Weston Adventures

Megan was asking and asking to be a Thing so before I have to return the costumes I figured why not. I didn’t do all the makeup but she finally convinced me to do the nose and eyelashes. Naturally once Zach saw her he wanted me to do the same to him.

Megan loved it. I didn’t think she would honestly let me do the eyelashes once she felt them but she thought it was so cool.

Within seconds of taking off the Thing getup she wanted to be the Cat in the Hat. She wobbled around in the head but really loved doing it.

I’m sure you didn’t see this one coming, next!

Zach wobbled around in the head for a few minutes and was happy. And now I am going to pack up the costumes!

The Cat in the Hat came by this afternoon for one last appearance (I have to return the suit tomorrow!). Megan couldn’t believe he knew where we live. You’d think after seeing so many people wear the costume the novelty would have worn off but she still loves it. Right after the Cat left Megan saw Rob and yelled, “Daddy, you missed it. The Cat in the Hat was at MY house!”

This happened about a year ago, it was a HUGE neighborhood event. We are just finishing breakfast when we see a balloon right outside the kitchen so we go out to see it. We see them often as they land across the street by the park. They were about to set down right in front of our house when the wind picked up so they ended up landing a few streets away.

Shayla and Megan got cards from the team with pictures of the balloon. The kids thought the flame was really cool to watch (especially Zach).

Everyone got to help take the air out of the balloon which was fun. The team was really sweet and the kids felt they were the ones pulling down the balloon.

Right before they loaded the balloon up Megan looked at it laying the the street and said “That sure is one DEAD balloon”. It was so cute.

We signed the kids up for the “Snowplow Sam” class at the ice rink. They were so excited. The second Zach stepped onto the ice he decided this was NOT such a fantastic idea and he played wet noodle for the instructor. She had to drag him around the rink. Megan on the other hand did fantastic! She took some good falls but got right back up. She joined in the next level class for a while and remembered everything the instructor told her. We were so proud!

The Chick-Fil-A Cow and the Cat in the Hat joined us for a family reading and movie night. The kids loved that the characters sat down and listed to the books with them.

Megan’s teacher read with a few other teachers, Megan was so excited that HER teacher read a book. After the books all the kids watched the Cat in the Hat while loading up on soda, popcorn and candy. Hailey, Megan and Marissa all had a great time.

Uncle Kevin was so nice to be our “Cat”, Hailey thought it was pretty cool. Lauren got to announce the raffle winner and they try on the cat head.

All the kids helped us clean up, here’s Megan and Lauren sweeping.

After Zach helped us clean off and put away soda’s he ran on stage yelling “TA DA”. I think he had fun too!

Kids really love them when they’re fake, especially when made of cake!

This is my first fondant experience, it was so easy to work with. The “eggs” are sugar cookies with green chocolate melt “yolks”. I’m going to have to make some more fondant cakes now…

The cat joined Megan’s Daisy Troop meeting for some fun! The girls LOVED it.

We got up this morning and felt like doing something but we didn’t know what. At 9:30 I realized it was snowing in Flagstaff and we were off!

The kids loved the idea and couldn’t wait to go sledding. It was just lightly snowing which made me happy!

Our first child Barnaby was the happiest of all of us. He LOVES snow even more than I do. Naturally we brought a tennis ball. I love the lines of drool in is mouth in the picture.

We found a spot with a small sledding hill so the kids could go by themselves. They both had a fantastic time.

Time for hot cocoa. We couldn’t get the kids to put down their cups to pose for a picture so I guess they liked it.

Zach’s before and after playing pictures. I love his little pout!

Megan’s before and after pictures. Looks like it’s time to go home! (Zach is walking behind her crying). We arrived with happy, warm, clean kids and are leaving with tired, cold, crying kids. Sounds like a perfect day!

Here’s Christy and I skipping along as Thing 1 & 2. We wanted the faces to have that seuss like appearance. Below are step by step instructions on how to re-create what we did. When you look closely you can see where the nose is applied but we aren’t professionals. The only thing I would have done differently is gotten some shoe covers as our costume didn’t come with them.

We used a rat nose latex appliance and cut off the teeth, a spirit gum adhesive and remover kit, Ben Nye matte light creme, Ben Nye Neutral Set Matte Powder, Extra Long black eyelashes and DEBU eyelash adhesive. All in all it was about 25. I applied a little bit of the creme to the appliance and then liberally dusted it with the powder so it would match our face once the makeup was on.

Step one – apply spirit gum to the appliance where it will touch your skin. Remove the appliance and apply a little more spirit gum directly to your skin. Tap both the appliance and your skin until it becomes tacky (30 seconds or so). Put on the appliance and smooth out on skin. The appliance will look a little darker where it is attached.

Next apply the creme, liberally dust with powder. The powder is what keeps the creme from rubbing (or sweating) off.

Next, the eyelashes. Before applying check to see if you need to cut a little bit off so they fit your eye. If you cut some, do it from the inside edge as the outside is longer and thus more dramatic. I put a little dot of the glue on a piece of paper, ran the eyelash along the glue and then applied it to my eye. I wear contacts and had no problem but Christy doesn’t and needed help as she isn’t used to touching her eyes. We rubbed a little blush, mascara to the eyebrows and added some pink lipstick.

Add the outfit and the wig and you are done! Obviously you could skip the nose and just do the makeup but I’d suggest adding the eyelashes as they really added to the outfit! If you ever do something like this make sure go to Easley’s Fun Shop on McDowell and 7th Avenue for all your stuff and ask for advice on how to use everything. They ROCK!

The Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2 came to Megan’s school for lunch to kick off their Read-A-Thon fundraiser. Since I was Thing 1 and Christy was Thing 2 we got lots of pictures with our kids! Megan and Hailey loved it!

We skipped and gave hugs and were exhausted by the end. We had a dad volunteer to be the Cat and he was so AWESOME! The kids had a great time and the Cat was a total hit!

I felt bad as we had to have both the girls pulled out of their classes to pose for these pictures but their teachers were so nice and neither seemed to mind. We tried on the field but the cat was getting mobbed!

We finally broke down and signed Megan up for horseback riding lessons, she LOVED it! A friend referred us to Tiny Tots farm, they specialize in teaching little ones. She started with a basic horsemanship class which was all about how to be safe. She loves Miss Chris her instructor, during the pony ride Chris got to hear Megan’s very detailed plans to build a stable in our backyard. It sounded really cute. I can’t wait to ask the HOA about that one! ;o)

Later the same week she had her first official lesson and she GOT TO RIDE TINKERBELL (the pony) ALL BY HERSELF. She learned how to turn, balance and even trot! Notice she is still in a dress with her cowboy books, it took some work to get her into leggings. Jeans were out of the question!

After her lesson she got to brush Tinkerbell, get poop and rocks out of her hooves and feed the big horsies. She talked a mile a minute all the way home about how awesome it was. She asked how much money she needs to save in her piggybank before we can buy a horse. Miss Chris thankfully has been talking with Megan about things like vet costs and how much time horse care takes. I overheard Megan respond with, “my farm just won’t be this big”. For those of you who haven’t heard Megan plans to live on a farm somewhere it snows. I can’t wait to come visit, she said I can even keep a horse there (but she won’t buy it for me, I have to save up in a piggybank to earn mine too). I love it!