Catch Up

My phone pics transferred!

I had these matching shirts I bought a while ago for $2 and they were just itching for a design; so I made a necklace template in AI and printed it off on freezer paper (*if you do this, make sure you iron it lightly to another piece of paper first.) After cutting out the positive space like a stencil, I pressed the paper to the shirt and painted with acrylic paint + textile medium. After peeling the freezer paper off really carefully, I was able to reuse it for the other shirt. It was such an easy project and cost me nothing since I already had all of the supplies.

I also got to indulge myself in another craft project that morning... their trick-or-treat bags. I had only 45 minutes, and after I thought I had broken my sewing machine 20 minutes into it, I thought it was a project in futility. However, press on and improvise I did, and by golly, they were finished in time for the morning Pumpkin Hunt and extravagant Halloween breakfast at Amber's. (I tried writing a quick tutorial, but I soon realize that I don't know any of the technical sewing terms and I can't give directions to save my life. Sorry, the tutorial is now in the trash.)

Juan's FIRST time ever carving pumpkins. Fantastic job, no?

Halloween was fun... a little frustrating, but fun. The girls dressed up as Fancy Nancy and Fancy Nancy's little sister. It was quite an easy costume since we're growing a little collection of dress-up clothes. Qiana actually loved it more than Siena, who refused to wear the hot pink feather boa. What's a fancy girl to do?!

As for my costume, I was a little proud of myself for putting thought into it (which is more than I can say for ANY previous year.) I went with a classic Halloween costume: a mummy. HOWEVER, as I started wrapping the gauze shreds from my feet to my head, I realized it was not as easy as it had appeared. By the time I got to my neck (a fifteen minute ordeal, mind you,) I looked down at my legs and realized that all the wrapping was for naught--it had all unraveled. I tried a second time, a little tighter, but still wound up with the same results. FRUSTRATING. So I bagged my costume, and started heading out the door.

Besides an exhausting 20-minute power struggle with Siena on our way to the car, we were able to leave in time to catch at least the last half of the ward activity. The girls spent their time well: twirling and dancing, and gobbling anything that contained fat, salt, and/or sugar. They slept their sugar coma off very efficiently, because the next day, they were up and at 'em at the crack of dawn.

Juan was in Chicago at the annual Hispanic Dental Association Conference until Sunday night, so he missed out on all the Halloween fun here, but was kind enough to document his adventures for me.

Our poster, woot woot! I scrapped it all together the night before he left, but it did the job. It was NOTHING like last year's poster because we took a different approach and because there was no prize money to work toward. Sad, but true.

Juan's colleagues from school




Chicago is known for it's architecture.









Juan's cousins just happened to be in town, so they stopped by for a midnight chat.

Inside the hotel lobby. Crazy beautiful.