About a month ago  I was in turmoil over what the boys were going to be for Halloween. I came up with the whole Queen and Mater concept a while back, but let's face it - there isn't exactly a plethora of Mater costumes in infant sizes out there. Even the Queen stuff I was finding in toddler sizes was ridiculously over priced and cheap looking. I had almost decided that I was just going to have to come up with another idea, but one night, when I should have been falling asleep, my mind started wandering. My husband had dragged all these cardboard boxes into the house to box things up when we were redoing our floors. Then all of a sudden it hit me - why can't I make a car out of a box!? From that moment the ideas just kept flowing, and the next morning I began creating Lightning McQueen out of a box. Though the process began well, I was convinced it would take me 2 months to make it work, still leaving Rylan without a costume. Until last weekend that is. I had gotten to the point where I was almost done with Queen, and I made up my mind that I had to at least try to make a Mater. Much to my amazement, Mater came together even faster than his pal. This past Saturday I put the finishing touches on both just in time for the boys to attend their first trunk or treat event. After just that one experience I am so glad I spent the time I did on my concept. Everyone loved their costumes - including the boys. Greyson kept telling everyone he was driving Queen and not a moment has gone by since that he doesn't ask to put his costume back on. However, the costumes are kind of lock down until Halloween is over (so they don't get completely destroyed). The best part about all of this, when I started looking around for costume ideas some of the Queen and Mater costumes were going for upwards of $100! In the end I only spent $10 of my own money to create both of these (and if I do say so myself, they look much cooler than those over priced ones I found) :-)

For Queen, I first constructed the car shape out of the box using an x-acto knife and lots of packing tape leaving the entire bottom open for Greyson's legs and body. I then covered the entire box in shiny red wrapping paper. I used google images to find pics of all of the logos and printed them on photo paper and glued them onto the car. I then cut 4 wheels out of cardboard and spray painted them black. The letters and rivets on the wheels I printed out of Microsoft Word and glued on. Lastly I attached black ribbon inside to make the straps to hang over his shoulders, so his hands are free to hold his candy bucket.

Mater began the same way - I created the basic shape out of a box, but with no hole in the bottom (since this Mater is riding and not walking). I used the cardboard tube left from the red wrapping paper I used for Queen to make his headlights and arm for the tow cable. The hook I cut out of cardboard and attached with yarn. I then covered the entire box in brown paper bags and spray painted "Mater brown" with hints of blue on top. The wheels were done the same way, but cut in half (since he needs to sit flat). The letters were again printed out and glued on. "Nose" and teeth were made out of paper bags and cardboard as well.

Things I purchased:

Red wrapping paper - $2 dollar store

2 cans of spray paint - $6 walmart

black ribbon - $2 walmart

All other supplies I already had, making my total for both costumes only $10!!! 

Sunday fun-day!

And fun we had! We started today off by taking the boys up to CVS. They were having a Halloween event where if you took your child to the store in costume they got candy and a free picture. Their costumes were a big hit again (I've seriously got to get them entered into some costume contests)! They each got a bag full of candy and some glow in the dark sticks, while mommy got cute pics of them in their Halloween costumes.

But the fun didn't stop there....when we got home, Greyson and I made glowing milk jug ghosts and used up the spider webs we had left from our ghost tree on the bushes out front. Our house is definitely extra spooky now! I am still hoping we can make our pumpkins out of glass jars this week. Mommy has been a little tied up making a couple of costumes to embark on any other projects. I am definitely not winning any awards for the costumes being life-like, but I definitely win at making 2 little boys very happy. Even though Rylan doesn't understand one bit of what is going on, he does seem to have a blast riding in Mater :-)

Happy 10th Birthday Chikfila!

