The Lorax Family Costumes – Onsler (greedy, non-greedy), Swami Swan and Humming Fish

I love Halloween!  I love all holiday’s, but my favorites are Christmas and Halloween!  Last year we did the grab bag costumes since I had just given birth to Baby Boy, but THIS year I wanted to go back to our Family costume themes!  We actually went through a few different costume themes before settling on The Lorax!!!

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It was perfect cause we found something for EVERYONE to be that they were all happy with!  All the other themes one of the kids wasn’t happy!  Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a theme that 7 people agree on?  in the end Bill and I ended up not doing costumes but I am SO happy with how the kids turned out.

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The Baby was an easy choice.  The Lorax!!!  I found an orange bathrobe and bought a size 18 months!  I added a zipper down the center and used my serger to thin out the sleeves, sides and create short legs!  The bathrobe was a tad bit shorter than I’d like the outfit, BUT I figured it’s be a snowy cold winter and he’d be in boots (jokes on me!).  I bought white fur (they didn’t have yellow) dyed it with a polyester specific dye.  I cut out the eyebrows and mustache in felt first – a few versions- and when I was happy with the shape cut out the fur.  I sewed the eyebrows onto the hoodie, and the mustache onto elastic.

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Computer boy was the most excited about his costume!  The GREEN Onesler…  He kept repeating that part, it had to be the one who sang the “how bad can it be” song!  We already had the white shirt and black cords.  I bought adult green gloves and boys green tie.  I made the jacket adding green to a top hat we already had, and added the gold buttons and chains!  It was so so SO much fun to make, esp with his total excitement as I worked on it!  He kept posing (left) in what he calls his Onesler pose!  He has been singing the song “how bad can it be” for weeks!

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I created a list of a dozen options for costumes from the movie and let the kids pick what they wanted.  The DA  jumped on the Humming Fish…  I wasn’t sure how to even begin!  I bought an extra large orange sweatshirt, adding felt stomach, and felt fins.  Everyone of the kids kept bringing up the back fins.  Coming up with them was hard, but I think it turned out okay!  I dyed some jeans orange! and we’re done!

The-Lorax-Halloween-Costumes-onsler

The Computer Boy didn’t want to dress up this year, so he was the hold out on most of the themes.  So this Onesler outfit from the beginning of the movie that is almost a normal outfit was easy!  I bought some black jeans, taped off some stripes and then sprayed on some watered down bleach to create the faded lines!  Add a white long sleeve shirt, a black vest and a grey hat and your done!  He’s showing off his dance shoes here!

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And The Reader, picked the hardest one, a Swami Swan!  How in the WORLD do you create such a strange shaped Seussical outfit???  I looked up bird costumes and found the idea for the wings.  I used felt for the feathers, and sewed them onto fabric quarter circles.  Then sewed the “wings” straight onto a yellow sweatshirt.  Adding peices of an orange boa for the feather on the top, the tail and around the neck…  Dyed some khaki’s orange and done!  By far the most time consuming, but she seemed really happy with it!

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And the whole family again!  They weren’t allowed make up at school, but we’re planning on doing the girls faces for tonight, hoping adding large eyes will help the fish and birds look more Seussical!

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We spent the morning at the kids school for the parade… first the Kindergartners!  obediently folding their arms…

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The Green Onsler (with his “girlfriend”, the gypsy,  behind him, he thinks she’s beautiful)

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The non-greedy Onesler, look at that SWAGGER!!!  Such a handsome boy!

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And finally my little Lorax!!!  He loved the costume parade, but for some reason one person thought he was a walrus, and 3 people thought he was a pumpkin…  Seriously a sweet handsome happy boy, I sure love him bunches and bunches, even if he won’t wear his mustache!

pumpkin crochet hat

People often ask how I get so much done with 4 (now 5- EEK!) kids. Esp all my cooking and baking from scratch. My first answer? I don’t sleep much… I do my crafting, blogging and computer time from 8pm (when the kids go to bed) and 2 am (or often 4 am) when I finally go to bed. The pregnancy and now newborn/nursing time period kind of puts a kink in that, but still- not much sleep. I kind of hate sleep, it’s such a waste of time!!!

