The Luckiest: What I do when I'm not Blogging

Ok, this has to be quick because it's date night, and I have some things I still need to check off the ole' to-do list before we feed the little guy, tuck him in, and sneak out for the evening.

I am sure, in some capacity, eveyone can relate to me on this one: holidays are a lot of fun...but they can also require a lot of preparation and work, too. The big ones--Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter--are self-explanatory. There are gifts to be bought, stockings to stuff, baskets to fill, meals to be prepared, etc.

But in my particular situation, the holidays I am worst at {and create the most anxiety for me} are birthdays. Birthdays are meant to be special days to honor dear people in our lives, but I am always behind on birthday gifts, cards, phone calls, and text messages {if you're super lucky you get a gift, if I am somewhat productive you get a card a week late, if I remember between the hours of 6 and 8 pm in your time zone you get a phone call, and if all else fails you get a text}.

With my four siblings,
who have four spouses
and eleven children {four of whom are Godchildren and deserve extra special attention},
my Dad,
my mother-in-law,
my father-in-law,
and TEN siblings-in-law {can you imagine when they start getting married and having kids?!},
I have a really hard time keeping up.

It makes me feel badly when I miss a birthday, but sometimes I think I should just send everyone their birthday cards at the beginning of the year and be done with it. Not because I don't care, but because I am really that bad about remembering and getting a card in the mail on time.

Anyway, there is another holiday coming up that I have been investing some time into...Halloween. Halloween has always been a commercial holiday to me--I dressed up as a kid, got a bunch of candy, and never worried about any of the dark side that is emphasized by a handful of teenagers each year.

I plan to always keep Augustine's costumes on the light side--no devils, witches, or super scary monsters--but I don't think it's bad for him to dress up in a cute costume and walk around our block on Halloween. And, of course, we will also celebrate All Saint's day November 1st and All Soul's day November 2nd {it's crazy how pretty much all of our cultural holidays are derived from the Catholic faith, no? St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, Halloween}.

Luke and I are dressing up as Fred and Wilma for Halloween, and Augustine will be Bam-Bam. Luke and I wore these costumes three years ago, as well, after I couldn't resist buying him the Fred costume going for $3 at our church yard sale. I easily made a Wilma comtume out of a white sheet, and we were good to go.

Bam-Bam's costume took a little more work...

Materials + elastic = just under $10!

First I covered the visor with orange felt and black triangles
--gotta love the glue gun.

Then I cut the fabric for the skirt
and made A try it on for a visual.

I wanted to make the skirt with an elastic waist,
so I folded over about 3/4" and made a hem.

Next I wrestled the elastic through the hem
--there is definitely a trick out there to making this easy,
but I opted for wrestling with it.

After folding the faux fur in half, I sewed a seam so it would be soft all the way around {no pic}.
Then I cut a bone out of off-white felt and cut slits in the the fur for it.