Halloween Hijinks Concert

This year we went to the Halloween Hijinks Concert at Abrovanel Hall. They were playing excerpts from Hansel and Gretel and it was a costume party and contest. Jane dressed in her Yoshi costume. They had a neat silhouette station.

There were so many amazing costumes there. My favorites were also the winners. Pictured here is the Beheaded Marie Antoinette and the Marionette.

And my most favorite of all, the Three Ring Circus. I just love the little girl dressed as a tight rope walker! It was a really fun night!

Halloween In Paris - 2007

We are so excited for Halloween this year... Last year we spent the holliday in Disneyland Paris! It was a trip at odds with itself. Of course we were so happy to be in Paris (my favorite city in the world), but Jane was sick and the weather was terrible!


On our first night there, Jane dressed up as Minnie Pumpkin (as we call it) and we headed over to Downtown Disney for a Halloween dinner. True to the French spirit, there was plenty of yummy cheeses. Also there was face painting and scary/funny Pumpkinhead men wandering around.
Jane wanted to be Minnie on Mars for Halloween, and even though she didn't get to wear her costume to go trick-or-treating, she was still able to wear it to preschool and dance parties. Pluto thought she looked pretty amazing!

We stayed in a Disney hotel. I was expecting Disney to really take charge and make a great hotel, but the European spirit is king there (I guess). Our hotel lacked many ammenities and the hallways smelled like armpits. But they did have a character greating every morning and Jane was delighted to get to spend some time with her favorite mouse!

On October 31st, we were actually done with Disneyland and spent the day sightseeing in Paris. We stayed in a fantastic hotel on the Champs Elysees. There is a Disney Store on that street and they didn't forget to celebrate Halloween, but everyone else did! Actually, we saw two children dressed in costume... I guess they were visiting Paris on Halloween as well. Although Jane and I enjoyed our trip and will always cherish the memories, we are both excited to spend this Halloween at home. Jane is chomping at the bit to go Trick-or-Treating and has been practicing nightly! And I can't wait for her to share her booty with me!

Two Costumes for Halloween?!?

It is my personal philosophy that kids should be able to choose whoever/whatever they want to be for Halloween. Last year, when Jane wanted to be Minnie Mouse on Mars, I went to great lengths to track down a giant outdoor light post globe to use for an astronaut helmet. This year Jane said she wanted to be Yoshi from Nintendo. After thinking about how I could create that and doing some research on eBay (and noticing that no Yoshi costumes were for sale), I determined it was beyond my capabilities and told Jane she would have to choose something else.

Jane was pretty easily swayed and decided that she wanted to be a fairy. I thought it would be cute to be Ginger from the show "Johnny and the Sprites". Jane agreed. So I set out to make the costume. Jane seemed pretty excited, but when all was said and done she thought that she looked like Rooney from the "Doodlebops" and she grieved that she was not going to be Yoshi. On a whim, I checked eBay again. To my surprise, there was a child's Yoshi costume up for auction. It wouldn't fit Jane, but it did have some pretty good pictures of the construction and I could see how it could be done.

Last Thursday I went to the fabric store after brainstorming with Jason about how it could be done. To my dismay, almost all of the costume patterns sold out. I ended up with 7 yards of fabric and 3 patterns. Jason kept Jane out of the house for the entire day (we were keeping the costume a surprise) and after 10 hours and two different sets of eyes and nose the costume was complete.


The morning of October 25th, Jane got the surprise of her life. She was ecstatic to have the costume of her dreams! And I was pretty proud of myself that I was able to do it! Hopefully next year we won't have to go through so many costumes before we get it right!

Where Did You Get Those Eyes!?!

When Jane was born, we all thought she looked just like me. Within a few weeks...she had totally changed. Some people think she looks like Jason....but those in the know realize that she looks like my mom. Really it is her eyes that are just like Mutte's. But in all fairness, she does have Jason's eyelashes.

Everyone comments on Jane's beautiful eyes and especially her lllllllllooooonnnnnngggggggg eyelashes. Jane is so used to it that she usually just nods or says, "Yes, you're right." But when I put mascara on her eyelashes to complete her Snow White costume for the Disney Princesses on Ice show, even she was amazed by how long her lashes are.

On this day and everyday Jane is the Fairest of them All!

Pink Poodle in Paris Party

A few months before Jane's 4th birthday, I asked her what kind of birthday party she would like to have. She replied, "A puppy party." After much brainstorming and research on the internet, I decided that a Pink Poodle in Paris party was the way to go...and Jane agreed! I started with pink poodle invitations, pink poodle partyware, and made pink poodle skirts for all of the guests!

The party table was set with pink poodle partyware complete with Eiffel Tower cups. The centerpieces were a variety of Eiffel Towers in paper, metal, and even cookie form, pink poodles, and a tower of treats.

The Birthday Girl was ready to go!

First the guests were treated to doggy face painting, doggy ear placement, and fluffy poodle bracelets before they moved onto making sparkly doggy collars.

Next was a sock hop of freeze dancing.

The girls danced like Eiffel Towers, poodles, robots, birds, and so much more. They absolutely loved strutting their stuff!

After wearing themselves out dancing, the girls were refreshed with doggy bone sugar cookies, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate dipped graham cracker bones, doggy kibble (muddy buddy chex mix), and punch.

Next was poodle boutique activity. Each girl got their own pink poodle and some clothes to dress their new doggy up in.

Then it was time for presents. The girls played hot dog and passed a poodle around a circle to music to decide which lucky girl got to give Jane their present.

The girl of honor then blew out her 4 candles and then the girls tore after the poodle pinata.

All the girls had so much fun and so did I! A huge thanks is due to Jane's uncle Zack for his dedicated photography of the party, and to her aunts Shannon and Michelle for so much help planning and facilitating the party fun!

Edited to say that I'm linking this post (ancient as it is) to:

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