Fashion show! Fashion show! Fashion show at lunch!

Hailey has been asking me for a while if we could get out my old prom dresses and look at them.  We had a stormy day last week that she figured was the perfect time to do it.

 

So we did and she was thrilled.  This green one was her favorite.  This one was actually not a prom dress but a bridesmaid dress from my cousin's wedding.  She loved the green lace.

 

Luckily the weather cleared up enough that we could step outside under cover of the garage for some nicely lit photos.  The background though...not so nice.   Then again, what girl doesn't want a blow up unicorn in the background while she is trying on "princess" gowns?

She is so funny.  While we were looking at the photos she was in awe of how beautiful her hair looked.  "Mom!  We didn't comb it or ANYTHING!  Look how beautiful it is!"

I should have kept the other side of the garage shut because once I opened it - the whole garage mess background came alive. 

We were laughing at how the dresses all had built in boning that made her look quite voluptuous. 

It was fun to look through the old dresses.  I can't believe I was ever that tiny.  She loved them all and told me so can't wait to wear them to her own dances.  Let's hope she keeps that mind set!

My Pranksters

Hailey was so excited about April Fool's Day this year.  She kept telling me last night that she knew how to pull off the best prank and I have to say she did manage a pretty good one.  And she even did it all on her own. 

Sometime last night she poured three bowls of cereal with milk, plopped in a spoon and put them in the freezer overnight.  She was the first one up and downstairs (you will wonder how in a minute) with her prank all set out on the counter and ready to go. 

Unfortunately none of us really eat cereal in the morning so we were kind of on to her from the get go.  But still a stellar effort and an amazingly effective prank.

My parenthesis above have to do with this next tidbit. 

I woke up early this morning - four o'clock to be precise - by the sound of Evan's alarm clock going off.  I figured he set it wrong - he has been setting it to get up early in preparation for middle school next year - he's a planner.  I didn't even think it would wake him up and I would have to get up and shut it off, but he heard it and tended to it.  I started to fall back asleep but kept on hearing strange sounds like someone was up and about.  My thinking was made more valid by the fact that the cat who is usually curled up next to my body sleeping was alert and at the ready to protect me - his favorite person in the family.   I listened for a few more minutes and continued to hear sounds of movement and activity.   I figured that Evan's alarm woke him up and he discovered that he had an accident and was most likely changing pajamas and maybe trying to strip his bed. 

I hauled myself out of bed and made my way to his room where I saw his door was closed but there was light around it.  I knocked and opened the door.  There were Evan and Hailey sitting on his bed cutting up a cardboard shoe box.  I almost thought I was dreaming.  I asked them if they knew that it was four thirty in the morning and Evan replied "Happy April Fool's Day?".  I told them they had to go back to bed or they were going to be exhausted when it was time to get up.  I still don't know what they were doing.  Perhaps another prank that we will find out later?  Or maybe just the fact that they got me out of bed at four in the morning.  Crazy kids!

A blast from the past

My mom has been doing some cleaning and purging at her house and while she was at it she found a couple of gems that she had saved for many moons.

 

I can remember the birthday like it was yesterday (I just don't remember how old I was - I think ten...) anyway...we were celebrating my birthday at Elks Park where we spent a lot of time in those days because my Grandparents kept their trailer in the campground.  I was opening my gifts in the trailer - on one of the back beds- and was surrounded by my sister and my cousins Rich and Kelly.   I am sure my mom was in there as well - probably taking pictures and not scrunched up on the mattress with the rest of us.  I opened my gifts and one of them was the Izod outfit that I had wanted desperately.

 

 

Here it is in all its former glory.  She is rockin' that thing!  I can't wait until summer because forget sexy - someone is gonna be bringing Izod back!

 

I just wish I knew what happened to the matching pullover windbreaker that went with it.  That thing was the bomb diggity!

As if my favorite childhood outfit was not enough for one day, later that afternoon Evan and Hailey sat for hours with scissors, tape and cardboard boxes and fashioned up their own little airplanes.  I couldn't help be reminded of my sister and I doing the same thing with our "funky chicken mobile". 

Childhood and memories are fun!

Springle

Hailey has gotten such a kick out of the antics of Springle our elf this year.  Now that the kids are old enough to know better than to touch him - he can hang out in low spaces and do some funny stuff.

 

 

I totally cracked up after the kids had left for school and I discovered that Hailey had answered Springle's plea to "be good" written in chocolate chips with her own "ok" spelled out in Cheerios. 

I love this time of year.

Out of the backpack

I am feeling extremely overwhelmed these days.  If you could see our calendar you wouldn't need to ask why.  Three kids going three different places at once can do that to you.  I am tired.  Tired of the rain.  Tired of going nonstop.  Tired of adding commitments.  There isn't an end in sight, but I do think seeing the sun would help.  

On crazy days sometimes it just takes pulling a drawing or piece of writing out of the kid backpacks to make me smile.  The past week I have found some gems. 

The teacher gives them the starter phrase...Over spring break ...I goed to my cousins house and my cabin.

"Cabin" or at least the start of it, was on the back of the sheet all by itself.

