halloween 2014

Its that time..
That crazy time we call Halloween in base housing.  With 100+ homes to trick or treat at it is a mad dash to get all the candy you can. 

These two were excited to hit the neighborhood.

This was the first request for a picture together- yep they'd rather eat broken glass.  haha
But after reminding them that mom is the one that makes this night possible they could at least be grateful and give me a picture.

I just love it when a good old guilt trip makes it all work out. :)
I think they look very scary, odd and weird.  The three qualifications are met.
Happy Halloween Jack & Sophie. 

off with their heads

Time for the fitting...hope it works.
Here she is excited to see it done.

 

The day and night look all together. 

First job was to get the shirt on - do the hair and crown and then the God awful makeup. 

She especially liked the little heart on the lips.  The girl loves any reason to get to wear lipstick out in public.  How about those bad 80's throwback blue eyes..haha

OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!
I think Queen Sophie has spoken.

She loves it. 
And the awesome thing is it will work for the next school year when her school in NC does the book character day on Halloween. 

the queen of hearts

Sophie did not want to wear her angel of death costume for a third year and I don't blame her.  So, she came up with the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland.  Now my girl does not like any cutesy costumes they need to be weird, scary or just plain odd.  This look hit two of those. 
I did not use a pattern but found an inspiration photo and went from this:

I started with a pile of stuff: black and red fine tulle for the outer skirt, black stiff tulle for the underskirt, a black t shirt, some white tulle for the collar, felt and some trim.

Tulle is a pain in the butt to work with.  It slides all over when sewing it.  And with many layers it is even more difficult to do.

The original had harlequin ribbon.  It was a key part of the look.  We hit all the craft and fabric stores in town but no ribbon was to be found.  Heck not even any harlequin fabric could be found.  So, I had to make my own.  It was more difficult figuring out how to draw it then to get it all done.  I used plain white cotton and then colored the harlequin with Sharpe marker.  The equivalent to duct tape - works in a pinch always :)

 The first fitting was going well.

 I finished it while Sophie was at school.  It looks good to me..

It looks great on my dress form - Josephine.  I hope it looks even better on Sophie.

We shall see how it fits her. 

a halloween day look for sophie

The schools here in Texas do not allow costumes to be worn on Halloween.  Total bummer I know.  In NC you can wear a costume but it has to be a character from a book - non scary and no weapons.

With that being the case the girl needed an outfit to wear to show her Halloween spirit.  She had outgrown her t shirt from last year- but wait- big brother outgrew his too. 

I raided the fabric stash..yes I have a healthy stash of someday I'll do them projects.  :)  I found some black and white zebra print and orange polka dot.

Just whip up a pleated skirt to add to the bottom of the t shirt and make a big bow to go on the bun and voila- we have a Halloween spirit outfit.

The girl is a fashion diva.  She loves to work her stylin' magic.
Looking good Sophie. 

a bit of halloween decor- sophie style

Since we moved all the home decor back to NC the house was a bit sparse here for Halloween.

That is until Sophie got bored a couple of days and made us some decorations.

She took an old book and made a pumpkin by cutting it and then dying the edges orange.  She also added a nice lime green stem.  Then she stole a roll of toilet paper and covered it with tissue paper and added more lime green for the stem and tendrils.  She also made a tiny bat from a toilet paper roll.

Last but not least she made a mummy out of a box and toilet paper.

I'd say she did an amazing job and the pumpkins can stick around for Thanksgiving too.
Thanks Sophie.

4th grade program - Sophie

How to make an apple pie...
that was the theme of the 4th grade program.  Where you go in the world to get the ingredients all done in song.

Spin Sophie and Lilly Spin...

This is her boyfriend this year- Jake.

The girl sure does have sass in the dance department.  Gotta love it.

Flag Football Season 2

Jack was excited to play flag football again this year.  He has no desire to play tackle football so this will be his last year playing.  Go Broncos!!!

Love this little guy.

Back to school. 6th & 4th

Its that time of year- back to school.

Jack is hitting up 6th grade.

 Sophie is hitting up 4th grade.

I think they will have a great last year in Texas.  Go get 'em kids.

Some creativity time- Kid style

This summer was long- we are used to Tramway year round school of only 5 weeks off in the summer.  This 12 weeks off makes it a very loooong time.  And kids get bored quickly, especially with it so hot here in Texas that being outside is hard to do for very long.
Enter creativity time.

Sophie felt the plain composition books required for school were just that - plain.  She worked on glamming hers up some.

She wanted a chevron pattern.  So we worked on how to make the template.

Next it was her time to cut various colors and work them out on the book. 

I think it is coming along great.

Jack is not so much into crafts but the boy does love nutella and lava cakes.  So we researched how to make them and then he went at it.

My junior chef sure is cute.

Now tell me doesn't this look ah-maz-ing?

Look at the ooey gooey awesomeness of flavor.  And they were so good.

Expo - trying out for Preteam.

Sophie works so hard at gymnastics.  She has practice twice a week and an added private lesson to further teach what class doesn't give enough time to.  This is her second most important expo.  She is trying to move up to Pre-team.
Time to stretch:

Don't have any photos to share as I was filming it - we needed videos.  But this shot tells you :
SHE DID IT.  Watch out pre-team Sophie is on her way.

Even Jack was excited for her.  He did sit through hours of practices so was hoping she'd make it. 

Next goal is - - - TEAM.  She has some work to do.  Way to go Sophie.

Beach time - this time its Topsail Island

We always go to the beach over the 4th of July.  This year was going to be no different even if we are in Texas.  Since we needed to move a bunch of stuff back to NC we figured we'd roll in a vacation too.  We loaded the truck, suburban and two trailers with things we weren't going to need the next year and headed home to NC.

Unloaded the trailers and all the stuff, visited our cool house we miss so much, slept on blow up mattresses then hit the road to Topsail Island. We were excited as our son Jon would be meeting us there.  Unfortunately, Josh couldn't get off work.  A new beach this year as we wanted to take our dog- Boone.

Ahh the beach - this is what life is about and this is why we chose Topsail Island- they allow furry family members to play in the sand also.

The gangs all here (except Joshie) - missed you bud.

The umbrellas are a staple for Hebert Holiday.  I can't be in the sun much because of meds.  But I think we need a bigger tent instead..

Just the girls...

And the dudes...

A tradition- the one who finds the most scallops wins.

This boy- I adore him.  I love his love for life, his energy, his warmth, his caring self.  My Jack...

This boy- well young man is trying but loving, full of life, knows what he wants and is getting it...my Jon.

 

Could sand time be any more fun?  Jack is our sand merman...how he stays in that sand without freaking out is beyond me.  Aren't they too cute?

Sophie's turn to be buried in the sand..she did not last long as she takes after me and started to freak out and needed out NOW.  

Trying to build a castle or a village...

These kids love the water...it is why we go every year. We need a condo or beach house so we can do this all summer.  That would rock by the way- just saying.

This girl is my sunshine, my mini-me, full of sass and attitude, a loving girl one moment and a witch the next.  She is a gymnast and a daredevil... my Sophie.

She seems to be a budding model too...Watch out Sports Illustrated or the remake of Baywatch :)

The beach was amazing.  I love going there.  Even though I don't get in the water too much it is just the way the whole place relaxes things for me.  In my next life or heck in this one I want to live there year round.  That is my dream place.
Till next summer Topsail Island...