Outta the Mouths of Babes: Another Annelie Edition

Hey folks! Remember that one time I blogged for 6+ years, and then just stopped for 1.5 years without saying goodbye?

Me, too!

The potentially bad news - I do believe this blog is ready to retire.

The super great news? I found one last little Outta the Mouths of Babes hidden in my drafts folder and I think it will make the perfect blog parting.

Thank you to all who has followed this blog for the last several years! It's been great getting to know so many of you over the years, and letting you peek into the wacky world of Hopkins.

I'll be sure to keep you updated if/when my blogging days return!

xoxo,

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Interviewing Annelie for a 1st grade questionnaire.

ME : What three words would you use to describe yourself?

ANNELIE: Funny, playful, and rock 'n' roll.


-----------------------------------

Yeah, I will go ahead and say those are perfect words to describe my kiddo -- now a SECOND grader! -- she knows herself well.

My Favorite Kind of Day!

Other than the part where these guys are all like, "Let's clean for Mom!" this is pretty much exactly how my Mother's Day morning went:



It was pretty spectacular.

I even got a pocket full of money from Gracie - I had her count it up, because counting money is not quite her strength yet.... when she discovered that she'd given me $3.79, she promptly said, "Oh I didn't meant to give you THAT," and took a dollar back.

But that's okay, because she made me a super awesome booklet, full of all sorts of information about me, such as my age (32), my weight (15 lbs lighter than she guessed), my favorite food (she claims it's fish tacos, but she might be projecting, as I know they're HER fave, and seriously, it's homemade Fettuccine Alfredo all the way), and the fact that I hope to publish nine book series very soon (Um?).

And then I baked myself a fancy chocolate cake!

And promptly covered it in chocolate frosting and chocolate chips because HELLO, CHOCOLATE. (also I need a powdered sugar sifter...)

Mmmmmmm.....

Also, there is a huge possibility that this cake is all I served for lunch....

Mothers out there - especially mine *waves* Hi, Mom! - HAPPY DAY! Hope it's been as grand for you, as it has been for me!

xoxo,

Dollhouse Days, Revisited, and Fancy Rewards!

Six years ago, when Gracie was a diaper-wearing toddler, I blogged about her love for Playmobil and the pop-up dollhouse I saved from my own childhood Playmobil-playing days. {clicky click}

Well, naturally my children destroyed the dollhouse (I blame baby Annelie) and lost all the people (I blame Gracie) and now they look at the pictures and regret being the Queens of Destruction very deeply.

GRACIE [gazing wistfully at the picture of toddler-self playing with rad dollhouse]: Ugh, that looks awesome.

ME [remembering playing with said dollhouse when I was her age]: It was. It really, really was.

Gracie, upon discovering that Playmobil has a super fancy royal set of dolls, has rekindled her love for her "people" - what she called her favorite toys when she was two and a half.

It's like they were designed just for her. And as a Playmobil-loving parent, I couldn't be more jazzed.

But..... I refused to buy them for her. Yep. 

ME [2 months ago]: Guess what, kids! I've come up with a new Hopkins Family System of Doing Things, and from now on, when you beg and beg and beg for more toys, I'll say, Sure you can have toys! But first you have to earn the tickets to buy them! [waves handful of freshly printed tickets from http://www.kidpointz.com/]

GRACIE: No way. I'm just going to use the money in my piggy bank. 

ME: Nope. After I caught Annelie with TWENTY DOLLARS in her backpack, so she could buy her friend's hand-drawn comics, Daddy and I have decided you girls are going to the bank and starting accounts, and you don't get to spend your money. 

[shakes handful of tickets] But good news! You get to earn tickets to buy whatever you want!

At first my kids were a little shell-shocked, because my new Family System of Doing Things involves hard work and math skills, and a zero-tolerance-for-sibling-rivalry policy. (they get to earn behavior tickets - yay! - but have to give them up to their sister when caught being rotten little meanies - boo!)

Fast forward two months, and now they have ticket jars full of awesome behavior tickets, and charts full of neon happy face stickers, for doing daily chores, and momwork (math tutoring w/ me - yay, fun!). And their chart stickers turn into tickets that can't be taken away, or given to their sister, once their chart is full. They're pretty excited about their tickets.

And I can never quite believe how much smoother life gets with an in-house reward system. My kids eat it up! They ask for extra chores and beg to study! WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

Anyway, Gracie has been saving and saving, and finally last week, after passing over 75 tickets and a printed voucher for the Playmobil Royal Dressing Room set, she bought herself her first toy - and proceeded to stalk the mail, counting down the 5 shipping days until her new playset was hers, all hers!

You guys, it was the cutest thing! I've never seen her so excited for something. 

And because I had an empty box laying around, and a room full of craft supplies, gold puffy paint, and a glue gun, *kisses glue gun* I said, "Hey, let's build your Playmobil a fancy dressing room."

So we did!

Her dolls came in the mail a couple days ago, and she hasn't stopped playing with them - and her new dressing room - since. 

And, because this is Gracie we're talking about, here... yes, I have already taken away behavior tickets for catching her out of bed, playing with them late at night on a school night - the little sneak.

She was super excited to comb though my Southern Living magazines for room decorations - especially when she found Monet's Waterlilies (her favorite).

Isn't her little dressing room cute? She used the Napoleon Apartments at the Louvre as her inspiration, and made sure it had the chandelier of her dreams.

And dogs wearing fancy necklaces.

Also, after taking some photos of her playing with her new dollhouse... I realized I never wallpapered the outside of the box.... 

 ME [to Gracie]: Don't worry, I'll paper the outside for you ASAP.

WILL: Why would you cover up the best part?

GRACIE [rolls eyes]: Da-ad!

So that's what we've been up to, lately! Also, someday I'll blog about my husband winning us a spring break trip to Jamaica, and then winning another trip to Jamaica while we were in Jamaica. Yes, he is that amazing.

Happy Friday, folks! Hope you have a great weekend! 

xoxo,

We're LAAATE!

So remember that April Fool's prank I played on my kids a couple weeks ago? Yeah, turns out that was more of a drill for yesterdays major MomFail.

Poor kids. Wednesday night, I set my alarm clock for 7 AM, the time I get up to get them ready for school on the days when Will is home to take them to school in the morning.

But when he's out of town? Like yesterday? Yeeeeaah, it's the exact time we walk out the door to catch the school bus.

*facepalm*

But my KIDS! They're pros. As soon as they heard me running down the hall screaming, "WAKE UP, WAKE UP, THIS IS NOT AN APRIL FOOL'S DAY JOKE. WE ARE SO LAAAAATE." they flew out of bed, grabbed the clothes I threw at them, and started dressing. One minute later they were brushing their teeth (one handed, while I put on their zip sweatshirts and brushed their hair). One minute after that, they were slipping on their shoes. And no joke, four minutes from the time my alarm went off, my girls were grabbing their backpacks (thankfully packed with homework the night before) and running out the door. I followed behind with the breakfast and lunch money.

And wouldn't you know it, we were actually a bit early! Stood there in the cold, totally dazed, for a couple minutes before the bus came chugging up to us.

It took a whole forty-five minutes for my heart to calm, I tell ya. And the minute I walked back through the door, I set my alarm for today--the RIGHT wake up time, this time.

I sincerely hope I do not make that mistake again.  But hey, if I do, maybe we can try to beat our record and get out of the house in only THREE minutes! Sounds like a challenge....

Have a great weekend, folks!

xoxo,

April Foolin'

On Sunday night, I caught Gracie out of bed TWICE, just goofing off in the bathroom. As we've already done the whole toilet-wad-thrown-up-on-the-ceiling thing, and the entire-bottle-of leave-in-conditioner-sprayed-on-the-mirror thing, and the nail-polish-pictures-all-over-the-door thing (as well as dropped in the toilet. REDDISH BROWN NAIL POLISH. It's not a pretty sight) - always after bedtime - I knew not to trust my 7-year-old.

"GET IN BED RIGHT NOW!" I yelled that second time, since my calm and rational-sounding request for her to get in bed clearly didn't work the first time.

Also, she was in her pajamas, standing in the bathtub.

?!?

And then she completely burst into tears, and climbed out of the bathtub, and sobbed all the way back to her room. No, not because I yelled at her. She doesn't even hear the yelling, I'm convinced.

"I was setting up an April Fool trick, and it was a good one, too," she said, through her tears, and then pulled the bed covers over her head.

"Wait, what was the trick going to be?" I asked.

"I was tying fake money to strings in the shower, so you'd think it was real and freak out."

Well. It didn't actually look like real money - I checked - but not bad, kid, not bad!

Last year, this was the April Fool I got:

And the two little pranksters, sticking stuffed rabbits in my fridge would be none other than:

 

They were quite pleased with themselves. 

Truthfully, folks, I'm not a prankster. I'm actually the most gullible person on the planet - In fact, if you open the Guinness Book of World's Records 2011, and turn to Most Gullible Person on the Planet, there's my face. 

(did anyone go check? If so, GOTCHA!) 

I had absolutely no plans to prank anyone this year, certainly not my children. But knowing that Gracie had this day marked as one to prank ME? OH, HO HO, little child! I shall teach you!

The next morning, April 1st, I got up like any other school day, and went off to Gracie's room to wake her for school. Naturally, I did not softly rub her arm, and whisper, "Wake up, Gracie. Time to get ready for school," in my Hey-I-totally-get-that-mornings-suck-so-I'll-be-gentle-in-waking-you-so-your-day-is-not-lousy voice. 

No. Instead I shook her arm vigorously, saying loudly and frantically, "GET UP, WE'RE LATE, WE'RE LATE, SCHOOL STARTS IN ONE MINUTE!"

omg. The look on her face! Is it considered cruelty to children to LAUGH AND LAUGH (inwardly, until alone in the kitchen making breakfast, in which I died of the laughter) at their panic stricken faces as they assume they are supremely late for school?

Oh man. This is the moment in which all of their Late-for-school nightmares will begin, isn't it?

Well, it was worth it. I did this for both of my darling, sneaky little girls, and they got dressed for school in TWO MINUTES. Annelie was the first to stumble into the kitchen for breakfast, rubbing her eyes. She sat at the table and looked over at me, where I was cracking eggs and mixing them with pancake-making stuff in a bowl. 

"DID YOU BRUSH YOUR HAIR??!" I shouted. 

Well, she hadn't, obvious in how she sprang up from the seat and bee-lined for the bathroom to brush her hair. I did the same with Gracie, and then with both girls as they put on their socks and shoes. Will was up at this point, too, and clapped and shouted, "HURRY HURRY!"

The girls both sat down for breakfast, still dazed, still only 5 minutes from when they woke up. At this point, pancakes were on the griddle, and I was crushing strawberries into warm maple syrup.

"Mom?" Gracie said, totally confused. "Are you making pancakes for breakfast?" 

Will and I both shouted "APRIL FOOL'S" together and the girls - Gracie, especially - could not believe it. They were definitely shell shocked for a nice long beat before they laughed.

Then they cheerfully ate strawberry banana pancakes and watched cartoons for a half hour before school (which they never have time for). (also, Annelie was showing the camera her SAD, I-was-fooled-by-MOMMY face)

HA!

Although I have probably set myself up for disaster, as I know my oldest daughter, and I KNOW she's going to seek revenge.

Still, it was worth it. How about you, folks? Was anyone pranked, or a prankster this year, too?

Poor Gracie. She was pranked by her teacher, too, who had the class take out a sheet of paper for a pop quiz on a subject they hadn't studied yet. Haha! 

xoxo,

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,

The Top Reasons I Have Ignored My Blog for Nearly Two Months

 the Fork - by Kathy Jeffords

www.thedreamygiraffe.etsy.com

Firstly, HAPPY NEW YEAR, FOLKS!

Also, I've had a few Marisa, Are You Okay? messages lately, and I'm starting to feel a wee bit guilty because it's been nearly TWO MONTHS since I blogged last. After 5 years of barely missing a week of blogging, me going quiet like this is fairly extreme.

I'm fine! Thanks for asking! I've just been busier than I've ever been in my life, it seems, and letting my blog sit on the back burner was surprisingly easy. But here is a list of my goings on, to fill in that two month gap:

1. The holidays happened! 

Mine were splendid - how were yours? We spent the last couple months with oodles of friends and family. I actually decorated, and made holiday-themed crafts with the girls, and sewed them Christmas outfits, all of which I have zero pictures of, because I couldn't find my camera's battery charger (maybe next year will be the year I approach the holidays fully prepared).

Oh! but I do have a photo of the poodle skirts, because lately

2. I have been a poodle skirt-sewing maniac. 

(if sewing two in two months counts as being a poodle skirt-sewing maniac, which I think it does)

Gracie's (and yes, it's back to Gracie, folks. Her name change to Donna lasted only until everyone was calling her Donna. She's Gracie again, this time for keeps, she insists. *sigh*) holiday performance was set in a 50's diner, so she needed a skirt. I adore circle skirts, but I've never trusted myself to figure out the circumference of the dang things before. Dana, over at MADE, makes it so unbelievably easy and I already had 1 inch white elastic on hand for the waistband.

Look how cute!

I made a matching flower pin for her sweater, which was a gift from her London-dwelling uncle, and she felt quite fashionable. 

And here is Annelie's, which she wore on Friday for 50's Day.

I had to make her poodle myself, because I'm the kind of mom who leaves poodle applique-buying until the night before the entire town of elementary schoolers all celebrate 50's Day. Yes, the craft stores were sold out.

Also, I was sure Annelie would be the only kindergartener sporting a polka dot mini skirt on 50's day, but I was WRONG (though she was the only girl in hot pink glitter tights). I forgot that I'd given the skirt-making instructions to one of the other bus stop moms when she saw Gracie's poodle skirt last month, and sure enough, her kindergartner - a friend of Annelie's - had one the same length. And they were both in hot pink. They looked like little rock stars together. It was ridiculous in it's cuteness.

Speaking of rock stars...

3.  Will put on a little Elvis tribute for the King at a favorite local coffee shop, on Elvis's birthday the other day.

It would have been nice if the local news didn't stand directly in front of the stage the whole time so I could grab a decent photo... but besides that, it was a very fun show!

Everyone who came out to watch had a great time, including Gracie...

Though you'd never guess she had fun considering she sat in the middle of the floor, back to the stage, arms over her chest, hood over her face, party hat over that.... for half the show.

Yep.

4. I have been working, working, working.

And by working, I mean playing with toddlers and preschoolers, again. And re-learning how to see the world from a totally awesome viewpoint.

For instance:

(this is, apparently, what the finished result of "Clean up your markers" looks like to a 3-year-old)

Brilliant, no? Preschoolers are so much fun. I'm between jobs at the moment, but look forward to having more little tykes to play with soon!

5. I'm feelin' old and creaky.

The biggest reason I've been away is that I've had minor health lameness. Nothing interesting, though I'm starting to believe that the 'Age is just a number' saying is complete hooey. Also, I might gripe about my eyeball ulcers in a different post, of which I apologize for in advance.

6. Annelie lost her other front tooth, leaving the world's cutest gap. 

Naturally I needed a photo, and naturally my photo shoot went like this:

I did get one smile in the end, though it doesn't do the best job showing her gap.

And wouldn't you know it, she lost two more teeth immediately after this photo shoot, and now her mouth is pure gap, as she's missing SEVEN teeth at once.

Apples are currently her favorite snack to eat.

I have no idea how she manages to chew them. 

7. SOUPS.

Currently, pureed soup is my crack. I discovered the joy of immersion blenders when the girls and I were in Europe this summer, and ever since, IMMERSION BLENDER has been the #1 item on my List of Things I WAAAANT for Christmas (next to new computer speakers, which has also been #1).

Thanks, Grammy and Grampa, I love my blender!

(and thanks, Will, I love my speakers!)

I do, indeed.

Since Christmas, I have made several batches of:

Pumpkin Black Bean Soup
Cheese and Potato Soup - I prefer it with Monterey Jack cheese and I give it a good blending.
Butternut Squash Soup - Will loved it, but it was too sweet for me.
and Potato Leek Soup.

I'll be making a Spinach and Kale Power Soup today, and I'm a little nervous because I've never had that before. And I'll tell ya, I never envied Popeye all those cans of spinach. But I like the IDEA of green power soup, so green power soup I shall make.

8. Room redecorating! 

Annelie, Will & I, and my craft studio all played musical rooms the last couple months, and I'm in the middle of turning them into a lot more than a disaster of hand-me-down furniture and mismatched curtains. YAY.

The computer is now in my bedroom, which means my walls will be decorated in candy-colored story boards for the rest of eternity.

Those papers are each 12x12, and it's quite invasive so I'm pretending it's an art piece.

Also, if my hubs is sitting in that desk chair, there, and talking to me, I have to work hard on NOT studying my story board and mentally working on my book instead of paying attention.


I'm just gonna go ahead and stop at eight things, but I might get back into the blogging groove, soon.  

Happy Tuesday, folks!

xoxo,