Santa's headquarters may be at the North Pole...

Today in the mail there was a letter addressed to Santa Claus, at my address!

And inside, Poppy's Christmas list.

Ten out of twelve items begin with either "Barbie" or "Pony" as the descriptor. I'm guessing there's going to be a great amount of pinkness under the Christmas tree this year. Pink is fine! When Bethany was her age, she wanted everything Strawberry Shortcake for Christmas, and everything Strawberry Shortcake then was scented! My entire home smelled like strawberry jello, and I felt sticky just breathing the sweetness!

Shopping for this list isn't as easy as you might think. There are a lot of little girls who want the same things, and websites tell me the items are not available in stores. If I commit to buying online, I pay for S&H; is it worth it to look around town first? Of course, I need to check with Bethany and Max first, and see how serious this list is. 

Mrs. Santa had better get some sleep. Ho ho ho!

I get a week off!

I made two of these for my two intervention groups at school.

photo by Nicole Gerulat

The tutorial is found here, at One Charming Party.
After reading a Thanksgiving story to the kids, I brought in the turkey on a platter, and I cut it open, to reveal this:

photo by Nicole Gerulat

The kids were so cute, so enthusiastic about the popcorn-filled turkey! I chose two students in each of my two groups to get the drumsticks. They looked so cute eating popcorn out of the drumsticks! Of course, I was too involved to remember to take pictures until it was all over. Besides, I can't put pictures of the kids online, and I didn't want to just take pictures of their hands and the backs of their heads. Here is my picture of what it looked like when we were all done!

One of the kids brought me flowers today!
And another brought me a present!

Yesterday one of the kinder teachers and I had an impromptu talk with the school principal about the intervention class. We told her the kids are doing really well, and she was very supportive of the whole concept. This morning she took me aside and said she'd looked over the assessments, and the kids in my class have not only made great progress, they've progressed at a greater rate than the kids in the regular class, and they are all approaching, at, or above their target scores.
The affirmation of my work felt so great to hear! I know the teachers have been really supportive and enthusiastic about the class, but the objective data sealed it. And today the kids were all hugging me, and telling me they'll miss me (even though I'll still see them every day at lunch!), because after the Thanksgiving break I'll be starting with a new group of kids! This next group of kids will be more of a challenge. The first group was mostly bright, ready to learn kids who were intimidated or uninitiated. This next group just doesn't get it. Bring it on! But I'm really going to enjoy a week off work, first!

This Strawberry Shortcake is the cutest ever!!

she's an official grown-up, now

Mirror, mirror on the wall, what have they done with my hair?

My baby-lamb turns 21. Lamby, Lamby-girl, Lambelina. When she was born, we lived across the street from dear friends who also had school-age kids and a new baby girl. Their Sophie was an unhappy, crying baby, and mom, S, would sigh, and laughingly exclaim, "Oh, there's my sweet, gentle lamb, calling to me." Somehow, the irony of her comments made me see my own easy baby as truly a sweet, gentle lamb. The description became a name, and evolved into many variations of the same. Before Kathryn introduced us to her boyfriend, she told him we'd call her Lamb, and they gave each other a sweet and noticeable glance when we did.

Hello, can we set up a play date?

Cali girl does Canada

We also call her Catalina, Katerina, Katwin. 

Junior High style!

High School hipster

Love you, Lovey. Happy Birthday, Kathryn.

What's in a costume?

When I was a kid, planning a Halloween costume and putting it together and going out in it was really the best part of the season. One year I was a frog, wearing green tights and turtleneck, and spats over my shoes and a 3D mask I made of cardboard and paint. Another year I wove skeins of green yarn into a wig for a witch costume, and I sewed a black dress with long, bell sleeves. I helped one of my sisters make a robot costume from cardboard boxes with moving buttons and levers, and we made countless hats with varieties of animal ears.

When I had my own kids, I didn't allow them to choose costumes that were gory or evil, and I didn't make outstanding costumes, but I encouraged them to have fun and to be creative. 

Often, their costumes were based on pajamas or sweats or something that could be used in everyday wear, or added to our permanent costume collection for ongoing play. Our costumes reflected who we were, and who we wanted to pretend to be.

1986

1995

End of sweet, creative, wholesome costumes!

Now for the costumes that are 

Not Appropriate for Fall, or anytime.

I really like costumes and dress-ups, but I've been distressed by all the gory, gruesome, truly scary costumes worn by younger and younger trick-or-treaters. Still, I was appalled at some of the skanky costumes I saw online for little kids!

No little girl should be dressed as a French maid.

Or a saloon girl.

Cowgirls are cute, and rodeo is big where I love.
 This little girl's outfit is sure to appeal to someone
with a rodeo fetish. 

"Mack Daddy Pimp" costume.
In sizes 4-6, 8-10.
That's disgusting.

"Major Flirt"
Women in the military deserve more respect.

Ew, ew, ew. Little Bo Peep
These "Bratz" Costumes are just right for parents
who want to turn their daughters into jailbait.

Why is Little Miss Muffect
wearing leopard print? Icky.

Adult costumes are getting more raunchy. There are many variations of this fella's: the petting zoo, the one-eyed monster, the "treats" dispenser. Funny? Kinda. But I wouldn't want to see it on anyone I know!! Tasteless and gross.

But there are some things that just shouldn't be sexualized.

A sexy cookie monster?

Big Bird? 

How could anyone think of Sponge Bob
and sexy costume?

Finding Nemo? Really?

Ahem...

And please...

How could they do this to Strawberry Shortcake?