amelia studio

Two Candles

 
We celebrated my littlest girl's birthday a few days early in order to take advantage of a weekend day off. We don't do big parties very often here, so it was small and sweet. That's a lot of cake for so few people. The cake was supposed to look like a flower, but I think I could have put frosting on just about anything and she would have been happy. I think this dude (aka Buckle Face or Dr. Buckle) was the gift favorite. M is crazy for buckles. And there has been lots of dancing to "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," thanks to Auntie Angie's card. Lots.of.replays. Please no more Cyndi.

(Did you know my sister and I tried to meet Cyndi Lauper when we were little, so we waited for.ev.er for her after a concert? When she finally came out, her head was wrapped in a towel, and her giant bodyguards did a good job of pushing two little girls aside. It's not like there was a crowd. Just us little kids. Lame.)

Anyway, happy early birthday, Dolly Doll. We'll sing the birthday song again later this week.

A List

My Almost-Two-Year-Old's Various States of Dress and Mind While Shopping at a Local Children's Clothing Consignment Sale

1. wearing a sweet sundress with turquoise Mary Janes: happy
2. pulling sundress off after spying pretty clothes on racks: screaming
3. naked save for diaper and Mary Janes: happily wandering
4. no shoes, no clothes, yanking on a hot pink tutu: crying
5. wearing hot pink tutu (with tag) and Mary Janes, but no dress: smug
6. wearing hot pink tutu (while I remove tag): writhing and shrieking
7. topless tutu girl walking out the door: shrieking, "No go that way! NO!"

So, in exchange for a large bag of cheap winter clothes for my oldest child, I have allowed my youngest to break me. Discipline? What discipline?

You Know It's Spring When ...

You know it's spring when we break out the sidewalk chalk.

This photo is so my girls. E is deep in concentration, analyzing her drawing. C has her boots on the wrong feet because, well, her shoes are always on the wrong feet. And M takes her shoes and socks off at the first opportunity.

As you can see, we are very into unicorns and rainbows these days. And hearts. And princesses. Always the princesses.

I like the chalk, too, but I usually decorate the stepping stones.

Advent

We try to stretch out the Christmas season here a little bit by using an Advent calendar. We burn part of a candle down every night, and while that often calms the children a little, I'm hoping in future years that we can sit silently while it burns.

Here are some of our activities:

• Make paper snowflakes to put in the front windows. (This site was helpful to me.) 
• Get out the Christmas books and read some.
• Go get a Christmas tree.
• Decorate the Christmas tree.
• Pick out a toy for another child. (donation box at school)
• Make button wreath ornaments.
• Drive around and see Christmas lights in your pajamas.
• Paint your nails Christmas red and green.
• Roast marshmallows in the fireplace.
• Have a picnic under the Christmas tree.
• Have hot chocolate.
• Go meet your new baby cousin!
• Put out cookies for Santa and read “The Night Before Christmas.”

We also watched a number of Christmas TV specials, and some nights we just had some little letters to place on our calendar that spelled out "cheers."

I can't tell if this helps the children to have a more peaceful holiday by savoring the season, or if it just prolongs the over-excitement. Either way, they do seem to enjoy it.

Nonunion Shop

Get to work, childrens! That basement isn't going to remodel itself!

The walls are looking a little whiter (only primer so far), but things are still moving slowly. I tried to sand drywall the other day. Um, with a power sander. Shut up. I know. It had a little vacuum attachment thingee! Yeah, that didn't work at all. At least I had covered the ducts and doorway so I didn't destroy my family's lungs with all the dust.

(And no, the children are not regularly working in the basement. They spent about 10 minutes painting/dribbling paint on the floor.)

Daysleeper

Tomorrow is the first day of kindergarten. But today -- today is: "Star Wars," Play-Doh, pretending like we live in a house on a lake like the dad in "The Parent Trap," dancing to the electronic "club hits" on our new TV, laundry, coffee and cooler temperatures.

I've been all worried about how E will handle kindergarten, but apparently the whole thing is taking its toll on poor C. When E and I left to meet the kindergarten teacher yesterday, C watched us go with a trembling lower lip. She and E are such buddies. Then she fell asleep in her sprout sandwich at dinner. At first we thought she was pretending to sleep, but no, she just keeled over and started snoring. She is going to need some extra hugs tomorrow.

I Scream

It's back to business as usual around here. Habit is over, and so is Grandma and GG's visit. Both were great fun. And now it is hot, hot, hot. That Murray's looks pretty good about now. I'm a Chocolate Flake Fromage girl. On occasion, One Drunk Monk. What are you?

habit: july 4

We walked to the village festival down the street, then came home for ribs, corn on the cob, watermelon and strawberry shortcake. The day was full even without fireworks.

habit

habit: july 2

I awoke at 2 to find her standing in her crib. This morning I lowered the mattress to the toddler setting. When it was done, I was a little sad.

Habit: July 1

I think I'm going to take part in this month's open edition of Habit, a lovely group-blog that is one of my favorites. The goal: take one photo a day, post it the same day with a description in 30 words or less. I'm hoping this will help me get back into, well, the habit of taking photos and writing here. Here's #1:

I said I wasn't going to buy more of those fall-apart sparkle shoes. But they love them. So I did.