The Queen

Recently, Anna's second grade class had to do a book report on a famous person. The children were given a list of characters to choose from and Anna picked Queen Elizabeth I. I must say that I am super impressed with the fact that her class often requires the students to orally present poems and book reports.  What great public speaking practice at an age where they don't yet know to be shy in front of a group.  I'll be forty this year and I shake like a leaf if I have to get up and speak.  Anyway, we planned to order the Elizabeth I costume from Chasing Fireflies but they no longer had the costume in stock, only the wig.  We sent off for the wig and then I attempted to make the dress myself.

I used upholstery fabric which I knew wasn't the most brilliant idea but I thought I could pull it off.  I ended up having to go to a friend that owns an alteration shop and ask for help when attaching the skirt to the bodice as my sewing machine just couldn't cut it.  To embellish, we recycled some old costume jewelry and clipped one strand to remove the pearls to use on the bodice.  The day of the presentation, the lace stood up more like an Elizabethan ruff but unfortunately seemed to lose its luster once I put in a bag to transport it.

When I finished the dress, it really needed a hoopskirt to make it look the part.  I was out of time and so the day before her presentation, I googled "hoop skirt tutorial" and came across the best site called Funky Horror.  She called her tutorial "How to make a cheap, fast hoopskirt (that doesn't suck). It was just what I needed.  The skirt turned out to be so easy.  It was just a strip of muslin with wide ribbon sewn across it to make casings that held soaker hose (like you use in your garden).  Easy and affordable!

I wonder if the real Elizabeth had this many freckles.

I was so proud of our little girl on the day of the presentation.  She walked up there like it was just another day and gave her speech as if she were the real Queen Elizabeth.  It was incredibly sweet.  I have it on video but am apparently too technologically inept to get it from my video camera onto the computer.  Hopefully, I can get it figured out in the next few days to share with you. 

All I Want For Christmas...

Well, my darling little Anna has had quite a big week.  On Tuesday she learned to ride her bike without training wheels.  She told me, "It only took me two days!!"  "And 6 months!", I said.  Up until this week, she was so afraid for Doug to let go of her and kept yelping anytime he made a move to let her give it a go on her own.  He told both girls they could get new bikes for Christmas if Anna would learn to ride.  I guess she was finally ready and when she climbed on that afternoon, she was determined to make it happen.

                                                                               

He practically had to carry her in at the end of the day because she didn't want to stop riding!  We're so proud of her and she is extremely proud of herself.  She's having a blast!

                                                                               
Anna has always had a pretty little smile.  Once she started losing teeth though, things got a bit wonky.  Her top two teeth have been loose for a few weeks now.  One of them had even started to turn at a very awkward angle but she refused to work on it  because it felt tender and could "cause blood".

So last night, Jacob, Anna, and I were lying in bed and Jacob was bobbing his head back and forth.  He whacked me in the nose and then got Anna in the mouth.  She and I both started crying but then she said, "Oh my gosh, LOOK!"  Her mouth was bleeding profusely and she got a bit hysterical.  I got her to the bathroom where she froze when she saw the blood.  We washed her mouth out with her crying the whole time.  We finally realized it was her tooth that was bleeding and she said, "Gebit be a baber towel und I try to bull it" as she wouldn't close her mouth to talk because of the blood.  I gave her one and she yanked one time and out one top tooth came.  She did a little dance and we all laughed and she started cleaning herself up.  It was then that she said, "Oh mah goshb, it still beeding howwiblee!"  I gave her another piece of paper towel and she pulled out the second top tooth to reveal this, her new lovely smile.

She was so excited and kept laughing.  She immediately went and got her tooth fairy pillow, excited at the prospect of such a huge windfall...two teeth in one night.  Surely, the tooth fairy must offer a bonus for that!!

