My Happy Halloween

In my "Mommie" years I loved Halloween. I made costumes, now saved for years, decorated the house to the 13's (not 9's, remember we're talking Halloween here), and made yummy Halloween treats... 

But as a Grammie much of the joy of the holiday is gone. Sadly, I've even been known to boycott Halloween, I just didn't have the heart.

Then I realized that here, in my wonderful neighborhood, I don't get the "drop off teenagers" I get all the little children that I love.

The whole knock, knock, trick or treat is a difficult time for my social little dog, Harley. He just can't understand why these children haven't come to see him...

So this year I hit on a wonderful idea... it wasn't too cold so I brought my little portable fire pit on to the front porch, started a nice fire, got my candy and iPad and I was set to enjoy the evening.

My immediate pay-back came when Jacob Arbon declared, "it's Grammie Lewis!" (all the Primary kids call me that to differentiate between the old Sister Lewis and sweet, young Sister Lewis).  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the children AND the parents. 

Then my sweet niece said, "Looks so cozy.  It reminds me of something I would pin on my home board on Pinterest.  Very nice!" And you know, she's right.

304- Sugar-Plum Faeries

This whole post goes back a long way! At first I would tell you that it goes back to Roxie's 4th birthday party 2 weeks ago, but that isn't really accurate. It really goes all the way back to when I was Roxie's age (which is 54 years ago!)

But I will start at Roxie's birthday party. The whole family was invited to the Lewis' for cake and festivities. Roxie is one of the most excitable and expressive little girls I know (not too unlike her Grammie!). She loves all things princess and frills. We got her a Snow White Barbie doll but Namma (Kaye, Doug's mom) brought the favoritest present! A darling frilly pink tutu with little pink leggings to wear underneath. Princess Roxie-Snow White immediately took off her Snow White dress and put on the tutu. She literally jumped and danced with glee. Kaye and I discussed how fun it was for little girls to have a tutu... then I said, "I want a tutu! Bwahahahaha, but then I would look like a Disney hippo in a tutu! bwahahahaha!"

That was when my plan was hatched! Why couldn't I have a tutu? I'd rescheduled Grammie Dinner from the 3rd Sunday to Halloween day. What a fun surprise to greet the kids at the door in my fancy Grammie-tutu!

I set to work to *build* a Grammie-tutu! Can you believe it? There wasn't ONE pattern at JoAnn's for a Grammie-sized-tutu! So I did what I do best... wing it. I purchased a bunch of tulle and set to work. I spent most of the day Friday laboriously gathering ruffles and sewing my tutu... the results? I didn't like it so much. So Saturday, after working an extra shift at the Temple, I came home, cut up all of my hard work and made this tutu. WHY DIDN'T I JUST DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE? Who knows?

Notice the brown leggings to go under the Grammie-tutu.

The minute I put it on yesterday I could hear the music from Nutcracker- Dance of the Sugar Plum Faeries in my mind I looked long and lithe as I pirouetted across the stage.  I even danced to the door at the first knock, threw open the door and saw... nope... not grand kids... but a very amused friend, Marie!

This is how I felt (see... long, lithe... but I've been cheated in the legs department!)

Sweet Ashton in a quickly altered Grammie-tutu (aka- tighten the elastic).

But reality is that I am a 58 year-old Grammie and do truly resemble that hippo in a tutu.

But in my heart of hearts I am still this sweet little girl who wants to grow up and be a ballerina...

Ann, Mom, Sue and Joanie at Burney Falls circa 1958

304- All Hallow's Eve

As I was looking through my photos from this year I ran across this one that just begged to be the potd for All Hallow's Eve. I love all the fun things that I can do in photoshop.


BRUSHES- Hof3 Sample Kit, FONT- Papyrus ACTION- DPMoms Perfect Workflow, TEXTURES- notaclue 3, chaotic soul, scratch-n-sniff TOTD #35, scratch and itch TOTD #46 all by Skeletalmess

I remember with great fondness all my childhood years of trick or treating. We would knock doors all over town (population 1500) with NO parental supervision. It was such a different world back then. My first unhappy Halloween memory came the year that *someone* smashed my carved pumpkin!! I couldn't believe that anyone would do that!

As a mommie I made costumes for my little children each year (so some are 35+ years old). Then Gordon & I went to several Halloween parties. I've saved all of these costumes and they reside in my Halloween box in the dungeon.

I think my happiest Halloween memories are of the years that Bek and the boys would come to my house for Halloween. We'd drag out the box from the rafters (no dungeon-basement in So Cal!!) and we'd have a costume parade! Stuart's favorite thing to do was mix up the costumes. My favorite was the year he put on the kitty hood, pirate patch and turtle body and then chased the little trick or treaters down the path!

Stuart, Caden and Bek 2001