Happy Halloween

We didn't go out trick or treating this evening, but we did have a very fun afternoon with the Tallahassee Homeschool Group at the park.

We haven't had a single trick or treater here tonight, either. I guess we'll just have to keep all this candy for ourselves.

Right now, we are getting ready to watch the last Harry Potter movie, since we finished reading the final book last night. Tomorrow we begin reading The Hobbit.

Halloween Howl

Saturday night, Blaze, Kitsu and I went to Halloween Howl at the Tallahassee Museum (zoo). Blaze was Peter Pan's shadow and Kitsu was young Clark Kent.











There were games set up throughout the zoo, for the children to play in exchange for candy.



Most of the areas with animals were blocked off for the night, but we were able to look at snakes. This big cottonmouth was Kitsu's favorite.



There was also live music:

Black Skirt Make-Over

Once upon a time, I had a plain black 1880's style walking skirt from River Junction Trading Company, which I had purchased during a half-price sale.

About a year ago, I decided that I wanted something different to wear to steampunk events, so I added two rows of lace to the skirt.



There was also this bustle skirt that I made myself, but that never stayed fastened properly.



After I wore that skirt on our last trip to St. Augustine, I got out the seam ripper and took it apart to use as fabric.

With the GLI-Expo coming up in a couple weeks, I decided I needed something different to wear, so I removed the lace from the black skirt and added the fabric I had removed from the other skirt, along with additional black fabric taken from a curtain panel that had lost it's mate during our last move.

Peter Pan's Shadow Costume

For Halloween this year, Blaze decided that he wanted to be Peter Pan's shadow. The only things that we had to buy for the costume were the bodysuit and the feather. The rest of the stuff we already had at home.

For the shirt, I dyed the silk shirt that Blaze had worn for a Robin Hood costume when he was 8 years old and I cut the sleeves on the shirt, so that they had points. It's really amazing that the shirt still fits, but I had made it intentionally oversized originally.



The elf boots were made from felt sewn onto a pair of house slippers that my mother had given to my husband, but that he had never worn because they were too small.


The hat was made from the same black felt that had been used to make the boots and the dagger is just cardboard covered with black puffy paint.

The Florida Governor's Mansion

This morning we went on a field trip with the Tallahassee Homeschool Group to the Florida governor's mansion.



There were so many families that wanted to go, that we were split into three groups. Blaze and I were in the third, and final, group.



The entrance hall:



The dining room:





The library:



Guest bedroom:



The Florida room:





The flowerbeds around the house are all full of butterfly attracting plants and therefore a wide variety of butterflies.