I adore the dollies that Ric Rac makes. That’s why I bought all three of these patterns.

Ok I’m finally going to talk about Halloween. About time right?! Hey, shut up! It’s my blog. I can talk about Halloween two weeks late if I want. Hey I could even talk about Valentine’s if I want. My blog.

Sorry. Must be tired. But actually doing better than last week. You may have noticed, I’ve posted several times this week. See, better. But obviously not better 100% because I’m talking all crazy and being hostile.

Ok, back to what I was saying. Halloween. Weeks and weeks ago I asked Isabelle what she wanted to be for Halloween. She said she wanted to be a princess. So, we went to Jo-Ann Fabrics when they were having a $0.99 cent sale on Simplicity patterns. We flipped through the pattern book and Isabelle saw a Cinderella pattern, Simplicity 2817. She got super excited and said, “this one! This one!” We kept on flipping and then we saw this pattern, Simplicity 5520, with a princess and a knight. And again Isabelle was all, “this one! This one!” So, I thought I’d get the princess and knight one in case Nathan or Isabelle wanted to be a knight at some future time.

But that’s not what she’s wearing, right? Well, they didn’t have any. I searched high and low. Bummer. So, we ended up with Cinderella. My sister confusedly asked why we didn’t just buy a Cinderella costume. Yes, I know I could have. But sewing is a hobby and plus, this one was made the way I wanted it made, backed with something soft: flannel. And if for some reason she wants to be Cinderella or Snow White next year, I have the pattern already.

Now, Isabelle isn’t usually picky about her clothes or what she wears. But when it came to her Cinderella costume, she had a very clear idea about how she wanted to look. She needed princess shoes. And princess gloves. And the headband. And the choker thing. She was super specific.

We got mostly everything together the day before Halloween. I covered a headband. We bought her princess shoes and gloves (which she didn’t even want to wear on Halloween). I sewed up her costume all except for the hem and choker. I thought, it’s a hem. How hard can it be?

Well, it can pretty damn hard if you make it that way. The dress was about four inches too long. I wanted to hem it without cutting it so Isabelle could grow into it if she wanted to play with it for a while. And I have a blind stitch setting on my sewing machine that I wanted to use. The only problem is, I’ve never used it before. I didn’t know how to. It requires folding the cloth a certain way. After multiple unsuccessful attempts I gave up because the blind stitch was clearly visible at four inches up. I resorted to cutting the hem. By then it was getting late.

So, I just serged the hem. But it wasn’t quite right, it was still too long. I serged it again. Then it was uneven. I then wanted to make the choker so told Alan to serge the hem saying, it’s easy. But he said, what if it jams? I was all like, it won’t jam! But he wouldn’t touch it. So, I started to serge it again and wouldn’t you know it, IT JAMMED! I had to rethread the whole machine.

When I was finally done doing the simple hem, it was late and already dark. We rushed up the street to Alan’s cousin’s house and all the kids were headed out the door to go trick or treating. I only got a few photos that came out just ok. I really wish I had taken more but carrying the extra ten plus pounds of Nathan and my camera was just too tiring. I halfheartedly took some pictures.

I didn’t even bother changing Nathan into his costume, a peapod (that’s Isabelle wearing it like four years ago). I thought it was a cute idea, you know like a princess and a pea(pod). I was even going to dress up like a farmer but I couldn’t find my old overalls. You know, me, a farmer, growing a peapod. Well, I’m glad I didn’t get dressed since I didn’t put Nathan in his costume all night.

Back to what I was saying…

Everyone took off. It was cute watching Isabelle trick or treat this year. We heard a lot of “hey, wait for me” along with “trick or treat!!” and “the lady did it“. I don’t remember her saying trick or treat last year. Maybe she did or maybe she just held out her bag. And a lot of people talked to her this year. They kept asking who painted her face, because yes that is her butterfly face painting on her face. She loved it so much she didn’t want to wash her face, not even for her Cinderella costume.

We walked and walked and my gawd it was tiring. Nathan is heavy! Right when I thought, I’m going to turn around and go back to the house Isabelle said, “I NEED TO PEE!” So, that ended our trick or treating. Alan threw Isabelle on his shoulders and it was a mad dash to try to get Isabelle back to the house before she peed on him. And that’s how our Halloween went.

Oh and the pictures of Isabelle in her costume that are nice, the first four in the beginning? So taken after Halloween.

On the weekend we drove into San Francisco for a party to celebrate my niece’s first birthday and my uncle’s fifty-ninth birthday. We walked in and Isabelle went off to play immediately. Alan watched her while my mom took Nathan. I hovered around for about ten minutes watching him until my mom told me to go get something to eat. I walked away and started loading up my plate. When I looked back, my mom was not holding Nathan anymore.

My mom had handed him off to some stranger, some strange woman whom I’ve never met before. I walked over to the strange woman and started to take Nathan and the woman’s like, “oh you’re the mother?” Me thinking, “ahh yes strange woman who is holding my child. I AM THE MOM and I do not know you.” I immediately put him into the wrap nice and safe so no other strange germy people would be passing my new child around.

But he wasn’t so safe after all. I was standing outside the jumper, at what I thought was a safe distance away, trying to take pictures. Some rambunctious kid, inside the jumper, rushed towards me pushing the wall so hard that he came out several feet banging into my camera which banged into Nathan’s little soft head. He started crying and a small lump formed immediately.

But why am I writing down all these distressing things. I don’t want to really remember germy people and annoying children. So let’s look at pictures of my family instead.

My mom and niece Zinnia

My dad and Nathan

My dad, Nathan, cousin Adam and cousin Cynthia

My nephew Ebow

Uncle Lawrence and Aunt Ada

My grandma

Cousin Alan

My sister Helen and Zinnia

Makes me realize I don’t really have a lot of pictures of my family and friends. Now it’d be nice to get pictures of my friends (I’m talking to you Bridgette).

Amazing handmade Christmas tree and toys by Sewn by Blythe. I especially love the little train.

Falling dismally behind on pictures but here’s a current one, our monthly family photo.

We have fun comparing Nathan and Isabelle at this age. Nathan stares at the same mobile that Isabelle used to.

And have you noticed that Nathan’s hair sticks up? Just like Isabelle’s used to.

We tried slicking it down with water but it pops right back up after drying.

I think one of the biggest differences between them is that Nathan is so much easier. He got nursing right away. Maybe that’s why Nathan is bigger than Isabelle was. Alan says he’s a little butterball.

Isabelle loves her little butterball.