halloween preview—sammy luke skywalker

the corrpro company halloween party was yesterday, so we took the opportunity to photograph sam in his finished costume for the event. this costume was by far the most involved i've done so far (i broke out the sewing machine for this, which is a big deal in our house). i don't think mine is quite as fantastic as what missy is constructing for oscar, but it was about as fancy as i could manage. missy posted reference material here, and i downloaded photos for my trip to the fabric store. i bought a pattern for the top (a karate uniform), but the pants were way too big for sam, so i had to make my own pattern for that. the belt is brown webbing with a prachute buckle (something sam could put on and take off himself), and has small pleather "tool pouches" for sam to put things in that he might need while fixing a droid, or some other task. the boot covers didn't exactly happen the way i thought they would partly because i couldn't figure out exactly how to construct them so that sam would be able to put them on by himself and partly because he decided at the last minute he wanted to wear his "work boots". of course, sam was completely satisfied with the outcome. to tell the truth, i think if he had just gotten the lightsaber, his imagination would have filled in the blanks without all the sewing and such. the highlight of the party for sam was the boy dressed up as a clone trooper. he thought that it was ultra cool to have another star wars character there and is already plotting for me to make him a red clone trooper costume next year.
sam has definitely been enjoying his very own lightsaber and takes it just about everywhere he goes including bed (and i believe he's had at least one reminder that it's not a bath toy). lucy has gotten a few clonks on the head (and assorted body parts), but i suppose that's to be expected when bad guys are peeking around every corner (you can't have a war without casualties). she's handling it all very well though.
lucy also wore her costume yesterday, but i didn't get a chance to photograph her before she got upset and needed a diaper change and a nap. i'm hoping to get a few photos on wednesday, so stay tuned for that reveal.

sam's previous costumes can be found here, here, and here.

fall 2012

we've been pretty busy this fall, though if you asked me exactly what we've been up to it's hard to remember where the time has gone. i think a lot of it got swallowed up with costume making, but we've been to the farmers' market, down to columbus, to the swimming pool, and all around town (particularly to the playgrounds). i'm really wishing i'd have taken the time to photograph the trees while we've been out and about as they've been more bright and colorful than i remember in recent years, but these days just getting out the door is all my brain can handle. i'd say the peak of color was last weekend, and in the last couple of days the trees surrounding our yard have basically emptied themselves out. we have been out clearing the yard of leaves at least three times since last saturday. the pile of leaves on thursday was particularly epic (for a plot the size of ours, anyway), and sam had a blast jumping in, slogging through, and having me bury him underneath in that crunchy, colorful heap. lucy watched the proceedings with a mostly solemn expression, but it was a lovely 78 degree day with a light breeze, and we all enjoyed being out in the sun (we probably should have enjoyed it more considering that the weather mavens are predicting chilly and rainy for the next week or so—blarrgh).
i keep thinking about missy's bucket list and all the fun things she's been doing and wishing we were having that many adventures. oh well. i guess we've got a little fall left, so maybe we can cram a little more fun in before it's over. in any case, having missy and family up at the end of november will definitely be the highlight of the season (and maybe with them here we'll come up with some fun to cross off, right?)

instagram update

we're long overdue for an update, so these aren't necessarily in chronological order:

new haircut (late setember) • lucy in the wee hours • lucy • lucy and sam • sky on the way home from the train • sunset over the hardware store • sleepy girl • purple sky • vintage sewing machine (costume making begins!) • out comes the jumpster • sam's costume (halfway done) • sleepy girl • fall knit layers (one of my favorite color palettes) • lucy in the jumpster with a snack from sam's restaurant • sam conversing with lucy

tunes for tuesday

lucy@ 2 months

things i love about lucy at 2 months old:

her bright smiles. they don't happen with great frequency yet, but when they do, the could light up a room. they sure light me up.

the sweet fuzzies on the top of her head. like sam, i love to touch her soft baby hairs (or stick my nose in them). they're darker than i remember sam's being, so it will be interesting to see what they look like after they've had a chance to grow in a bit more. and she's also got more of them than sam did at her age too.

her little coos. she doesn't talk all that much yet (mostly in the last week or so), but she always seems keen on telling me about stuff. she has the potential to be as much of a talker as her brother (and that's sayin' something, lemme tell ya).

even though she's 9lbs 8oz and 21 inches tall (according to her check-up this morning), she's still a tiny little bean. i love holding her and bouncing her (though more so at bedtime, and less when i need to get dinner made).

having a chance to dress a little girl. i wasn't sure i'd be keen on all that pink (still think it's a bit much), but i'm surely enjoying being able to grab a little dress to put on her. so cute! and mike lets me use the "pink flower" lotion on her (he highly objected to ANY lotion on sam. pink flowers or not, lotion was not to be put on the little man.)

in general i think lucy's got a pretty even temper. she'll yell if she's hungry or messy (sam couldn't have cared less, so this took us by surprise), she enjoys being held (yay for the sling and ergo!), but she definitely has plenty of times these days when she's fine to just hang out and relax (but not when i need to make dinner, of course). she cried less than a minute after her shots this morning and didn't even need to nurse to calm down. AND she's been known to just fall asleep on her own (sam rarely did this at this age), i'm loving it.

and just about everything else about lucy. naturally.

tunes for tuesday

little lu

just because i haven't posted any video of lucy yet. (unbelievable, i know.)

tunes for tuesday