Happy Halloween!

Today was the YMCA's Halloween Carnival...I was thrilled to try out the girls' first matching Halloween costumes! Aurora chose the theme...she's just recently seen The Wizard of Oz and is obsessed with all things "scary". Aurora is the wicked witch of the East, in a house crafted by Chops...Ziva is Glenda the good witch...



They're both wearing pettiskirts as the base of the costumes...Aurora is also wearing "ruby slippers", striped stockings (women's that I had to alter the foot on) and a tshirt I made for her...



The shirt says "wicked" in grafitti font and "eastside" under that, with a witch's hat in the background. I was giggling just thinking about it...

Ziva's petti is transformed with a crown and scepter we had already and I sewed the bodysuit myself!



The bodysuit...wow...sure, I sew...pretty well I'd even say...but I NEVER made anything like that before! The front is costume satin, totally NOT stretchy. The back is a cotton lycra knit, VERY stretchy. The sleeves are a sheer fabric and the whole thing is trimmed with fold over elastic. It even snaps like it's supposed to! LOL!

Chops and I are pretty proud of ourselves...hi-fiving each other in the car with our "Go Team Dixon" cheer, hahaha!

And one more, just for fun...



Reef, the "other" Aurora and Aurora...Reef is Aurora's big brother and Aurora and Aurora are buddies of course, as only two little girls who share the same unusual name can be ;) I just LOVE their costumes too...Reef is a boat captain and Aurora is a bat, I think, lol! She has rubbery bats stuck all over her too. Maybe all little girls named Aurora love bats...I know these two do!

Woo hoo! A video!!!

Let's see if I can make this work... I caught PA making up a little song yesterday with my flip camera...if you don't have one of these, I highly recommend! Ours was less than $100 at Costco...it holds about 1/2 hour of video and is tiny and super easy to use...I think it would be perfect for budding Spielbergs ;)

Aurora loves to cook...and sing!

Breakfast by Poppa

Aurora is into "scary stuff" lately and with Halloween fast approaching, her obsession is in full swing. Every where we go, she is distracted by all the spooky decorations and costumes. Even breakfast becomes an adventure when it's a chocolate chip eggo turned into a bat with a whipped cream body...

SoCal Wildfires-we are ok!

You know, just in case anyone is worried or anything...we are fine, here in Mission Valley...we are about 2 miles from the Qualcomm Stadium evacuation center. The sky is still pretty blue and I am just starting to smell smoke and a tiny bit of ash...

Map here
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=114250687465160386813.00043d08ac31fe3357571

and this link to News 8 is really good
http://www.cbs8.com/

My friend Jessica took her kids and DH and left Escondido early Monday AM. She said they had three hours to load up the van and they are with friends in Temecula. Shawn is not at work and PA's school is closed too. I am going to work on the girls Halloween costumes today and just carry on I guess. Shawn is going to donate blood and some supplies and tents.

Last night, I went to the grocery store...almost ALL the water was gone. We are fine and not expecting to evacuate or anything, but please keep us all in your thoughts :)

If you feel the need to do more than that, I suggest donating through a reputable agency like the Red Cross.

Goth-glam toes

What can I say? The girl LOVES black and she LOVES a pedi...so I indulged and let her have black nails. The pedicurist did a great job, even topping her off with a few dainty flowers and only $5! What a deal! And the upside, she has been giving me less grief about the wearing of black...maybe knowing her toes are black gives her some kind of inner peace, LOL!

Hard to believe those toes are already 4...where does the time go?

A SPOOOOOKY Tree...

A couple weeks ago, my mom came down to help us with the VW club FamilienFest. We went to Michael's to get some paint and crafty supplies and Aurora and mom were checking out the Halloween goodies. So when the kits went on sale, I picked up a few and we did this one on Labor Day with "mama's mama" and Ellen...

It's a "spoky tree"...the bat near the moon is on a little wire and we tossed the cotton in favor of some of white roving from my needle felting stash, heehee. There were even little glow in the dark googly eyes to stick on the tree itself.

Aurora LOVES Halloween and crafts, so she was just in HEAVEN, LOL!!!

FINALLY! I am getting here to actually start my blogging! Sheesh! Ziva is just so darn cute, she totally distracts me from everything else, LOL!!!!

Aurora started Pre Kindergarten 2 weeks ago and is LOVING it! Here she is on the first day...

She is only interested in wearing black and skulls and other "scary things", so here she sports a top with tiny black skulls from ZARA, in Montreal (thanks Jenn~), punky bows from my pal Heather, and a cool skull backpack and coordinating shoes from H&M (Union Square location in NYC has all the kids stuff!)

Why am I here? I have SO much to do!

So, my pal Amy started a blog and it's so cute and fun...I had to get in on this, right? Plus, Chops' family is all in Vermont. We thought it might be nice if they can peep in here and see what's up with us...
What's up right now? I have to get the girls ready so we can drop PA for a playdate and I *might* get something done today...who knows?