Naptime Blog

The time is here for our little ones to go out Trick or Treating in their costumes. Some will want to look cute, others will want to look spooky. Some costumes will be a little more elaborate than others. My favorites are always the home made ones. As silly as it may seem. I love the ones that the children get to build themselves… along with a parent’s help of course.

My girls are totally into dressing up for Halloween, and can’t wait this year. They’ve been Princesses and Fairies, and this year, they’ve taken a liking to being a Puppy and a Kitten. The coolest part is that I’m totally going to save money on their costumes this year. We were out at Michael’s and they found these cute headbands that have dog & cat ears on them, but the big deal is that down the front center, there’s a strip of “fur” that has a nose attached to it, so it looks almost like a full mask. It’s just too cute on them! Well, they’ve decided they want to wear those this Halloween but they want to be “Girl” doggie and kitty. I’m thinking “YES!” This is going to be easy!!! It will be! All I need to do is get a long sleeve shirt to match their mask, and either a pair of matching colored pants/leggings or tights. I’m going to take some fun, bright fabric and make skirts and matching hair bows for them. I can’t wait!

Some other very cool ideas that I’ve seen are:

 A quick and easy pumpkin costume:

• Take a very large sweatshirt, maybe 2-3 sizes too big for you. 
• Paint a Jack O’Lantern face on the front. 
• Wear with green leggings and a green ski cap. 
• Have fun with it and add felt leaves and curly pipe cleaners to the top for vines!

Bag of Jelly Beans:

• Cut a hole in the bottom of a clear garbage bag for a neck, and arm holes on the sides. 
• Fill with small brightly colored balloons.
• Cinch up the bottom of the bag to hold balloons in place. 
• Have fun with it and add a cute “label” to the front!

Angel:

• Cut a hole in the center of a white sheet just large enough to get your head through. 
• Take a decorative rope or braid some yarn to use as a belt and tie around your waist. 
• Make wings out of a wire clothes hanger or cardboard and aluminum foil
• Make a halo out of aluminum foil
• Have fun with it and make a harp or add “clouds” to the bottom of your sheet by glueing on cotton balls, or batting remnants!

Cat in the Hat:

• Take black sweatshirt and pants and glue on white felt on chest to make the cat’s chest.
• If you have a red tie, use that, if not, you can just use some red scrap fabric and glue it in the shape of a tie. 
• The hat is easily made with scraps of red and white fabric sewn together. Add some light poster board to the inside so it stands up a little better. Or you can buy it pretty inexpensively at some novelty hat stores. 
• Make a tail by sewing a black tube out of scrap fabric and filling with batting or foam.
• Wear black high top tennis shoes to complete the look. 
• Have fun with it! Find an old cane at a thrift store and/or look for a plastic fish bowl, and glue a picture of a goldfish to the inside. You can even use that as your treat “bag” if you add a handle to it!

Geisha Girl:

• Use toilet paper tubes, or make tubes out of bubble wrap and stuff into the legs of opaque black tights. 
• Make the wig by putting the waist of the tights on your child’s head. Wrap one leg around and safety pin it in place. Tie the second leg into a knot and safety pin it in the center of the wig. 
• Decorate your geisha’s “hair” with chopsticks, silk flowers, costume jewelry hair combs, etc. Use black tape to secure everything. 
• Put on white t-shirt, or undershirt, tights, sandals and silky robe. Tie and pin a silky scarf just above the waistline. 
• If desired, you can put some lipstick on your geisha, eyeliner, white powder on her face and some blush on each cheek. 
• Have fun with it! Give her a bag decorated like a Japanese lantern, folding fan, or parasol to carry.

Many costumes are made even more fun with face paint. If you’re like me and would rather use natural ingredients rather than the makeup that’s out there from who knows where, I have a recipe that’s perfect for you!

All you need to do to make your own face paint:

• Mix 3 TBSP of cornstarch and 1 TBSP of flour together. 
• Stir in 3/4 cup of light corn syrup and 1/4 cup of water. 
• Mix until smooth. 
• Divide into several different containers depending on how many colors you need. 
• Add several drops of food coloring to each container to make your desired color. 
• Use a paint brush or cotton swab to apply to faces…. 
• Completely Safe, non-toxic and home made!

I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!!!
 
~Monica Brady
Mommy Brain Reports
http://www.mommybrainreports.com

If you are benefitting from WIC, then you should really read this! For the first time in over 30 years, the nutritional guideline in the Women, Infants and Children program are going to change! Your children will very soon be able to have better balanced meals during the day!

Beginning in October, 2009,  families will be able to buy fresh fruit and vegetables, canned beans and more!

First, the new voucher for fruits and veggies won’t have any specific foods listed. Instead, it will  have dollar amounts of $6, $8, $10, etc. Federal regulations require that all authorized vendors stock at least two different varieties of fresh fruits and two different varieties of fresh vegetables. The client will also be able to pay anything over their WIC allowance so they can receive their full benefits. No potatoes except sweet potatoes and yams are allowed. Clients may choose any fruit without added sugar, and any vegetable without added sugar, fats or oils.

Whole Grains are also allowed. This includes cereals, bread in 16oz units. CHildren are allowed 32oz per month. Some states have added 16oz packages of brown rice and whole grain tortillas as alternatives to bread.

Infants at 6 months of age will now receive 32 4oz containers of baby fruits and vegetables per month. They must be Stage two and single ingredients. They will no longer receive juice.  Exclusively breastfed infants will receive 31 2.5 jars of baby meats, and the amount of infant formula will vary with age, but over the full years, will receive less than they are currently allowed.

Another change is to Dairy products. If your child is over 1 year old, you will need to switch to low-fat milk. You will also receive less milk and less cheese as you have in the past. You may now substitute calcium set tofu in 16oz packages for milk.

A few other changes to the program will be, less juice allowance (64oz containers) and less egg allowance. Now, there will be an increase in fish allowance from 24oz to 30oz and Salmon is now allowed. Canned beans are also allowed now as a substitute for dried beans.

As always, I highly recommend discussing any questions or concerns with your local WIC office. For more information on how to apply for WIC, or what their food packages are, please go to the WIC homepage

~Monica Brady- Mommy Brain Reports