Hippity Hoppity Easter's On It's Way

We have officially reached the first holiday in which a child KNOWS THE TRUTH ABOUT YOU KNOW WHO.

(no, I'm not talking about Voldemort, you guys. I'm talking about a certain cotton-tailed, gift-giving creature)

This discovery happened a couple weeks into the new year, when Gracie, my 7-year-old, upon rifling through a stack of scrapbook paper, came across a familiar patterned paper.

VERY FAMILIAR.

It was a paper that looked exactly like the papers the Tooth Fairy uses for her hand written in special curly-cue handwriting notes. Also, Santa? Yeah, his handwriting is the same. 

She cried out in horror, and I when I turned around and saw her, she was clutching the paper and her chest, her face crumpled and tears dripping from her chin. It was so tragically hilarious I finally understood why Will finds it physically impossible to keep from laughing whenever I cry. Gracie takes after me in many, many ways. And we both apparently take after the Make it Snow Girl, because watching her YouYube vid is like looking at myself in the mirror when I'm feeling particularly emotional.

Poor kiddo. Watching her complete and total devastation made me want to cry for her shattered innocence and laugh all at once (I restrained myself). I hugged her and talked to her about it, but nothing I said made it better, and she also cried that mermaids must not be real, or Saint Nick, or anything that she has ever believed in.

After a few minutes, she promised to keep the secret from her sister and started to leave for her room so she could sob in private... But just before she left, I turned over the paper she'd found, and unfolded it.

And whattadya know....

IT WAS THE NOTE THE FLIPPIN' TOOTH FAIRY LEFT FOR ANNELIE THE PREVIOUS WEEK.

"Gracie... did you LOOK at the paper you found?"

"No."

"Well..." So I showed her. She couldn't believe it. Also, lately Gracie has decided that jumping to the worst possible conclusion in any situation is the way to experience life, despite the fact that it frequently leaves her emotionally drained. Again, she sort of takes after me a little.

The last few months have been a challenge for her. With Easter approaching, she's been emotional all over again. She went crawling into my lap the other day after hearing Annelie gush about how excited she is for a certain carrot-loving visitor. The fattest tears were streaking down her cheeks.

Sometimes it's hard for me to watch the kiddos growing up. But sometimes I think it's harder for the kiddos to watch themselves growing up.

In any event, she showed how grown up she can be this morning, when I reminded the girls to pull out their baskets so they can leave it for the Easter Bunny. Annelie started crying immediately, because apparently her basket is gone (I'm guessing she took it outside when she wasn't supposed to, and it got rained on and wrecked), and she figured that meant she wouldn't be getting any presents this year.

"Here, Annelie! You can use my basket!" Gracie jumped in immediately, passing Annelie her basket. With how much sibling rivalry has been going on lately, this kind of sisterly sacrifice made me all sappy.

I just love it!

And I love even more that when I said, "Hey, Gracie, don't you think you'll need some kind of basket for YOUR presents?" she got super excited and produced this crafty little number:

I made sure to let her know that the Easter Bunny might be giving her something a little bigger than a candy bar (the exact size of her paper bunny basket) and she gave me a huge smile back.

You know those movie moments where the mother and daughter share a little secret, and smile at each other all knowingly, and the music swells and it's heart-warming?

Yeah, it was just like that!

I hope all of you who celebrate Easter, have a lovely day tomorrow! And all of you who celebrate the Easter Bunny, have a lovely day, too. And for those of you who simply call tomorrow "Sunday, the day to sleep in," I hope it's amazing.

xoxo,

Happiness Is...

... having another writer in the house - one who TOTALLY GETS the thrilling possibilities of a blank page in a composition book, the wonderful smell of a new ink pen, my writing inspiration playlists (and has same taste in music, which is the best kind of bonus)....

...too bad it's not exactly convenient when said other writer breaks all concentration with excited sharing of her own brilliant ideas. Hard to focus on my latest shiny idea when thoughts are constantly interrupted with stories of a Princess called Donut...

Such is Friday night. And mine is looking mighty nice so far!

Hope yours is, too. Have a great weekend, folks!

xoxo,

Gracie the Poet (with the Trophy to Show it)

Since she was in kindergarten, my 7-year-old has dreamed of winning her school's Imaginations creativity contest. There's a range of mediums to choose from - art, photography, short stories, etc. In kindergarten, when the theme was announced, she was so excited she planned on entering in every category.