Have I mentioned before that I love our Chikfila!?!? Just a few times maybe :-P

Well today was their 10th anniversary and to celebrate they were giving free chikfila sandwiches and they had a small festival in the field next to the restaurant. There were bounce houses, face painting, music, hay rides and more! Greyson was so excited he didn't know what to do. Despite all the activities I think his favorite thing ended up being dancing with the Chikfila cows. I got a couple videos of his moves. Let's just say he gets his good moves from his mama ;-)

While we were enjoying the hay ride I heard someone mention a trunk or treat event that was happening later that evening. Although I was unable to obtain more details at the time, thanks to Mimi McCormick's excellent detective work we were able to track down the fun. So after dinner we took the newly finished Mater and Queen costumes for a test run. The boys were definitely a hit and they both acquired quite a bit of candy in a short period of time. Unfortunately since it gets dark so early now I couldn't get any great pics of them in their costumes this time, but we have more fun planned for tomorrow so hopefully I will be more successful then!

My little Picassos!

Family night at Chikfila this week was pumpkin painting! Greyson and Rylan each got to pick out their own mini pumpkin and decorate it however they wanted. They were both pretty proud of their artwork. Greyson decided they should put them in their rooms, so they now how lovely fall decorations in their bedrooms.

A little switcheroo!

Woke up this morning to a gloomy, rainy day. Usually this kind of weather makes me sleepy and lazy, but that was not the case today. Ever since we started updating some stuff around the house I have been in a re-organizing, moving things around, cleaning up type mood. Well today I decided to go crazy on the boy's rooms -  mainly Greyson's. This past weekend we bought a toy box for Rylan, so it all started with me re-organizing his closet to fit the toy box in. Now 48 hours later the toy box is in the closet and nothing in Greyson's room is where it used to be. It took a lot of shifting around all day long to finally come up with a layout that I thought would work good for him. I was determined to give him more play room and storage. I will let the pictures speak for themselves, but I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. There are a few pictures that I want to hang over the bookcase still, but I have decided to let things sit at least till the weekend to make sure I am happy with how things are before I started putting holes in the walls.

The Hubs turns 30!

On Sunday, October 9th my dear hubby turned the big 3-0! While I can laugh and point and make fun now, I have a mere 6 months before I will be doing the same. I know 30 is not old by any means, but it is the first age you turn that you probably aren't as excited about as you were the year before. Not to mention it is just plain weird. For 10 years you have been used to saying "I am twenty-something," and now you have a whole new prefix to your age.

Anyways, we ended up playing this birthday pretty low key. We all went out to dinner on Friday at Outback. The hubs was even kind enough to let the waiters sing and clap for him, but in return he did get free cheesecake. The excitement definitely thrilled Greyson who immediately blew out the candle on the cheesecake before the waiter even finished sitting it down! On Saturday we just hung around the house and let daddy soak in all the football he could stand. We even let him pick all the meals we had this weekend, so he was definitely king of the house for the most part. Sunday afternoon Greyson and I baked him a birthday cake. Really Greyson just stood around asking when he was going to get a taste. He was more help when we put the sprinkles on a few hours later. Let's just say daddy did not lack for sprinkles on his birthday cake. Or candles for that matter - Greyson and I counted out 30 candles for him to blow out. Let's just say Greyson didn't blow these out quite as quickly as he did the 1 candle on the cheesecake!

Cutest pumpkins in the patch!

I decided many days ago that it was going to be vital that we make a trip to a real pumpkin patch this fall. Greyson is very excited about pumpkins right now. Everywhere we go he points out every pumpkin we pass whether it be real, fake, carved, blow up, you name it! After doing some extensive research on good old Mr. Google, I learned that the place to go in Charlotte was Hall Family Farm. I also learned that first thing in the morning was the time to go to beat the crowds, so bright and early this morning we piled in the car to head that way. This pumpkin patch definitely lived up to it's reputation. Unlike some of the others in this area, there is no fee to get in. You can wander throughout the pumpkin patch, get lost in the hay bale maze, talk to chickens, and snap all the pictures you want without paying a dime! Both Greyson and Rylan had an absolute blast! If it was up to Greyson we would have purchased every pumpkin in the patch, but luckily I was able to talk him down to just 2 - one for him and one for Rylan. I was also lucky enough to have my little punkins sit still enough for me to snap a few pictures of their fun. Apparently this farm just planted a very large amount of strawberry plants as well, so it looks like we will be returning for another visit in the spring!

