DIY boys pirate costume... how not to do it

I am sometimes a weeee bit ambitious in the sewing department.  I like to think because I've watched a few seasons of Project Runway that I can work my way pretty handily around a sewing machine.  I assure you, I cannot.  However, I love making the boys Halloween costumes and this year Dave and Frank decided that they wanted to be pirates.  So pirate costumes... how to do it.  Or read this, then read someone else's blog on how you really do it and follow their advice to a tee while laughing at my sad creations. 

First off, let's get a pirate joke out of the way...
This is my favorite from the Hasting's Pirate Day website in the UK...

-What's a pirate's favourite letter of the alphabet?
....I've always had trouble with me alphabet, mate...I always get stuck at C!!

Alright onward with this riveting drivel...
The first and by far largest mistake was taking the boys with me to the fabric store.

It's Friday...and the best day of the year

I'm linking up with Jen for this very special edition of 7 Quick Takes.  Here goes...

1) It's my BIRTHDAY!!!  I love, love, LOVE my birthday and think it is definitely the best day of the year without a doubt.  It's an entire day dedicated to celebrating me, the day of my birth and all the great things about me (at least that's how I choose to see it). Kidding.  I just really like having everyone I love check in with a quick Happy Bday and knowing that they're thinking of me on my special day.  And, the presents.  Again, I kid! (sort of)

2) I'm away at a conference and missing my family.  It was really weird driving to WI by myself and not having the peanut gallery in the back with their constant chatter to accompany my every moment.  It was eerily quiet.  So quiet that I had to get Ira Glass to be my companion with a couple downloads of This American Life.  I love that show and it's even better when I can get it on demand.

3) At this conference I have learned one very important thing.  I no longer possess the ability to sit still. In medical school it was an average day to have my butt in an auditorium seat for 8-10 hours of lectures followed by extra time in the library. But, it's been, ahem, a few years since I was doing that and luckily between chasing boys at home and running around the clinic my days rarely involve a lot of sitting. There seems to be a curvilinear relationship with age and the ability to sit.  I know from direct observation that my boys have no tolerance for sitting still. I hope that will improve in the next couple years and perhaps peak in their college or grad school years (many prayers and fingers crossed) and now I think my sitting tolerance is quickly declining again.  I can make it through Mass and that's about my limit.  God help us all when it's a long homily.  I'm hoping that has something to do with Stan constantly mussing up my hair with trucks and leaning out of my lap until I'm on the verge of dropping him.

4)

(It's hard to see the animals I have on the vertical axis. From bottom to top they are flea, puppy, squirrel, bats during the day, panda, and sloth. I need to snaz up my graphs next time)

I have given you graphical representation of WTH I am blabbing about in #3.  I think Dave is approaching the sitting tolerance of a puppy at age six and I peaked at sloth-like daily activity in med school, and now I'm back down to about a squirrel.

5) I drew my graph on a piece of paper that I had folded into a paper airplane during a lecture.  I am not good at folding paper airplanes anymore (it dumped after about 2 feet) and I think I need to brush up on this skill so I can amaze the boys with my mad paper folding and airplane flying skillz. At least I think it looks cool with the rad lightening and racing stripes. Disclosure that all my flight tests were after the lecture so don't worry about it. 

6) I am staying with a friend from college while I'm in Madison and it's so fun to catch up with girlfriends. I am constantly amazed that I have such good and constant friends that even when we don't talk for months, once we're together it's like no time at all has passed. What a lucky lady I am! 

I'm trying to decide if I'm the worst houseguest or the ideal houseguest. Basically I leave the house before anyone is really up and I come back after everyone has already turned in. Same story for tomorrow. If I could somehow find a way to do the guest bed sheets once I leave I think that would rocket me to ideal in no time. 

7) George has a new tooth and a new nickname.  

He has one of his bottom teeth in and he looks like a little jack-o-lantern at this most appropriately spooky time of year.  His new nickname is "Rhino" because he likes to head butt everything in his path while he crawls around.  Doesn't matter what it is - parents, doors, walls, toys, brothers, dogs, cribs - they all get a gentle-to-sometimes-aggressive nudge to move out of his way.  

I find it endearing because I am his adoring mother, and I'm actually hoping the nickname sticks because who doesn't want to room with a guy named Rhino at camp or college?

Hope everyone has an incredible October 18 (best day of the year)!  Feel free to drop me a Happy Birthday in the comments. The best present would be actual comments after my blog - shall I even dare to wish for ten? Aim high Meggie, aim high. 

Tub Time

My cousin Emily and her sweet bebe Louie came over for a visit the other day and we had a great time letting the little crawlers paw each other and watching Louie try to knock George over in the friendliest manner possible.  We decided to throw the two little boys in the bath together before they headed home so Em would have a sweet-smelling, clean baby all ready for bed when she got home. 

Louie had been making some pretty interesting faces indicating that he was having some gastrointestinal, shall we say, issues, during dinner.  Basically he was working on his business and seemed to get the job done.  We got the little dudes into the tub and soaped and cleaned up and were letting them play. G started fussing and wanted to get out, to eat, and go to bed.  We barely got George out of the tub and next thing we know Louie is letting round two rip in the tub and we were left with this…

Duluth Summed Up

It was 44F. It was cold.  It was windy. There was rain.

The hotel had a pool with a waterslide.  It had a pull-out bed and we didn't care if the boys jumped on it. The hotel had a vending machine.

There were non-stop movies in the van. There was much McDonald's on the menu.

So, that's the short of it.  If you can stand it you can read the long of it now...

7QT - for reals

I'm linkin' up with Jen and I'm headin' straight in...

1) Our dog ran away on Tuesday.  Okay, actually I let her outside without her leash or collar and may have encouraged her to take a run for the squirrel in our neighbor's yard.  I kid!!  We were all very sad and worried about sweet, dumb Stella (who practically defines being a dumb blonde) because when I think of her, "street savvy" does not leap to my mind.  Luckily I posted our little runaway to the local humane society lost dog page the next morning and got a call not even two hours later that she had been picked up by animal control the day before.