Making Christmas Memories (Like It or Not) and Quick & Easy Peanuts Costumes

My kids are going to look back on their childhoods and fondly recall all the fun times we had, parades we were in and parties we went to. Hopefully, they won't remember all of the kicking and screaming they did on the way to those events. This applies especially to my oldest who is not big on getting out of her comfort zone (the corner of our sectional sofa, curled up with her iPad) and facing the world; but we do it anyway and both kids are usually glad we did. 

  Now, I'm not what you'd call a natural-born mother-type. Don't get me wrong- I love those babies something fierce- that's not the problem at all. It's the domesticy stuff that gets me: cleaning (Lord, help me), sewing (I can't even thread the needle), and basic household organization and management duties are just not my cup of tea. But, for my babies' memories of all our fun times to be as perfect as possible, I give it my best shot, because making them happy and as well-adjusted as possible IS my cup of tea- no, it's better than tea. It's a big 'ol frothy glass of root beer in one of those ice-cold frozen mugs like the ones they have at Cracker Barrel...ohhhh, man. That's good stuff. Ok, ok. Back on track- the babies. 😍😍😍

 Anyway, as I was saying, to make the babies' memories as Norman Rockwell perfect as possible, I always spend way too much at Hobby Lobby on supplies I'll probably never use and some I'll never even know HOW to use, trying be "that" mom who can craft and construct whatever the need may be. Throw in 5 minutes on Pinterest and I'm rolling into the house with a dump truck size load of felt and tee-shirts and all I can say is thank Heaven for glue guns. So, I take my Pinterested game plan, my load of Hobby Lobby miscellaneous, and that trusty glue gun and we make what my babies sweet memories are going to be made of. This time, we needed costumes for the yearly Christmas parade in town with my oldest girl's Girl Scout troop. Our theme was "Peanuts: A Charlie Brown Christmas. Here's the 4-1-1 on how I made what we needed:

 We'd previously decided on Snoopy and Woodstock for the two girls' costumes and then I figured I could be Linus without much effort. All it took was using a $5 oversized red tee from Hobby Lobby and adding some black Duct Tape stripes. I threw it in over my black fleece leggings, borrowed an old blue baby blanket as my prop, and - TaDa! I'm Linus!

For the big girls' Snoopy top, I used a plain white sweatshirt under a fuzzy hoodie, both from Wal-Mart, to make sure she'd be plenty warm. I found a large piece of plain old black felt at Hobby Lobby and cut out an oval for the spot on Snoopy's back. (I later swapped favors with my mom and got her to sew this spot and Woodstock's

feather boa onto the costumes while I fixed her printer😉.) For Snoopy's head, I started with a plain white baseball cap I'd found at Hobby Lobby where I had also found some black peel and stick felt that was simple to cut small strips and a round circle circle for Snoopy's eyes and mouth. I found a pattern here -> (http://its-fitting.com/2012/11/halloween-snoopy-costume/snoopy-ears/) for the ears. I printed the pattern, used it to trace around, and then cut out the ears from a second plain piece of black felt before using my trusty glue gun to affix them to each side of the hat. 

She already had some black mittens and since white pants (even leggings!) were impossible to find in December, we just used a pair of black Nike ThermaFit pants over a pair of black leggings for warmth and there was our Snoopy! (We had meant to let her wear her red scarf but forgot it the morning of the parade, so she borrowed the necklace I'd worn to work and called it Snoopy's collar, instead. 

Finding a solid yellow top for Woodstock was harder than I'd imagined,so I wound up buying a fuzzy "minion" shirt from Wal-Mart and flipping it inside out. 

Finding a yellow hat and gloves was impossible with my limited time frame, so I made my own with a $3 bottle of RIT dye (also from Wal-Mart) and a cheap white toboggan and gloves. (Instructions are on the dye bottle and it takes about 30 minutes and some boiling water.) They didn't turn out as dark of a yellow as I'd hoped but they served their purpose. I found a foam visor, like children often use for crafts, also at Hobby Lonby, and used two strips of the adhesive black felt again to make Woodstock's eyes on the visor which would be worn over the toboggan. 

Hobby Lobby also had these inexpensive feather boas that spruced up the neck and bottom of the "Woodstock" shirt again as well as cute little feather ponytail holder in case the girl didn't want to wear the hat. 

Black leggings and a pair of black leg warmers that I also found at Hobby Lobby completed the Woodstock outfit! 

