pua at the zoo-a

I actually gave myself a reasonable amount of time to work on Halloween costumes this year (though I still had some last minute scrambling on the 30th). Our theme this year is... *drumroll*... minor characters from the movie Moana. Mae is Pua (Moana's pig sidekick), Dan is Heihei (the derpy rooster stowaway), and I am a Kakamora (one of the coconut pirates).

Mae costume consists of a pair of fleece pants and a fleece hoodie. When I was a kid, mom usually steered me towards outfits that would keep me warm and cozy on a chilly Halloween, and I am trying to pass this wisdom along to my own kid. The pants are a lengthened version of the Puperita sprinkle shorts with modified cuffs and waistband, and the hoodie is the Be Rad pattern by Ellie and Mac in size 2T. I made the hood quite a bit bigger than the pattern to give more space for the ears and appliqué face.

Dan's Heihei head is basically a hooded fleece dickie. (Do dickies still exist??) I traced the hood from one of his sweatshirts to make the pattern. The eyes are fleece stretched over styrofoam with felt pupils, and the feather collar is felt. He borrowed some ridiculous yellow feet from our friend Raul to complete the ensemble.

My Kakamora face is made from felt pieces stitched to a brown t-shirt (I saved the easiest costume for myself).

I finished Mae's costume two weeks ago, just in time for her to wear it to the zoo. We arrived before the official trick-or-treating time, but we still got to see lots of animals (and other costumes).

We even caught the end of the barnyard show and got a chance to take Mae's picture with a real version of Pua!

And of course we had to brush the goats... which usually is about 90% trying to select a brush and 10% actually brushing goats. The concept of goats vs. ghosts has been a difficult one for Mae this Halloween. Whenever we see a ghost decoration and I ask Mae what a ghost says, she responds "Maa-aa-a-a." I say, "No silly... that's goats! Ghosts say 'Boo!'"

Happy Halloween!

granE's mae-cation

I'm a bit belated sharing photos from GranE's visit at the end of September! She arrived on a Wednesday evening and stayed with Mae on Thursday and Friday while Dan and I went to work. Their days started with snuggles in "GranE's bed." (Our guest bedroom has been called this since GranE's last visit, even when other people come to stay.)

Mae enjoyed trying on all her new outfits from GranE. She deemed each one "so booootiful." After getting dressed for the day, they walked to the coffee shop and playground. Mae loves getting little treats for breakfast!

They got lots of fun playtime outside, since the weather was really pretty. Mae could spend hours tracing and being traced in chalk. (Our sidewalk usually looks like a crime scene littered with chalk outlines.)

On Saturday, we had lots of fun at the zoo. Thanks for a great visit, GranE!

felt acorns

These felt acorns have been a long time in the making. I collected the acorn caps during a visit to Lake George three years ago!

The caps are glued onto little wool balls that I made. There are lots of online tutorials for making wool balls, but they all basically say the same thing: wind a piece of wool roving (combed fleece) into a loose ball, saturate it with hot soapy water, and gently roll it between your hands until the fibers bind together into a tight little ball of wool. It took me a few tries to get the hang of it, but I eventually came up with 24 wool acorns. I drilled a small hole in each cap and put a loop of embroidery floss in for hanging.

I finished the acorns at the end of the summer, but spent a long time searching for the right way to display them. I finally found this little wire tree from Joann. I like how the felt leaves coordinate with the acorns!

Another cute display idea I saw was an acorn garland. I have plenty of wool left, so Mae and I will have to collect some more acorn caps for future wooly projects!