kittytoes, posts by tag: toby - LiveJournal

Saturday was our annual Halloween party!

I haven't talked much about it here because I have been so preoccupied with the house that I sort of let the party just come together on its own. We asked friends to bring snacks or drinks and we bought a few things the day of, but otherwise there wasn't much party prep. The house was already decorated and our costumes were sort of deliriously easy this year. The theme was myths, monsters, and legends. Toby planned on being zombie Michael Jackson from Thriller since *last* Halloween, he had the outfit and just needed a wig. Gideon decided to be Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, so we thrifted two dress shirts and a suit jacket for him and Mat brought home a small lab coat. I sewed half the lab coat to half of the suit jacket and did the same with the two shirts. I gave him a piece of fabric as a rough ascot and he wore a top hat we had and uniform pants. Mat was Bigfoot and he just bought a costume because buying that much fur would be way more expensive than a finished costume. I wanted to be Medusa, so I bought a boatload of rubber snakes that I wired and painted black and just wore a black Victorian dress because I liked it. I bought a good makeup kit and some sealant last year and they came through again this year. (Best Halloween purchase ever.)

The last minute cleaning scramble was real and I finished everyone's makeup with literally no time to spare, but the party went off without a hitch. My friends are all amazing sports and they brought food and looked great. The weather was perfect, around 60 degrees, clear and crisp, so we were mostly set up in the alley. The kids played a scavenger hunt to find printed pictures of cryptids hidden on the block and otherwise roamed in a creepy gang. They are getting so big. My kidless friends boggled that these were the same kids from last year, as they have begun to grow taller than some of the adults. There were littles in the mix too, which meant that I had to keep them from roaming too far. I honestly have begun to wonder if they'll ever not want to party with the olds...

I've made some mental notes about things I'd like to do for next year. I think we need to switch out some light bulbs inside the house and make it moodier. This year everyone wanted to see the new rooms and stairs, so it worked out, but I think we can do more to make for a creepy atmosphere everywhere. We might do an ocean theme next year, so lighting could be huge. I wanted to get some spotlights with moving filters for outside this year, that would be the perfect excuse to. There's always more.

Anyway,pictures!



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We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch earlier this month, and it really is one of my favorite family traditions. Pumpkins and sunshine and apple cider doughnuts go a long way to making a great day. Gideon is almost as tall as me now and Toby knows his angles. Otherwise, nothing changes. <3

Halloween!

We had a wonderful Halloween. It's always such a whirlwind, trying to make all of the things and doo all ofthe things and watch all of the movies. I think I was much more relaxed this year, but this past week did get nutty. I was sort of terrible at managing all of my pre party time, but the important things got done. Like the boys' costumes!



Toby's was the 10th Doctor! Everything was store-bought so that was easy. (He's already worn the heck out of that suit) I made him a Tardis trick-or-treat box becuase I had a really hard time not making him anything.) I found the idea online but theirs used rigid felt which my craft store was all out of, so I covered a small box with layers of regular felt inside and out instead. I wanted it to be sturdy because they always get a serious haul and I'm sure he's going to want to keep it after Halloween. I'm happy to report it totally held up! It may have helped some people ID him too, even though he did get a few "are you Harry Potter?" questions. He wanted me to cut his hair to look more like David Tennant's and was so happy with it being "up" all day that he wanted it styled again on Saturday. He's gonna be an insufferable teenager.





Gideon's was a skeleton knight!  It was totally his idea, and I left the construction up to him and Mat. We started with a store-bought costume and Mat built fun foam armor to wear over it. Gideon had the idea to make it look like he had been run through with a sword, so we cut one of their old toy foam swords in half and attached it in the front and the back. After everything was put together, shaped with heat and fitted, Mat sealed the foam with white glue and water and then used rub n' buff to give it a metallic shine. I used acrylic paint to age and rust everything and I added blood splatters and drips to the sword. Finally, we aged the actual costume with the airbrush on the "chain mail" parts and I tore and painted the hem to look like mud and blood splatters. We bought skeleton gloves which I had to take in to fit properly and then I painted them too.

I finally caved and bought a good set of face paints and had the wherewithal to try them out for the first time the *night before* Halloween. I learned a LOT about using them and I'm so glad I did it, because we had to get up at 5 the next morning and do it again for school. I used Wolfe paints with a sealer on top and I was totally impressed with how well it wore -- he made it through the entire day of school PLUS trick or treating without touch ups! Really impressive. He actually had a skull half mask that looked great on, but he couldn't wear it to school and his make up help up so well, we didn't use it for trick or treating. This was the first year he had friends who opted to not dress up and he was a bit disappointed with the too cool for Halloween energy, but he was happy with his costume and all he got a lot of great compliments. We went trick or treating with his 2 besties (one now attends a different school) that were totally dressed up all day and are just as goofy as he is and that helped a ton.

Trick or treating was fun! I never know why parents don't want to go, we always have such a great night. Our neighborhood is pretty amazing on Halloween. Most people sit outside to hand out candy and within 20 minutes, they usually have overflowing bags. There's a yearly block party nearby that everyone winds up at and a lot of adults get dressed up. I was a last minute Bride with pleated leggings, my grey biker jacket, and a silver spray streaked updo. Mat wore a mask and cloak and we went with a friend who was an amazing No Face from Spirited Away. He even had chocolate coins he handed out -- he stayed quiet and freaked a LOT of people out.