Nothing fancy, but we all had costumes and everyone was happy. Well, at least once the parade got rolling, we were happy. The hour and a half when we stood in line waiting for the parade to start was a different story and of course there was the typical, "I don't want to go anywhere!", drama with trying to get my oldest ready. However, once the parade got rolling, my babies waved and "Merry Christmas"-edl like little pros. I was one proud mama! 😍 P even saw a friend from church and went over to talk. She introduced her school friend to her church friend. All this in the middle of a crowded, noisy parade! In our world, this is big. And that's making for one happy memory for her mom.

I 

At Home in Homewood

Homewood, AL makes my heart smile. I love this bustling little area and all it's trendy and unique little boutiques sandwiched between classic Main Street USA-type old time bakeries and businesses. From Homewood Toy & Hobby, the oldest toy shop in the Birmingham area which has been family owned and operated for the past 50 years, to the Pink Tulip where my love-err...obsession- with lacy, flowing boutique tops is fueled by their decently priced and available-on-Facebook fashions, my oldest daughter and I have to hit this area on our bi-monthly trips to the 'Ham.

   Our latest trip started off as usual with the main purpose for our journey south, a visit to Pitts & Associates where my daughter sees our beloved Dr. Le and now also their new Nurse Practitioner who handles the medication we've tried at all costs to avoid, but finally realized the necessity of. (That's a while 'nother blog.)

  After our visit, we typically would head straight to 18th St. in Homewood, just a couple of blocks over from the doctors'office, for lunch at our favorite restaurant, Urban Cookhouse. They serve up fantastic fresh, locally sourced produce as well as a fabulous "Half-baked Cookie" that comes to your table in a small cast iron skillet and is pure, gooey heaven to your tastebuds. However, it's a pretty popular little place and not very big. Being so, the smell and crowd noise can be a little too much for my girl, so during warmer weather we dine in the outside area, right on the sidewalk where we feel so fancy, just like we are in New York or Paris instead of just an hour and a half from our home in Caddo.  Now that the weather is turning colder, we are in search of a new diner. This time the girl chose Subway, but even Homewood's Subway is a uniquely arranged, two-story little stop-in where we have managed to have the upstairs area all to ourselves both times we've visited, and we're able to look down from the balcony to the rest of the store and it's passersby. It's a pretty cool, quaint little place for fast food, especially. 

  Our plan for dessert was to skip a few blocks over to Steel City Pops where they, like Urban Cookhouse, use fresh, all-natural or certified organic and locally grown (whenever possible) ingredients in their popsicles; But, our deal is that I get a treat and she gets a treat, and since my treat was on our way to the Pops, we made a "quick" stop first.

On this trip, I wanted my treat to be from Seibel's Camp & Cottage Outfiters, another fabulous little nook we'd previously discovered while wandering up and down 18th St as we attempted to walk off part of the previously-mentioned cookie.

***Pres swinging inside Seibel's***

They have everything you need to give your lake house, cabin, or Caddo home a well-decorated cottage feel with lots of cozy fabrics, furniture, and rugs, but that's just the big stuff. I scored a fantastic new burlap tree skirt from Seibel's then we headed a few doors down where we "oooh"-ed and "ahhh"-ed for a good hour inside our newest "must see" while in Homewood: Alabama Goods.

This store sells exactly what the name says: Alabama goods made in Alabama by Alabama artisans. But these goods are amazing. There's jewelry...

and hand-carved wooden toys...

and my favorite, the "Prodigal Pottery" items handmade by the women of King's Home, a shelter for women fleeing domestic violence (Hello, perfect Christmas gift!?)...

Not to mention the gourmet goodies...

Seriously, need I say more? This place is perfect. The precious ladies at the counter beautifully wrapped our purchases and even pointed us across the street to another Homewood treasure, Savage's.

 This bakery and deli has been serving up tasty treats since 1939, and to be quite honest, it doesn't feel like this place has changed much since it opened. It's like walking right into the past and walking right out with delicious gingerbread men and sugar cookies ALMOST as good as my mama could make them. ;) 

  By this point, I'm knee deep in nostalgia and quite positive that life would be perfect if we lived here. Not only would we have access to resources we don't have at home for Presley's educational needs but all these fabulous stores for my pocketbook's demise. Then, we see this: 

A weekly Pokemon tournament for my girl who LOVES the weird, anime, nonsense. I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto. We sure don't have stuff like this in Caddo. Have I mentioned I love this place?!?