Gracie's Round-Up

This summer the girls attended a drama and music camp at a local church.  The week long seminar culminated in a show called "Gracie's Round-Up".  The girls had so much fun and made a lot of new friends.  The kids were divided by grade and there were about 66 kids in all.  Anna was chosen to be one of the three Gracies in the production and Lauren was picked as "kid #2".  As they both had speaking parts, I was so incredibly nervous that Sunday morning.  They both pulled it off and acted like it was no big deal while their mom was a melting lump of worry about to pass out in the audience.  It was amazing how relieved I felt when they each said their lines and I could go back to just enjoying the show.  

Beau:  Ms. Gracie?
Anna (as Gracie):  Yes, Mr. Beau Vine, one of my favorite cowpokes of all time.

Beau:  I, uh, I uh seem to have lost about 1,000 of your cows.
Anna:  Oh my, 1,000 cows!!
Beau:  I'll do anything, Ms. Gracie.  Be patient. If I save my money for a year, I can buy a cow.  That cow will have babies and then those babies will have babies.  In just 122 years, I'll be able to pay you back.
Anna:  Here's what I'm going to do.  I'm going to tell myself, "Gracie, Beau here is a man in need of a second chance." Then I'm going to tell myself, "Self, it's true alright, here's a man in need of some help and you're the one who is going to give it to him, Gracie Goodheart."  Then I'm going to have a laugh with myself and say that you can go Beau, your debt is forgiven.

Beau:  What??  You mean, I don't have to pay back the 1,000 cows?
Anna:  How could you ever do it?  No sense even trying.  Just see to it that you spread some of this kindness to your fellow cowpokes, that would make things better around this ranch of mine.

Next scene:
(Beau is asking the sheriff to arrest his cousin for not paying him back a dozen eggs he borrowed.)
Beau: Tell 'em Ms. Gracie, we don't steal around here on the ranch!
Anna: You good for nothin' cowpoke!
Beau:  Heehee!
Anna:  I'm talking to you, Beau.  Couldn't you have forgiven Luke his debt of a dozen eggs, just like you were forgiven 1,000 head of cattle?  If you won't forgive your cousin, I won't forgive you either.  Sheriff, take this man away until he's had a change of heart.

Singing "Yahoooo, this is Gracie's Round-Up."

Lauren's class:
A different Gracie:  What do you want to be?
Lauren (as Kid #2):  I want to be a police girl (it was police officer but she improvised. :)

Later in the same scene:

Kid #4:  They certainly are a good looking group of people.

Lauren:  They might even get other people to come to your ranch. 

Singing "Please don't make me a hobo!"

We were so proud of both of them.  They just blew me away with their confidence. ( Public speaking is not one of their Mommy's favorite things to do. )  Daddy had little vases with flowers for both of them for after their performance.  We'll definitely try something like this again next summer.  It was a ton of fun for the girls and I had a week's worth of free mornings to complete our 2009 family album.  Win-Win for everyone! 

And they all lived happily ever after...

Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess;

but she would have to be a real princess.

He travelled all over the world to find one,

but nowhere could he get what he wanted.

There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones.

 There was always something about them that was not as it should be.

So he came home again and was sad,

for he would have liked very much to have a real princess.

One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and lightning,

 and the rain poured down in torrents.

Suddenly a knocking was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it.

It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate.

But, good gracious! what a sight the rain and the wind had made her look.

The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that she was a real princess.

 Well, we'll soon find that out, thought the old queen.

But she said nothing, went into the bed-room,

took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom;

then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea,

and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses.

On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was asked how she had slept.

"Oh, very badly!" said she. "I have scarcely closed my eyes all night.

Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, so that I am black and blue all over my body. It's horrible!"

Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds.

Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.

So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a real princess; and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be seen, if no one has stolen it.

There, that is a true story.