B-E-A-utiful week!

I don't know about where you guys live, but in Charlotte, NC the past 7 days or so have been absolutely gorgeous! Sunny and 75 during the day, low 50s at night. I wish the weather could be just like this every single day, but I tell myself I wouldn't appreciate it this much if it was! Similar to the "dead of winter," we have just come out of the "dead of summer" where it is so hot and humid you can barely stand to go outside. Well the boys and I have certainly made up for that this past week. We went for walks and played outside every single day. It is so sweet to see how excited they get over simple things like leaves and dirt and rocks. Not to mention it is great exercise for mommy pushing 50+ pounds of children and stroller up and down the hills in our neighborhood. Daddy even got in on some of the fun. He took the boys for a wagon ride one evening and to the playground at the school up the road from us this weekend. I think Greyson enjoyed himself cause he has said "daddy thank you for taking me to the playground!" more times than I even want to count. Unfortunately they are already predicting "tropical moisture" for this coming week, which is the meteorologist's fancy way of saying it is going to rain. While my boys would still gladly play outside in that weather as well, mommy doesn't quite feel up to cleaning up that mess!

Mommy-Son Date Night

About a year and a half ago our Chickfila started a grand tradition of mommy-son date nights. The first time I went it was just Greyson and I. Well Rylan was newly in my belly, so he was there enjoying the meal as well. Thanks to the lovely pregnancy hormones I got all teary-eyed the first time we went. Luckily this time I was able to keep my cool despite the awesome decorations and lovely music that was serenading us. There were red tablecloths, which Rylan tried to pull on the floor, candles on every table, that Greyson kept trying to blow out, and rose petals scattered on the tables, that Rylan tried to eat. We are quite the classy bunch. However, when you are eating dinner surrounded by nothing but other moms with little boys nobody really notices. Dinner was far from relaxing or romantic being that Rylan screams while he eats and Greyson doesn't sit still, but all in all we had a good time. When we got home Greyson told me he had a lot of fun at the party! I had never thought of it as a party, but considering there were balloons every where and music and ice cream then to a 2 year old I guess it does seem like a party. Which leaves me shocked that he didn't break out in the happy birthday song while we were there :-P

A Day Out with Thomas!

If you have a little boy in the house, or a brother, or even a husband, then I know you have heard of Thomas the Tank Engine. He was popular even when my brother was little over 15 years ago. Well Greyson is definitely no exception - he has Thomas fever. He is actually captivated by trains in general, but Thomas is his favorite of course. So when I saw advertised on PBS that they were doing a Thomas event at the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer I knew there was no way we could miss out. Now when I say event I don't mean the things they do at Toysrus where they hang up a few pictures of Thomas and hand out some coloring pages just to get you into the store to buy stuff. This involved a life size Thomas the Tank Engine and your ticket got you a 25 minute train ride pulled by Thomas himself. That alone made it worth the trip for me! You also got access to the transportation museum which had old engines and cabooses, model train displays, and the only working roundhouse and turntable still left in the state. In keeping with the Thomas theme they also had bounce houses, arts and crafts, tattoos (the temporary kind of course), wooden train sets to play with and magic shows. We were there for almost 5 hours and I am still not sure if we saw and did everything. Greyson was so excited he didn't know where to begin. If I had to guess though I would say the ride on Thomas was his favorite part. He has told me over and over how much fun he had and about all the things he saw. Rylan even seemed to enjoy himself. He may be only 9 months old, but he is still a boy, so he loved all the action as well. I am sure if this is a tour that repeats itself each year that we will be going back again!