Random Thoughts

I realized that I have neglected my blogging this month. Too many Thanksgiving and Christmas preparations. Today I'm home with two sick children so I thought I would mention a couple of things in no specific order.

First of all, we had our children's conferences at school last week. One thing that struck me as sort of funny...I got the same comment from my daughter's third grade teacher in regards to her writing as I have made about many of Jodi Picoult's books. She spends a lot of time on the beginning and middle developing the story and then hurries through the ending.

Second, during my daughter's last bought of illness, her aunt was kind enough to drop off a gift for her. A Calvin and Hobbes collection. I used to have the same exact book and had forgotton how funny it is. It still holds up. My daugther is loving it. What is interesting is that my son had a hard time understanding it. When I explained that Hobbes is Calvin's stuffed animal and that when no one is around he comes to life. My son wanted to know if he really came to life. I explained he does in Calvin's imagination. I'm still not sure if he understands it.

Yesterday my daughter asked me if Santa is real. We have been struggling with this concept for some time now. I'm getting the feeling she's not quite ready to except the truth. I asked her what she thought. She's not sure, but a in a book she's reading for school, Superfudge, one of the characters makes mention that there is no Santa Claus. (On a sidenote: Damn you Judy Blume! Just one of the many mysteries she may be uncovering for my daugther over the next few years. No wonder my mom didn't want me to read Forever.) So I asked her if there was no Santa, who she thought brought the presents. She said, "You" but then I think she quickly wished she hadn't. I wonder if she's worried that if I thought she thought there was no Santa, he would stop coming. That's pretty much where the conversation stopped.

This is a hard transition for us all. It's a difficult act to keep up. The older they get, the more you feel like you're being really dishonest with them. What I consider an ideal situation at this point would be that the kids knew the truth, would not be completely devastated by it (e.g. Aunt Sue) and continue to enjoy the excitement of waking up on Christmas morning to the surprises under the tree...no matter who brings them.

Giving Thanks

This lovable bird was created by my daughter in pre-school
and consists of her foot and hand prints. How great is this!?

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. What I love about this holiday is that even though there's anticipation and a big build up, I don't have this huge feeling of let down when it's over.

This year was a year of firsts for us. It is the first year my in-laws hosted Thanksgiving on the Sunday before. It was so successful that I think it left us wondering why we didn't think of it sooner. Having only one home to go to on Thanksgiving freed my husband and I up to actually do the cooking, so it was the first year that I made a turkey. We prepared all the food and had the Thanksgiving feast with my family at my parent's house. Since my in-laws were now free, they joined us. This is the first Thanksgiving Day that my mother and mother-in law didn't have to cook.

This is the first year since my kids were born that we were able to participate in the after dinner family game. We played a game called Dictionary (similar to the board game Balderdash). My kids love this game and we had a lot of laughs.

All in all, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving and I am so thankful for the people in my life who I was able to share this holiday with.

Can You Believe They Even Make That? Volume 2

I'm sure there are those of you out there who are laughing at my joy in the discovery of HeatnBond. I'm sure it has been around for a long time. For me, it is yet another invention which has prolonged my absolute need of a sewing machine (which as a side note, I still really want for Christmas this year...hint hint.)

Let me tell you how I stumbled upon this gem. I recently bought the latest book by Angry Chicken blogger Amy Karol called Bend the Rules with Fabric. And she has some projects for which HeatnBond is a necessary supply.

Last week I went to a planning meeting at our school for High Interest Day. It is an annual event run by the PTA in which the kids can sign up and attend short little workshops. They were looking for new ideas and I thought the kids could make appliques and decorate shirts. The idea was met with much enthusiasm, so I decided I better make sure it would work.

I purchased some t-shirts at Old Navy, a packet of HeatnBond, and some fabric. Here are the fruits of my labor...

Floral appliques created from floral fabric.
This is the front of the shirt.

This is the back tag.

For this applique I created a pattern
from a piece of penguin clip art.
It's three separate pieces of fabric
(black, white, and orange) with
black button eyes. Guess who's getting
it for Christmas?!

I'm so excited to do more. If I had a sewing machine I would go around and sew the edges which gives another look. Tired of receiving purses and scarves from me for presents? I see a lot of hand towels and t-shirts in my gift giving future!

All Hallows Eve

Another successful Halloween has come and gone here in Wauwatosa. My daughter dressed as a Titanic survivor. It was one of those costumes that took a little explaining, but she came up with it all on her own and that's half the fun of it. Plus, I was pleased that it beat out her first choice which was a "popular girl". I can't even begin to imagine what that would have looked like.

2008 monkey costume

My son had a difficult time deciding because he knew it would be hard to top last years monkey costume. So this year he came up with a twist on the classic. He decided to be a circus monkey with cymbals and all. The best part about the costume was how he and his dad figured out a way to use it to get more candy. Once he felt the candy drop in his bag he would crash his cymbals like mad. Most people confused this as his way of saying thank you until his friend Andrew (dressed as a Klement's Polish Sausage Racer) would tell them that it meant he wanted more candy. Needless to say, he brought in quite a haul.

2009 monkey costume

In order to decorate our house this year, my daughter made halloween masks and costumes for many of her stuffed toys. They all lined the mantle and were the funniest thing I have ever seen.

masked menagerie on the mantle

Now most of you who know my daughter know of her love of penguins and she has quite a collection of them. However, her first and real true love is the doll her grandparents brought back from France when she was only months old. Her commercially given name is Becassine but we refer to her simply as Baby. For whatever reason my daughter bonded with that doll from the get go. When we look back and photos and video, she is never far away. I became concerned that if something ever happened to her we would be in real trouble, so the next time my in-laws went to France I asked them to get another doll...exactly the same so we would have a back-up.

We introduced the new doll into the mix and even though my daughter was very young, she knew the difference. Eventually she would come to be known as Friend. And would never serve as a replacement for Baby. To this day Friend remains as pristine as the day we got her.

Baby and Friend

As constant companion, Baby has become very worn. As amateur seamstress, I have tried to mend her as best I can and have quietly referred to her now as FrankenBecassine. While Baby always holds a place of honor in bed with my daughter at night, I often find Friend in the bottom of the stuffed animal basket.

This favoritism has carried through to the Halloween costumes created this year. While Baby was crowned the Prom Queen, Friend looked something like the Unknown Comic with a white mask with holes punched out for the eyes.

Baby and Friend

All the stuffed toys have since taken their places back in my daughter's room and today I am packing away all the other decorations and monkey costume until next year. How will we ever top the circus monkey and the prom queen?