Trick or Treat!

This Hallowe'en, the Thistlethorn and Hazelnut children wanted to go trick-or-treating.  Nicholas Thistlethorn had been invited to go with some of his friends, but Celeste offered to take Priscilla and Ash out, as well as their neighbours and close friends, Odette and Maxwell Hazelnut.

One of their favourite stops was the Courtyard Restaurant - the Trunk family always have delicious treats to hand out to trick-or-treaters, and Mrs Trunk always has a lovely friendly smile for them, too!

"Trick or Treat!"

The costumes the mice are wearing were made by Caitlyn and myself for the "Costumes and Fancy Dress" crafting challenge on the Sylvanian Families Collectors' Forum.  Odette (the pink fairy) and Maxwell (the ghost) were dressed by Caitlyn, and they both looked super cute!  Here is a closer look at the costumes I made for the Thistlethorns:

Priscilla has once again managed to get herself a new dress, made by Mrs Prickles.  It is going to cost her though - Mrs Thistlethorn had given each of her children a small costume budget for Hallowe'en, saying she would pay for a small, or very simple, item of clothing, and that they would have to buy or make their accessories themselves.  But Priscilla wasn't satisfied with "simple" - she and her best friend Odette had already decided they wanted to dress as fairies, and Priscilla felt that what she needed was a beautiful sparkly dress...  Knowing her older sister was not that interested in clothes, Priscilla proposed a deal:  if she could have Celeste's budget as well as her own, she would do Celeste's chores for a whole month!  Celeste accepted this deal with pleasure, and is now enjoying her extra free time!  Meanwhile Priscilla is thrilled with her new fancy dress, to which she added detachable fairy wings that she already owned.  She made her wand and bag herself.

Ash stuck to his own budget.  He wanted a cape for his wizard costume, using some of the same fabric Mrs Prickles used for Priscilla's dress.  He made his own hat from paper, and drew the designs on it himself.

Celeste was pleased to go along with her little sister's plan, as she knew their neighbour Lucy Squeaks had a spotty party dress that would work perfectly for her costume!  Lucy was quite happy to lend it to her, as she knew Celeste was a sensible girl who would look after it well.  Celeste, who is able to sew a little, made her own hat.  (I should mention here that Lucy Squeaks' party dress was made by Caitlyn, to whom Lucy belongs.  I just made Celeste's hat).

The children all had great fun on their evening out, and between them collected quite an enormous amount of lollies!

Thank you to my daughter Caitlyn for allowing her dormice and Mrs Trunk to appear here!

Off to the Show!

Every year in the October school holidays, our family loves attending the annual Perth Royal Show, which is run by the Royal Agricultural Society.  I started going before I can even remember, with my Nanna and my Mum.  These days Nanna is no longer with us, but Mum, Husband, Caitlyn and I still go every year.  Some things have changed at the Show over the years, and some have stayed just as they were when I was a kid.  It is a great day out, and we always look forward to it.

This year, the Woolly Alpaca family came with us.

It was decided that the twins, Gabriel and Tomas, might be a bit of a handful to keep track of in the crowds, and they were just as happy to stay home with Nanna and Grandpa anyway.  So Andre, Ariane, Joy and Angel set off excitedly.

When they arrived at the Show, the first thing the children wanted to do was go and meet some of the animals.  Angel was most entertained by the antics of the baby chickens...

"Look how soft and fluffy they are!"

Meanwhile, Joy had met a rabbit.

"Do you have any relatives in Macadamia Grove?"

There were so many places selling food!  The Woollys found themselves at a chocolate shop, and Ariane watched through the window, fascinated, as one of the confectioners made an enormous batch of honeycomb.

After that, the family was hungry for a sweet treat!  They considered chocolate, cupcakes, donuts, and even watched some popcorn being popped with liquid nitrogen, but in the end they decided on one of their favourite treats - ice cream!

Ariane and Angel chose their ice creams first.  Ariane chose raspberry, and Angel picked the richest chocolate he could see!  Andre and Joy seemed to take an awfully long time choosing their flavours.
"What can be taking them so long?" Angel wondered.  "Dad's been saying the whole time that he just wanted boring old vanilla."

Ariane looked around to see if she could see what was going on.  Just then, Andre and Joy turned away from the ice cream stall, both grinning widely.  Sure enough, Ariane noticed, Andre had his usual vanilla.  Then she spotted her daughter.

"What?" said Joy, impishly.

Ariane just shook her head.

The family then found a nice grassy spot in the Main Arena, so they could enjoy their ice creams whilst watching some of the entertainment.  

They watched the first heat of the sheepdog trials, saw ponies being judged ("It's kind of a beauty pageant, isn't it Mum?" said Joy), and a woodchopping relay that Andre found most impressive.  

"Murray Rivertail would love to see this!" he remarked.

Next, the children wanted to buy a showbag each.  They had brought some pocket money along for this very purpose.  They agonised over the decision of what to buy - there were so many options!

Finally, Joy decided on a lollipop bag, while her brother went for that old favourite, the Bertie Beetle bag!

As the sun started sinking toward the horizon, the Woollys spent the late afternoon exploring Sideshow Alley, with its loud music, flashing lights and the calls of "Come on folks, it's easy to win a prize!"

"I dare you to go on THAT ride!"  Angel laughed.  So much to her brother's surprise, Joy did!  She felt just a little bit sick afterward, but she wouldn't have admitted it for the world...

At the end of the night, it was back to the Main Arena for the big fireworks show!

It was the perfect end to a fantastic day.  The Woollys returned home, tired but happy.  They had had a great time, and hoped to return for next year's Royal Show!

Pig Family Update

Meet the Grunt pig family!

I have finally got around to making my mother pig a dress (I got my pigs second hand, and the mum was dressed in some overalls that she didn't like much), and also writing their bios!

In Macadamia Grove, the Grunt family are farmers, and work very hard to ensure the village is supplied with delicious fruits and vegetables, as well as our signature crop:  macadamia nuts!

You can read more about the Grunt family on my Meet The Families page.  They are very pleased to meet you!