Ready for Halloween

My least favorite holiday has one redeeming feature - I get to be crafty and create costumes for the kids.  Normally it's a really last-minute creation, but this year I was finished on Friday.  

Andrew wanted to be Angry Bird - Black Bird Space.  We found the picture of the plush animal and I used it to make his costume.  

I think it turned out pretty well.  If I was to do it all over again, I would probably make the orange belly much bigger, but I didn't realize the size difference until everything was sewed on.  Andrew LOVES it.  He is so excited.  

Amanda will be a bride.  This was also a fun costume to make.  I found some dress fabric where I only had to make the back seam and add the ribbon straps.  Then, I found some lace to make her veil and sewed it on a headband.  It is much heavier than I expected, so we'll have to find a way to secure it to her head.  But, what bride doesn't have 100 bobby pins in her hair?

Scott is making his own costume.  He has put together a Spy Kit from ideas he got from his Eyewitness Spy Book.  Some of his gadgets he created with Legos.  Others he found when he raided the toy boxes.  The costume isn't very exciting, but the gadgets are.  I can't wait to see him in action.

Fun Friday Craft

In my Community Bible Study class, we are studying the book of Hebrews.  It's a weighty book.  Really good.  Really rich.  Really deep.  Really academic.

But, the kids' study is really good and really rich and really fun.  I teach the 1st-3rd grade kids and we are having a great time learning truths about Jesus.  

This week's study covered 2:10-3:6.  We spent our teaching time focused on 2:17, discussing how Jesus was made like us, fully human in every way.  He knows every joy and every sorrow that we experience.  

We tried to imagine what it would be like to teach someone how to swim without water.  You should have seen the kids demonstrating swimming strokes on the carpet in our room (but not diving!)  We realized that you could explain until you were blue in the face, but they wouldn't have a complete picture of swimming until they were in the water, partially weightless, and soaking wet.  In the same way, because Jesus was fully human, He has a complete picture of everything we experience.  It was a really fun truth to teach these kids.

But our craft time focused on 3:5-6 - Jesus is over God's house.  We gave the kids big pieces of paper and magazines so they could design their own houses.  They loved it and were still working diligently when their Moms came to pick them up.  

I thought Amanda would also love that craft, so we decided to spend our Fun Friday creating a home.  The best part was that all of the clippings came from this week's junk mail - Lowes, Publix, Kohl's, and Bed, Bath & Beyond all sent us ads this week.  Together, we were able to find pictures to make an entire house.   

I have to admit that I was really impressed with Amanda's cutting and gluing skills.  These are supplies that are kept on a high shelf, so she doesn't have much practice.  I guess I'm going to have to pull them down more often, because she proved herself very competent today!

Here is the finished product.  I want you to notice the "mom" in the pink shirt.  It was not my first choice for a Mom.  I was looking for someone more domestic, but Amanda stopped at her picture and said, "NO, this is IT!  She HAS to have heels." Where did she come up with that idea that Moms wear heels...certainly not from me.

Also, her kitchen has matching black appliances.  She was about to cut out a white dishwasher from our Lowe's ad, but realized that it needed to match the refrigerator that she already had.

The family in this house has already decorated for Christmas, but they are set to have a Halloween party, complete with a pumpkin cake and Capri Suns.  At one point Amanda asked if I thought she had enough food.
 

We hung it so it draped behind the couch, so she could use it for a Barbie backdrop.  I'm definitely doing this craft again.  Maybe next time we'll make a grocery store.  Or, we could create cabinets and closets to put food and clothes behind.  The possibilities are endless.