Halloween 2013

Last year for Halloween, Cameron was only eight weeks old and Johnnie had just left for a six-month deployment so it was hard to get into the festive holiday spirit.  Cameron's "costume" was a white blanket and hat (an easy ghost), Dulce sported her Mariners jersey, and I didn't dress up at all.  Despite all of that, it was still a fun evening because of the decorations in the neighborhood and crazy amount of trick-or-treaters we saw.

This year we went all out since it was our first Halloween together as a family and Cameron's first time trick-or-treating.  We decorated (a little) and had matching family costumes!

Cameron and I went to a local Halloween store for costumes.  There were some amazing pirate costumes available but they were expensive, at least $75 or more.  If we were going to a big Halloween party, I might have considered spending some money but we were simply going to walk around our neighborhood and then sit and hand out treats.  The choice was simple... buy the cheapest ones available.  This unknowingly set everything in motion for our matchy family costumes.

The cheapest woman's pirate costume was a one-size-fits-most... that "most" does not include 5'1" people like me.  It needed taken in all over so I started cutting and sewing: removing a lot of fabric from the skirt, detaching the attached vest (which therefore detached the sleeves), using the sleeves to make the back of the shirt, raising the waistline, and adding lace to the top front edge of the shirt.  I bought some super cheap pirate jewelry separately (earrings and a necklace) which I ended up modifying to add to the other costumes.  The skull wine goblet was my favorite accessory :)

Seeing all that extra black and red striped fabric sparked my creativity.  Dulce's costume was pale pink which didn't seem very pirate-like.  I started cutting and sewing: removing the pink fabric and lace, adding a wide elastic neck strap, shortening the black skirt, adding a skirt using fabric from my costume, adding gold ribbon and gold coins (part of my pirate necklace) to create a bodice, and adding a pirate skull crossbones cut from white fabric.  I cut the pink lace off of the hat and painted a layer of white acrylic paint over the pink skull.

Johnnie's costume didn't really need any modifications but I added just a few.  His costume was a polyester jumpsuit with an attached vest (a partial vest only on the front) and had only a few small pieces of velcro closing the back.  I started cutting and sewing: removing the attached vest, making a new black vest (therefore covering the unsightly back of the costume), adding a pirate skull crossbones to his bandana (taken from Cameron's costume), and making him a belt out of scraps from my skirt so he would have something that matched the rest of us.  The vest was very quickly made from a polyester-ish material so I didn't have to sew all of the edges... I just melted them with a lighter so it wouldn't fray.

Johnnie, Dulce, and I now all had matching costumes but Cameron's costume was hot pink.  It was a super cute costume that didn't need modified at all... but I had an overwhelming urge to change it to match the rest of us.  So I started cutting and sewing: removing all of the pink material and trim, opening the balloon skirt and cutting triangles into the bottom, removing the balloon sleeves and replacing them with lace, adding lace to the top edge of the white shirt, adding red trim to the bodice (fabric from my skirt), adding gold ribbon and gold coins (part of my pirate necklace) to the bodice, making a new belt (originally ties from my costume), and adding a black skirt (same material as Johnnie's vest).

Cameron's trick-or-treat bag was a 99¢ paper gift bag.  I decorated it with crossbones printed from the internet and gold ribbon (from the costumes) attached with double-stick tape.

Trick-or-Treating hours were in the evening from 6 to 8pm.  We headed out a little earlier with Cameron so she could walk without the competing with crowds of people.

We stopped at a grand total of four houses but that was enough for Cameron.  I didn't let her eat any candy this year but she was more mesmerized by the crinkly wrappers anyway.

After walking through the neighborhood, we went back to our house to hand out treats to the trick-or-treaters.  The evenings are warm here in Hawaii so everyone sits out on their driveways to hand out treats - no doorbell ringing here!  This year was bigger than last year.  It was supposed to be trick-or-treating just for our neighborhood but many people from other neighborhoods on came.  I can't blame them, it's a jackpot of candy with all the close houses here.

We didn't give out candy this year.  I knew the kids would get enough candy at other houses and I didn't want to be tempted to eat any so I bought some toys instead.  We gave out glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth and vampire lip whistles, purchased from the Oriental Trading Company website (who offered free Halloween shipping to all states except Hawaii... thanks a lot).  Despite the ridiculous shipping cost, the total was still the same as that much candy would have been anyway.  We had 300 toys to give out.  Each kid took one and we still ran out early!  It was a crazy fun night :)

I made a Halloween door wreath by wrapping decorative "spider web" around a grapevine wreath and tucking plastic spiders in it.  I didn't use any glue so everything was easily removed, freeing the wreath to decorate again for the next holiday!

