Lewis is a Train

Many months ago, Lewis declared that he wanted to be a train for Halloween. Halloween is still weeks away, but we had a couple of events at the beginning of the month that merited a costume, so I had to get to work on it early.

This is the very intricate/fancy train at the zoo that is his inspiration (there is also an orange one). He also wants a toy version of one for Christmas, which I think I'll have some wiggle room with (as long as there is some orange and some blue on it). I forewarned him that I would do my best to make him a blue and orange train, and so far he has simple tastes (thank goodness).

We already had a couple of train whistles and conductor hats, and, as things have a way of working themselves out, I stumbled across a conductor's jacket in his size at Goodwill for only $1.50. I saved up some diaper boxes in anticipation, and I was able to use duct tape leftover from last year's cardboard airplane costume. The plane just got smashed in our move, so I was able to remove and reuse the webbing (for shoulder straps). We did have to go to Home Depot to pick out spray paint (and primer), which was fun. Lewis wanted an 'orange and blue train' like the train at our zoo--I think it wanted it like half orange and half blue, but I explained that would be challenging to do neatly with spray paint. We settled on a blue train with orange accents. We had looked at some ideas on Pinterest, and he liked one that had a '4' on it because he is 4. Although, eventually, he decided he wanted a 4, 5, and 2 for reasons unknown to me. And he declared that he wanted to wear one blue glow bracelet and one orange one as part of his costume. He had/has it all planned out this year, let me tell you!! We also bought a headlight for the front, which I attached with Command velcro strips and a touch light from Walmart.

 Can you see the vision of the train??

 I scored and bent the box flaps to build the front cylinder (and added a piece of cardboard to the front to enclose it)

Primed

 The steam pipe is an empty duct tape roll tube that happened to come available as I was making it

 I expanded the box flap holes on the sides so that they were big enough for Lewis's arms to go through them to help take the weight off of his shoulders a bit (it's kind of heavy!)

 The conductor with his train :)

 I think he's happy about it!

 #2

 #4

 #5

 Taking it out for a spin at Creasey Mahan's Haunted Hike

We were at the zoo the night before, but the train stayed in the car while we trick-or-treated in raincoats and under umbrellas.

We don't have another event until Halloween weekend--he has a Trunk-or-Treat at his school, plus trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Hopefully we get good weather for both of those!

Trunk or Treat/Halloween 2014

When I asked Lewis what he wanted to be for Halloween this year, he first said a tractor. I asked him again a few days later, and he said a plane, specifically a blue airplane. I gave him a few more days to make sure he wasn't changing his mind, and then I got to work on researching ideas. I came across this design and decided to recreate the look as best as I could. He found one of his toy planes the other day, and he has since been saying that he's a fighter jet, so I guess we'll go with that for now.

The whole thing probably cost less than $20, plus about 5-6 hours of work on my part. I save boxes, so those were free, of course, and I got the blue duct tape at Dollar Tree (I used about 1 1/2 rolls of blue) and used just a little bit of black and gray that I already had on hand for the propeller and wheels (and attached those with zip ties). Other than some heavy duty scissors, it was pretty simple to put together (though I had to stretch some brain muscles to make the cuts at the correct-ish angles). I was going to make a hat until I found this one on eBay for only $6 with no shipping. I found the bomber jacket at a consignment sale, also for $6, I think. It's a bit small (2/3T), but we made it work. I also spent a few dollars on some strap material I strung through the top of the box to hold the plane up on his shoulders.

I love it, and I think Lewis was happy with how it turned out:

 Ready to fly

Blurry, but that's a this-is-awesome face. :)

Whee!

We went to Trunk or Treat last night at his school--the first hour was pizza, and the second hour was trick-or-treating. Walking up the stairs took a little hand-holding, and he fell forward (once) and backward (once) and needed help returning to standing (which made me crack up). Otherwise, he managed pretty well! We took off the plane through dinner and for him to run around with his buddies, of course.

 This was his 'touch down' while we were waiting in line

 Snacking, post-pizza and pre-candy

 Trick-or-Treat!

He's asked if he can go again, so hopefully we aren't in the hospital with a baby on Halloween! :)

 He accidentally bumped a few kiddos with his wings, but just gently. He also ran into doorways getting in/out of school, which was pretty funny.

Caaaandy!!!

Otis' 1st Birthday and Gramma Pat's 60th Birthday

First, a few randoms from last week. Lewis said, 'Take our picture!'

Best Buds, most days :)

Helping make cookies

I'd had a hankering for cookies last week, so I googled Best _____ Cookie (chocolate chip, peanut butter, chocolate, etc.) to see what the internet had to offer. The first recipe for Chewy Chocolate Cookies was divine. I made them with peanut butter chips, and yum. They were even better the 2nd day. I'm going to attempt some peanut butter ones, next, followed by a chocolate chip cookie showdown. I have two new c.c. recipes to try, but I'm skeptical of whether they can top my usual recipe.

Last week, we worked on a gift for Gramma Pat's birthday--Lewis picked out a butterfly-shaped picture frame at Target, and he painted it for her with a school picture inside:

So focused

At first he did one color at a time, until I had all of the colors out on the plate. Then he switched to dipping his paint brush into each color, every time. So the brush had a dab of orange, light blue, red, blue, and green. It all ended up kind of brownish by the time it reached the butterfly, but who cares. He did a really good job of painting all of the surface this time.

