This Halloween I decided we should all dress up as Adventure Time characters. I had high hopes of being Marceline, but after the baby I look a bit more like LSP.

My husband was the Ice King. For his costume we bought a $9.99 wizard mask and I painted it. I made a crown out of foam and acrylic paint. I bought TONS of blue blizzard fleece to make his robe, but he had the bright idea to use a Snuggie instead.

Finn, or my 2nd oldest, was super easy and cheap! I found the shirt and shorts at Walmart for about $10. We bought one of the Adventure Time DVDs a while ago and it came with the hat.

Our 3rd son was Jake. I ordered the hat from Megan Coomer on Etsy and I made the rest of the costume out of blizzard fleece. It was literally the 4th thing I’ve ever sewn – the first being a straight line, and the others a burp cloth and swaddle square blanket. I didn’t use a pattern and now I realize I left off his tail, but I still think it turned out pretty good!

Probably my favorite costume was Beemo, played by my new daughter, Zelda. I made her a potato sack type dress, the 5th thing I’ve ever sewn LOL, out of blizzard fleece. I cut the shapes out of blizzard fleece as well and used a hot glue gun to apply them to the front of the dress. For the onesie, arms and legs, I bought the whitest, least patterened, sleeper I could find. It was white, but had gray stars on them. I dyed it a dark teal with Rit dye.

I didn’t quite get the teenager on board as Lemongrab, but after seeing how well everything turned out, he’s agreed to join us next year!

I have 2 weeks left before we meet our baby girl and for some reason nesting means redecorating for me – not cleaning. I’ve been working on her nursery for about 4 months. It’s going really slow. Yet I got the crazy awesome idea to also redo the boys’ room in a theme that’s really special to all of us. I managed to design, paint and put together the furniture (my husband helped me with that, thankfully) over the last two weeks. The baby’s room isn’t finished, but I still feel really accomplished.

We watch Adventure Time on a daily basis so it seemed fitting to fill their space with something they really love. I had to illustrate all of the characters, though it wasn’t that difficult. I had them all printed at Staples while they were on sale for $3.99/poster (18×24). They’re usually $27.99 so that was a total steal! I went ahead and sprayed some Krylon Crystal Clear in Matte on each poster, even though I doubt it was necessary. Initially I tried to use Glue Dots to stick them to the wall, but it was expensive and the posters are really good quality and really thick, so it didn’t work. I ended up using Simply Tacky instead. It’s not that elegant, but I wanted to be able to easily remove it and wasn’t sure the spray adhesive would hold up.

All of the furniture is from Ikea, as well as their bedding.

I wanted to do something special for my oldest son’s 15th birthday. His favorite candy is Reeses Pieces, so I decided to make him a cake with an awesome pattern and instead of using candles, I used the Reeses to write the number 15.

He also loves candy – what kid doesn’t? – but I don’t give it to my kids very often. We reserve that stuff for birthdays, holidays and special occasions. I made him a candy-soda bouquet using half a styrafoam ball hot glued to the top of the can, and then used toothpicks and tape to secure the candy. He absolutely loved it! It was a special treat just for him, so my 7 year old made me promise to do one for him next year.

When our youngest son turned 2, we decided to throw him a carnival-themed birthday party. It turned out to be a big hit! Unfortunately the setup took longer than expected, something I’ll plan for in the future.

I used a styrofoam block that I purchased at a craft store and wrapped it in recycled brown wrapping paper for the corn dog holder. I bought some of the items I used from Polka Dot Market and others from Hobby Lobby.

The mini funnel cakes turned out to be everyone’s favorite thing to eat. I was constantly making new batches! I also used a small candy buffet for display, and at the end of the party I added the candy to the goodie bags on the right.

My sister gave me a gift basket for my birthday, a couple of weeks earlier, with a bunch of baking supplies and the clown cupcake decorations were included. Perfect timing!

I ended up buying the lemonade supplies while Target was having a summer clearance sale and got some great deals.

On of my favorite decorations for his party was the faux big-top tent my husband and I put up the night before. I bought a couple of rolls of red and cream tablecloth for about $15 each from Hobby Lobby. We used upholstery pins and gathered one end and pinned it to the top of the loft ledge. The other end was left wide and pinned to right below the ceiling. The ceilings in our living area are probably 20+’ so it really made a dramatic impression!

For my son’s outfit, I bought the most adorable suspenders and bow tie from Bria. They fit him well and and matched our theme perfectly.