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Momentum is a good thing.

We didn't get to see Box Trolls last weekend, but that's because we went shopping and visited friends and then went apple picking. Movies can wait.
We went to an amazing local shop to get things for our Day of the Dead party. Eye's Gallery is a South St. staple and owned by the local mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar and his wife. It is totally covered with art and absolutely filled to the brim with neat stuff. We got some papel picado banners and big sugar skull molds. I already got paper mache skulls and masks from the craft store to paint, so I actually think we have everything we need. We also went to a new orchard for apples and really liked it. They only have apples, so it was nice to not be overrun with pumpkins/pumpkin picking. We have a lot of apples. But we also have one of these so the kids make short work of them. They can and do eat whole apples with the skin, but when you offer someone an apple spiral, it is literally impossible for them to resist. They also get to have snacks in class, so I find them to be much easier to eat without drip/mess/core garbage. I also have some recipes planned.

Speaking of, I'm trying to change the way we eat. I don't think our habits are too terrible, but there's lots of room to rethink and improve and I've started using the All Recipes app and I love it. Our problem is that neither of us really love to cook and we both hate shopping, so often we put off deciding on meals till mid day and Mat  buy things on his walk home from work. That doesn't inspire creativity. I've found that I do much better when I have a good stock of ingredients and I can make the decision to try something new with things we already have. That's where the app helps -- I can search for recipes and then save them and it even has a grocery list option, so it makes it easy to keep track of what we do need. We also have a farm share, so that helps force us to try new things also. If I plan a bit ahead but leave room to try new stuff, I find I like cooking much better and can manage our busy after school/work time much better. I need to tackle breakfast next. I think I want to try some oatmeal bar recipes to have a quick grab option for the boys instead of cereal. Hot breakfasts will take more work... mornings are hectic here.

I've been trying to take a Halloweeny picture every day, but haven't quite succeeded. I've decided I'm ok with that. As much as I love October, I'm trying to keep this one low stress. So far, so good. I even redressed some dolls! Future pictures...

Toby turned 6! I have a lot of feels about it, but we won't get into those. I will share his party though, because it was pretty great.


Balloons! Finn cakes! Lumpy Space Princess rice crispie treats!


The kid wash! Unashamedly stolen from Pinterest. I saw this idea a while back and after working with SO MUCH PVC for the puppets, I knew how easy this would be. I drew up my own plans and we were able to get all of the supplies from the hardware store and the dollar store. It was a HIT! So easy to do and the kids loved it. Any alternative to a pool is very welcome in the city and this was big and fun and wet and easy to take apart and store in the basement. We're definitely going to set it up again before summer is over.


Ice King piñata! Ha, I hate making piñatas. Not really, but wow it was tedious. I had two small cardboard boxes to work with so I maximized them and he wound up being surprisingly big. I also wanted the crepe paper to be denser on his coat than his beard, so it is folded in half then cut then glued I probably made it a lot denser than necessary. He did look pretty great. I also thought he'd be a breeze to break since I did not coat him with any papier-mâché and I only used masking tape on his front seams, but he took a lot of whacking. We had a lot of kids here though, so that was ok. Em's boyfriend finished him off. (I think making piñatas for teenage boys is an untapped market.)






The night before his actual birthday on Tuesday, I turned his old Finn hat into Little Dude. (I had made him a new one since he outgrew the old one.) We had some friends over and had burritos and more cake. He said it was the best birthday ever. It was nice to see his friends and he got some amazing gifts. One was a magic set and he loves it and it is hilarious. He started practicing the night he got it, after putting on a suit and top hat. I seriously don't know where he came from. I can't believe he's this big already.

There's more news, but I'll share that later. Right now I have to build a Lego tower.
xo!

This year for Halloween we are welcoming travelers from all of humanity's history and future, from our universe and all alternates, to convene upon our house for one night of 21st century fun!

Travelers from any part of the space time continuum and beyond are welcome, we only ask that you take care to respect our current timeline and avoid creating paradoxes or fracturing space time. Please arrive well away from our alley to avoid reactions caused by excessive heat/radiation/etc. produced by your method of transport.

Invites are intended to be used only once, please refrain from attending the party at multiple points in your own time stream.

Contributions of drinks or snacks are welcome and appreciated! Please just be sure they pose no immediate threat to party goers or the whole of humanity.




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We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. We took one of Gideon's friends and went on Columbus day and it was lovely and necessary and boy, the harvest was pretty this year.

I needed a bit of cheering, because I wasn't at Blythecon in NYC. I missed the dolly happenings, but most importantly a weekend getaway with Matty. Also, maybe meeting Amy Adams. Also, buying an original Bansky. 0_o

I don't believe in karma, but I am excited that my Blythe Calavera will sell and I was offered a pretty exciting opportunity to work on a neato project coming up soon. We'll count up chickens later. I have costumes to make and a million other things to wrap up. I like that it is Tuesday.

xo

The problem with having a Toby is that you can't help but buy him costumes.


Craft night at Grandma's house! We made Halloweeny people.


Pumpkinland


Baby clown me