*******

"I don't know that there are real ghosts and goblins, but there

are always more trick-or-treaters than neighborhood kids."

~Robert Brault

Family Friday: Nov 1

I once thought that having a baby would make me a better photographer, having a little model to photograph whenever I wanted.  The reality is that having a baby did not improve my photography skills... it actually made them sloppy.  The composition of my photos may be fine but the quality is definitely not.

A baby makes the hours shorter and days go by faster so I feel that nearly every photo I have taken in the past year has been rushed.  Most photos you see on this blog are taken with my iPhone or Olympus point-and-shoot.  Those cameras are quick to grab, simple to use, and usually nearby.  The photos look fine because they are small but if you viewed them at full-size, you would see how noisy and unfocused most of them really are.  I also have to rotate and crop most photos on the computer because I didn't take the time to compose it right in the camera. 

I don't use my DSLR (aka "my good camera") unless I specifically make it a point to.  Unfortunately, over the past year I have developed a tendency to "shoot fast and fix it later."  Photoshop can do amazing things (though it is time-consuming) but it can't do much to fix bad quality.  My goal has inadvertently become "make it good enough for the blog" when it should be to make it good enough for all purposes.  Many of my favorite photos only look good printed as a 4x6 (some don't look good printed at all) so I could never print and display them larger.  I am now slowly trying to correct the habit of snapping rushed, poor quality photos.

I'm lucky to have a sweet photographer friend here to go on photo outings with.  We have gone to a few scenic places on the island and have even photographed a couple sunrises (all still on my growing list of blog posts to write).  We still have a lot more sights to photograph before one or both of us move away.  Cameron happily tags along with us, taking in the new sights and experiences.

This week we went to photograph the plumeria grove at the Koko Crater Botanical Garden.  The plumerias bloom more in the spring but there were still enough to make the trip worthwhile.  I'm trying, especially lately, to slow down and focus on quality.  There is an art to getting a photo right in the camera so that you don't have to spend much time editing it on the computer.

These photos were all taken with my DSLR, shot in manual mode at a low ISO - this is a big step for me!  They did not feel rushed at all and I even thought about composition while shooting so that I didn't have to crop or rotate the photos afterwards - another big step!  Even Cameron was content walking slowly through the crunchy leaves and picking up fallen flowers.  She never poses for me and rarely smiles when I want her to but she is still an adorable model :)

"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving.

What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers

little things, long after you have forgotten everything."

~Aaron Siskind

  

Family Friday: Oct 25

This is my favorite time of year... the leaves are changing color, the air is brisk and crisp, the smell of autumn fills the air, and I can finally wear my favorite sweaters.  Nah, I'm just kidding!  We live in Hawaii... there is no autumn here!  Luckily I've had some pretty amazing fall weather in other years of my life (my favorite being Asheville, NC) so I can close my eyes and bask in those memories.

I love fall weather and I really miss it.  The stores are especially teasing this time of year.  You can still buy swimsuits everywhere but all other warm-weather clothing has been put away.  The stores are currently full of pants, long sleeves, sweaters, jackets, and gloves.  It is too warm to wear any of it, therefore it is futile to buy.  It was heartbreaking to walk past some super cute thermal pajamas I saw the other day :(

Despite not having seasons, the weather really is the best thing about living here.   It's pretty much between 70 and 85 degrees fahrenheit year round.  The "winter" is a few degrees cooler than the "summer" and brings the huge waves you see in surfing competitions.  Things are green and blooming all year here.  Many trees do lose their leaves, but different trees lose their leaves at different times so it's nothing like the fall foliage in other climates.

On an outing this week, we stopped by Johnnie's workplace so he could pick something up.  Cameron and I were delighted to see the parking lot scattered with yellow leaves!  This is as much of a fall experience as we are going to get this year.  Cameron avoided the leave piles at first until she discovered that they crunched under her feet.  I'm glad that she got to experience playing in leaves - even if it was in a sundress and sandals :)

Love those curls :)

As soon as Cameron started solid foods, I started doing the sign language for "all done" and "more" whenever I said those words in context.  As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, she has the "all done" sign down pat and uses it for a variety of activities.  This week, she has mastered the "more" sign for eating.  She signs "more" and then taps her plate when she wants more food - I love that she is communicating!

Cameron is also doing two other new things that show she's understanding more now:  1) Cameron lies on a blanket on the floor to drink her bottles.  She now goes over to the blanket and sits down to wait when she sees me making a bottle.  2) When I ask her if she needs a diaper change, she now walks over to the changing station by herself and then waits for me to pick her up.

