Dancing Queen

 

She is a Star, I tell ya.

A Day in the Life

The girls made a video the other day with a friend.  It's always good to be able to laugh at yourself.  Enjoy!

W.T.F!?!???

If you were the judge of a painting contest for 9 and 10 year old kids, and these paintings were the entries, how would you rank them?

Well, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't put them in the order above, first place at the top, fourth at the bottom as I placed them here. But that is exactly how the judges at the Alice Show ranked these works of art. WTF? E's is the last one, if you couldn't guess. And I am one indignant mother.

I can see the cat painting getting first, as art is a very subjective thing to judge and it was well executed. But the horse on the green ground getting second? Are you kidding me? The one they put third is a much better piece of art. And E's painting? Am I too close to the artist to be an effective judge? I don't think so, but you tell me. Maybe they thought she did not really do the painting.

When I asked about the judging, you know what they said? They asked me to be the art judge for next year! Ha! They also gave E two free passes to the rides at the show, which were worth much more than the cash prizes for the contest. Not much consolation.

New Look

A decided to change her look up. She went from this: To this:

Who took my baby away and replaced her with this beautiful young woman? Hmmm???

Oh. Right. I did, since I was holding the scissors when the transformation occurred. Have to remember that next time.

Lizards and Geckos and Spiders, Oh My!

More wildlife has been spotted. This guy was sitting on a rock in our front yard just sunning himself.

A identified him as a Bearded Dragon. E got within a couple of feet to get this picture. He just sat there.

Most nights, if you go in the girls bathroom and turn the light on, a little Gecko or two come to catch bugs attracted to the light through the window. The picture is not great because it was taken from inside the bathroom thru the wavy glass. But, the cuteness shines through! I mean look at those toes!

E just looooves her reptiles. This is one of the geckos outside during the day. Usually we don't see them then, but I was separating some flower pots out on the porch to do some planting and this little guy was hiding in one of them.

And last and most hair-raising of all sightings, was this:

A and I were at the garden center looking at plants, and she was squatting down by this urn, looking at some cacti. She turns her head and hello! Redback Spider, one foot from her head. Mama spider was very busy with her huge egg sack and was no threat to us, but still!

A's reaction? "I thought they were bigger." Someone is outgrowing her phobia, for sure. She couldn't even look at the Black Widows in Vegas.

Brilliant!

Look what we did last night: The results! One was bold: And the other subtle:

E got lots of compliments while out and about today. Even the lady at the MVR (like our DMV) when we were getting our driver's licences was impressed. Of course, her hair was purple, too!

A did not get much attention, but that is her style.

Happy Birthday to My Baby Girl!

I can't believe my baby is ten years old. We had a party for her on Saturday, with family and a few friends.

The cake was of her design and our execution (she helped to mix the icing colors and oversaw each and every detail on the girl!):

One of her gifts was a horseback riding lesson from our polo playing friend Anne.

She got to brush and tack the horse and lead her out to the pasture to ride:

She told me this was the best birthday gift ever! I see more riding of horses in our future...

Talent

I feel like I give E short shrift here. Her gifts sometimes take a back seat to her sister's. Not because they are less wonderful, but because I have a hard time pinning them down and talking about them here on the blog. You really have to be in her presence to get the full effect. As Amy Steinberg said to me, she is a Super Star.

However, I can share one of her gifts, with her permission. She is a budding artist, anime style. There is not much paper around here that is safe from her pencils and markers! She even drew a picture on a cloth baby diaper at the park last week, when no one had any paper for her and she wanted to draw. Our friends went home with an E original to cover the baby's bottom with!

Without further ado, E's art:

Five Things

This picture tells so many stories:

1. A cut her hair the other day. Actually, I did the cutting, but she requested it. The reason? The Gulf oil spill. What? Go here to see what the heck I am talking about. E also contributed a slight trimmings worth. Oh, and I will be chopping my locks off soon, too.

2. I sewed the skirts and headbands that the girls are modeling in the shot above. A is all about the skirts lately. She was happy to finally get to wear something made out of that lovely paisley we got, oh, forever ago. E had to get in on the action, too. That fabric was bought even more forever ago, like when I was just out of college.

3. The dirt they are standing on had just been delivered. It will go to many projects, first of which is to grade the ground in our patio area, now that the stones are moved to make a walkway from driveway to house (picture soon). Then it will fill more raised beds in the garden. Yes, I got impatient waiting for time to sift rocks out of our very rocky soil and for compost to be ready to amend the beds with. I might have to get more. It is very lovely dirt that is fun to stick your feet in and climb up on. And it will save me time.

4. Where are my babies? Who replaced them with long legged beauties who are waaaay too old to have come from my womb? Am I really old enough to have kids that big? Don't answer that.

