Forty is the New Thirty

In September, I hit it.  I wanted to hit it with a bang and all my friends, but frankly, I was way too tired!  So on September 30, 2013, I quietly turned forty.  Well, I guess I really can't say it was quiet.

The actual day fell on a Monday, so as a family we celebrated the weekend before.  Since I didn't have the giddy-up to host a party, my family just did whatever I wanted to do.  We started on Friday night with Macaroni Grill, including Italian soda,

 and a trip to the Guitar Center where I picked out my present:

a ukulele!!  I have wanted one for a long time, and so we just picked it out!  It was under $100, so I felt pretty good about spending it.  I have enjoyed messing around with it.  For the rest of the weekend we ran errands and hung out.  I didn't get to do everything I wanted to, which was mostly relaxing, vegging out at home and doing a little crafting, but it was good.  No school work done that weekend for the exception of the required.

On my actual birthday, I was quite honored.  I work with some wonderful people!  They snuck in getting the kids to sign a card for me, which they did right under my nose, and treated me with cupcakes, a gift certificate, and a big 'ol Dr. Pepper.  They spoil me rotten!  Then, at lunch, the entire 3rd and 4th grades sang Happy Birthday.  What a treat!  I was so surprised.  My sisters sent me flowers, balloons, and wax chips for the scentsy pot to school too.  It was wonderful.

When I got home, the girls made me a cake and I cracked open a bottle of Cupcake wine that I picked out.

 We stayed home and enjoyed being together.  It was a great way to begin my 40s.

The Bride of Frankenstein

So it's been a while.  School and life has happened!  Life is full and busy.  One of the highlights of the past few months was Halloween.  When I asked the girls what they wanted to be, Anna wanted to wear her red cape that she loves, so she was red riding hood.  Lauren, on the other hand, had big ideas.  She wanted to be the bride of Frankenstein!  The first thing I asked her was if she even knew what the Bride of Frankenstein was about.  She had no idea...none of us did!  So, for fall break, we found it on Netflix.  Here is a pic of Elsa Lanchester as the Bride.

In it's time, this movie was a horror flick.  It was completely tame compared to what is out there now.  The girls and I were quite surprised.  Part of it was funny even.  After we watched it, we figured out her costume.  We got some simple white fabric from Hobby Lobby and I made a tube skirt for her to wear.  Easy!  Now, the hair.  That was the hard part. We searched You Tube for tutorials, and there were many.  This is how we did it.

First, I curled her hair in ringlets.  I sprayed the fire out of them, hoping it would hold.  As curly as Lauren's hair is, it doesn't hold a curl when we do curl it.

After that, we took a cut coke bottle and bobby pinned it to the crown of her head.  I made it good and secure.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I put a hair net around the bottle before I put it on her head.  That way we could bobby pin hair to the bottle, which is the next step.  Leave down two pieces of hair (one on each side) for the white pieces.

Once we got the hair good and secure, we hair sprayed her hair black.  That was messy and stinky!

It took the entire can of black to cover those blond curls!  We then colored the two pieces left over white, which you couldn't tell very well they were white.  We pinned them up with the rest, and voila! The Bride of Frankenstein!

 

And, to top it off, we were in Petsmart the other day and found--wait for it--a Frankenstein costume just for Hagrid!!

It was the cutest Halloween costume we've done, except for this: