Family Album | All Aboard!

Driving down the highway into southern Indiana, I said to Adam “this is one of the first times we’ve done something just for the kids.” So many of the things we do as a family are things we did before we had children - gatherings with friends and hiking and picnics and stuff where little ones just tag along.  Like many kids his age, Felix is obsessed with Thomas and friends, and I don’t say the word lightly (remember when I made him a Thomas costume for Halloween last year?) So on Saturday morning, we journeyed down to French Lick, Indiana for a Day Out with Thomas. It’s like a little pop up play land with a train ride, story time, bounce houses, bubble stations and photos with the sorta-kinda-creepy Sir Topham Hatt. 

I had no idea that Adam and I would have such a good time too. It was so much fun!! My cheeks hurt from all the smiling and my heart exploding watching little Felix, who is becoming such a big boy by the day, rest his head on the sill while looking out the window. Even if we didn’t have photos (and I’m so glad we do!), I don’t think I’d ever forget it. Bea Bea loved it too! What a wonderful day!!

Halloween 2016

Happy Halloween y’all! If we’ve been friends for a while, you know I LOVE DRESSING UP but this year, I opted to put all of my energy into Felix’s costume. Rookie mom mistake!?! Five (plus) hours of work for five minutes worth of photos, but at least we got those, right? 

For a month or so in advance I asked Felix what he’d like to be for Halloween. A monkey? An astronaut? Thomas the Train? Every time he’d proudly say “FELIX!” so that left the decision up to me. I enjoy making costumes myself, so I took on the challenge of our favorite really useful little engine.

I’ll be honest - I approached this one far too literally and gave myself a lot of stress over it.  There are some moms who did amazing jobs on Thomas costumes I found online. I like my version, but once I decided to just go for the look and feel of the character, I had much more fun putting him together. And that’s what Halloween is really about to me anyway! Just embracing the spirit of the character without pressure to be exact. And he’s two, so he got the picture! 

Here’s the breakdown: Thomas just a couple cardboard boxes, poster board, a hat box lid, craft paper and paint and some red duct tape. And a bucket load of hot glue. I actually made him in our cabin while on our vacation in the woods!

Underneath he kinda/sorta looks like a train conductor, using stuff we had around the house - a striped tee shirt, khaki pants, a red bandana and a whistle (which he really loved tooting!!)

I wanted to match my look (when don’t I want to match!?) so I went for an easy peasy Rosie the Riveter (see my non maternity version here). All it takes is a denim/chambray top and bottom and a red head scarf. Check check check. 

We won’t be trick or treating tonight, but we did take Felix to our city’s downtown Trick or Treat on Friday night (minus our cardboard Thomas). We stopped by half a dozen local businesses handing out candy, decided it was too wild for us (I hate crowds) and went to celebrate our favorite day of the week (Fry-Day) with a dinner out.