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We spent a month preparing for Halloween this year. Now that I’m not teaching, I feel like I have the creative energy and desire to spend on various projects. James has also purposefully slowed down on side work, so we were able to pretend we were back in college with unlimited studio hours staying up late into the night playing around and making stuff. Ella and Charlotte decided they were going to be a dragon and a baby dragon, so Ella went about making drawings and we came up with a plan on how to make their costumes. Being able to collaborate with children as artists outside of the school system without any expectations of standards being met is very rewarding. After the drawings, we made a plan and a timeline and set out for the thrift store to find what we needed. We got oversized shirts and pants that could be altered, leaving enough material for the tails. Ella spotted the green placemats, and decided they would make the perfect wings. I couldn’t agree more. While the mom’s helped with some of the technical aspects of putting the costumes together, Ella did all the drawings of the different pieces that needed to be cut out and Charlotte participated as much as she could. She especially loves pushing the sewing pedal for me as I sew. Real life project based learning for the win. We got all strapped into our costumes, Winnie on James’ (Emmet’s) back as the Piece of Resistance, and went trick or treating in our usual spot where decorations and excitement for Halloween are as good as it gets. We made it to the end of our route before the threat of rain, and Charlotte even made it through her first haunted house.
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All Mountains and Molehills 