kittytoes, posts by tag: us - 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

So, I succumbed. On Tuesday of last week I was walloped by the flu. I had one *awful* night and a few days of achy exhaustion. I felt much better this weekend, but I somehow strained my lower back yesterday, so I'm nursing that a bit now. Generally, I'm just feeling like my body is not cooperating and that has me a bit low, but I think it is all the same viral annoyance.

Ain't nobody got time for that.

I cancelled my costume meeting last week, so that's back on for tomorrow. The boys have 3 half days this week and Friday we have a report card conference for Toby. Valentine's day is Saturday, we have one of Gid's friends staying with us for the weekend, and the boys have a 3 day weekend. We are also currently watching MIL's dog while she is in Florida with new boyfriend. Sadie is easy, so we don't really mind, but goddamn, how do people live with short haired animals?? She was stinky and obviously a bit dirty, so Mat gave her a bath and that made the shedding worse for a bit, but I think it leveled out. We just have to vacuum a million times and I keep telling the boys to stay off of the living room floor. It's only until tomorrow. Toby loves to take her for walks, so that's cute. I really want to take a picture of her with Vincent, but Vincent isn't sure he wants to get too close. Sadie does no react to him at all, so he's been testing out how close he can get while she is sleeping, but man, I want them to cuddle.

Anyway, I did finally take these pictures of us dolls! I have to tame Mat doll's hair a bit and I might actually blush them some more? I do have to make me some more clothes. They're funny.



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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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• I should be painting, so after you read this, let's both pretend I'm doing something more productive.


• It's Fall. That is good.


• I had my 8th wedding anniversary last week. I actually feel a bit disconnected from my wedding as a huge milestone in our relationship which is probably weird. When we got married, we had already been together for 6 years and had Gideon and a house and a car... it was a beautiful wedding and I love that Mat is my husband, but I don't think it changed anything for us. Which is great, of course. We also planned the wedding in a few months so the date became a matter of convenience and wasn't otherwise significant. (Halloween is our first date anniversary and that is so much more special to me, but I was *not* going to have a Halloween wedding.) Anyway, I do think we should enjoy our moments, so we made a point of buying each other little presents and we saw Cirque Du Soliel over the weekend and went to breakfast on the day of. It was lovely and definitely better than, uh, not celebrating? Being married is a big deal I guess. :P


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• My present to Mat was another Jake Waldron eye. If you're like me, and love tiny things and creepy things, find this guy and buy his stuff before he hits the big time. This is my third piece from him, each is incredible and he is super nice. He's also showing in that Halloween group show I'm in!


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• Mat gave me a dolly! A Yeolume, which is adorable and it was so much fun to get a new kind of doll. I need time for proper pictures. She's very much like whatever falls in between a Pullip and a Blythe on the imaginary scale you'd put them on opposite ends of.


• My doll for the Halloween show is almost done. I think despite my growing panic, she'll be done in time. (I have to get her off to Australia by the end of the month.) I need to build in a tiny bit of time to really step away and make sue she's exactly what I want to show. I still feel odd that my art is on top of an existing product as opposed to something I created entirely, but I'll get there. If painting skeletons on dolls gets me there, than so be it. I am hoping to sculpt a tiny friend for her -- here's hoping I have time.


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• I'm late to the Chelsea Wolfe party, right? Pain is Beauty So so so so so good for my mood/the weather/ the season. I've been listening to them all right from the website. It is also on amazon Prime.




• Leonard Cohen's new album is on NPR First Listen


• Also good, in a John Malkovich kind of way.


• Also good, in a gorgeous lady momma woman hero kind of way.


• Ok, I really do need to paint. Hopefully I'll have finished pictures soon.


• Happy Fall, friends

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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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

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Vincent isn't ready for the Christmas season yet.

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