Mummies, Pumpkins, and Memas - oh my!

I have never really been into holiday shirts for Jackson. I always thought of them as a waste of money, since they can only be worn during a certain time of year. And they can be so cheesy. I always made him a birthday shirt, but that was about it. Last year though, Jackson was in a class with all girls and every holiday he would be wearing the same old thing, and they would be all dressed up in cute little outfits to mark the occasion. I felt a little bad that he didn't have an outfit to wear too.

But now, I think I might be coming around... having a little girl has changed me.

This year, I decided to make pumpkin shirts for the kids. In a perfect world, I would have an embroidery machine. In the real world, I do it by hand. I really enjoy sewing by hand, I think the look is unique and fun, but it is very time-consuming. It's also nice that I don't have to drag out my sewing machine. We don't really have a good place to put it, so it usually ends up on the kitchen table.

I just love how they turned out. The kids wearing them are pretty adorable too.

We also received some Halloween outfits from friends who had outgrown them. Funnily enough, Jackson's shirt and Brenna's sleep-and-play outfit both have mummies on them. Jackson's says "Mummy's boy" and Brenna's says "I want my mummy."

I had a hard time explaining to Jackson what was on his shirt. He asked me, "What is it, Mommy?" and I told him, "It's a mummy." He then said "No, you are Mommy, I am Jackson. What is it?" After a few attempts at trying to explain the difference between "mummy" and "Mommy" I finally gave in and told him that it was a Jackson. He seemed satisfied and he hasn't tried to wrap himself up in toilet paper yet, so it seems like a win-win.

Today, we debuted the shirts I made at his Great-Mema Haynes' home. She had us over for lunch and Jackson had an awesome time. Mema Haynes also invited Mema Smith, who lives close by. They are Steven's grandmothers and usually we see them at family functions, so it was nice for them to have Jackson and Brenna to themselves, without everyone else around.

Mema Haynes lives in a community for seniors. Since she is so active in the community, she knew everyone we ran in to and was able to show off her great-grandkids. Everyone was so nice to Jackson and Brenna, it really warmed my heart. One lady asked Jackson if he had his trick-or-treat shirt on and he replied, "No! It's a pumpkin!" Silly boy. He is super-excited about trick-or-treating this year, especially after I told him that he would get candy! I think we will go to trunk-or-treat first, and then probably go in our neighborhood as well. Last year we tried trick-or-treating and it was fun, but not a huge success. After 3 cul-de-sacs (about 9 or 10 houses), Jackson was pretty tired and ready to go home. I wonder how it will go this year.

Jackson's favorite part of the visit was putting together jigsaw puzzles with his great-memas. Mema Haynes got a book of Cars puzzles for him. He loves all things Lightning McQueen right now and just cannot get enough of puzzles in general. I think Santa might have to bring him a puzzle storage rack for Christmas so he can keep all his puzzles in order. Or maybe he'll bring the organization stuff for Mommy and Jackson can just get more puzzles, whatever works. Mema was so happy to see that Jackson loved the puzzles so much and I was so proud that he could put together the 12-piece jigsaw puzzles! He's never tried them before and he caught on so quickly. I am so proud of him.

So now I am working on an Owl shirt for Jackson (so he'll have just as many Halloween shirts as Brenna) and then it's onto a 3rd birthday shirt (Mickey Mouse), and turkey shirts. Who wants to bet I end up BUYING Christmas shirts versus making them?