Ghosts of Dresses Past...OR...One Thing I'm Thankful for This Year

Given the holiday season, I can't help but think about all the things I'm thankful for. Of course, I'm thankful for the standards: my children, family, friends, home, health, etc.... I'm also thankful that Roan is growing up. This weekend, I was telling my friend, Shannon, about Roan's obsession with wearing dresses. In telling him a couple of the stories about the Snow White dress, the tiaras, and high heels, I was able to wrap it up by saying "but he doesn't do that anymore." OMG! He doesn't do that anymore! That is something I'm incredibly thankful for!

For those of you who don't know my boy, when he was about 18 months old, he tried on one of Libby's dress-up dresses...and unfortunately, he never looked back. He had a Snow White costume/dress-up dress that he wore INCESSANTLY. He wore it everywhere we went, he wore it until it stunk, and he didn't care what anyone thought about it. Luckily, I had a little experience working with kids with difficult behavior... so we worked on wearing a dress only at certain times. Of course, he wanted to wear it at preschool, which was not allowed. So, we started by wearing the dress over his clothes, on the way to school. Once there, we'd take the dress off, put it in his backpack for the day, and pray he made it through. As soon as I picked him up, we'd have to put the dress back on. Eventually, he was able to leave the dress in the car, then at home... you have no idea how difficult this was! Peer pressure meant nothing to him. He didn't care who commented or made fun of him. He loved his dresses. He developed quite a collection...the Snow White Dress, the polka dot dress, the Belle dress, a white wedding dress-up dress, the princess dress...he wore them until they fell apart.

Here's a shot of him in one of Libby's play dresses. This was a signature pose. Be sure to note the shoes. He could run in high heels better than any one of Charlie's Angels!

And this is what he called his "Minnie Mouse dress". Oh, how he loved this one! And of course, the high heels. ..and don't miss the tiara. We were on our way somewhere...he had permission to wear this outfit over his 'normal' clothes in the car. Once we got where we were going, he had to take everything off and put his regular shoes on.

This is a great one... we were at the Knollmeyer's house in Jeff City celebrating Libby and Clara's birthdays. We had been swimming and hadn't gotten Roan's clothes on yet...so he found one of Clara's dress-up skirts and immediately put it on. Never mind that it was sheer. So I quickly captured the peep show for posterity...

And finally...the Belle dress. This was his second most favorite dress of all time. He wore the Snow White dress until it literally fell apart. He found this dress at a garage sale and wore it non-stop for months. In fact, he wore this dress with gold high heels during the July 4th party at Karen & Orrin's. He's now famous in the Houghton family for that. He will be 16 and still living down July 4, 2008.

Even in the midst of the dress drama...there were things to be thankful for. I'm so glad that Roan (and Libby, too) have minds of their own. They know what they like and don't let the judgment of others influence them (too much!). Roan and his dresses forced family and friends to accept him for who he is and love him anyway... It taught me (the control freak) to pick my battles, to decide what's REALLY important, and to just let some things go... despite trying to see the positives here, I'm just SO thankful that I can finally say:

"He doesn't wear dresses anymore!!!"

Where did this boy come from?...continued

Roan always makes us laugh. I've never met a child his age who is so funny. One of his many interesting personality traits is getting "hooked" on things. Recently, his new obsession was swim goggles. No, I have no idea where this stuff comes from. He wore his yellow swim goggles for days...weeks...

He would kill me for posting this picture, but I think it's hilarious. Imagine him going to preschool, the grocery store and church wearing them! I want to preserve his goggle obsession for posterity....

Operation Christmas Child

One of my goals as a parent is to teach Libby and Roan to care about and serve others. It's easy for young children to watch TV and see all the toys, Nintendo games and dolls they want...despite having a house full of toys already. I feel like a broken record, reminding them of the kids who have no toys, people who have no home. Libby has always had a heart for serving others. When she was a very small child, she would notice homeless people and worry about them for days. Roan is finally growing up enough to empathize with other people...he's understanding that others are a lot less fortunate than him, and that it's our responsibility to do something, even it it's small.

