And the Winner is...

The long-sleeved pink onesie.  It was just more comfortable and easier for diaper changes, plus warm enough for Minnesota fall.

We took a break in the middle of the day to get some pictures taken at Babies R Us since they had a free Halloween special where we got the sitting and a free sheet of pictures.

Here is the link to the pictures. No one can say she is camera shy :)

Phase 1

Phase one of rearranging our living room/entry/playroom was moving the rug out and the furniture around.  Here are a few pictures of what it looked like after we completed the initial moves.

More Costume Drama

Seriously...I know, so much drama.  Part of me thinks that it would have just been easier to use the Tinkerbell costume that I bought last year, but it wouldn't have been nearly so unique.  I am confident that we won't run into any other kids wearing exactly the same costume as Madelyn this year.

When I went to JoAnn Fabrics last week I had already picked out the pattern online to save time and I didn't really read it that carefully, I just wanted to get the right amount of fabric and whatever else I needed and then get back to work.  As a result, more modifications than I had planned on needed to happen.

First of all, although the pattern was for all sizes, the child sizes were actually 2-4T which is a little big for Madelyn, but considering the style of pant I figured I might have to shorten them a little but it should probably be fine.

Second, the pattern for the pants was a lot of layers and trims which I was skipping since all I needed was the basic pants, so I had to read through and figure out which steps I needed to do and which steps I could skip since they didn't apply.  Unfortunately some of the steps that I was skipping were more needed than I originally anticipated.

My biggest obstacle was actually the waist of the pants, because although the pattern had designed elastic in the back, it was also designed to be flat in the front and required a zipper.  I didn't want to put a zipper in, but I also hadn't left myself much extra room since I followed the pattern when I cut the pants out.  Also, the waist was designed to be attached to the bottoms in two parts (front and back) and I needed a continuous loop to put elastic all the way through.  I ended up sewing together and ripping out seams a couple of times since I thought I knew what I was doing, but as it turns out making it up was harder than expected.  In the end though, I worked it out.  Once I got the waist figured out the rest was actually as simple as I had hoped and went together easily.

The End Product:

Madelyn was not inclined to smile at me, nor stay in once place so getting a picture was hard, but she liked how the pants swished when she walked.

So now I am back to the question of what top will work.  I have a hot pink long sleeved onesie, a black sleeveless leotard, and a black long sleeved t-shirt.  Hopefully one of these options will work.

A Little Star

Justin and I think Madelyn is adorable, of course, but it was nice when a few months ago our neighbor, who is an Art Director for Target, told us that she also thinks Madelyn is adorable and asked if we would be interested in having her in a Christmas photo shoot for Target.  We said sure, and sent her a few photos, but nothing came of it - or so we thought.

Last week I got a call from one of the producers with Target asking if I could bring Madelyn in for a screening with a toy they were thinking about using her for.  I said sure and got ready to arrange my schedule to accommodate.  However, it turns out that the toy is actually one Madelyn has, so I got to take some pictures at home and send them to the producer.  They decided to use Madelyn for the shoot so I brought her in on Friday morning.  Although she thought it was a little strange to have her hair done and to have a little make-up put on her face, she was pretty easy going had happy, and ran right up to the toy to play with it with a big grin on her face.  All in all we were there for less than an hour, and it was extremely stress free.  When Madelyn was done playing we were done.  And, we went home with a free pair of tights.  They said they would send me some of the pictures to put in Madelyn's portfolio :)

Will we do it again...I don't know, but it was fun!