This Morning: at the Farmer's Market After the Overnight Playdate

Ice Cream Friday and the Epic Battle Which Followed

In Which Ander and Zaza Bake with Poppy and Thus Avoid a Trip to Costco

(Zaza refused to wear her toque.)

It's All About jek's-Mamos-Made Dress and the Pointelle Tights

• Last year's white tights -- probably for Easter -- probably from Target


• Dark green sweater coat from Target


• Mary janes from Payless


• Green and purple faux patchwork fabric hand-made dress by jessica's late, great Mamos -- made for a wee jekster back in the day, and featuring heart-shaped decorative buttons, lace-edged sleeves, a mandarin collar, and this tag sewn inside:
  

While We Cooked: Thank-Yous to the Veterans in Our Lives

We started doing this last year.

They get scanned and e-mailed to friends and family who have given so much for our country, with a request that the drawings be forwarded on to other vets....

You can click on the photo of Ander's to read the whole strip.

Zaza's: Calm Girl flies under a crater-covered moon in a starry sky, while curly-haired 'Za looks on from the bottom left corner.

While We Cooked, and Cooked, and Cooked: An Ever-Evolving All-Day Playdate with Miss Kitty

They were in the front yard.

They were in the back yard.

They were in Ander's room.

They were in Zaza's room.

There were baby dolls involved at some point. And ransom notes. And invisible beings.

So so so awesome.

Comfort Food 101: Tutu Spent Veteran's Day Teaching Me to Cook Pot Roast, Beef Stew/Bourguignon, and Her Special Chili

It all felt somewhat Little House in the Big Woods-ish, putting up all them meat-centric vittles for the long, cold Winter ahead (though it didn't require me to personally slaughter a pig or bear, and wasn't smoked in a hollow tree and hung from the attic rafters, and, you know, Winter means the low 60s...).

Zaza Pines for Dahlia's Room, and So...

Inspired by this book.

Learning the Running Stitch

Transmogrifiers, or Somesuch: Box-Forts on the Porch

Yay for the new chair and ottoman, and a bigger YAY for the Big Boxes they came in...

Ice Cream Friday: Dancing to Oldies Radio in B&R

Loving that ensemble:

• Black and yellow toggle-closing trainers from Lands' End
• Striped trousers from KMart
• Long-sleeved green t-shirt from Lands' End
• Luckiest T-Shirt Ever from Threadless
• No hair products whatsoever. Seriously. That's all him.

The First Thursday of the Month Means We are Permitted Inside the Studio

It's All About the Over-the-Knee Stripe-ed Socks and the Purple Tulle Skirt

Darn that Daylight Savings' morning light, and all those wonky not-quite vertical and not-quite horizontal lines...

• Shoes, socks, skirt, teenytiny barrette (by Goody, as worn by Ava/Paige/Isabella or whoever 'Za is emulating this week), and appliqued flower shirt -- all from Target.

I must remember to do something about that speaker wire...

Sadly, the black cat pitcher (Good Will) and the cast iron witch boot candle stick holders (from Miss Katie) are all the Halloween decorating I managed to do this year. Oh and there are two metal skellingtons dangling from the front awning. But it's in my calendar now for 2010: get out Halloween Stuff one week after school starts...

The Day After at Poppy & Grandma's: Halloween Decor by Daylight and Leftover Sweets for Brunch

Last picture, at home, after Costco: Autumn Bounty (aka Tough Choices)

Halloween Night

• Trick-or-treating in Grandma and Poppy's neighborhood (full-size candy bars!)
• Dubbadad practices his reaping
• Ander does the Yay For Candy Dance
• ...and runs up the hill to Grandma & Poppy's party
• 'Za follows in her Harajuku-Goth-Lolita-inspired vampire costume (she was supposed to be a devil-girl, with horns and a sequined tail poking through that same dress, and swirly red face make-up, but she decided after yesterday's sparkliness that she didn't want to be told how pretty she looked all night...)
• 'Za and the Grandma marionette
• Best. Costumes. Everrrrrr.
• Ander uses the Ouija Board to determine which candy to eat
• ...and the spirits say, "Abba-Zabba!"
• Uncle Steve reads One Halloween Night
• Ander reads Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich to Zaza and Sofia
• Jessica's pic of my witchy footies

Halloween Morning

I woke up to the thump-thump-thumping of feet and the shouted, ever-changing rules of the Keep the Balloon Afloat Game.

Dubbadad's Office Halloween Party 2009

The boyo will be wearing the same thing on actual Halloween. He's the skele-jester, not the (awesome) Wild Thing. He drew up plans for being a pumpkin-headed jester a month ago, picked the costume from a catalogue, and planned to have me paint his face to look like a jack-o-lantern. But then he added the Cirque du Soleil mask, and he was just so, so, Venetian Carnavale that I had to break my masks-are-too-dangerous-because-they-limit-your-vision rule.

The girl-o will be a bit more "e-villll" -- her description-- tomorrow. I didn't get a head-to-toe picture of her, but she was a Sugar Plum Fairy (who decided to ditch her wings at the last minute). As per normal, we started with a store-bought costume, and then added, added, added. The bodice of this dress was entirely plain, and the costume was itchy without a slip, so I glue-gunned up some flowery pins, and pinned them around the collar, holding the slip in place and out of view. I also made the flower barette, but the butterfly is a clip-on Christmas ornament that we got today as we ran through Target.

Fancy-pants portraits were taken at the event, so I will post those at some point soon.