I told him he could cover the plate with the leftover paint, so he very slowly went to work on that, too. :)

Lewis had camp last week until Thursday, so he and I drove up to my parents' house that afternoon to see the Bergstroms (minus my brother-in-law, Joe).

Boys' Breakfast

Emily and I headed to Indy on Friday for lunch and Costco (for Mom's party) while Gramma and Papaw watched the kiddos. Later, Mom and I took Juniper and Lewis to the bouncy house place:

Juni's waiting up top :)

Eyes closed!

Cousin Love!!!

Later that evening, we had a pizza and cake party for Otis' 1st birthday (July 16):

Again, Lewis was trying to help Otis with the candles.

I don't think he (Lew) was successful this time (as he was with Carlton).

Mmmm, Concannon's cake. :)

Lewis' fork efficiency and speed greatly improve when there is cake involved. Same with spoons and ice cream. :)

Saturday, the grandparents took the kids to a horse show (for Juniper) and car show (for Lewis) while Kevin, Emily, and I got things ready for the birthday party. (Kevin drove up after work Friday evening.) Em and I headed over to the pool in the afternoon to set-up for the party while Kevin and the grandparents and Uncle Dave watched the kids.

I don't have many pictures from the party because I was too busy co-hostessing and catching up with people, but I do have some of Lewis swimming:

Moving up to water wings

Because Mama forgot his usual floatie at home :)

Thinking about jumping off the diving board

There goes Juni!!

And Lew!

I know Kevin has some pictures on his phone, too, of him jumping earlier in the evening, but we don't yet have Dropbox on this computer, so I can't get to those pictures at the moment.

The party was great! We went with a peace and love/tie dye/hippie theme, and had close to 50 family and friends, I think. There was a rain/storm chance all day, but it held out just until the very end. Lots of people helped us clean up quickly, so we were able to make it home before the rain came.

Mother's Day Weekend

On Saturday morning, Lewis and I headed out to the forest where I used to work for a Woodland Tea Party. A former co-worker/friend had planned it, so I thought it would be fun for Lewis and I to have a special Mama/Lew date. It was pouring rain overnight and into the morning, but we headed on out (and the rain eventually did stop):

Ready for Tea (and moreso, cookies)

 Listening to instructions before the hike (in some light rain)

 A box turtle in the middle of the trail

 At first avoiding puddles, but that would soon change :)

I think the rain or the walking-while-taking-a-picture made this so crazy/trippy/blurry. You'll notice there's no sign of the rest of the group in front of us. About 5 minutes into the hike, I could tell it was going to be too much for Lew to handle. They stopped a lot and talked about wildflowers (which was great for mothers and other non-toddler types, of course), but I wanted to slip away and go back to the building. We stuck with it and made it out, pretty much unscathed (just a little frazzled for Mama).

Just as we were exiting the woods and heading back to the building, Lew found a pretty sweet puddle to do some stomping in:

 Have your fun, buddy.

We then detoured to the car to change into the back-up jeans I'd packed. :) In addition to the water here, he'd slipped a couple of times on the trail and gotten a muddy booty and muddy knees.

Ready for tea (he looks less than enthused, but I think it was because we were seated with strangers). I'd been trying to keep him away from the dessert table from the moment we arrived. The tables were pretty formal (read: lots of breakable items), so I had to clear away an area for him: 

Going in for a cookie.

He didn't end up eating most of the treats, unfortunately (he wanted to go and play). They were delicious--they were from a local, natural bakery (Cake Flour) and the tea was from Hillbilly Tea here in town.

While he was playing, Christa (my friend) found him and got him started on a little gift for the mothers. They made a photo mat with various leaves and other bits from the woods: 

It's drying up already, but it's a sweet little memento.

(They took our picture and printed it for us, too.)

After finishing his craft, I realized he'd had an accident, so I decided we would head out a little early. I was also having trouble getting him to stay in one place and walk carefully (again, lots of breakables!). He'd had some late nights leading up to that morning, so it all seemed to culminate in a very fussy Lewis by the end of it. Overall, though it was a nice event, and I'm glad we went.

Along with the late nights, he has been waking up earrrrly the past week or two (which has improved the last few mornings, thanks to some earlier bedtimes). This was my wake-up crew on Mother's Day at like 6:45am. :) The dogs were there all night--the child thought they could use some extra snuggles:

 The crazy iPhone flashes in the dark made Lew's eyes close.

Looks like Lewis and Kevin did some snuggling while I was away that day, too: 

 My two favorite boys :)

And one dirty foot

On Sunday morning, I got up and made a big breakfast for Kevin, Lewis, and me (because I wanted to...Kevin offered). Kevin took Lewis to see Grandma Sharon while I stayed at the house and almost finished the season of Sex and the City I've been binge-watching (for like the 3rd time). :) I then went and met Sharon and Kevin's aunt and cousins for lunch and a movie. When I got home, Kevin was starting dinner--he made steak, twice-baked potato casserole (one of my favorite foods ever), Caesar salad, and a peanut butter/Butterfinger pie. What a guy! It was such a nice day.  

[Sorry I didn't get to see you, Mom!! Of course the day would have been better if we'd been able to spend some time with you, but hopefully next year.]