Bat girl

Lauren is going to be a black bat for halloween.

I'm surprised and delighted by this choice. Surprised because everyday is about frills and dresses and pink and sparkly things. Delighted because she decided on a bat three weeks ago and has stuck to it without once changing her mind. Once I realized that she was serious, I started gathering stuff to make the costume.

I started with a black reaper tunic from the dollar store. For $1.50 it was the right  price and enough material to use to cut wings out of. At another dollar store I found a headband with little red devil horns that I covered with the same black material to make bat ears.

For the body part of the costume I found a black shirt for $4.99 at a clothing discount store. It's girl size, but on Lauren it goes  down to her feet, which is perfect. She has a pair of black track pants she can wear underneath, but the full length shirt gives a nice seamless look. It's also stretchy enough that she can wear a coat underneath to keep her warm.

With the wings I sewed them onto the underarms and side of the shirt, added some strips of black tape to give the illusion of bones and to give the wings a bit of definition, and voila, a bat! 

So now the costume is done and I'm impressed by my own handiness. Lauren tried it on the other day and gave me a hug so I know she's pleased with it too. Yay!

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin cranberry spice bundt

I've only made this recipe 3 times in the last 3 years (2 of those times in the last week), but I need to make it more often because it's so good!

I think I haven't been making it often because it's a pumpkin cake, and how often does anyone think of pumpkin except for this time of year?

Anyway, for the third time running it turned out delicious and was a success at the annual family thanksgiving gathering.

The photo doesn't do it justice.  I blame a lousy camera and poor lighting.

Sweet dreams

10 hours straight! Last night was the best sleep in 8 months. For all of us.

Lauren was in bed just before 9pm which was around the time that Claire fell asleep in my arms. I let Claire snooze for a while longer until I could tell that Lauren was sleeping before putting Claire in her crib. And that was it. They both slept in their own beds until 7am! Actually Claire woke at 7 and Lauren was out until 7:30. 

Sleep training began for Claire in mid September when we finally moved her crib to Lauren's room. It took about a week to get her to settle, and now for the most part she goes down fairly easy. She can typically sleep for about 7 hours before she's up crying at which point I get up and snuggle into bed with me and C for the last 2 or 3 hours before we get up.

I was wondering when she would stretch out the night sleep to 10 hours, and last night was it. I doubt we'll be so lucky tonight, but I'm happy that it's started!

Conversation with a kindergartener

Claire and I have been in Lauren's kindergarten class to volunteer 3 times so far. So far so funny.

Here's a brief conversation I had with one of Lauren's classmates this week. Lets call her Jenni*.

Jenni: Is it a boy or a girl?**

Me: She's a girl

Jenni: How old is she?

Me: She's almost 8 months old

Jenni: But how old is she?

Me: She's almost 8 months old

Jenni: But how old is she?

Me: She's 8 months old

Jenni: But how old is she?

Me: She's almost a year old

Jenni: So she's zero?

Me: Yes, she's zero


 *Note that Jenni is not the real name of the classmate.

** Note that this same classmate asked me this same question last week.

Simple pleasure # 17 - decadent

The smell of freshly baked apple pie.

Planting bulbs

M came for a visit last weekend and helped me get the front garden in shape for the winter.

By "in shape" I mean weed pulling and bulb planting. The plan is for the bulbs to sleep sweetly this winter and come up looking fabulous in the spring. The garden was pretty much neglected this year due to high temperatures outdoors and child rearing (indoors and outdoors), so I'm getting a head start on making it look pretty for next year. We'll see how that goes.

We didn't get around to planting all the bulbs, so I hope to get he rest in tonight or tomorrow. M gave me some wild lily seeds that I'll sprinkle around as well. And when spring comes around again I'll visit the garden centres and pick a few more plants and flowers to complete the project.

I'm thinking bleeding heart for the back of the garden patch and a variety of plants that will last the season.

You wouldn't think that a 10x10 plot of dirt would take so much time and planning to look nice,  I know better now.