It's a project without parent involvement, so I provided whatever materials she would need, then gave her space to do her creative little thing. Gracie had big plans - huge - and knew it would possibly take all the weeks allotted to complete her projects. That only excited her more, and she worked every day after school....

And then her friends began handing in their own finished projects, and Gracie seemed to realize there was a chance she might not win.

With that, she was done. She set down her art supplies, looked indifferent, and insisted, "I don't have to enter. It's not homework. It's just if people want to. And I don't want to anymore."

When Gracie digs in her heels, she goes NOWHERE. Not the tiniest millimeter further, no matter how much encouraging and cheering Will and I are doing on the sidelines. (Sometimes being a parent sucks)

I was so mad. I tried not to be. Being mad at her certainly doesn't help at all. Besides, she's exactly like me, EXACTLY. And when I dig in my heels because of self-doubt, that's that.

Also, I learn from example, and she does, too. So after the contest passed for the SECOND year, and she still didn't enter because she was still too afraid to lose, and I was once again MAD, I told her that I was going to enter a short story contest - even though short stories aren't really my area of expertise. The winner of a contest I'd been toying with the idea of entering would be published, and that sounded like a mighty nice prize. And I told her that in second grade, no matter what, she had to enter her school's contest.

Gracie was intrigued by the idea of me entering a contest, too, and promised she would. I updated her on my short story-writing status for weeks. When my story was done, she watched me chew off my nails as I entered. A couple weeks later, the winners were announced and I wasn't among them. I was disappointed and she was the cutest thing as she hugged me, and let me know it would be okay (Most of the time, being a parent doesn't suck). She watched me get over it, sit at my computer, and get back to work.

Weeks ago, the contest at her school was announced, the theme being Elect to be Excellent! She remembered her promise, and took it all very seriously, sketching out pictures of kids being excellent by acing spelling tests, and considering possible short story ideas. Annelie entered in the K-1st grade Art division, but two days before the deadline, Gracie still wasn't sure what to do about her half-finished pieces. She was already talking about the other kids winning, and I worried, once again, that she would lose to self-doubt.

So I dug in my heels. "Either finish a project you are working on and possibly win, or turn it in unfinished and definitely lose. It's your choice, but YOU ARE ENTERING," I said. (breathing fire. I can be scary)

And it worked! Gracie tossed out every unfinished, hated thing she'd begun and grabbed her notebook - which she is never without. Starting fresh, she wrote the most brilliant poem!

The Spelling Test

by Gracie Hopkins

My spelling test is on Thursday.

I haven't studied yet.

I really don't know the words well.

I'll study so I won't forget.

I studied and studied.

My friend asked me to play.

I said, "No way! 

I want to get a good grade!"

It was Thursday.

We took our spelling test.

I got everything right.

It felt good because I did my best!

(awesome, yeah?)

And here is Annelie's entry, TAKING CARE OF FRIENDS (also called, THE SICKNESS, because she loves how morbid that sounds):

Friday was the award ceremony, which is a pretty big deal at their school. The judges are all professors of the arts at local universities, and hearing all the fuss made by the principal during the ceremony, I understood Gracie's past intimidation. We knew ahead of time that she had won a prize in her category, which ranged from a long string of honorable mention ribbons through 3rd, 2nd, and 1st place trophies. (poor Annelie was devastated because she had not won a prize)

Will and I were so nervous and excited for Gracie when the 2nd - 3rd grade poetry division winners were announced...And WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER! Gracie won 1st place!

 Yaaaaaay, we are all so proud of her!

Well, not exactly all of us... Annelie sobbed through the entire ceremony. "It's not faaaaaairrrrrrr," she wailed when it was over.

I think Mama's Next Lesson needs to be something about supporting Sister's successes gracefully, and not being a sore loser...

Ha! Good luck to me.

Happy Monday, folks! Hope this week is filled with win!

xoxo,

Shredded Teddies

I love getting song recs from my mom, and Radioactive, by Imagine Dragons is the latest.

I like it. My favorite part, however is the video, which reminds me of something straight out of Annelie's wacky, creative little mind.




Just so you know, my childhood teddy would totally annihilate all those critters.

See how tough he is?

(too bad a 3-year-old Annelie, appropriately nicknamed The Queen Of Destruction - also, The Annihilator, defeated him years ago. Sigh.)

And as for Annelie's latest wacky and creative stuffs, here you go:

Its a picture of a monster being light-zapped by the sun, screaming, "No! you can't do this to me!"

And the duck, a mere onlooker, is saying, "Why not, baby?"

Haha.

What have you been up to lately, folks?

xoxo,

Oh, the Shame!

Before owning dogs, I didn't realize how disgusting animals could be. Not that I was completely naive when I adopted them. I mean, I once saw a puppy do his little puppy business, eat it, throw it up, and then eat that... 

But that was a one off, right? Just a confused little puppy.

Then we adopted Willie, our old, blind German shepherd, and... well, let me just say I thought our kittens needed a trip to the vet because the litter box was empty the first entire week we had them. But then Willie came up to me for a rump scratching and wouldn't you know it, there were flecks of kitty litter stuck to the wet of his nose. 

DOGS EAT POO.

It's true, folks. They really eat poo. 

Along with EVERYTHING else -- everything dead and smelly and disgusting, like telephone line-fried squirrels, and entire bags of potting soil that have been enriched with chicken manure. And when it makes them sick... well, they eat that, too.

Honestly, after five years with this dog, I didn't think there was anything left for him to eat that would gross me out.

Ha! Naive, I certainly am! Because today, folks, Willie reached a new low:

Yep.

Half a bathroom-sized trash can full of 'em.

SHAME ON YOU, WILLIE.

Though, I suppose to be fair I should shame the cats, too. And I would, if they'd hold still for two seconds.

Their sign would say something like, I feed the German shepherd by barfing up hairballs under the kitchen table.

Shame on you, cats.

(Hannah, the resident chihuahua, doesn't get a sign because it would probably scare her, and then she'd pee on the floor. Again)

Have you guys discovered PetShaming.net? Yeah, it's kind of hilarious, and quite possibly my new favorite site. I'll spare Willie the world-wide humiliation by not submitting his photo.

Also, I'm a little glad I have my 4 dysfunctional pets, because man, some of THOSE pets are just too naughty.

Have a great Wednesday, folks!

Unless you are in Australia. In that case, enjoy your Thursday! 

 xoxo,

A Freebie for Friday

Remember the mermaid illustration from yesterday's blog post? Well, I said I painted her for a purpose, and that purpose happens to be the birthday invitations of a certain soon-to-be-6-year-old in our household.

SIX YEARS OLD!!

Man, I am never going to get used to my kids getting older each year.

Anyway, last week Annelie decided she wanted a mermaid-themed birthday party... then she told me who she was inviting from her class, and her list was mostly boys.

"Why don't you have your party be a mermaid AND pirate party?" I suggested. She was all for it, and instantly crossed another girl off her invite list in favor of a boy who "just loves pirates so much." 

Well, I just love pirates so much, too, and mermaids. And since I couldn't find any pirate/mermaid invitations I liked, I whipped out the watercolors and made one that I thought would be especially fun with singed edges (I love singeing edges).

So, since it's Friday, and Fridays are some of the best days of the year, here is a little freebie for the pirate and mermaid lovers out there who might want invitations to print from home. Or for the journalers out there, or the peeps who might want some print-it-yerself stationary.

And if you'd rather print yourself a finished invitation and fill the blanks in by hand, here you go:

And I'm sure you already know this, but for those who don't: These images belong to me, and are for personal use only! You are welcome to print, use, and share with friends, however, please DO NOT print with the intent to sell, or alter and claim as your own. Thank you!

Have a great weekend, folks!

xoxo,

Illustration Friday: MYTH

Hmmm.... I suppose my illo for this week's Illustration Friday prompt is more MYTHICAL than MYTH, but whatevs. At least I got my paints out, which I haven't done in a few years!

I must admit that secretly, I hoped I'd pick up the paintbrush and adore watercolors the way I did in high school. But alas. I'm not really a fan of these things. I refuse to give up, though.Watercolors are just too pretty!

Oh, by the way, there is more to this picture than I'm showing you, because it's not just a purposeless 'I feel like painting' kind of painting. A certain kindergartner is turning SIX next week, and this illustration is really a...

TUNE IN TOMORROW, FOLKS, TO FIND OUT WHAT THIS ILLUSTRATION REALLY IS.

See what I did there? Cliffhanger blog post. 

Happy Thursday, to you!
xoxo,