Happy Birthday, Evie!

One year ago today, baby Evelyn was born.

Aww. A baby.

Last weekend we had a little party to celebrate her first birthday. I'm pretty sure she had no idea what was going on, but I think she had fun anyway.

I made the birthday cakes for the occasion. I made a small cake for her to destroy, and a larger one for the grown-ups to enjoy.

My expert decorating skills. This was Evie's cake. I'm getting pretty awesome with a star tip. Unfortunately, I'm ridiculously awful with any other decorating tip.

Yay parties! Yes, I'm wearing a SpongeBob hat. I really dislike SpongeBob, but I really like silly party hats.

We showered Evie with presents.

She loved this weird blue thing.

Cuddling with Grover.

This is when Mommy and Sissy were helping her open the books Matt and I got her. She was more interested in something under the dog bed. Hopefully, she'll enjoy our gift later, when there's less distraction.

Then it was cake time! As I'm sure you know, it's tradition to let the kiddo tear into her first cake. We layed out the plastic and stripped the baby down to her diaper.

She cried when we sang "Happy Birthday."

Once the cake was in front of her, she was much happier.

She was a little hesitant at first...

...but was quickly diving right in.

Yum. Cake.

The "after" cake. Not very appetizing anymore.

I think Evie enjoyed having everyone dote on her all afternoon. Of course, everyone dotes on her all the time. But this time, she got cake. And everything's better with cake.

Sifting through boxes of memories...

I've been very nostalgic recently.

Shortly after I left for college, my sister moved back in with my parents. Many of her belongings from her own home were put into storage to be taken out once she needed them again. Because she was going to be staying in my old room, many of my belongings were also boxed up and put into storage. I had with me whatever I could fit in my dorm room (which wasn't much). Everything else was left behind.

Finally, the time has come go through all the junk and clear out the storage unit. With the extra space in our basement, we'll be storing some of the stuff there until Salem moves in with her fiance. Then she can take her junk with her! I will be sorting through my crap now, however, since I have a house to put it all in.

So last weekend, my mom, Matt, and I got to work.

Boxes and things to be transferred to my house. The unit was packed FULL before we started. At this point we'd already taken a couple trips.

Mom. Some things were pretty dusty and nasty.

This is what was left at the end of our day. WAY less than what was there to begin with.

We managed to get all of my belongings moved to my house and I began to dig through them this week.

My stuff.

It's been a pretty bizarre experience sifting through this stuff. All of my belongings - ALL of my belongings - were just thrown into boxes. And the last time I saw any of it was 5 years ago. It's kind of weird to find items that were once so important to me. My old journals have been especially interesting.

My stuff, all over my basement floor.

The hard part is that I don't want to get rid of anything. Even if I've forgotten I owned something over the last few years, the second I see it, it's like I'm 18 again and it's the most important thing in the world.
This process is going to be difficult. But at least I have my Baby-Sitters Club collection back!

Months later, and I'm still "Crazy!"

A very long time ago, my mom and I designed and constructed costumes for a local production of "Crazy For You." You may remember reading about it here. I said that I would post pictures once I received them, and I meant to keep that promise. Sadly, I requested a copy of the production photos, but I didn't get any response. After additional requests and many months of waiting patiently, I finally have pictures to share! So you may not care much after nine months, but here are pictures of the awesome job my mom and I did.

Zangler's Follies. Nine identical poofy dresses, constructed from scratch. The three best looking dresses are the ones I made. (Probably not really...)

The whole cast. I have no idea why they're doing the Les Mis thing. In fact, I hate that shows like to have an omage to Les Mis for no reason. So just look at the costumes.

Cowboys.

The easiest costumes. Thank you thrift stores.

Two Zanglers!!

Zangler's Follies again. We found a few of these costumes in their stock, but we had to make more using the garments as a pattern. I did most of the work on these, so I'm pretty proud. Bet you can't tell which are the originals and which are ours!

Admittedly, there are quite a few issues I wish we'd had time to take care of. Unfortunately, we were thrown into the whole thing kind of late in the process. We only had about a month and a half to put everything together. That is not a lot of time when there are 32 actors (each with multiple costumes) and both designers work full time jobs! But given the circumstances, I am unbelievably proud of what we did.

Maybe I should quit my job and become a costume designer...

Pictures courtesy of Perfomance Now Theatre Company.

Halloween Craziness!

Happy Halloween! We celebrated on Saturday with a party! But first the kiddos had to go trick-or-treating. They came over to my house to get ready before they headed out into the neighborhood.

A ladybug.

We had a fairy, a ladybug, Daphne, and Fred (from Harry Potter).

Sisters!

While the kids were enjoying their candy, I was preparing for the party.

Deliciousness.

We had Human Vertebrae, Mummy's Toes, Devilish Eyeballs, Dried Scabs, and Witches' Fingers (plus pumpkin cookies and chips w/ salsa). I know it's pretty silly, but I was very excited about my "spooky" names. Sadly, I forgot the Moldy Dip in the fridge!

Punch!

The kids were kind enough to man the door while we were getting ready. We had tons of trick-or-treaters. Very different from last year in the apartment!

Excited for the door to ring!

Finally, it was time for the grown-ups to get dressed up and have fun!

We were Mary Anne and Claudia from The Baby-Sitters Club. I love it.

Our costume "theme" was literature and literary characters. But not everyone participated. I guess that's ok...

Hangin' out.

Dancing in character.

In between all the crazy fun we were having, I managed to snap some pictures of myself. Awesome.

With Matt. After I'd abandoned the wig. I was only half of a Claudia.

With Mel.

With Jess.

Someone brought really cool smushy eyeballs. Also awesome.

Eyeball races. Jess won, but I'm pretty sure she cheated.

Overall, the party was a good time. It was a little smaller than I anticipated, but the company was good!

Salem and George.

Winding down with cards at the end of the night.

After people left, I realized that I hadn't gotten a picture of the bottom half of my costume. Doesn't it scream 1986? I also had some awesome shoes, but they were off somewhere at this point.

So, I hope your Halloween was creepy, fun, and safe. I'll leave you with this piece of cuteness:

Happy Halloween!