Wednesday, February 24, 2010

it's pajama time

My sweet mother in law gave us tons and tons of board books when Sunshine was little. I think she gave us the entire set of Sandra Boynton books. In honor of Pajama Day at The Little Master's school, I've typed up our all-time favorite Boynton book. We've got the whole thing memorized! Thanks, Gramma P!!!


The moon is up.
It's getting late.
Let's get ready to celebrate.
It's Pajama Time!


Pull on the bottoms.
Put on the top.
Get yourself set to pajama-dee-bop -
It's Pajama Time!


Now, some are old
and some are new.
Some are red
and some are blue.
Some are fuzzy.
Some are not.
But we can all pajammy in whatever we've got.
It's Pajama Time!
Ooooo yes, it's Pajama Time!


Some are pink
and some are green.
Some are the ugliest you've ever seen.
They might be stripey,
or polka dot.
But we can all pajammy in whatever we've got.
It's Pajama Time!


Pajammy to the left.
Pajammy to the right.
(Jamma jamma jamma jamma P!J!)
Everybody's wearing them for dancing tonight.
(Jamma jamma jamma jamma P!J!)
Now all around the room in one big line,
wearing our pajamas and looking so fine.
It's Pajama Time!


Hope into bed.
Turn out the light.
You can have a party in your dreams tonight.
It's Pajama Time!
(HUSH, HUSH)
It's Pajama Time!
(HUSH, HUSH)
It's Pajama Time!
(HUSH, HUSH)
(Shhhhhhhh.)
Goodnight.
Sleep tight.


For those of you who know Nate, don't you think TLM looks a lot like him in these photos? Happy Early Birthday, Nate!!!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

getting in trouble

I've gotten in a lot of "trouble" lately for doing too much.

I planned more for the Valentine's Day party than the other six 1st Grade classes did and I got in a tad bit of trouble. We're all supposed to do exactly the same thing, but I thought the plan was boring, so I added more. One of the parents in my class told another parent in another class, who told the PTA president, who told the Room Parent Coordinator, who had to call me. I got in trouble.

The local Girl Scout Service Unit is doing a flamingo flocking fundraiser. We ordered a flock of birds to nest at our house for Sunshine's birthday last week. They were supposed to be picked up after three days, but they stayed four days and I got in trouble. The HOA's management company called me today to tell me that they received several emails and phone calls over the weekend about the offensive birds.



It's struck me that we live in a very litigious society. I blame reality tv shows. We search for and inevitably find faults in people, as we all make mistakes quite often. Then we blast these losers who makes mistakes on television shows and blogs for the purpose of "getting the truth out there." We sue good samaritans for giving us CPR if they accidentally break a rib while saving our lives. We refuse the charitable donations that the little Girl Scouts at our schools are offering because we don't want to "offend anyone with charity." We tell on room parents who do too much because it makes us look bad when we don't do as much.

It made me a little sad.

But the flamingos made my kids realllllllllllly happy, so I guess that makes up for the HOA violation. C'est la vie.

Here are some photos of the lego creations that The Little Master allowed Don to help him create this weekend. They're fun, no?



Monday, February 22, 2010

Watch Dog


For Sunshine's birthday, Don took the day off of work and served as her campus Watch Dog. She had come home sick from school the previous day, but INSISTED on going because she couldn't miss her dad as the Watch Dog.

Don had a full schedule of Watch Dog duties, which included:
helping out at morning carpool
tutoring 4th Grade math groups
getting loud cheers and claps whenever he walked into a classroom
leading reading groups in Sunshine's class
wandering the hallways "monitoring the students"
eating lunch with Sunshine
editing essays with 4th Grade students
helping Sunshine's class get to the assembly
getting high fives and "What's up, Watch Dog?" shouts from all of the children
setting up for the Chili Cook-Off

He had such a great time, that he signed up for another day of duty in April. It was fun to see Sunshine so pleased with her dad and to see Don so excited about learning more about the school. Some things that seemed like common knowledge to me were revelations to him. It was good to see things from his perspective. He also has a very strong opinion on what teacher he wants Sunshine to have for math in 4th Grade. Apparently, there was too much frivolity and not enough hard core math going on in one class. LOL

Don and Sunshine also entered the Chili Cook-Off that night. Though they didnt win, they had a great time. Apparently, our chili has "too many vegetables" in it and "not enough heat." But, I think that's why we like it!



