diy sock monkey costume

I have always loved Halloween. But I have to say that trick or treating in a rural area is not like trick or treating that they show on TV. When I was younger and would watch TV shows or movies that showed parents and kids walking around in neighborhoods to trick or treat, I would always think it was so strange. I couldn't imagine that people would actually do that - we had to load up in the car, drive to someone's house, unload, grab some candy, load up, and hit the road again. We could have walked to about two or three houses, but that's it.

We always went to a few neighbors, some aunts and uncles, and my grandma's. Even when Lovey and I got married and didn't have kids, we went to Grandma's every Halloween. She handed out popcorn balls. And they were yummy.

For a very short time I did live in a small town, and witnessed families out walking around to trick or treat. I was just amazed.

Now I live in the boondocks. We get very few visitors on Halloween. Most years, we don't have any trick or treaters. This year we had 4 - and it was a great turnout. We have two little girls on our road, and I just knew they would both show up. But one has been sick, and her daddy came by to let us know that she just wouldn't come. He said she only put on half of her costume tonight. She got sick over the weekend, and the most of the family has it now.

Lovey's little cousins were our first visitors tonight. Ella wanted suckers, and Eli really racked up - Jus has a tub of toys saved for him. Then Emma came by. She is allergic to nuts, so she got all of the Dots in the bowl (I don't like those, so I was glad to get rid of them.)

Finally, Baby Eli got here - remember what I said about driving? His momma was exhausted. They  had visited all grandparents which meant a lot of driving. I had supper waiting (actually, we had given up and eaten already).

The little sock monkey got his first sucker and loved it. He was just a smacking on it, and Lulu was laughing at him.

Until they both got a glimpse of the TV -

I lost 'em for just a few minutes.  Look at that - same expression.

He's the cutest sock monkey I've ever seen. I made his costume from a women's sweater. We acutally bought two sweaters - his momma is wearing the other one.  The socks are mittens with the thumb cut off and then sown to the bottoms of the sweater. I didn't stuff the tail so that it would be easy comfortable in his car seat.

spirit week

Going back to school on Monday may be a little boring. Kids will be wearing jeans and t-shirts, toms and sansuks. There may be a little sparkle here and there, maybe a new pair of shoes or a cute hoodie; but our students will look like normal kids. There won't be hordes of nerds in the hallways. No morph suits sliding around corners. The cast of Toy Story 3 won't visit the nurses station. And trash bags won't be high fashion.

I spent several hours of the past week working on Laynie Kate's wardrobe. Monday was nerd day and didn't need much help from me. My first task was to create Tuesday's costume using only trashbags and duct tape.  And LKN decided it should be a softball uniform.  I wish we had taken step-by-step pics, but you know I forget to take pictures, even when I think about it ahead of time.

From two trash bags and a few rolls of tape, we were able to pull together a cute uniform.

I have to admit that when I heard Tuesday's theme, I didn't know what to expect. But the outfits were amazing. My cousins Luke and Callie had great costumes. The gladiator costume was awesome! And Callie could wear that trashbag dress anywhere. There were several cute dresses; many of them looked like regular clothes.

Wednesday was Disney character/super hero day. Most kids stuck with the theme, but a few just wore a costume of their choosing - all were cute. LKN chose Jessie. I made chaps and added a sequined yoke and cuffs to one of Jared's white shirts. At school, she joined more of the Toy Story gang; we had Woody, Jessie, Buzz, Mr. Potato Head, and Squeaky the Penguin. I saw Wendy, several Tinkerbells, and I think Peter Pan made an appearance. Morph suits showed up as PowerRangers, and I continued to see them at various points in Homecoming activities, even at the dance.

On Thursday everyone wore homecoming t-shirts for the afternoon's activities. This is a tradition at WHS. I remember having games each day of the week, but now we only play on Thursday afternoons. For many years now, the obstacle course and tug-of-war have been very competitive - classes take much pride in winning and plan their game day strategies early. Chandler feels that his class was robbed in the obstacle course last year and has been plotting his revenge for the entire year.

I am sad to report that even with his great lead, the freshman class didn't win again. And last night I heard his play-by-play analysis of where their strategy failed. He takes this stuff seriously.

LKN and Megan chose to compete in this year's new activity, the tire challenge. Each team lines up behind a bale of hay, competitors race to a pile of tires, grab a tire or two, and carry it to safety behind the home hay bale. Until the tire is behind the hay bale, it is fair game for other teams.

I know LKN didn't get a single tire behind the hay, and I don't think Megan did either, but they proved their tenacity. Megan wrestled Brittany for one tire for almost the entire game. While LKN held on to her tire and kept a few more tires from crossing behind the enemy lines. Those girls just don't give up.

There was also egg tossing and a hulahoop race.

And the guys in their morph suits continued to pop up everywhere.

Homecoming week at WHS always reminds me of just how lucky I have been to grow up in and continue to live/teach in such a great community.

a weekend review

Last week was 9 weeks testing. I had the great idea of assigning a narrative writing assignment for my 9 weeks test. Students got the prompt, information, and rubric on Monday. Final drafts were due Friday. Grades have to be uploaded by 8:00 Monday morning. What was I thinking???

All week I dreaded the grading. I knew my weekend would be spent indoors, pen in hand, papers in lap. Saturday morning Lovey asked what I had planned for the day. I thought maybe he needed me to run an errand for him, so I told him that I would grade one class's papers and be ready for a break.

He had a great idea. So I got busy grading those papers, and he took off to complete some job or another at the chicken. I was just finishing with my 8th period papers when he came back.

We got on his motorcycle, rode to town, had burgers and a beer, and spent an hour or so relaxing. It was great. And what a beautiful day for a ride.

While we were eating, I was tagged in sister's status. It was a call for help. This is homecoming week, and Lulu needed help with dress-up days.  Lovey dropped me at her house; we discussed it a bit; then headed to back to town for supplies.

We got suspenders and some cute buttons for her nerd day costume.

Today, I made her trashbag/duct tape softball uniform to wear on Tuesday. Lulu and Brooke helped. It was my first attempt at this type of costume, and we just had to make it up as we went along. But I'm pleased with the final product, and I think Lulu is too.

Wednesday is Disney character/superhero day. I've started on her Jessie the cowgirl chaps. I've got tomorrow night and Tuesday night to finish.  (I'll post pics of her in the outfits at school this week.)

I came home Saturday night and graded one more class set of papers. This morning I graded a few before church. And I finished the last few just a few minutes. My grades are in, and it's not even midnight!

The next week is my Abby's homecoming; she finds out this week what dress-up days she has. Wonder what I'll be making next Sunday?