5. I love that tree. When the afternoon sun comes streaming through it, as it does above, my heart about bursts with the beauty of it all and I have to pinch myself to see if I really do live here and get to look at that tree every day if I want to. Then the mosquitoes start biting and I wake up.

The end.

On a Roll

Yeah, I can do pictures! We just did a little photo shoot with the girls and this one is my favorite. My baby, all grown up!

She's a Finalist!!!

We just checked and found out that A's book has made it to the finalist circle on the Book Arts Bash novel writing contest!!!! I'm so excited and proud of her. Now, she has a one in five chance of winning her age category and a three in five chance of getting critiques from literary agents. We only have to wait for April 1st to find out how she did. Yikes, I can't wait!

Novel Idea

Hey, I gotta brag on my kid for a second here. A has been writing a book for the past year or so and I think it is pretty darn good. Anyway, she just entered it into a novel writing contest for homeschoolers. This is it here. She is pretty darn excited about this. She does not even care about the money, all she wants is the critiques. She told me she wants to be on the NYT bestseller list someday. Wish her luck!


She gave me permission to post the first chapter here. I think she wants to put it up on her blog, too, sometime soon.

BLAZE

CHAPTER 1

The young rabbit hopped along, her blue pelt shining elegantly in the sunlight as she passed through patches. The octagon-shaped diamond swung on its silver chain around her neck. Her mind was focused on two things: harvesting whatever was edible, and not getting caught, unarmed, by a wolf – she had had far too much experience with the creatures and bore a scar to prove it. A long time ago she had been cornered by a young, although quite fierce, wolf; she had taken a leap to the side, but the wolf had turned in time to slash her hip before she could fully escape.

Blaze hurried forward as she spotted a large raspberry bush. A small leather pouch was attached to her shoulders and her back with straps, the pouch itself secured to her underbelly, enabling her to stand on her hind paws and pick fruit. She was lucky to have one – only few rabbit requested that their pelt be made into leather for family members to use. Studying her paws as she thought of her older brother, she occupied herself with filling the pouch to the brim with raspberries.


As she hopped off to the edge of the trees, she had the intention of visiting Fleur’s shop. The ferns and other forest foliage decreased as Blaze entered the vast meadow in which most of her kind dwelled. She passed various types of flowers – tall cosmos, mallow, phlox and many other late-summer plants. Her eyes surveyed the area, taking in the beautiful plants and lush grass that cushioned her paws. She drew nearer to Fleur’s burrow with the surrounding sunflowers that now stood at their full height; the wide variety of herbs that grew underneath them. Blaze finally reached the entrance to the shop. Before going in, she stood on her hind paws, but it was no use. She had wanted to see if the seeds on the sunflowers were ready to be harvested. Instead she let her front paws retreat to the ground as she sniffed at a little plant with many tiny green leaves. Closing her eyes, she murmured "Mmmmmm, mint…"

Entering the burrow, where she was not surprised, for she had been there many times before, to find that it the hole was rather steep. She skidded downwards until it flattened out and stopped before a small wood door, the perfect size for a rabbit. Blaze put a paw on the knocker, and then pulled it back. Something was there that she hadn’t noticed before. A rose carved into the center of the wooden knocker. The rabbit knocked, a sense of unease beginning to form inside of her; although there was no reason to be afraid of Fleur. She was friendly, wise, and the healer of all the wounded rabbits in the meadow.


"Come in."

Blaze slowly opened the door to spot Fleur sitting calmly at her table, her tortoiseshell fur as sleek as ever. She was wearing the silver rose charm on a chain around her neck. Like all rabbits, Blaze and Fleur always had a unique accessory about their bodies that described their names. Her full name was Diamond Blaze, but of course not all rabbits had full names.


"Ah, Blaze. How may I help you?" said Fleur in a soft and reassuring voice. Blaze guessed that this was the tone she used to calm hysterical patients. She carefully leapt out of her chair and took a step forward.

She blinked as she realized the herbalist was waiting for an answer. "Uh, I need – can I have some honeysuckle nectar, please?"


Without a word, Fleur set off for her cabinets, which held vials of strange things even Blaze could not name. She heard the quiet chime-like clank of glass against glass. Soon the sounds stopped; the padding of paws floated to her ears. The tortoiseshell doe hopped back into the room a few moments later. Holding up a clear vial, which at first seemed empty, she put it up to a small window that had bright sunlight flowing through it like water. Now it seemed to be filled with a soft yellow substance.

"There you are, the nectar. Now, are you trading or buying?" Fleur asked.