Libby's American Heritage Girl troop participated in Operation Christmas Child this year. Each girl was encouraged to pack a shoebox with gifts for a child overseas. We stored the boxes in our garage until it was time to take them to the drop-off center.

On Saturday, the kids and I loaded all the boxes into the van.

We met at the church and transferred the boxes from our van to the church bus. Several of us loaded up on the church bus and drove to the drop-off location. We carried all of our boxes into a large gym where volunteers were sorting and preparing the shoe boxes for shipment. When we walked in, there were hundreds of boxes packed and ready to ship. Our shoe boxes were gathered and the volunteers started sorting and packing them... it was really profound to see how our small efforts fed into something huge.

A picture of Roan and the girls in front of a mountain of boxes ready to ship...

As a reward for participating, the kids got to choose a small gift. Both Libby and Roan chose an Operation Christmas Child button...

As you can see, Roan is quite proud of his OCC button!

When we were finished, our American Heritage Girl troop donated 32 boxes to Operation Christmas Child! I was really proud of Libby, Roan and the other girls in the troop for doing their part to make a difference for someone less fortunate. For more information on Operation Child, visit: http://www.samaritanspurse.org

The Making of a Seamstress

I've always made the kids' Halloween costumes. It's something we look forward to every year. We usually start talking about our choices in late August; Libby is a list maker (hhmmm, wonder where she gets it?), so she starts making her list early. As time goes by, we pare the list down to their top two choices, then we go look at the pattern books. If we can't find the "perfect" pattern, we decide if my mom or I can draw our own pattern. That helps us make the final choice on each costume. Who knew it was such a process?! I like making their costumes for a lot of reasons, but one of the main reasons is that it's a good learning experience for both of them.

Here's Libby, cutting out Roan's caveman dress...oops, I mean shirt. Ever since Libby was tiny, she has loved fabric and patterns. She was always such an "adult" little child...I never hesitated letting her use adult scissors. The rule was never to cut 1) hair, 2) clothing or 3) skin. She never broke the rule. As a result, she can cut as well or better than most adults.

Roan was not interested in helping with the costumes at first. He's not crazy about cutting, so he helped me pin the pattern to the fabric. Ironically, he's the one who needs to practic his fine motor skills, but he avoids it like the plague!

This is Roan after having collapsed from the extreme exertion of helping with the pattern...he has a flair for the dramatic!

Medusa and the Caveman...The final products!

Halloween Fun!

We O'Donnells love Halloween! We start planning our costumes in late August. After much deliberation, Libby decided to be Medusa. Actually, she wanted to be Medusa when she was 3, but I talked her out of it. So, she watched a documentary on Medusa and we designed her dress. It was a Roman-Goddess inspired white satin dress with ribbon and bead embellishment...lol. We piled her hair up in a deliberately messy style, then tied snakes all over her heasd. She looked awesome! We didn't use make up...I guess I'm lazy, but I just didn't want to deal with it! Her dress was actually a one-shoulder style, but it was pretty chilly out, so she wore a shirt underneath. She loved the sash...she was very dramatic!

Libby, giving her best "I'll turn you to stone" look.

Roan decided to be a caveman. Any legitimate reason to wear a dress, you know. Despite the cold, he refused to wear a shirt underneath. He said it would make him look like a "maniac". hhmmm. His was a faux fur shift with leather wrapped leg covers. He also had a matching headband, which was his favorite part of the costume.

Roan being a fierce caveman!

Welcome to the caveman gunshow.

We went Trick-or-Treating in several neighborhoods in town. They have more candy than they can eat in a year! They had a great time. Usually, we go to a couple of churches that host Trunk-or-Treating, but the kids decided against it this year. The kids are already talking about what they want their costumes to be next year!