The littles and I did not attend the Cook-Off, because we were on our way to the airport to pick up their Gramma, who gifted them each with these cool little keychains. They blink and make sounds like an airplane taking off and landing. The kids love them.


Wednesday, February 17, 2010

2 years and 4 months

That's how old Sunshine was when The Little Master was born.


That's how old The Little Master was when Polly Pocket was born.


That's how old Polly Pocket is now and there's no baby.


I just wanted to say that "out loud."

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

instead of school

Instead of staying in school all day last Thursday, we...










and then we went home


taking some reminders with us.


I love encouraging truancy.

Monday, February 15, 2010

bacon, please


Sunshine's birthday request was bacon. I like to encourage simple joys in life, so we obliged her by hosting a Breakfast Pajama Party for her 7th birthday. Here's the lowdown.

She invited five little friends, who arrived in pjs with dolls/stuffed animals, pillows, and blankets/sleeping bags.


There was food, lots of food, cause that's how we roll here. The starring component was...bacon.

Waffles, instead of a cake.




Made to order smoothies.


Beverage Bar.

These are the pillow dollhouses that my mother and I made for Sunshine and her guests. My mom made the two pretty ones and I made the five "sweet effort" ones. I stole the idea from the talented "cakies." The front of the dollhouses have a door and two windows. Each window had a curtain, either a valance or tie-back. A few of the doors were pockets and a few of the windowboxes were pockets. Each dollhouse was different in fabric and layout. I wanted each one different enough to have individual charm, but not so different that any one girl felt that hers was not as lovely as another's.


The inside of each dollhouse had a bed, a window and a picture frame. The beds were all pockets and some of them had pillows. The canvas inside the picture frames were blank. Some of the window curtains flounced and some were more plain. Like I said, each one was different. I used fabric scraps left over from older projects or outfits or bedding, except for the red gingham. I bought that on clearance for 77 cents a yard at WallyMartinez. Still, not bad.


The girls decorated the fronts of the dollhouses with flowers they cut out of fabric and button doorknobs. They used fabric markers to draw paintings inside of the dollhouse, which has a bed and curtains and acts as the doll's bedroom. I made short little pillows to fit in the roofs of each one, because I didn't initally factor in the roof size when I was making up the pattern for everything. That added a small cost to each pillowcase, so I guess I would try to avoid that in the future. Or maybe not. It was a really good size.


Here is Hannah sleeping in her dollhouse.


And Sunshine holding up her finished product. You can see the cute little landscape she drew on her picture canvas. You can't see that my overachiever mother added steps and a sidewalk path to Sunshine's. Way to make me look bad, Mom!


They opened presents, a part of birthdays that always shocks Sunshine. She's never expecting them, which cracks me up. Hannah's mom jokingly told Sunshine that she almost bought her a big package of bacon for her birthday. Sunshine was momentarily disappointed that Amy hadn't really bought her bacon. Oh, that child is so funny.


After they ran around the upstairs like maniacs for a few minutes, they cooled down by drinking hot cocoa and watching an American Girl movie.


Good times for the little people.


Happy Birthday, Sunshine! You're the BEST arooooooooooooound.

---------------

The 5th dollhouse, I made was for Pocket. Even though she's bad, I love her. The bed, front door, and roof are made from the fabric I used to make her crib bedding. I thought that would be nice.



The junk on her face and hands is marker that she painted herself with after I took the scissors out the kiddie craft cabinet. Poor thing needed something to entertain herself.

the finer things

I'm a sucker for pretty things.
I'll happily pay more money for something if it's pretty.
LOL
I'm serious.

I chose my doctor based on how pretty their offices are and the fact that it's three minutes away from my house. I'm sure I pay more for the pretty parts. They have this cute little longhorn sculpture in front of their offices.


And a herd of these real longhorns in the field across the street.

I just love it.