On Saturday, we celebrated Anna's 7th birthday with a Princess and the Pea pajama party at Bounce U.  All the kids came in their jammies and we had such a good time.  Anna was so excited and said it was the best birthday she'd ever had.  You have to love her enthusiasm...according to her every party we have is always the best ever!  I always like to have our parties here at the house but Anna wanted to invite her entire class and I was worried we might be too crowded here at home.  I still wanted to decorate...you know I like to decorate.  So,  I made or attempted to make tablecloths to look like the stacked mattresses from the story.  I measured the tables at Bounce U and thought I could whip something up quickly...as I've mentioned before, it always seems like a piece of cake in my head.  It's never "that easy" once I sit down to make it happen.  I thought I'd start with jammie bottoms for Anna and so I made her ruffled pants.  I then convinced Doug we needed to take our dresser along with us to Bounce U to put the cake and pea on....he must love me a lot because I also convinced him we needed to paint it and add pea like knobs the morning of the party. 

 I'm telling ya....he's definitely a keeper!  I also made a chalkboard (although not a very good one-I must have picked up the wrong type of wood) for an open frame to display on an easel with part of the story written on it. 

There weren't many surfaces for display at the bounce house and so it stayed behind.  I also had printed the story in sections on cards that I wanted to hang with ribbons from white balloons.  I meant for there to only be one card with the line about the prince marrying the princess and that card was to be suspended from the only green balloon in the room. I ran out of time and didn't get my balloons. :(  I still think the tablecloths turned out cute though

and Anna loved the crown on her "pea" cake. 

When all was said and done, the prince had his princess, Anna had her party, I had resolved to never attempt to make any more tablecloths to fit tables that are 145.5 inches long and we all lived happily ever after.  The end.

Here are a few more shots from the party:

Once Upon A Time

Whew! One insanely gorgeous wedding down, one birthday party to go. Yesterday Trish and I had the chance to photograph an unbelievable wedding. The bride was beautiful. The groom was handsome. The details were amazing. The bridal party….super fun. It all made me want to be young again, have less responsibilities, and be newly in love. It made me remember when Doug and I were first dating.  Sigh. I thought about what it was like when it was just the two of us starting out. I thought about how much easier life was those many years ago. Then I drove home, kissed all my babies and tried to sleep. In the morning, everyone came running in with hugs and kisses and words of love and missing and I remembered how nice it is that life is more complicated these days and how it’s all worth it.

I think the picture above will be part of the invitation for Anna's upcoming birthday party.  She's been talking about slumber parties but I'm not ready to let her go away for the night yet.  I'm definitely not ready to have 20 screaming girls here either.  Bounce U now offers a pajama party option.  Who knew??  Since Anna wanted to invite her entire class, it seemed like the way to go....thus the birth of the "Princess and the Pea" Bounce U pajama party.  Does it sound silly??

Sunflowers

Daddies and their Daughters

Last night was the Daddy Daughter Dance at Anna's school.  It was the sweetest thing ever.  The ladies who put this together did an outstanding job.  They really made a special evening for the girls.  Anna and Doug were both very impressed and Anna said, "This was the best night of my life.  I had a blast!!"  She also said that Daddy let her have whatever she wanted (i.e. cupcakes, brownies, pizza).  She was on a definite sugar high when they came home!  The two of them looked so incredibly sweet together.  Doug bought her a bouquet of roses and she got her little camera out and took a picture of them before they left....gee, I wonder where she gets that from??  After the dance, she cracked me up talking about dancing with Daddy and how he would jump up and say, "Wooh!"  I was lucky enough to get to photograph some of the girls in front of the limo along the red carpet.  I must say I don't think I've ever seen so many beautiful girls and so many proud fathers!

Anna Banana

Yesterday I took Anna out for a few photos.  She's quite the poser but not a very brave model.  I must admit there were a lot of ants and other crawlies.  She held on very tightly to Mommy's hand whenever we ventured off a trail to find a suitable photo spot.  She checked every tree, branch and post for moss and red ants.  She was very thorough and kept me in stitches!

I loved the look of the brooch bouquets featured on Amy Atlas a few weeks ago.  Jan gave me permission to use Ruth's brooches to try and make one of our own.  Anna is holding the result in the first picture.  It's really quite special to have a picture of her with some special mementos that belonged to her Grandmother.

