What Do You Do When Texas Has A Cold Front On Halloween? Free An Elf!!

Isa has wanted to be Hermione for Halloween for years.  Due to some promises she made about wearing a certain costume if I bought it for her, she hasn't been able to do it.  This year I wanted to make sure she got to.  Then someone made the suggestion that we dress Emmeline up as Dobby.  It was genius!  It's always too hot here on Halloween to wear your traditional fall costumes so I thought Dobby would be perfect since he only wears a shabby pillowcase.  

Texas tried to screw me again.  A nice cold front was set to move in the weekend of our Trunk or Treat.  Costume ruined.  You can't overdress a house elf!  It messes up the whole attitude of the costume!  Then, two days ago I got a great idea!  I'll free Dobby!!  After he gets freed he collects clothes!  Socks and hats mostly but that was all I really needed to trap in body heat.  Thus Dobby was freed.

Hermione and Dobby together.  This shoot was done on the second day after I eliminated some of the heavier hats.  Emmeline was a lot happier about it then.  What a cute little activist Isa makes :)

 Emmeline wasn't thrilled when I asked her to put her thumbs down so people could see the sign.

 Isa jinxing me.  She was very cute and was walking around the house with her wand saying "stupidity!  stupidity!"  Being the purist that I am I eventually let her know it was "stupify".

 A happy free elf.

 The back of the sign.

Join the movement!

We did the library spooky story time this morning   If there is one place that could really appreciate this costume it was the library.  All the librarians LOVED it!!  I'm a little worried about trunk or treat tonight as no one there is as hard core as I am about HP.  Either way they are darn adorable.  My favorite costumes EVER!  

We had a slight costume malfunction when we got to storytime.  I had to remove Emmeline's sign to buckle her into her car seat and when we got there I couldn't find the other string anywhere   I ended up using a straw.  It stated on but was a little too short.  She wouldn't take it off when she sat down.

 Story time Hermione

Isa and I had a blast making the Dobby ears and the wands.  I'll post about those soon.  I also did not realize how badly Isa's book shelf needs to be repainted.  Yikes!

I Thought You Might Call

I have watched/read MANY villains.  I like them you see.  I like to figure out why they do what they do.  How they got to be so evil.  It had to be something traumatic right?  Something horrible happened to them to twist them into what they have become.  I think if I could figure out why, then I could more accurately place blame for their evil ways.  Someone has to be to blame.  Someone other than them.  They have obviously lost control, snapped.
I guess I don't want to believe people can inherently be bad.  That bad is naturally where they lean.  I want to believe that people are born neutral and that something influences them one way or the other.  Maybe I secretly want them to be bad but then change their ways, making the hero invalid.  What can I say?  I'm a sucker for a good Snape story.  I find myself holding out to see what the villain will do.  Maybe they will turn out to be the hero.
But, maybe not.  Maybe they will be such a kick a#$ villain that you think about switching sides and laugh as they kill everyone.  I had this experience while watching this guy (Andrew Scott) in the new Sherlock series.

He doesn't look so scary right?  Well, I will just tell you, he is AMAZING!  I have been watching BBC stuff, until the characters annoy me and then switching shows to kill time lately, because I don't have any good shows since Netflix stopped streaming Stargate :(  Sherlock was next on the 'you might be interested in' list on Netflix so I gave it a try.  I have really mixed feelings about it but overall I like all the supporting characters better the Holmes himself.  It's a pity too since he is one of the more interesting characters you might come across.  Plus he is SUPER weird looking but that is a whole other blog post.  

Back to Andrew.  This guy totally blew me away!  From the second he came on screen I couldn't look away.  It was totally captivating.  I even watched just his introductory evil scene over again tonight just for fun.  Twice.  The pure grit and emotion in his portrayal of Holmes' nemesis is astounding.  I really haven't seen many actors like him and none I can name directly right now.  He totally had me on his side.  Insanely brilliant.  

...I gave you my number...

No Extra Layers!

