Hope you all had happy Halloweens, friends! Before I share my November goals, I thought I’d pop in with a quick post on our DIY family Halloween costume – the weather!
Most people who know John know he is an amateur weatherman. It is probably his main hobby – researching weather, looking at all the apps and websites, listening to podcasts and periscopes, following weather people on Twitter. Obviously, he is the go-to guy for any weather-related questions in our circle of family and friends! So when it was time to choose a family costume this year, this was a perfect pick.
But it took us a bit to land on it… June’s first suggestion for our family was the Frozen cast. I know it’s a popular one, but I didn’t feel like we had a strong-enough connection to the movie for it to be meaningful for us. When I gently explained this to her, she said, “Oh, that’s okay. I know: we can all be My Little Ponies!!” Oops, ha.
In order to not subject Shep to dressing up as Twilight Sparkle, I knew I had to come up with something good. Weather popped to mind – I had saved this costume concept from Studio DIY years ago because I knew it would be a good fit for our family – and when I dangled a rainbow costume in front of June she latched on hook, line, and sinker. And the rest unfolded from there! If you’d like to try your own weather costume in the future, here are a few details!
DIY Rainbow Halloween Costume
This was probably my favorite of the bunch – I was so happy with how it came together! We started with a rainbow dress from Hanna Andersson and added a rainbow sash to the top. For the sash, I bought tulle in a rainbow of colors, cut it into strips, and stitched them on (I just cut the stitches at the end of the night to turn it back into her normal dress!). She wore pink leggings and pink sparkly shoes she already had. We did her hair in two high buns and pinned in some white cotton stuffing for “clouds.” The final touch? A rainbow of face glitter (her favorite part, for sure!).
DIY Lightning Halloween Costume
For the most part, I like to keep it simple for the parent costumes. I used yellow reflective tape to make lightning bolts on a black shirt, and John wore gray pants he already owned. He played a noise loop of a rainstorm with thunder and lightning on his phone all evening as we walked around, ha!
DIY Rain Cloud Halloween Costume
I wore this white shirt, this light blue dotted skirt, and navy shoes – all items I already owned. My biggest moment was carrying a clear umbrella studded with felt rain drops, including ones suspended from the rim with fishing line.
DIY Tornado Halloween Costume
No costume could be more perfect for a three-year-old boy than a tornado, amiright? :) Shep’s costume was definitely the roughest of the bunch – I wasn’t positive I could get him into it if I created it beforehand, so I opted to construct it on him… and then I remembered little boys don’t like to stand still, and then we were running late, and then I ran out of hot glue AND staples in the course of making it (!!).
The basic construction was a tomato cage with one rung cut off with duct tape straps across the top to rest on his shoulders. I wrapped strips of cotton batting and gray tulle from top to bottom. I was planning to taper the shape more and twist it off to the side to create more of a funnel, and add little farm animals with hot glue, but alas, supplies and time were not on my side.
In the end, it was tough for him to move in and the metal was banging into his shins, so we shed the cage midway through the night and just wrapped the tulle over his gray shirt and joggers to turn him into a storm cloud :)
And of course, twisting up his hair with a little paste to mimic a stiff wind was the best part.
DIY Sunshine Halloween Costume
Sweet Annie, the very epitome of sunshine, joined us in a yellow onesie (I hot glued on an orange heart!) and yellow leggings. I bought a half-round foam circle from Joann, painted it yellow, hot glued on triangles cut from stiff yellow and orange felt, and hot glued the whole thing onto a headband she already owned. She could even wear the ensemble in her stroller!
There you have it – hope the weather is fine wherever you are today! :)
As I work away on the third post in the blogging series, I thought I’d pop in with a quicker share: the 2021 volume of June in June! This yearly video fell at a doozy of a time for our family: I was eight months pregnant, and John had just ruptured his Achilles’ tendon and was on crutches. Needless to say, we were not doing many of the activities that usually populate these videos: hikes, trips, swimming in creeks, neighborhood walks, camping, tennis, and more. In fact, my face doesn’t make a single appearance in this video, and that does make me a little bit sad.
But you know what does appear? June’s smile, because she is sunshine. My parents, because they stayed with us for six weeks to help out. My hands, twice, and my voice and my laugh, because I was committed to getting behind the camera and keeping this tradition alive, even in the midst of upheaval. And our home, a soft and warm place to land, even if we did get a little stir crazy at times.
Each of these videos, no matter the year, is a snapshot of our life and our little one in that season. This one just happens to be particularly unusual :) I hope you enjoy a peek, friends!
I thought I’d share a bit about our inaugural back-to-school dinner, for those who might be interested! Many others have hosted these before me: Merrick has shared some details, Stephanie’s are legendary, and ours was inspired by the Clarkson’s Family Day, too.
I would not classify our 2021 dinner as legendary – it was quite simple and low-key. I anticipate it will be a family tradition for many years to come, though, so there’s plenty of time to build on what we’ve started! While our decorations were fun (June declared them “fancy!” when she saw the candles lit), our kids are still VERY young and were mostly not interested in our introduction of the family scripture theme, ha. Banking on that part coming with time!
So why have a back-to-school dinner?
First, I’ll take any chance to make some everydaymagic. And a fresh school year is certainly something to celebrate!
Some years, a special dinner may be needed to bolster a kiddo who feels nervous or reluctant (definitely not the case for us this year – June was PUMPED).
But mostly, I think a well-timed dinner like this helps to ground our kids in our family culture, family values, and family unit before they’re sent back out into the absorbing and sometimes cold world of school. It’s one more opportunity to remind them they’re loved, they’re liked, they’re valuable, and they’re capable.