We eat out in restaurants once every week or so and always take Cameron with us.  She does really well in restaurants but then again, she does really well eating at home too.  I almost always order something that I can share with her - usually salmon with grilled veggies or a plain baked potato.  If I know I'll eat something that I can't share with her, I'll bring food along or order her some veggie side dishes from the menu.

This past week Cameron ate in a restaurant three times: once with Johnnie and I, once with a friend and I on a girls day out, and once with just me on a mommy-daughter date.  It's unusual for us to eat out that often but I'm glad we can take Cameron to restaurants without worrying about how it will go.

Cameron and Dulce's relationship continues to grow.  Cameron pets and hugs Dulce often now and laughs hysterically when Dulce tries to take anything from her hands.  Cameron walks Dulce for a little while every night when we spend time outside.  Here's a short Instagram video for your viewing pleasure:


There is great love between these two souls...

*******

"I love autumn, the one season of the year that God

seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it."

~Lee Maynard

  

Family Friday: Oct 18

Cameron figured out how to put on sunglasses all by herself this week.  I purposely try not to interrupt her play or show her how to do things because when she figures things out for herself, it is so much more meaningful!  The struggle and the effort are just as important as the success in building confidence.

We don't have any extra space for a play room so Cameron's play area has always been the open area in the kitchen.  She has spent a lot of time on that rug!  When she was very young, she spent most of her time on a blanket looking around and playing with whatever toys she could reach.

When Cameron learned to roll over and started moving around, I put up a play yard fence.  The play yard provided her with a safe, child-sized area where she was free to relax, play, and explore on her own.  This helped her to learn to play independently and also gave me peace of mind knowing that she wouldn't get into anything dangerous.

As she got more mobile, I opened the fence so that she had free reign of the kitchen.  I put child safety latches on the cabinets and covers on the outlets so that she could explore the larger area safely.  At this point, we started occasionally spending time together in the rest of the downstairs area (which is only one other large room split into a dining room and living room) to get her familiar with everything.

Now Cameron is over a year old, walking like a champ, and is more trustworthy so I have expanded her play area once again.  We removed the play yard fence and bought a cheap baby gate to block off the stairs.  Cameron now has free reign of the entire downstairs area but still chooses to spend most of her time in the kitchen... probably because the other room is boring with only TV remotes to play with :)  I have to remind her occasionally to stay out of Dulce's dishes but other than that, she is really enjoying her new freedom.

Dulce could easily jump this new fence but she won't!  She just whines and whines and whines until we help her over.  Sooner or later she'll figure it out that she could have been jumping it all this time :)

Every evening we go outside to play in the driveway.  This past week, Cameron has been wanting to roam so now we are starting to go for evening walks.  She is an excellent walker now and surprises me with just how far she'll walk on her own!  I follow her lead, only redirecting her if absolutely necessary.

Some days we go walking in bare feet.  A couple days ago, a neighbor lady passed us with her two kids and said (in a shocked voice) "No shoes?!"  I simply smiled and she hurried on her way with her two shoe-wearing children.

No, neighbor lady, we weren't wearing shoes because we live in a tropical climate and we stayed on the sidewalks which means we don't need to wear shoes.  Not wearing shoes meant that we could feel the warm, rough cement under our feet; we could feel the bumps on the sidewalk that are at every crosswalk; and we could feel the cold, patterned metal that Cameron repeatedly went back to experience.  Our walk wouldn't have been nearly as special if we had worn shoes.

We do wear shoes if we plan on going off of the sidewalks, to go to a playground for example.  The soil in our neighborhood is contaminated and the grass is not barefoot-friendly... not quite the paradise you expected, is it?  Kids mostly play on the driveways, sidewalks, and streets in our neighborhood.

Dulce comes with us on our evening walks.  Once she gets her "I-need-to-sniff-everything-and-pee-everywhere" energy out, she happily trots along side us.  She is pretty good at obeying her "heel" and "halt" commands which allows Cameron to hold her leash while we walk.  Cameron loves holding the leash and giggles when Dulce starts to pull, causing her to walk faster.  When she gets tired of holding the leash, she bends down and lays it on the ground.  Those two are such a sweet pair :)

We took a family outing to watch the sunset from the beach this week.  Every time we do this, I say that we need to do it more often.  We sit on a blanket and watch airplanes fly in low, directly overtop of us, as they come in for landing at the Honolulu Airport.  Dulce has a ton of fun digging for and chasing the hundreds of crabs that appear as the sun goes down.  Moments like these will bring back the sweetest memories someday :)

*******

"We do not remember days; we remember moments."

~Cesare Pavese