I ordered this shirt from Forever21 in early October in the hopes that the slight cap sleeve would be long enough to not have to wear a shirt under it.  It wasn't.  I was kind of bummed because I also thought it kind of ruined the style of the shirt to put the "classic" Mormon T-shirt under it.  I rarely like how that looks on myself.  So I decided to add some ruffle sleeves.  Easy enough right?  Well, it was harder then it should have been but not as bad as it could have been.  I had to add 2 ruffles in the end but I think it ended up pretty cute.  

I am the worlds worst at remembering to take before pictures, so this will have to do.  You can see the original sleeve on the right and one ruffle attached on the left.  Also sorry it's so wrinkly. 

Here it is finished.  I think it looks pretty good.  Plus I don't have to roast in a Texas October

A close up.

The Wednesday Weepies

I have been meaning to post some of the pictures from our summer trip but have been putting it off because it makes me SERIOUSLY home sick.  I tried it today.  I cried, but I might as well see it through so I don't have to cry again later.  Here goes.

Emmeline's first time holding a baby.  She isn't really crazy about babies but my super cute friend Mindy Jo brought over her newest Jett and Emmeline LOVED him!

So proud of herself.

In TN we got to spend lots of time with Aunt Abby and Uncle Tadd.  Emmeline really loved being with them. 

A little hike to Clingmans Dome

Abby had these adorable lip gloss holders that were shaped like tiny owls.  Emmeline loved and kept chucking them from the stroller just to see us chase them.  Lucky for her Abby and Tadd like her so much.

My awesome cousin Justin and his wife Angie!

 Aunt Terra and Isa posing with the Appalachian Trail sign

Rock climbing with Uncle Tadd 

Way up high. 

When I saw the thumbnail for this photo I thought they were protectively holding her to keep her safe.  Then I made it bigger and realized they were trying to throw her off. :) 

Aunt Abby and the Dumple 

When we hiked to Grotto Falls Emmeline fell asleep within about .25 miles.  I ended up carrying her very heavy bum up there and then she napped on me the whole time we were up there.

Isa under the waterfall. 

Aunt Terra is trying to convince her to sit under the waterfall for a picture. "Right there".

"I'll even go first, in my clothes" 

"yeah, I don't think so Terra" 

That is as close as she got. 

She really enjoyed climbing up and down the boulders. 

My mountain girl. 

A little feat of strength. 

There, I did it.  I might find more later but those were the hard ones for me.   It's just so beautiful there! 

2 Truths And A Lie

I played this game with some friends at ASU probably 6 years ago.  It was very fun and informative.  Basically you come up with a list of 3 items about yourself.  2 are true and 1 is a lie.  The other players have to guess which are which.  So here is a set from me.

1) Participated in a pedophile sting operation
2) Totally owned a church pie eating contest
3) Saw a group of potential UFOs

A Field Trip!

Isa was very excited when I told her we were going to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens with some homeschool friends.  She was even more excited when she realized that was the perfect excuse to wear her new school outfit she picked out.  It was a lot of walking for some of the kids but it was a much needed day outside.  

This is Isa with her friend M.  She cracks me up.

The girls really love playing on the "log".  Other then the walking paths there isn't really any "play" equipment there.  I tried to get Emmeline to reproduce this picture we took of Isa 2 years ago.

This is what I got.

I should have known.  When she saw all the other girls up there she would want to be up there too.  I have to say I was impressed.

Very pleased with herself.

Isa thought this picture was funny because it looks like those are her legs. :)

I was trying to get a cute shot of Emmeline walking with her friend S.  What I got was this great picture of Isa running to get my phone to take a picture.

Of this.

Then she caught this.

More of S and Emmeline.  She really loved holding her hand.  They are in the same Primary class.  I'm pretty sure Emmeline was even calling her by name.  Very sweet.

Isa managed to find this huge grasshopper and get close enough to pet it.  I've never seen a live healthy grasshopper sit still so long.

To worn out to finish her sucker.