A Hobbit-y Halloween

(First off, can I just say how cute Babycakes was last Halloween?  So little!  So cute!)

Months ago I had a plan for Halloween costumes this year.  Then I realized it would be better and cuter if we had a second baby to fill a role so we pushed that to next year.  So what to do this year?  It seemed the time was right for Boo Boo to be a little Frodo, with Drew as Samwise.  As for me, well, when I made my Care Bears shirt, one of my other ideas was to do a shirt with the Eye of Sauron on it.  Hilarious! I cackled about the idea for about a month before actually working on the costumes.

I spent a week making them, and what can I say, they turned out even better than I expected!  Then we got this group photo and Babycakes made this face. 

(I must confess his expression reminds me of myself as a child, especially in one particular sibling portrait.  Family, I think you know which one I'm talking about.)

I made both the cloaks, plus the little vest (Eep, buttonholes!) and hemmed up both pants.  I used this tutorial for the little cloak and this pattern for the big one.  I had to lengthen Sam's and I used flannel instead of felt so I finished all the edges.  I think I spent half the time measuring hems, which is my least favorite part EVER about sewing.  But, like I said, I love how they turned out so I can't really complain.  I made the Eye in Photoshop.  Hey, let's look at pictures:

We took some pictures outside and Frodo went straight to the village of Bree.

Fortunately, he loves wearing capes!

It will probably come as no surprise that I already had a Ring and the brooches were found on ebay for about $1 each.

The cutest of hobbits!

 

New favorite pictureeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

"What's that over there...Mordor?"

(Hobbits are always careful about steps)

On a quest!

 

This distracted expression brought to you by the mail truck.

"What's that over there...Mordor?"

Hilarious!

Oh Yeah: The House

Once upon a time we moved into our townhouse apartment.  It was a great place, with plenty of space and conveniences.  Then we added a baby and it got a little less spacious but was still a great place...for a while.  As Boo Boo got older it was harder for him and Drew to share a room, and the other rooms were slowly shrinking.  Plus the landlords didn't allow more than one baby and since we planned to have more it seemed like we'd best move on when our contract was up.  But where to go?

We thought about renting, but after thinking about it for a while and weighing our options, we decided to jump into house hunting, like a couple of grown up type people.  And really, it went pretty smoothly from there out.  We got approved for a loan, searched listings, found our agent and looked at a bunch of houses. 

Aside from space requirements, what I really wanted was a house that didn't feel like it was in Utah.  That is to say, I wanted trees and I wanted a yard.  A REAL yard, not a sliver of sod.  And I didn't want neighbors two feet away on all sides.  We saw two houses that really fit the bill and had everything else as well.  We agonized and debated and waffled and flip flopped and finally decided on the one.

I will not bore the internets of the world with the back and forth we did with the seller.  I will just say she is lucky!  But I guess so are we because we got the house.  In addition to a mortgage we have a plum tree, a master bath, no back neighbors (ever!), a pretty sweet view of basically everything (including Utah Lake) and plenty of room to store all our current and future progeny.  Drewbles is back in his old stomping grounds, and now I suppose I have to finally face up to what my drivers license already says--I live in Utah.

But enough with the blah blah blah and let's have some pictures!  That's what really counts in a post like this.  I'm sorry to say there are no pictures of the CAG's cute bedroom in here, since he was sleeping when I took these.  But it's the only room we've painted so I'll post some fun before and afters later.

Boo Boo's last look out his old window.

This was our first move that we rented a truck for.  It was a good idea.

First real dinner at the new place, courtesy of Drew's mom.  I'm not sure how long it'd been since we'd taken showers at this point...

One of our first projects--painting the front door.  More on this later, but I love it.

Hey, how did this picture get in here?

The living room: a library at last!

The view from the kitchen window.

Dining room.  One day we hope to add a Rome map.

Oops, another picture of Boo Boo.

Master bedroom, with two closets and plenty of room in each.

The TV room downstairs, including the handy built-in shelves.

Drew has an office all to himself again!  This has been a great thing for everyone.

Our laundry room features a half bathroom as well.  Very convenient indeed.

The view from the front door.

Boo Boo sometimes prefers a dead plant to the great play set built into the yard.

It's hard to fit the whole backyard into a single shot...it's big!  And right next to those mountains.  BUT there are also trees.  And space.  And no back neighbors.

Space space space space!

This is the empty fourth bedroom.  We're planning to rent it out for a little extra moolah, and we already have a renter lined up! 

She's squirmy, healthy and ready to move in on March 10th.