My $2 Homemade Thomas the Train Costume

Teddy loves Thomas the Train. I love making costumes. Halloween was approaching. We had a bunch of recycling piling up. It all came together for a perfect storm.

My materials:

1 diaper box
1 box of milk cartons three-pack, cut in half
1 empty tub of Greek yogurt
1 empty tub of broccoli cheddar soup (same size as yogurt tub)
3 dessert-size paper plates
1 dinner-size paper plate
strips of cardboard
4 feet-ish of thick ribbon
1 can blue spray paint
1 can black spray paint
red acrylic paint
yellow acrylic paint
black sharpie
hot glue gun
scissors
picture of Thomas or Thomas toy to look at

The only things I had to buy were the blue spray paint and the ribbon because I wanted ribbon cuter than what I had, It totaled roughly $2, and that's rounding up.

The funnest part about the costume was that I made the funnel be the place where the candy goes. That way he didn't need to carry a bucket or bag for candy. Here's what I did. Maybe it will be helpful to someone out there who likes to throw cheap stuff together for costumes. :)

Started cutting a diaper box

Found this in the recycling

Cut a hole in a box flap and hot glued the container to it-- a spot
for candy!

Later I cut a trap door into this so the candy could be taken out easier.

So the top looked like this and I cut the hole at the bottom a little bigger
for his feet to walk.

Attached the other box-half with hot glue and spray painted it all blue

Spray painted the next container black for the funnel, and glued it around the hole

Cut slits and glued the ribbon down

Painted red lines and let Cal help attach spray-painted paper plates 

I had also spray painted these blue cardboard strips and then
glued them on top of the wheels

Painted my yellow "1" on the sides, drew a face on a trimmed dinner plate with
a sharpie, and BAM. Thomas.

Teddy approved

And so did his Wizard-Brothers

Just Today-- A Gift

This blog is a gift.

It is a gift to family and friends who like to stay caught up on what the boys are doing and saying. It is a gift to random readers who want to know how to make the most of their small spaces or how to make a paper mache astronaut helmet or which DC places to visit or what it's like to have seizures with kids. But honestly, it is mostly a gift to myself.

Every once-in-awhile I will get on here and end up reading an entry I hadn't read for years. Often it is about something I probably would have forgotten about if I hadn't written it down. And that makes me happy.

So many times I am too busy to blog. And sometimes I don't know what to blog about. So right now I will blog about today. Just today.

We woke up to snow! The county made a big blunder and didn't cancel school. There were accidents and kids and parents and teachers in danger all over the roads. A few hours into the school day the county sent an apology email to parents. Oops!

Needless to say, since we live three blocks from the school and walk every day, our trip to school was A HUGE, SNOWY ADVENTURE!!! As we were walking in the falling snow to school, Cal boisterously declared today to be, "the best day of all my whole 5 year-old life!" He and Clark dashed around touching, throwing, and tasting the snow. They tackled and dove and slid and twirled and fell. They shrieked about what things like electrical boxes looked like under the snow, and how smooth and white it all was. They loved the snow in their eyes and on their hoods and how it stung their wrists in between their gloves and coats. They stomped their feet along the big mats laid inside the school doors and headed to class with a bunch of other excited kids covered in puffy coats and hats.

BEST DAY OF THEIR LIVES!!

When I got home from dropping the boys off I hung out with Teddy. We read books, he dragged the pantry snacks all over the house while grunting at me, we vacuumed-- me with the vacuum and he pushing a red mini hockey stick like a vacuum--, he tried to eat the toy excavator, we danced to "Dancing Queen" on Pandora, I did some laundry and dishes, he put my shoes on. Once I went to my bedroom for something and came out to find this on the table:

I had absentmindedly not pushed my chair in and he had immediately and deftly climbed up to the Cheerios.

In the afternoon we walked to get the boys, who were just as jubilant about the snow as they had been in the morning. It took us a long while to get home.

After-school snow football

And Cal says...still the best day ever!!

When we got home I gave Teddy a fast snack and the boys put on all their snow gear. Brian got home and we all five headed out to try their new snow tubes on a hill in our neighborhood.

That black line in the distance...a creek at the bottom of the hill!

Cal is off!

Teddy supervising

Faces covered in snow every time-- they loved it

Yep. Still Cal's best day.

We came back home, where we dumped a ton of wet clothes on the entryway floor. For a minute I thought I'd allowed Teddy's tiny toes to get frostbitten, but it was (mostly) my imagination.

I finished dinner and Brian made a fire in the fireplace. The boys were still coming down off their snow high while they (tried to) practice piano. And of course one of them needed to check the fire every few minutes in case Dad needed any help. Then we had dinner. Guess what we had?

Yes, meatballs with marinara.

After dinner, I bathed a messy Teddy, Brian helped Clark on the piano, and Calvin started writing a story. He really wants to use our stapler so he's writing a book with a bunch of pages so he can use it. I found page  one on the table after he went to bed:

Translation: "Once upon a time there was a dinosaur named Emalyn."

I love my little authors and illustrators. I don't think an English teacher mom could ask for better, more exuberant writers. I look forward to reading about the adventures of the dinosaur named Emalyn.

And, what better way to end the day than by sharing a sleeping bag by the fire?

I love boys and I love childhood, where everything is exciting. I love my little life where today is just a day, but never just another day.

They don't seem like much now, but years from now when I read this entry, these little things we did today and funny things these wonderful boys said will seem like little miracles-- like little gifts.

Beginning Kindergarten Series, Day 1

The walk to school was fun and the boys' voices only faltered a few times. They asked again what they'd do today and I told them drawing and coloring and reading and playing on the playground and playing games. Clark, the forever competitor, said, "I'll win 10 games for you today, Mom!" Which almost made the dam break behind my eyes, but I held it together. At the front door it was a little harder, they kept wanting to hold my hands and I could feel their palms were sweaty (or maybe it was just mine). 

At the door of the classroom Clark started to break down. I went in with them and helped them sit down at a table. He kept hugging my legs and crying quietly, asking how long it would be until I would come back, asking if I could stay just a few more minutes. When the bell rang I pulled away and walked toward the door. He kept saying, "Bye Mom,"searching for my face around the other parents. Cal on the other hand seemed fine-- checking out the crayons and books. 

I said goodbye as long as I could and that it would be awesome and they'll have so much fun and can't wait to hear about it. These things were difficult to say. As soon as I turned around I started crying so I walked quickly down the blurry hall and out the door.

This day came so quickly, and yet I am so, so thankful to have been able to spend almost each and every day of Cal and Clark's life at home and on adventures with them. I know many mothers don't get the chance to do that and I will always treasure the years I've been able to be at home full time. I'm thankful for a husband who understands and is on the same page that I'm on as far as me staying home. 

But I digress. 

When Teddy and I picked the boys up at school this afternoon they were a little shaken up. The teacher said they did great all day and then got antsy and scared as they were dismissing them. Understandable. I felt a little jostled in the dismissal herd and I'm 5'6". 

The walk home was nice as I tried to get information from them about their day. I found out that they didn't go outside much and play on the playground because it was so hot today. Clearly this affected them. They got home and yelled, "YYAAAAAAHHHH!" while flinging their backpacks across the living room. After a small snack with Teddy they did NOT STOP THE CRAZINESS all night. Bouncing off the walls. It was storming or I would have taken them outside for awhile to run it off. Clark was literally climbing up the dishwasher an onto the counter, which he has never done before. 

They husked corn for me on the balcony and made a "corn machine" with the sliding glass door. Clark held the stem or handle part of the corn into the space where the door slides into the side of the frame. Then Cal smashed the door shut. They were ecstatic that it worked! 

When Brian got home they wrestled for what seemed like two hours straight. Teddy even got in on the wrestling. 

