First Halloween

Sort of embarrassing how long it took to carve this thing.  I blame it on the lack of proper carving tools.

The candy is still rotting in my gut as I type this.  We just got back from "trick-or-treating" (aka making the neighbors oooh and ahhhh over Mathilda, then having a beer with friends) and I wanted to get this post up before I go to bed.  We're flying to San Francisco Wednesday (cause we are crazy people) so tomorrow will be a whirlwind of packing and stressing. No time like the present!

FIRST!  the PUMPKIN!

she is really into this pumpkin.  Trying to eat it here

she dug into the guts with both hands. 

helping

NOW!  the COSTUME!
Few things have made me feel more like a mom than this costume.  I was very compelled to make Mathilda's Halloween costume this year.  Why?  Maybe because my mom always made my costumes, maybe because I watch a lot of Project Runway.  Anyway, no matter the reason, I was convinced I could follow a simple pattern and transform Mathilda into a real Tilly Bear!

My dinky sewing machine actually shakes across the table when I try to sew anything, and apparently I'm not very good at lining up edges, cutting without looking like a dog chewed it, or following simple pattern directions.  But there I was, 11pm, tons of work to do, the house a disaster, and I'm pinning a McCalls costume to the wrong side of fleece (who knew fleece had a wrong side?)  I had to enlist some help from my mom (more than I care to admit), but the finished product looked, I think, sort of like a bear costume.  Well, maybe a bear crossed with a rabbit.  "Designers, I'm concerned....."

I don't think bears have floppy ears....

girl after my own heart- straight for the peanut m&ms

so deceptively patient looking here

waving bear!

next year she can go as a monk with that hood.  Or an executioner.

with my friend Alyssa and her daughter, Hannah.  Mathilda is helping herself to Hannah's candy