Riding the Great {Park} Pumpkin

On his way home from work, John noticed a jack-o-lantern face on the balloon at the Orange County Great Park, so we took the kids tonight.

Free carousel ride.

Love this picture of my happy family.

We saw a train pass by down below, all teeny and lit up.  Maggie thought the ferris wheel at the Spectrum was Disneyland.

Worth staying up late for some free family fun!   We also busted out the long-sleeves and pants for the kids.

September Misc.

Ok, Disneyland first.

On the monorail. I think Maggie is trying to keep her little friend from freaking out.

The Lego Store - the kids new favorite place at Disneyland.

King Maggie! Or not.

Dalton went from Junior Ranger to Senior Wilderness Explorer.

I am 7 1/2 months pregnant, in case you forgot.

I snuck in to take this picture of Maggie helping Dalton with the Look-and-Find, but she got me and pretended not to.  Dalton hasn't been sleeping well, hence the eye rub.

Happy Birthday to Me! I turned 31 this month, with little fanfare, but with free ice cream!

Caught this silly one of Maggie as she was opening the closet to get dressed.

Love! Dalton has to say goodbye to Maggie at school or he gets upset.  He is obsessed with the Lightning McQueen backpack, but I took it away and used it for an emergency kit. So mean.

Maggie Videos

It's kind of funny that this is what Maggie would do with her first video turn, because she still acts embarrassed when we laugh at the video of her dancing to Handy Manny.  She said she wanted to do exercises.

Here's a good video where Maggie talks about what she does at school.

And, she tells you all about triceratops, complete with a frill.

Dalton Videos

I haven't taken any videos of the kids in a long time.  Here are a few I took of Dalton today.  The cute parts are not where he's singing or saying what he's supposed to but where he laughs at himself ("hah! I said 'Eeyore is his friend!'") etc.  There's some random static on some of them.  It's the video camera - sorry.

Singing I am a Child of God (like Maggie).

Singing Winnie the Pooh (like Maggie).

Talking about some Disneyland rides (and easy subject to get my kids talking).

Telling us what he's going to be for Halloween (like Maggie).

Yet More Ouchie Show

You would think Dalton's head and the sidewalk would be better friends for all their meetings.

DIY Ouchie Show

The kids played Ouchie Show today.  They set up chairs and blanket obstacles, including a rotating chair for the snowflake (they are watching Winter Wipeout) and a tipped over chair for a Santa Claus.  It got pretty intense, but amazingly I heard no crying, only screams of laughter.

This is Dalton's scared face.

 

He moved the chairs to make it easier for himself. Cheater.

They also played "roller coaster".  California Screamin', which explains Maggie's scream face.

Homemade Mermaid Costume

Memaid pose!

I finally finished up Maggie's mermaid costume for Halloween, though I still need to come up with some accessories.  I used this mermaid tail tutorial, but I made quite a few changes.  Some more good tips on using this tutorial from Poot-n-Toots. First of all, the fabric.  I used a lizard-print costume fabric for the tail. It's almost rubbery, and didn't fray at all.  For the fins, I used tulle.  I had to use 3 yards of it (instead of 1) but it was still cheaper than buying organza, plus - no fraying! So much easier to work with.

I used 1 yard on each side of the tail and 1 yard around the waist, folding it into fourths before gathering and sewing it on. Around the waist, I did an elastic casing, then I just tacked the bunched-up tulle down in four places.

The top is just a tube of sequined fabric, with a casing and elastic at the top.  We were debating whether to make it into a little tube top or something and Maggie asked if she would be able to pull it down to cover her tummy.  I guess that answered that.