the mama life: October 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloween: The Mater Project

Okay! I am so excited to post this! I've been working soooo hard on Landen's Halloween costume this year! And I must say, it turned out a lot better than I thought it would considering it's my first homemade costume!
So, Josh and I narrowed down the options to Landen's 3 favorite characters, and one of those would be his costume. The options were Goofy, Mater, or Santa. We decided originally on Goofy, and then realized it would take a lot more to make that costume than we realized. And then we decided that no one makes a Santa costume for a 20 month old (especially for Halloween). So, our last option was Mater.
At first I was very intimidated about this project! But then I found a couple of how-to's online, and decided that it actually might not be that hard to accomplish.
Please enjoy this visual journey through a simple diaper box's transformation into an adorable mater costume for my toddler! :)

I took this ordinary diaper box...

I seperated all the parts that were taped and glued. I turned the box inside-out, so that it still looked like a box, but the brown was on the outside and the Huggies part was on the inside. Next, I used Landen's Mater toy...

And I drew all of Mater's features onto the box as best I could. As soon as I was done drawing, I began to paint!

And last, but certainly not least, we added the "rust"!

We went to Salvation Army and bought a pair of brown suspenders ($1). Josh helped me attach them to the inside of the box, so that Mater fit right at Landen's chest and was supported by his shoulders. And just like that (a week later), Mater was complete! Our first homemade, custom-fit for a little boy Mater costume!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! :)

Monday, October 15, 2012

Dear Baby Girl

Dear Baby Girl,
You're still so small, but growing so fast.
Your daddy and I can't handle the excitement of almost having you here with us!
Your big brother Landen hugs you and pets you all the time.
(hopefully the petting stops when you get here, but the hugs last forever.)
He calls you "baby" and knows where your bed is.
Even though we only have ultrasounds of you, your big brother knows that its you in the picture.
We are so excited to have you be in our family!
Your daddy and I love to lay down and feel you kick and move around.
Although a few less kicks to my bladder would be nice.
But I do appreciate how much nicer you are to my ribs than your big brother was.
In just a short 15 weeks and 6 days you are due to make your arrival!
And I'll tell you what, everyone is so excited!
If you're anything like your brother, you'll be here in 13 weeks.
But if you're anything like your daddy, you'll be here at 11:59 the night before you're due.
Just late enough to still be considered early.
We can't wait for you to get here!

Please don't hold it against us if we are slow to adjust to having such a small little girl with us.
I'm not perfect. So I'm sorry in advance if I'm not the nicest mommy in the middle of the night when you're hungry.
We're all allowed to be grumpy sometimes!
And daddy is just so used to playing with your big brother, that he might try wrestling you and have you do flips before you're quite big enough to understand that it's supposed to be fun.
And when Landen gets mad because you're playing his toys, or not following him around, (or you're occupying his mommy and daddy), its just because he doesn't know what its like having someone smaller than him around.
We aren't perfect, but together we are going to give you all the love in the world. I can promise you that!
We love you sweet baby! We can't wait to see you, and hold you, and kiss you!
<3

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

California Vacation: the conclusion!

Finally I've convinced myself that I can knock out this last post in just a short amount of time! Haha we'll see how well that goes.
So, I think this last part of our vacation was our absolute favorite :) here goes!

SAN FRANCISCO!!...is where we got to spend most of a day. And it was so fun! Walking through Pier 39, checking out shops, watching the sea lions and seeing Alcatraz!

^^ That's Alcatraz! :) Next stop was lunch! At the yummy Johnny Rockets. Where I resisted Josh's advances and Bug got some laughs in with his cousin Juju :)

Next we took a walk up the road to check out The Rainforest Cafe!

^^ That's a giant aquarium! And last, but certainly not least, we were lucky enough to spot "The Bush Man" before we left San Fran!

I know its a little tough to see! But the bush man is squatting on the sidewalk, hiding behind two branches of leaves, pretending to be a bush. And as people walk by, and aren't paying attention, he growls at them and scares them! Haha we were on the lookout because we wanted to to walk by him to scare Josh, but Josh saw him before we could walk over there :( haha. Well, we left San Francisco and started to head home. And before we got there, we stopped at the ever-fantastic Jelly Belly Factory! :)

And that was the end of our California adventure! :)