 

Our Little Wallflower

Our sweet Anna is so shy. She doesn't make friends easily and she never has much to say. You put her on stage and she just shuts down...no charisma, no flair, no color. Yeah...right! Take a look for yourself.

Love Notes

I’ve been placing “love notes” written on napkins in Anna’s lunch box each day. I tell her how proud I am of her and how much I love her. I also usually draw a picture of some silly little something. She never comes home with them so I thought she had just thrown them away. At back to school night, I looked in her desk and there was a little stack of napkins all folded neatly next to her math book. She told me she pulls them out to read if she’s having a bad day or feeling sad. It made me remember just how important the little things can be to our little ones.
In response to my letters, she’s been leaving little love notes for us all over the house. Usually at least once or twice a day, she will hand deliver our “mail” to us by saying, “Mail’s here. Mail is here.” So, I thought she might enjoy having her own little mailbox to use. I sat down and attempted to follow a tutorial for a fabric mailbox from giver’s log. It’s not perfect but I don’t think she minds. I just had to share some of her cutest notes to us. She is soooo funny and I’ve been saving my own little “stash” of her love notes to pull out and read when I’m having a bad day or feeling sad.

As long as your with me I will not lose you forever. With lots of love from Anna with lots of kisses.

Welcome to Annas terrific tea hose. Come today?!
Thank you for chooseing this one.

Mom, I am sorry I am not in bed but I was trying to sleep so hard but I can not do it. But I also love you. I hope you are not mad at me mommy. But if you are I am sorry. What is your reacticon happy or mad?

Dear Mommy,
I know you had a bad day I hope tomorrow is better I love you. Good bye.
Hope this spot. O
As long as your with me I wont lose you forever.
Hug this spot O
Kiss this spot O
From Anna to mommy

Dear family
I love you all I hope you all had a good day good bye I will always love you.
Fair well.

Share the soap!

Give love! Anna Kleist
1+3=4

To do list:
Morning break
Doll break
Breakfast break
Say good morning
Say my ABC’s
Spin in the dining room
Spend time with family
Hold Jacob
Give Mom Dad love
(Followed by a picture of the 6 of us with a dancing heart!)

Stay tuned for Anna’s short stories!

Do you have any tape?

I need a little to mend my broken heart.

Yesterday and today Anna has decided that she does not want to go to school and leave Mommy and Daddy. Yesterday it started with extra waves and kisses blown our way. Then it progressed to a run back to the gate for just one more kiss and hug. It culminated with crocodile tears and pleading for us not to leave her alone. Today the tears started as soon as we got out of the truck. As of Monday, no parents are allowed on campus during school hours (unless you sign in) and you must say goodbye at the gate. Yesterday I told her all the things you're supposed to say to make her feel better but my heart was breaking in two. I really just wanted to pick her up, carry her to the truck, drive home, and climb back into bed with her and eat chocolate chip cookies all day. Instead, our wonderful neighbor happened to be standing near by and when she saw the situation offered to have her Lauren (age 7) walk in with Anna. After a few more minutes of consolation and hugs, Anna finally agreed to go in the gate. She and Lauren headed off toward the playground together with Anna still in tears. As they rounded the corner, Lauren put her arm around Anna and that's when I lost any composure I had left. I burst into tears and was sad, happy, and extremely touched all at the same time. I'm so thankful for my sensitive, sweet Anna who loves her parents AND I'm also very thankful for sweet, thoughtful new friends and neighbors who will go out of their way to look after our girl. (No, she doesn't wear glasses but she wanted to "play" being the teacher. Also, please ignore the quality of these pictures. I think I was having a serious off-day. I couldn't seem to get the focus right at all!)
Lauren will be starting school next Thursday. She's been there to see Anna's dismay and I hope she'll conquer heading off on her own with no problem. She's already expressed some reserve about meeting new kids and her teacher. I guess we'll need a lot of pep talks in between now and then.


These pictures cracked me up. Even though they're sisters they have a lot of dissimilarities except when it comes to their silly faces. They make the same ones!! Too funny.