Carnival Fiesta!

Warning:  This is going to be picture-heavy post.

Sunday had been nice to us and we were able to bring Little Spanish Pinay to the carnival fiesta in the afternoon right after she woke up from her nap.  It seemed like she knew our plans for today becuase she woke up a little bit earlier than the usual in the morning and then took her nap a little bit earlier in the afternoon too.  Just great for the schedule.  Thanks to my in-laws as well for joining us.  Below are some pictures from the activity. 

I tried to convince her that Mario doesn't bring a purse... but no avail.  She must carry a purse.

Ready to rock and roll upon arrival. 

In the car, she saw this wooden clown so she forgot about the purse. Good thing.

Mami is quite excited too.

Mesmerized by tons of people and tons of kids wearing costumes.  There was a family all dressed as The Smurf and the mommy and daddy smurf scared her.  She loves smurfs (she calls them fufos for pitufos - spanish for smurfs) but giant smurfs?? She wasn't quite ready for them.

Papi is always afraid to let her go on her own... look how he grabs her.

She loves to enter this tunnel.  There are 3 entrances.  She enters on one and then by the center, she can choose to go out between to exits and what we do is see what exit she'd take and then run for our life to go to that exit so she'd meet us there.  That game gets me my tongue out after a few repeats.

Coming out from the tunnel, she came upon this little boy.  She was like make way for me!

I had to remind her that she's going for Mario not spiderman.  Coz this pose? I believe that's for spiderman.

It has gotten a little bit chilly but it didn't stop her from enjoying.

We went inside to rest a little bit and she saw the "daycare" room.  It's not really a daycare but it's a place where parents can leave their kids under 6 yrs old for a couple of hours under a care of a professional care giver.  It's like a daycare where do also do activities but not quite daycare because it's just for a couple of hours.  So when she saw the room, she immediately want to go there.  Of course we let her while papi and mami take their little break.  Running after an almost 2-yr old is quite tiring.  Or I am getting old and not fit at all.  I think it's the latter.

It's been a tiring but fun day for all of us.  I was also quite surprised that LSP maintained her Mario hat.  I was already expecting that she'd remove it around 5mins max after I put it on her.  Mami was wrong.  I should have a better expectations on my child, shouldn't I? 

Happy carnival season, everyone!

February is almost over! Come check out this just-for-fun snail-mail jig

Carnival in Spain, DIY Mario custome and cuteness overload

It's carnaval (carnival) time here in Spain.  Carnival (El Carnaval (kar-na-vál)) is widely celebrated here in Spain. Carnival celebration marks the season entering Cuaresma. It normally starts around February, centering on the week before Ash Wednesday.

This is quite a big celebration for all especially the kids.  Kids go around the street in their costumes - much like the trick or treat in the US - minus the uhm, trick or treating duh.  There are also costume wearing and holiday celebration on schools and/or organizations. 

Last year, we didn't get LSP any costume because one, we believe she was still too young to actually enjoy it; two because I am too frugal and didn't want to spend money for a custome that she wouldn't enjoy wearing and three, I didn't have time for a DIY.  Lousy mom, I know.  She didn't get to wear anyting for last year's halloween either.  Though I must note that halloween is not really that big here yet.  Most of the kids look forward to the carnival season more than the halloween although many schools are starting the halloween tradition already.

Ok, so back to the present... we are in the carnival season now and we thought perhaps this time, LSP will be able to enjoy the fun of wearing something silly and cute and see other kids wear differnt costumes as well. 

On Feb 19, we thought maybe we can join the carnival celebration in the country club near where we live.  So we looked for a cute custome for LSP.  We saw a mario costume from one of the big toy stores here.  The price is 24 euros - too steep for a one time wear if you ask me.  I told hubby "That's silly! I'm not gonna spend 24 euros for something that I can make myself!  You'll see, I can do that!"  Immediately after saying that, I took my words back and said "Well, we still have time so, if I am not able to do one, then at least we already know where to buy".  I had to laugh at my arrogance and cowardice at the same time.

It took me a while to find the right fabric.  At the beginning, I thought I'd buy some blue and red fabric but I couldn't find time to go to fabric stores :( .  Feb 15 and I started panicking since the carnival party is just 4 days away.  I thought maybe I can find some used clothes that  I can snip and  turn into a Mario costume.  Good luck on that  - my inner self told me.

I found an old sweatshirt that hubby doesn't use anymore.  It's not the perfect "Mario" blue but I thought it will do.  Plus, it has a thick fabric - perfect for the cold weather.  Then with hubby's permission, I got one of his red (very) cheap tshirt as a candidate for Mario's long-sleeve shirt. 

I honestly didn't have any idea of what I was doing and how to do what I have in mind.  I tried to check for how-tos from the internet but I couldn't find any.  I also felt like I am wasting time looking for how-tos so I just proceeded on snipping the old sweatshirt, fitting the pieces on LSP's body parts then sew, sew in an almost mindless way.  Lo and behold, the pieces started making sense and I got this!

It can pass as Mario custome, can't it?

As much as I would like to post a how to, I can't.  I didn't bother to take pictures of each step I was doing because one, I was too much in a hurry; two, I wasn't really sure it will turn out good - worthy to be posted as how-to.  The yellow buttons are from an empty plastic jar of a chocolate powder.  That's my favorite part as I think that's pretty clever! :-D

The legs part are from the sweatshirt's sleeves so I didn't have to do much stitching on it.  I just tried to slim it down to LSP's leg size.  then the upper body part is just basically made from the body of the sweatshirt sewn into a tube-like shape.  then I just sew the legs and that tubular fabric together.  I cut two long strips of fabric, stiched the long sides and then attached it to the top body part. Very basic steps.

Also, the picture doesn't show how clumsy all the stiches are especially the long-sleeve shirt. It looks like a patched shirt! One of the leeves has 3 sections in it because hubby's red tshirt wasn't big enough for me to create the long sleeves in whole pieces.  But then again, it doesn't matter.  As I've told a friend of mine, it's a costume - it meant to be silly and funny.

But Mario custome wouldn't be complete without his famous cap... with this one, I got lucky and found an easy tutorial.  Here's how mine turned out:

Never mind the marks of the fabric glue please. I didn't think it will dry out like that.

  

Can this mario be any cuter?

p.s.  The just for fun snail-mail shinanigan is stil on! You can visit this entry.