It's Not Easy Being Green

Some of you are already aware of my son's love of Kermit (I don't know where he gets that). He had originally wanted a Kermit-themed birthday this summer, and ultimately changed his mind to Spiderman. So, when he said that he wanted to be Kermit for Halloween, I was a bit nervous. After all, I remembered from my search in July that there really isn't much out there to be purchased by Henson-heads everywhere. I knew that if he was going to get his wish, I would have to make the costume -- and I'm no seamstress.

I dived in last weekend, and chipped away at it every night. The music teacher at my school teaches sewing lessons, and she was kind enough to give me lots of tips and advice. Every day, I brought the machine and all of the supplies up to work, and she stopped in after school to check on my progress. I elected not to make the spats, but I machine basted to set the zipper, put a dart in the hood, ran double-fold bias tape on the neckline (which was way harder than the zipper, btw) added elastic cuffs to the legs and raglan sleeves and learned all sorts of new vocabulary. :)

The finishing touches (collar and eyes) were actually finished on Friday morning, with only hours to go. The syrofoam ball cut in half took consideration. I worried that a hot-glue gun might melt it, but most other adhesive wouldn't stay. The answer came from yet another friend and co-worker, who owned a "cold" hot-glue gun. Not hot enough to melt the styrofoam, just a bit of my thumb.

After school Halloween afternoon, I waited in line for early voting for nearly an hour and a half. While I was busy doing that, Derek called and asked if I need the remaining green fleece. He used it to make little green flippers that he attached to Luke's Crocs, and the effect was perfect.

Derek got the girls dressed (Aurora - aka Sleeping Beauty - and a fuzzy pink bunny Derek nicknamed "the pink nightmare," both costumes he helped them choose), but waited for me to get our son into his costume. Luke was beside himself, and it was honestly one of the best moments of my life.

We had an absolutely perfect family fun filled evening. They all had incredible endurance. Trick-or-treating included a stop at Amelia's kindergarten teacher's home, just one street up from ours ("He has six kitties and one wife," she said). After that, we played at a Fall Carnival with inflatables and train rides and chili dogs. We tucked them in bed and even got to watch a movie.

Life is good.