Halloween and Since

Well we survived Halloween! Now we just need to survive the sugar shock. Creighton was a cow. It's his favorite animal sound to make (consequently, most animals "moo" in his book). I made his costume and thought it turned out rather cute - even if it was a bit simple (sticky felt white spots on brown clothes, a tail and ears out of felt, and hooves from that craft foam stuff). I'm glad Creighton's costume wasn't too difficult to bring together because Stratton's costume totally overshadowed everything else - and everyone else around.

Stratton was Bumblebee, the Transformer, and Ric spent hours last week working on it! And to tell the truth, I don't know who was more excited about it - Ric or Stratton! Ric went and got some commercial styrofoam and cut it with a hot wire to form the body of the car. That was glued and screwed to a diaper box that Stratton wore on his back like a backpack. When he went down on his hands and knees, the sides of the box fell around him, encasing him in the car shape. When he stood up, I had made him a chestplate and armbands and drawn the transformers symbol on a foam helmet, so he looked like the robot. It was pretty impressive. Everybody had to see him transform and talked about how ingenious Ric was in making it - major payoffs for all the time spent on it. I don't know how he'll top it next year! (I'll try to locate some pictures.)

I was a cracked egg. I think Ric was embarrassed, so I didn't make it a really obvious costume. I just wore black sweat pants, a white sweatshirt and drew a crack around my pregnant middle, and made some felt chicken feet and taped them to my shoes. A few people asked what I was and even fewer got it after I said something. I thought I was funny... at least my family appreciated my creative sense of humor!

I don't know if it's that pregnancy nesting instinct hitting me early or if it's just that I can no longer stand my cluttered house, but I have been working quite earnestly at organizing this last week. Today I tackled my bedroom closet - the small one, and minor parts of the walk through one. I also finally cleaned off the top of my dresser. Of course as a result my children and the rest of the house were severely neglected and the damage they did probably negated all my work in my bedroom today, but at least my sweet hubby was impressed when he got home!

I'm reading a really good book right now: The Undaunted by Gerald Lund*. I had to be on a massively long wait list through the public library to get it and it's a rather daunting size (802 pages), but I started it yesterday and haven't been able to stop thinking about it and am about 200 pages into it. It's an historical fiction about the story of people who settled Lake Powell area, which was evidently an extremely challenging location. I'm excited to learn more about it. In addition, it's kind of fun to let myself get swept away in an 800 page novel now and then - a rare treat!

*I have a huge respect for pioneers and love reading about this topic. Gerald Lund has also written other books on this subject that I really enjoy. Also, one of my other all-time favorites is A Lantern In Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich.