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,

Chore O'Clock

I've been meaning to do this post for about 6 months, when I was asked to share how I do chore time in our family. So... a little belated, but here we go.

I hate cleaning. Hate it. I didn't really do a lot of cleaning in my youth. No, seriously, this is what happened when little Marisa was told to go clean her room:

(There are other photos in this collection.
My 'cleaning' began on my bed, and then
I fell to the floor and the 'cleaning' continued)

Well, I wasn't about to let my kids live their life without a heavy duty list of chores. Not so much because I want to instill a belief that this house is mine AND theirs to take care of, but because if I delegate all my least favorite chores, then my life is happier. The instilling a belief that this house is mine AND theirs to take care of is just a bonus.

So, about a year ago, I gave each of my girls a job. Annelie's job was feeding the dogs, and Gracie's job was giving all the pets water. This job was done every single day. No exceptions. It went very well! (they also got to help me around the house when I told them to - with MUCH complaining on their part - but as for jobs, they just had one)

A handful of months later, I called the kids for a family meeting, and congratulated and thanked them for their jobs well done. Then I gave them their very first Helping Hands charts, which were decorated with a pretty flower border and featured many shades of pink.

(I chose to call it Helping Hands instead of CHORES, because my kids refused to cooperate when it was called chores. As soon as I called it Helping Hands, they were all for it. Why? Because they're strange)

(also, decorating their chore charts and making it all pink and flowery totally made the difference in how they viewed their chores. And the free spaces are their most FAVORITE PART.)

THE RULE: do the chores at 4 o'clock (which I call '4 o'clock, chore o'clock'). If the week's chores are done without complaining, the kids get $2. If they complain, they don't get anything and still have to do the chores. They love options and I thought these options were pretty fair.

Well, these chore charts have lasted a whole 6 months and let me tell ya, my kids are SO GREAT at doing each one of these chores because they've had so much practice. They've also learned that if they do the chores fast, they get more playtime. If they do them fast but are too sloppy, they have to do them again.

And I have gotten really good at making sure they do their jobs - even if it means writing 'kids do chores' on my daily to-do list so we don't all forget (this seems to be a necessary part of chore time)

Today I made up new and improved lists, and added an extra free space because I gave them a heck of a lot more work than they had before (of course I didn't point this out to them, other than saying LOOK! I gave you an extra free space! to which they replied with enthusiastic YAY!!!s)

Gracie flipped out over the fun text and Eiffel Towers. Honestly, it is THAT easy to get her excited about a Helping Hands chart.

And that's that. My kids do their chores at chore o'clock, every day.

And my life is much happier. 

UPDATE - I saw this post on Money Saving Mom: 20 Chore Ideas for 7-year-olds (and there is one for 4-year-olds, too) and it sounds a lot like how it's done at my house - much praise, assistance on certain chores (laundry, etc), and patience when it comes to kids meeting expectations. My kids have been folding laundry since they were four, and at first were so sloppy, but I repressed the compulsion to do it myself, and now they are pros. It's wonderful.

Do those of you with kids dole out household chores? If so, what chores! I'm both curious and eager to delegate new responsibilities, so please tell me!

xoxo,

The Greatest Girls' Night

Last night, Will went to a friend's house to watch golf, leaving the girls, me, a box of pepperoni pizza, and Hulu Plus, behind.

"Girls' Movie Night! Woo! Go pick a movie," I told Gracie as I dished up the pizza. She grabbed the Wii Sport disc and stuck it in the player. "That's a game. I said pick a movie," I had to remind her.

Annelie stuck on the Wii people-making game after that, so I had to say, again, that they were supposed to be picking a MOVIE.

"Let's watch Eerie Indiana!" Gracie exclaimed. Best 90's show ever, but...

"I said MOVIE."

"America's Funniest Home Videos!" Annelie exclaimed.

This was getting ridiculous. I was three seconds away from giving up on movie night, and wondered if the kids even knew what a movie was....

"Pass me the remote - I'll pick," I said. So I did. I picked only the BEST MOVIE EVER CREATED.

Yup, that's right. The 1968 Heidi. My most favorite movie when I was the girls' age. I can remember making paper dolls of the entire cast, which I played with non-stop - including a 3-D wheelchair for little Klara.

This movie contains all the classic elements of the perfect, perfect story: orphaned little girl with braids who doesn't even know how to read, mean, reclusive Grandfather who doesn't even want her (but does know how to read!), baby goat on the verge of starvation, in need of a mother (Heidi!), a basket of orphaned kittens in need of a mother (Heidi!), going from poor to wearing fancy dresses with LACE, a sad crippled same-aged cousin in need of tough love and a best friend, and a forbidden romance between the beautiful governess and Uncle Richard. 

Oh, and Maximilian Schell, ie, Uncle Richard?

TOTAL HOTTIE (although back in 1986, child Marisa thought Heidi's friend Peter was way cuter).

Let's just say I laughed and I cried, and the girls laughed, and then wondered why I was crying.

"It's just... it's just... the best movie EVER."

I mean, how could I not get misty-eyed from all the dramatic character and plot changes?

Especially not when there were misty eyes everywhere I looked.

And the nostalgia, oh, the nostalgia! Listening to the girls whisper, "You be Klara and I'll be Heidi when we play, okay?" was just too great.

I got especially teary when Gracie busted out the paper and crayons and asked me to make her a wheelchair for her little paper Klara, who, along with her best friend Heidi, is now on Gracie's bookshelf, proudly displayed  beside my childhood Victorian dolls and teddy bears (which Gracie dug out of a long forgotten moving box a few months ago, and claimed for herself)

When it was done, Gracie said, "Wow, that was a really great movie. You know what I also want to see? Anne of Green Gables."

!!!

I'm not sure I can go there just yet. I'll need to thoroughly hydrate myself, because those eye-mists of nostalgia, and seeing my girls discover Miss Anne with an E, will drain me completely.

Hope you're all having a fantastic weekend, folks! It's raining non-stop here, which means a movie marathon weekend is on the agenda. Can't complain about that!

xoxo,

Stress Breakdowns, Short Stories, and My Fabulous Fashionista

 I Will Not Stress Out Art by Kathy Jeffords

www.thedreamygiraffe.etsy.com

I'm not sure if having stress breakdowns can be considered a skill, but it's something I am REALLY good at. Outwardly, I appear normal, I'm sure (although Will might argue that point), but inside.... man. You know those gag toys which look like a can of mixed nuts, but when you open it, a snake made of springs pops out? Yeah, that's how I imagine my brain looked last week. The result: I'm sporting a zombie eye, as stress isn't kind to my eyeball's blood vessels.

Annelie took one look at my eye the other day, scrunched up her face, and informed me that "Ewwwwww, it's gross and red."  (thanks for the love, kid)

But on the bright side - I think I'm coping with my kids growing up waaaay too fast just fine this week!

....although last night, I took the preschool library story time schedule off the fridge, and...   *sobs*

Baby steps. Funny that I've been counting down the days till they are both away at college for YEARS. After last week, I'm pretty sure I'll be that super embarrassing crying mom, who needs to be escorted from the dorms.

In other news, I wrote a short story and entered it into a contest on Saturday, which is definitely where part of my stress comes from. Back at the tail end of December '11, when I was getting all motivated by New Year's resolutions, I went a little overboard and made one of my resolutions: Write 3 short stories, and post them publicly. I'd meant for this to be a way to get over my anxieties when it comes to people reading my creative stuffs, but if my zombie eye proves anything, it might be that this plan is CRAZY.

However, I really really really wanted to enter the Defy the Dark short story contest, and as the rules state that everyone's entry needs to be posted on Figment.com, ie, PUBLICLY, I decided to suck it up and be a big girl. Which means, if you're curious about what a short story by Marisa Hopkins might look like (besides the Princess and the Pea retelling on my sidebar) you can find my story HERE.

(after I posted my story, I found a few typos, which means GAAAAH!!! But as I can't fix them because of the rules of the contest, I shall pretend they don't exist.)

And, saving the best for last, my fabulous fashionista:

 Gracie made this shirt for her first day of school last week, and has since been on a shirt-making rampage.

I found an old size 4T long sleeved turtle neck the other day, and gave it to her to work her fashion design magic. She's really into scalloped edges, flowers, and the Eiffel Tower, so I helped her cut out the neck, scallop the bottom of the shirt, and shorten the sleeves (the shirt is really stretchy, so by cutting off the neck and sleeves, the 4T size fit her size 7 self  perfectly).

Then she helped me adhere iron-on adhesive to the backs of the fabric she cut, so I could sew it on the shirt.

Gracie has been talking about being a fashion designer since she was four. I keep expecting her interests to change... I mean, aren't kids supposed to change their When I Grow Up I Wanna Be plan at least 30 times before age five?

Not this 7-year-old. 

She's pretty cool, if I do say so myself. I think I'll have her design a few shirts for me!

Hope you have a fantastic week, folks! 

xoxo,

Setting the Ducklings Free

This week I've been suffering from PNS (Pre-empty Nest Syndrome).

As well as a few other maladies, such as:

Phantom Child Limbs - in which I am haunted by the feel of my toddlers gripping my hand as they toddle about, though when I check, there isn't a hand holding mine.

and Severed Apron Strings - I'm bleeding profusely. This one will definitely be the hardest to overcome.

But I just can't help it! We're halfway through the last week of summer for kids here in Texas, and next week my littlest duckling...

 ... is off to kindergarten!

I know, right? She's too little for kindergarten! She's just a BABY!

Her not-much-bigger sister is all ready for school, too. Yep, that's right.

SECOND GRADE.

*faints*

Are the babies suffering quite like I am?

Not so much. They're both ready to go off into the world without me.

Next week, I'm sure there will be a new malady in the mix. Some kind of Post-noise Shock from the severe silence brought on by the kids being in school for seven hours at a time. In the meantime, I'm just over here being sappy, and hugging my kids so much it's surely annoying them.

Hope you're all enjoying the last days of summer!

xoxo,

Saying Goodbye to Sweden

We've been back from our Grand European Adventure for a week and a half, now. Getting back in the swing of things after a trip is always so hard for me. My To-Do list seems a mile long, but all I want to do is catch up on my DVR (So You Think You Can Dance, how I missed you so!) and sleep. 

I never posted about the last days of our adventuring! (it's possible I'm still in denial about being back in the States)

I blogged a bit about Sweden previously, and our last days were just as great.

This lake was in our backyard, so the girls spent much time in the water and sand.

 

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We went to Furuvik Zoo!

...which has this chimp, who is the cutest thing ever (besides the chimp that walked around with a boot on his back, of course - he, too, was the cutest thing ever):

I was hoping to see the chimp Santino, up to his usual tricks (which include elaborate tourist snipe attacks, using rocks and sticks) but alas. He was too busy chilling with his chimp friends to attack the tourists.

We did get to see a bunch of lemurs up close. I didn't realize these guys are such homebodies they don't even need to be roped off from the world - their enclosure is open to all the trees in all of Sweden, yet they always stay near their little home at the zoo.

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We went to Stockholm!

Annelie pulled out all her runway supermodel poses...

... and photo-bombed her sister at every opportunity. 

(poor Gracie just wanted a photo with Stockholm Palace in the background, but Annelie busted out the Imma L'il Teapot pose just as I took the picture)

Stockholm Palace

The girls never got tired of seeing castles and palaces during our Grand European Adventure.

And I never got tired of taking pictures of statues - especially of lions. Gracie noticed, and by the end of our trip, she was pointing them out to me, to make sure I wouldn't miss a photo op.

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While we were in Stockholm, we went to the Vasa Museum, which was just so cool, even though my photographs fail to show the coolness. (my camera hated the dark, dark room)

The museum contained the Vasa, which sunk on her maiden voyage, not far from where she set sail, back in 1628. She was pulled back up in the early sixties, and now has her own wreckage museum. 

 

This Vasa is covered in lion carvings, including the figurehead, but you can't see it well in my photos. 

 

And the ship was once so colorful!! Here are some of the carvings from the above image showing their original painted glory. 

The girls thought the museum was cool but creepy. I have always had an obsession with ship wrecks, so I thought it was pretty darned awesome.

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The girls built boats!

 

And raced them.

 

(Annelie's won) 

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And we visited with friends I haven't seen in years and years (including a friend from my high school days, who I hadn't seen since I was 15) - always a great part of the trip!

It's been a little surreal, being back in the States. But it's been AMAZING coming home to my hubs after nine weeks away. The girls and I might have had the world's most awesome vacation, but it's good to be home with Will!

Watching the Olympics with the girls has been a fun experience - especially finishing the Olympics in America after watching the opening ceremony and first few days of the games with Swedish commentary.

The girls left the USA back in May, without much of a concept of foreign countries and the world we live in. During the Olympics, they saw Team Belgium, Great Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, all competing for gold with USA, and it was exciting for them, having just been to those countries. They wanted to cheer on everyone.

xoxo,