Happy Birthday to Me

Despite the look from this picture, I did not celebrate my birthday alone. On Sunday, November second, my actual date of birth, I was treated to lunch at Gertrude's by some girlfriends. That same evening, another special girlfriend came over with food and cupcakes to watch a movie with me. The following day, my folks celebrated with me over a lovely meal prepared by my mom. This particular moment captured on my new camera(yay! and thanks family!) is funny because the reason I'm smiling/laughing is because my adorable five-year-old daughter is screaming in the other room. Why is that funny? Well, sometimes I just have to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. She was having a particularly difficult evening, and by the time dessert rolled around, she was being disciplined until she could settle down. She wasn't allowed to join the rest of us until she could and here she was screaming, "I'm calmed down now!!"

Today, a whole week later, she asked me if she could sing Happy Birthday to me, because she didn't get a chance to. I had forgotten that she missed out on the singing and presenting of the cake (which only added to her fury, but I wasn't going to let my birthday wait on her unpredictable attitude). Anyway, it was a very nice birthday... even if my special cookie arrived the day after due to a mistake on UPS's fault. It just made celebrating last a little longer.


The trees (these in the East yard) always put on their most colorful leaves to celebrate the occasion.

Here is more glorious foliage, an example of our Creator's great work. The boys play on the tire swing in the background of the yard at "Mrs. A's" preschool.


So I'm teaching art this year at a home school co-op... On Halloween my third grade class finished up their paper masks. D is in that class, he's on the far right, his mask reminds me a little of Darth Maul. K wishes he was in my class too, and often tries out our projects at home. He made his horned mask and then made a kitty one for his little sister. (What a sweet big brother!)

Costume Cuteness!

On left Z, L's best friend, and surrogate sister, is Sparkle Mist fairy. On the right, L as Princess Hello Kitty. I made L's costume, a stroke of genius, I think. :) White fleece pillow like head stitched to a hood lining I made. I copied the design from a placemat L already has. The tiarra was from Target $1 bin. I drew a yellow nose on L, but it didn't really show up. L picked the fabrics for the dress out of my stash and told me how she wanted it to look, then I made fleece underthings and mittens (not shown) to keep her warm. She got lots of compliments and double takes, "Oh, it's Hello Kitty!"

Left, D is a glow in the dark skeleton again, which simplified things for me. Center, Puss in Boots, he's not mine, but oh, so cute! His parents made his costume! On the Right, K as Teen Titans Robin. I made this one from scratch too. I cut the sleeves off a red t-shirt and sewed on green ones. I used a p.j. pant pattern I developed for the green pants (which will now be worn as p.j. pants!) I bought the green cotton rib knit and yellow poly double knitfrom Fabric.com. The black poly I purchased last year at Walmart. The cape is a separate piece, I didn't use a pattern, just sort of guessed at it, and it worked ok. I made his gloves by tracing my hand as a pattern, knowing his hands are just a bit smaller than mine. The mask is white fun foam and black paper tied on with string.
And I grabbed a pair of L's kitty ears and pinned a tail to my darkest jeans, paired with a black sweater, and drew on some whiskers and a nose and I was all set to trick or treat with the kiddos!