My second answer is my kids love to work/play/cook/craft WITH me. The only thing I don’t let them do WITH me is cakes for clients… This year I taught The Reader how to crochet! She’s made a few small things, but when she saw this pumpkin crochet hat I pinned she asked if she could make it herself!

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She did an AMAZING job! It’s her first BIG project and I couldn’t believe how well she did. This is my brave child that tries everything but doesn’t handle correction (she takes correction as criticism- she gets that from me I’m afraid) very well sometimes. She tends to give up, or (even worse) get really REALLY depressed easily. So the first time I noticed a mistake I wasn’t sure what to do- tell her or don’t tell her. I decided not to say anything, but then she noticed her self that her stitches were off and instead of giving up she asked for help!

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I was so proud of her! Not only did she not get upset but she un-stitched it and fixed it. In fact she fixed it without getting upset or quitting a few times! I can’t begin to say how totally proud I am of her. More for how she handled it than for the fact that she completed it! I did have to help with the stem, but just a bit! She couldn’t wait until Baby Boy came and could wear it. So in honor of his birth month here is my little pumpkin (who totally hated being in this basket)!

Pumpkin Pancakes

I made these last year, and they became a quick fall favorite of ours! We have breakfast for dinner every Friday, and pancakes are our go to favorite. So we’ve come up with a few different flavors and styles of pancakes to switch back and forth from. This is our Fall favorite!

pumpkin-pancakes

Pumpkin Pancakes
5 C Flour
1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tsp allspice (I prefer 1)
1 1/2 tsp salt
whisk dry ingredients together
3 1/2 C milk
1 1/2 C pumpkin
8 Tbsp butter, melted
4 eggs
whisk wet ingredients together
Pour the wet over the dry, mix just until combined, should be lumpy. Add any extras you like chocolate chips, etc… Cook over med- med/high heat until there are multiple bubbles, then flip and cook for a few more minutes. Makes about 40 pancakes, depending on your size.

chocolate-chip-pumpkin-pancakes

I cook a few rounds plain pumpkin, served with my homemade maple syrup for dinner!. For the last half of the batch I add mini chocolate chips to the rest of the batter. Chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes with Whipped cream on top for dessert! Delish! Even better? I love toasting the leftover chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes the next day, they make a great snack!

Pumpkin Pie milkshake or ice cream

I know, I know…  Pumpkin recipes are SOOOO last month.  Honestly I made this 2 weeks ago, Really I did.  But I lost my blogging mojo over the last few weeks and now that I’m back in the game I’m finally getting around to posting it.  So it’s okay, see, since I MADE it before Thanksgiving it still works.

pumpkin milkshake ice cream ingredients

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake or Ice Cream
2 C heavy cream
2 C milk
1/2 C Sugar
1/4 C Brown Sugar
2/3 C canned Pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
Pour it all into the blender together!

pumpkin milkshake ice cream blender

Mix it all in the blender…

pumpkin milkshake ice cream maker

And throw it into your ice cream maker!  Here is where you decide, if you want a nice thick milkshake you only blend it for 10-15 mins (depending on HOW thick you like it…)  OR run your machine for 30-40 mins to turn it into ice cream!

pumpkin milkshake ice cream graham cracker topping

This was my little girls favorite part!  Grab some graham crackers (I picked cinnamon ones) and crush em up!  I like using a gallon size freezer bag and rolling over it with a rolling pin.  Easy peasy for the kiddo’s.   For Ice Cream leave the crackers a bit chunky and mix them in when the ice cream cycle is over.

homemade pumpkin milkshake
For the milkshake once your satisfied with the thickness pour it into glasses, top with whipped cream and the crushed graham crackers! Serve (with a spoon, mine was on the super thick side of things.  I wished I had taken it out just 5 mins earlier!   But no one seemed to mind in the least!   Both the milkshakes and the ice cream was a huge hit with everyone in the family!

pumpkin pie milkshake recipe