This was a picture on the back of one of her worksheets.  I love how she is walking Dickens and I love the detail with his claws.  She prides herself in knowing how to spell Evan, but Spencer alludes her - he is always represented with only an "s".

Oh the confusion between a "b" and a "d".   I can ride my bike.  I can ride my scooter.  I love how she spelled "ride" as "rib".  I love how she spelled scooter.

The rest of the drawings were on a sheet that Evan brought home listing core Democratic values.  I love his drawings.  I feel like my kids are really good at sketching and coloring pictures.  Maybe I am just biased and admittedly, I don't see a lot of other work, but I still think they are pretty awesome.

I love the crack in the Liberty Bell.

This one cracked me up.  I don't really know if it is offensive or not.

This one made me laugh as well.  The truth from our government.. I broke it...GRRR.

I don't know what this is all about. It kind of reminds me of the Terminator with the red cyborg eye.

I loved this one with the judge and his powdered wig sitting behind the desk.


I have lots to post about our weekend away and Cub Scout stuff, but I need to get organized around here first.  We have another busy night around here with baseball practice and a parents meeting at the middle school.  GASP!

Brutally honest

One of the best and (sometimes worst) things about kids is their complete honesty.  I had another example of that today.

I brought my newly purchased Goodwill side table in from the garage and set it up in the spot where I knew I wanted to put it.  It is stained wood and nicked up, but nothing a little TLC can't fix and I am super excited about it.   Six dollars.  You just can't go wrong.  When I set it in place Evan turned away from his Wii game and said "That looks good!"  I told him I agreed and then asked him if he thought I should paint it reliable black or go a little wild with a burnt orange or a muted red or something.   "Do what you want," he replied.  "I am not really into this conversation anymore."  At least he didn't just ignore me.

Another much less flattering example happened a few days before school got out for the boys.  Hailey and I were walking home from a trip to the beach and one of our neighbors drove by in a convertible and waved out the window.  I waved back and Hailey asked me who I was waving to.  I told her it was her "big girl" friend Casey's mom. 

Hailey: She looks cool in that cool car doesn't she?

Me:  Yeah, I said she does look cool.  Then I started signing to the tune of "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne - "Casey's mom has got it going on..."

She thought that song was about the best thing she ever heard so I started singing again but this time I changed the words to "Hailey's mom has got it going on"

Then Hailey joined in the singing with her own version:  "Hailey's mom has got to go on a diet!"

See what I mean?  Brutal honesty.  She is lucky I didn't drop her off at Casey's house to live.

Out of hiding

Hailey's doll - Mirabel Baby - has been missing for quite a while. Every time I would ask her where she was she would get a weird look on her face and tell me that she didn't know. I wasn't too concerned about it. I figured she was somewhere in the wreckage of the tornado that goes through our basement on a weekly basis.

Today as I was trying to put a dent into cleaning the office, I found her shoved into a corner under the work table. I pulled her out and immediately realized the reason for the weird look on Hailey's face.

Apparently she thought Mirabel Baby needed to wear some make up since she was growing up. Luckily the "make up" came off without too much effort and she has promised to not color or write on her dolls anymore.

I tell you, that girl...I know she is not too into dolls, but I always thought that it would be her brothers destroying her stuff.

Helper

I got home from running some errands yesterday evening and discovered the Hailey had decided to give me a hand pricing items for our garage sale. I guess the tractor beam-ish pull of the little green price tag stickers sitting out was just too much for her to resist.

Fifteen dollars for that glass candle holder - a good deal don't you think? The copper sculptures had stickers that said fifty and twenty five percent off on them. Mind you they didn't say fifty or twenty five percent off of what though. My favorite was the dog coffee mug with the sticker on it that said "Make offer".

Looks like some good prices for some pumpkin sippy cups that will most likely find their way into the garbage can late Saturday afternoon.

She obviously thinks her little pink potty holds great value with a sticker price of twenty dollars. The other potty underneath it is only worth a dollar to her.

These three tables hold almost every item of clothing I have acquired for my boys - at least the items from birth to five years old. I saved some of my favorite things and am down to one bin full instead of ten. It hasn't been quite as hard to get rid of these things as I feared it would be. Of course I am sort of sporting the Scarlett O'Hara attitude right now and not really thinking about it too much as I do it. This weekend when people start buying the stuff, it might be harder. Especially if they plan on dressing animals in it. Last year at my garage sale I had a woman that bought a bunch of my baby blankets. Not my favorite blankets, ones that had mostly been in the car or diaper bags for emergencies and whatnot. Anyway when she came up to pay me she told me how excited she was to have them because they would be perfect for her ferrets. I seriously could not even think about ferrets using blankets that I had wrapped my kids in without wanting to cry. I'm not going to think about that today, I'll think about that tomorrow.

Anyway, back to my little helper. I should have known something was up with her last night when she didn't get out of bed her normal thirty five times before falling asleep. She only got up once and came downstairs and informed us that she couldn't go to sleep because she was Princess Rockstar.

I swear this girl has more energy than the other four of us combined! Princess Rockstar indeed!