Our back-to-school dinner decorations:
Table decorations may just seem like fluff, but as I so passionately argued for years in the wedding space, the setting sets the tone: it tells the attendees this is an out-of-the-ordinary night. It tells them they’re worthy of some fun and fanfare. And it makes the evening more memorable by being unusual.
This year, I set the table with our gray gingham tablecloth (bought many years ago and still going strong!) and everyday placemats. June contributed the place cards, we sprinkled some sequins and star confetti, and I added tea lights in mini mason jars we had on hand. The piece de resistance was the centerpiece: flowers from our yard in a pencil-wrapped vase.
To make the vase, I bought a mega pack of pencils and stuck them onto a simple glass vase with double-sided tape, then tied on the satin bow. Pro tip: I was worried the tape wouldn’t come off the vase, but if you dab it with water, it peels right off!
What we ate at our back-to-school dinner:
I was prepared to cook a family favorite, but the kids requested our beloved Chinese takeout, so that’s what we did! We had build-your-own ice cream sundaes for dessert (Neopolitan ice cream, peanuts, hot fudge, caramel sauce, sprinkles, whipped cream, cherries) and June talked for days leading up to it about how she was going to make her OWN without any HELP, ha. These little bowls were perfect and we’ve been using them daily for after-school snacks, too.
What we did at our back-to-school dinner:
Mostly, we just chatted and enjoyed each other’s company! Such as it is with a five year old, a three year old, and an infant :) We also introduced our scripture theme for the year (Matthew 22:37-39). I feel like I fumbled through this as I do explaining many things about faith, but reminded myself it’s the effort that counts – hopefully that encourages you if you feel this way, too!
The goal is that we would all memorize these verses and be more likely to bring them up in conversation and teaching moments throughout the year. To help with this, I printed out a copy for each of the kids and let them paint simple wooden frames to display them in their rooms. This turned out to be very popular, and they did such a good job! As for memorization, we’re just planning to recite the verses together before bed for as long as it takes! :)
Other than that, John and I told them about some of our memories from kindergarten, and we talked again through how the next day would unfold.
In future years, I would love to include more words of affirmation between parents and kids and between siblings – either in written notes or just going around the table and encouraging each other in a specific way! I also think a back-to-school/first day outfit fashion show and/or dressing up would be fun additions.
And that’s it! Aside from the little bit of decoration prep (my love language), it was really very simple, but a lovely evening to mark a big milestone. I’m looking forward to seeing how this tradition evolves in the years to come! If you have any back-to-school dinner or first day of school traditions, I’d love to hear.
Happy Labor Day, friends! To mark summer’s unofficial end, I thought I’d record a few things I want to remember from this season, inspired by one of my favorite bloggers. It would be easy to just remember the bigger events (ahem, someone’s birth! someone’s injury!) or to focus on what this summer didn’t include (a trip to the Maine, for the first time ever), so I like the idea of capturing the little pleasures and particulars to look back on. Here’s some of what we’ll remember from summer 2021…
Listening: Leading up to Annie’s birth, I started to crave the worship of strong female voices. (A different kind of pregnancy craving, ha!) I put together this playlist, mostly of Mission House and FAITHFUL songs, and it’s what we ended up listening to in the delivery room. It’s been a calming and strengthening companion after her birth, too.
Eating: All the Meal Train meals, thank you Jesus and friends! Highlights included this casserole (thank you, Libby!) and a picnic meal with this chicken salad, this potato salad, fruit salad, and Garden Salsa Sun Chips (thank you, Ginna!). I hadn’t eaten Sun Chips in years and it turns out they are SO GOOD.
Visiting: We opted out of a neighborhood pool membership last year with all the COVID uncertainty, so it was a delight to get back to it this summer! Even with John’s injury and my very-pregnant self and then a newborn, we made it to the pool several times a week and the kids LOVED it. Our favorite time to go was after dinner – there was something about the cooler temps, the emptier pool, and the proximity to bedtime that made our visits a bit magical.
Wearing: My nap dress was worn 2-3 times a week, I kid you not. The perfect late-pregnancy, post-partum, easy-breezy outfit. I’m glad it was permanently memorialized in Annie’s newborn photos because it was definitely the outfit of the moment.
I was also influenced into a pair of fauxm (faux, foam, haha) Birks for all those pool trips. Two thumbs up.
Enjoying: The company of my parents. Though I wouldn’t necessarily have chosen to have them stay with us for several weeks leading up to and including Annie’s birth, we are so grateful to have had their help and their companionship. Living far apart makes our time together precious, and I did my best to soak it up.
Learning: With all our time at the pool, June’s swimming improved leaps and bounds! She completely ditched her floatie, gained so much confidence in swimming underwater, and even bought these dive rings with her own money :) Lessons with a neighborhood college student were the highlight of her weeks.
Attending: Physical therapy appointments! John’s been going twice a week since he graduated from crutches, right around when Annie was born. His at-home exercises were as much a part of our evening routine as a plate of juicy peach slices.
Watching: Parental leave was the perfect opportunity to indulge in the Tokyo Olympics full force and we certainly did. July also brought the return of Ted Lasso – season two has been SO GOOD so far! (Rom-communism, anyone?!)
Reading: With our other two children, the last feeding before bed was accompanied by total darkness and rustling the sheets under pain of death so as not to disturb their settling. For whatever reason, Annie is tolerant of even a bedside lamp being on as she falls back asleep, and so I’ve been able to sneak in a few pages of reading each night (a HUGE gift to this mama, as my nightly bedtime reading routine is one of the hardest things to give up in seasons with a tiny baby). The first book I read after she was born was The Self-Driven Child, and aside from LOVING it, it was perfect for the moment: engrossing, but not so interesting that I was tempted to stay up for hours :)
What will you remember from summer 2021? I’d love to hear!