"Trading," she answered politely. She opened the flap of her pouch to reveal the raspberries and gestured towards them with a paw. Fleur nodded and said, "Very well. That will be fourteen berries, please. I worked hard for that little vial – it’s very hard to harvest honeysuckle nect –"


Fleur was interrupted by the sound of two pairs of paws as they scrambled frantically down the burrow and hurriedly to the door. Blaze half expected that the rabbits would knock, but instead the door was thrown open, and there stood Ruby and Stormsong.
**********
Voila! Want to read more, don't you?

I Tried!

This is what happens when I try to share my daughters beautiful singing with the world. I have to be sneaky about it because they are resistant to the idea of singing in front of anyone but their mother, pretty much. Right before I got the camera out, they were singing loudly and beautifully together, I swear! It is almost like they had eyes in the back of their heads. Or they turn into singing chipmunks...

She's Eleven!!

Happy Birthday
to my sweet,
funny,
silly,
caring,
goofy,
thoughtful,
smart,
beautiful,
talented,
quirky, loving, wonderful big girl!
Thanks for making my last eleven years so amazing!

Photo Shoot

Today, A wanted to do up her eyes with makeup, and after a failed attempt, she had me do it. Then we went outside and took some pictures. I think I have a 16 year old!





Isn't she gorgeous!?

Stel-laaaaa!!!

Meet Stella:

She is a black French Angora rabbit, eight weeks old.

This is how happy we are that she is finally here:

Even the kitty is happy-she thinks she has been given a big snack to catch, if she can only figure out how to get in that cage. This is Stella's home:

Did I mention how happy someone is?

A is soooo excited to have her bunny. And I am so proud of her for all the research and prep she has done to get ready, and for how nonchalantly she handed over the cash to pay for both the bunny and all her set up. I wanted her to have full ownership of this venture, and if she gets it to the money making stage with the fiber and/or with breeding, she gets to own all the profits. Or she gets to learn about how hard it is to make a profit. Either way, it will be a great life learning experience. And in the meantime, we get to pet a soft sweet little bunny and enjoy her no matter what the profits!! Oh, and did I mention the poop? She makes quite a lot of it. It will make my garden very happy. Yay for poop!

Check This Out!

A has revamped her blog. She is very much into writing right now and decided to put her writings on her blog. She was very excited when she thought of doing that! Anyway, I am a very proud Mama and bid you to go take a look, here.

Freedom is the Answer

So, here is how it went, Pat. :-)

We got there too late to hear Ron Paul speak, but it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed listening to the other speakers and walking around talking to the other rally attendees. There are no really good videos of the event, but the one below was pretty cool. Watch it and you'll understand the title of this post.

The girls had fun collecting stickers and buttons and stuff people were giving away to "ron paul" themselves, as A calls it when she shows her political colors. She mentioned several times that she wished she was 18 so she could vote.

We only stayed for a couple of hours, as E had had enough. I'm glad we went, but it was a bit frustrating feeling like we were preaching to the choir. No major news coverage, of course. It was really nice to feel a part of something so important and exciting as the r3volution. I only hope it grows and more and more people wake up to what is happening to our freedoms here in America, and join us before it is too late to do anything about it.

I hope the organizers of the next event, the Revolution March, do a better job promoting it. There needs to be more people there!

We're Heeeere!

Today we arrived at our new home. And it only took 7 days of driving to get here! We stopped in AL to visit C's family for a day, in a change of our original plans to ski in CO. Mother Nature did not like that plan, and we benefitted from taking the southern route across the country. Tomorrow we prep the house for the arrival of all our stuff on Monday. And Tuesday we will spend our first night in our new home. I can't wait for my bed!! The cat was amazingly great as a road tripping feline and she is settled in the house for the night, glad not to see the cat carrier or car again. The girls were great travelers, as well, with E only complaining about being bored about 50 times. Seriously, we had a good trip. We had fun collecting keychains from the states we passed through and learning how to spell them all. A learned to spell Mississippi as we were crossing the river into Memphis! We really know how to make learning relevant! ;-)

I miss everyone we left behind and E has to call all her friends every day to tell them she misses them. I don't really want to think about how I am going to feel when I no longer have so much to do to get settled in. :-(

I'll be back with pictures and more thoughts after I get my computer set up in the house. Later alligators!

And Away She Goes

My baby girl rode a bike for the first time today. A had been very hesitant about taking the training wheels off of her bike and we did not push it. We knew she would ride when she was ready and had no reason to force the issue. So, when she wanted to go to the park and try to ride without training wheels, we went. Daddy held on and ran alongside for a minute and then let go. And off she went, like she had been riding a bike all her life! She was one very excited girl, exclaiming, "That was easy!" She rode all the way home, sans training wheels and now wants to ride her bike everyday. I love how when you wait for when they are ready, they are ready and learning is effortless.