Hiccup, a Night Fury, and a Terrible Terror.

I just barely managed it. My two oldest were clad in handmade costumes for the Halloween event downtown. I finished Toothless' tail an hour before we left in classic Katie form. My kid's love the movie 'How To Train Your Dragon'. I'd be lying if I said I didn't also. Jackson decided he wanted to be Hiccup for Halloween and Olivia excitedly jumped on board with the theme declaring she must be Toothless. I had so much fun making these costumes. I designed them as I went, I enjoy the problem solving. I made everything from supplies I had on hand and a couple items from the thrift store. I should mention now, I did NOT make the green dragon costume. Two was all I could handle this year. Old Navy and their awesome seasonal sale helped out with that one. I was so excited to find out they had a dragon costume, otherwise I would have made myself tackle the task. Even Henry needed to be on theme. Since he's green the older two deemed him a 'Terrible Terror'...very fitting I must say ;).

The Toothless hat is actually a modified version of the 'Cozy Winter Hat' from 'O + S Little Things To Sew'. I added a center seam to the basic pattern to allow for the spikes, and modified the ear pieces. Then of course I added the teeth and the eyes. I got the idea for the wings from this tutorial. The dragon tail is simply sewn onto the waist band of a pair of Olivia's old leggings. I was so excited to see how that turned out while worn. It moves around great, looks perfect. Of course my daughter, full of personality as she is, thoroughly enjoyed shaking that tail around every chance she got. Her treat bag is a fish made from felt. Those of you who have seen the movie know that dragons favor fish as a snack.

Hiccup was pretty simple. I made his vest and fur shoe covers out of faux fur, his belt from faux leather, and his tunic from a XL men's shirt I found at the local thrift store. He borrowed leggings from his sister and I cut strips of an old t-shirt for the "leather" lacings on his tunic and around his sleeves. The viking hat we bought at one of those traveling Halloween stores, that was our splurge. That thing was probably more than all the materials for both costumes put together, but it does complete the costume. His treat bag is meant to be a basket full of fish, also made from felt. I made Henry a treat bag in the shape of a fish also. That was the only piece of handmade on him. Though he wasn't any less cute!

Our baby girl stayed home and napped. She's finishing up a cold and cutting SIX teeth! Her poor little gums were bulging that day. Three teeth have broken through and she's in much better spirits now. She will be dressing up tonight on the official holiday. She's going to be a little chick. Not exactly on theme. We're pretending she escaped from a farm on the Isle of Berk. I realize that's a stretch, but it's going to have to work. The costume is actually our oldest's first costume. Both the boys were too big for it on their first Halloween, so it's kind of sweet that we get to use it again.

So there you have it. A viking, two dragons, and a chicken (soon to come). Have a Happy Halloween!!

Caramel Apples! Happy Fall!

We finally got our first cold weather snap of the fall yesterday. It was cold, windy, and rainy. So of course, making a fun fallish snack was in order. Caramel apples fit the bill quite nicely. Unfortunately, two of the three kids—that are old enough to eat them—got sent to bed because they chose not to eat their lunch. Therefore missing out on the caramel apple fun. As you can see our oldest quite enjoyed them! And I have to say so did mom and dad. Hope you and your families are having a beautiful autumn!