Behind the Scenes- the COSTUME

Ok- so you would not have thought the costume was so freaking hard to make- but it basically took a total of somewhere between 6-8 hours of work- and I like to think of myself as crafty, but COME ON...

Anyhow, once the boxes were painted, I worked on the box that Vake would stand in- first painting the red trim.

Then, I used construction paper to cut out the Thomas "1"- this was about the time that Vake told me he wanted to be Gordon- who is NOT No. 1- and I started to truly freak out. In my defense, I am also preggers, miserable, and Halloween was the day before the trial of my career.
Here's a close up.

Once that was done, I needed to figure out a way to attach the two boxes together to create the "tank engine" part of the costume- one box was resting on its bottom, one was flipped up on its side.

It was looking pretty good at this point, mostly thanks to all the construction paper "flare" I had put all over it.

And from the file of overengineered products, Eric attached 4- that's right- count them- four bolts to hold the two boxes together- then I hot glue gunned the box tops on. Victory.

I think the total cost for this costume was about $30- if I had known how well the construction paper worked, I probably could have saved about $10 in paint costs. Oh well.

Halloween Pics!!! At long last!!!!

Where oh where did most of November go? I've been recovering from the total exhaustion brought about by the Richard Wallace trial- I have to say that I am thanking my lucky stars I will never be 8.5 months pregnant trying what was basically a life exposure case evah again!!!!! Yippee.

So I will say that I am incredibly proud of Vake's costume but I am even prouder of Vake's daddy- dressed up exactly like Sir Topham Hatt. Vake and I are really lucky to have this hardworking man in our family.

I thought about doing posts on the building of the costume and pumpkin carving first, but let's be realistic- the costumes were pretty great!!! So without further ado, I give you Thomas the Tank Engine and Sir Topham Hatt.
Erico even ordered a yellow vest- come on people- it doesn't get much better than that!!!

My little Thomas...

Good side view- Vake really liked wearing the costume, which was sort of touch and go- he was a little less sure about the whole collecting candy component of Halloween.

First we went and saw our neighbors on the Boulevard.

Chug-a chug-a chug-a choo choo...

Please also notice the conductor's hat that Vake is wearing courtesy of Grandma Sue.

Here are Sir Topham Hatt and Thomas headed down the Boulevard.

Collecting candy from our neighbors!

If asked, Vake repeatedly said that he wanted Mommy to be a Mososaur- so whilst Daddy looked dapper as Sir Topham Hatt, my dreams of being Mrs. Hatt, or even the judge from the train show were dashed. Eric did get me an most excellent Mososaur head.

The really frustrating thing was that it basically poured rain and cut our stroll up and down Hanover quite short.

But we did get to check in on Grandmary- who was pretty excited to see Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt.

Gratuitous Friday Cuteness

I promise I will get reorganized just as soon as I get well-rested again but really, does it get any cuter than this?

Answer is no or no.

Defense Verdict.

That is all. Now I must rest.

Lazy Sunday!

Today was absolutely gorgeous- the highlight was a trip to the playground.

I am still plugging away on the Halloween costume. Progress pics tomorrow.

New Rug for Gil's Room

We ordered the new rug for baby Gil's room this morning- I think it should look great- very fun and very fresh with the light blue walls! I am psyched.

Should take two weeks to arrive.

Making the Thomas Costume

So making the Halloween costume is something I think I can do (I hope!). I'm still using that picture from the internet- Taren went out and bought paint for Vake and me today so Vake and I painted for awhile after work today. There's nothing like a craft project after a hard day figuring out exactly how I'm going to tee up a case to a jury.

Please forgive the HORRIBLE pics of me. I am cruising into the last nine weeks of being preggos and I just look GODAWFUL. As Eric was taking these pictures, he kept on saying, "Yep, that one's not good. That one's terrible, that one's not good." And he's right.

But the good news is it is almost over.



Here we are hard at work painting the boxes blue. Once they are totally blue, then we'll add other stuff to them.

Mama, are we making my Halloween costume?