Toddler Train: Car from a Diaper Box

 Since David wanted to be the conductor and conductors don't drive the train but ride with the passengers, we decided to make David a car, much to his initial distress. I figured if worst came to worst, Engineer Peter would ride with the passengers and the conductor would take over the engine as Peter wouldn't care. Fortunately, we were able to talk David into the car with a clever paint job. It is "trolley inspired"; we looked both at the trolley from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and the Duquesne Incline, which we rode once several months ago, and David still likes to talk about. Evidently we did a pretty good job because David took one look at the car after we painted it and declared it a trolley.

Toddler Train: Engineer Costume

Peter took to Trick or Treating like a duck to water. He scurried from car to car at the trunk or treat, smiling at each person in turn as they put candy in the bucket I was carrying for him. He got so excited about it he actually broke the funnel off of his train by plowing into a bowl of candy being held down for him.

His actual clothes were by far the easiest thing I did this Halloween. I had a hat, a bandanna, and the red shirt he ended up wearing (I chose red because, well, I had it). I did not have overalls that fit him. I had a pair that were rather high-water-ish on him that were my backup plan when I came home from the thrift store empty handed.

Toddler Train: Engine from a Diaper Box

David told me he wanted to be a train for Halloween. I then proceeded to show him all kinds of pictures of engineers and conductors and he most certainly settled on wanting the conductor outfit, but he called himself an engineer for a while. He was also a little jealous of the engine Peter got to drive. Patrick might have been a little jealous as well.

We are certainly not the first and won't be the last to create a train out of a diaper box. In fact, my nephew was also an engineer in a diaper box engine this year and my sister and I both arrived at the idea without talking to each other. There are a large variety of ways people have made this kind of train and I read many of them. Then, as usual, Patrick and I kind of made it up as we went.

Toddler Train: This Year's Halloween Costumes

This year David was verbal enough to express his opinion about how he was dressed, so I explained the concept of Halloween to him and then asked him what he wanted to dress as. He wanted to be a train.

After further discussion, it was agreed that David would be a conductor and Peter an engineer, and we would make a car and an engine for them to ride in. This created a fairly substantial amount of work for Patrick and me, but I think the costumes turned out rather adorably.

A Less Bulky Toddler Tower

Today's post is about something life-changing. I am not exaggerating at all.

Peter, Peter, the little eater is very excited about food. As in he sees me go to the kitchen and he follows me grunting for me to feed him, stuffs his mouth so full he can't chew, hangs on my legs the entire time I cook dinner kind of excited. I swear we feed him, but you would never know it from how he begs when someone brings out food. In any case, cooking dinner was kind of stressful because he was tugging on my clothes the entire time and whining about getting samples or generally wanting to oversee the cooking.

Leaf Stencil Wall Art: Date Night and Family Outings a Couple Times Over

Well, we are settled into our new home in Western Pennsylvania. I never pictured myself living here, growing up on the west coast and all, but sometimes life takes us places we never expected. We are getting over the slight culture shock and the extreme driving shock and I am now starting to finish projects again.

We have actually been working on a number of things in the past few months, but this post is just about the first one I have actually completed. You can look forward to my posts about our new bed, my version of the Ikea stool learning tower, an ottoman, Halloween costumes, and probably a few others I have forgotten.

Departure From Blog Topic:Graduating Debt Free

Though this is off topic, I felt like it is valuable. My husband and I have both now finished school for the time being. We are striking out into the real world. He has a masters and I have a bachelors. We have two young boys. We have no debt. Money is a tiny bit tight at the moment as we pay for all the costs of beginning life more than half a country away, but we have no debts. In full disclosure, we have charges on the credit card, but no balance that will be carried unless something unexpected happens.

I am not saying that graduating debt free is possible for everyone or that you should or can do exactly what we did. I just want people to know that there are people who do it. Not everyone takes out student loans.