It's a lot of time that I'm not with them and it will take some getting used to, for sure. I'm supposed to find out in a few days what day I can come into the classroom and volunteer as a room mom. Then I'll really get the inside scoop. 

Here are some good quotes from the day:

On the way to school:

"I'm going to win 10 games for you today, Mom." -Clark

After:

Me: "What did you do?"

"I don't really remember. I think we colored the whole time." -Cal

Me: "Did you read stories? Did you work with letters, did you build anything or do anything with numbers?"

"We didn't work with letters. They assumed we already know them." -Cal

"Lunch was boring and loud, like AHHHHHH! I wasn't even hungry." -Cal

"I did not like lunch. But we did see Peter and Andrew there." -Clark

"She said we were going to do math, but we didn't even do any." -Cal

"I told my teachers all about t-ball." -Clark

Me: "What was your favorite part?"

"The drawing." -Cal

"Yeah, the drawing."-Clark

Getting into bed: "School was funner than we thought." -Clark, with a nodding Calvin agreeing. 

Yay! 

Gammy found two of the same old Norman Rockwell
mugs with a first day of school scene. So
the boys had their milk in those this morning.

Leaving home

At school!

I love this picture so much. They look at each other
the way Cal's looking at Clark here so much of the time.
I'm happy that they have each other. 

I'm still holding it together as we near the door...

Found their classroom

I think it's all hitting Clark right here. 

All done! Water before heading home

Brothers missed brothers

After school snack/leftover lunch

Cal just broke the corn in the door. You can see the little chunk
of cob stuck in the frame.

Corn-cuttin' machine!

T-ball

I've written a bunch of times on the blog about how much I love baseball and how much a part of my life it has always been. It's so fun to see the way that baseball has continued to be a part of my life with my own kids.

The boys have now completed three seasons (two spring, one fall) of t-ball (and Blastball-- which is pre-t-ball, and I wrote about it here and here.) and are gearing up for the coming fall season. We've had such a fun time with t-ball. We've gotten to know some great families and have already made some wonderful memories. Brian is a great coach and he loves coaching. The kids adore him and have all learned so much about baseball. Both the Red Wings and Blue Wahoos improved a bunch each season. In fact, the other coaches voted Brian the t-ball coach of the year for Reston Little League this spring! I'm pretty proud.

I've met some great parents through it all-- and many are parents I'll most likely know for years because they live close and some of them have kids who go to the same elementary school the boys will start going to in (23 days) the fall.

We found a summer baseball camp that took place just down the street from our house, and we signed them up for one week-- Monday through Thursday, five hours a day. It seemed like a LOT of time for them to be away, but the first week went well and they loved it. We signed them up again a few weeks later, and though they were the youngest two kids, they did great, loved it, and the older kids were supportive and encouraging of them. I have a hunch that the snow cone truck that visited daily might have been their favorite part, but the home run derbies into the tennis courts were a close second.

On the professional baseball front, we of course still follow our beloved Nationals, who are in first place as I write this. We all went to a Nats game recently. Teddy wasn't even afraid of the wild, screaming fans, especially when the Nats put up 5 runs in the first inning. He looked around at everyone and started clapping his hands too!

Bottom line: baseball is the greatest sport ever. And here are some pictures.

First game ever! Blastball 2013

During fall ball last year the boy had
 ALL 4 GRANDPARENTS at a game!

First game this spring- The Blue Wahoos!

Cal and Clark's littlest fan- boldly sporting
his poopy onesie.

Cal the catcher

Teddy at the t-ball exhibition game when Brian won coach of the year.

Cal fields a ground ball at baseball camp,
while Clark holds back the competition.

Clark fields at camp.

Five hours of baseball makes them tired...for about an hour
and then they're ready to rock and roll again.

Walking home from camp

Teddy goes CLAP CLAP CLAP!

Little fan gets to go into the dugout and meet a player!

Teddy meets the infamous Teddy Roosevelt
of the Nationals' Racing Presidents