Princess Merida dresses

Fresh from under my sewing machine - a dress to "change your fate!"  The perfect dress for "climbing Crown's Tooth and drinking from the fire falls". Just right for a girl who wants "to stay single, hair flowing in the wind while riding through the glen firing arrows into the sunset."

I may have seen the movie Brave a few too many times since the dialogue is so easy for me to quote!

I started working on these dresses a long time ago. The fabric came from Joann Fabrics and was probably a seasonal print. It's various shades of dark green with a clover print. I don't remember where I got the gold; it was either Joanns or Hobby Lobby. The green is a cotton broadcloth and the gold is a glitter infused polyester. Unfortunately, the gold is rough and itchy.

I raided the donation bag (why do we always have a bag of worn, neglected, unloved clothes? I always think I cleaned out all the old stuff, and as soon as I donate it all, we start another bag)  for old black Tshirts. Score!  Lining for the dresses is soft black Tshirt cotton.  I lined the front of the bodice, and the inside of the sleeves with what I cut from the Tshirts. I had a bit of the bottom of a bright yellow Tshirt from a day that I trimmed off the bottom of a Tshirt to make a comfy play dress for my daughter (that she has not  yet worn, arg) and lined the backside of the gold collar ruffle. Ahh, anti-itch softness next to the skin! My girls are officially spoiled!

I didn't have a pattern to work from, although there's probably one out there on the market. I just decided to wing it. After carefully looking at pictures of the dress from the movie, the Disney store, and the princess herself in Disneyland, I came up with what I think is authentic yet kid-friendly.  In the movie, Merida rides her horse, climbs a mountain, goes fishing in the creek, runs, jumps, eats, and more all in this dress. My kids will be just as active in it, but I'm keeping them off of horses and away from bears.

The sleeves and shoulders were the most difficult part of this dress. I cut the sleeves in half and then cut out a good three inch strip from each. Once I had a lower and an upper sleeve, I inserted a strip of gold in a lightly gathered sort of way. I also made little belt loop type strips and stuck three into the mix to make it look suspended. For the shoulder suspension, I just added the rufled gold strip on top of the shoulder seam and it worked! I'm happy with the way the sleeves and shoulders turned out! I opted not to add gold to the wrists too; let's face it, these girls are going to drag the edges of these sleeves through ketchup, chocolate, dirt, and many many other sticky things. The laundry factor plays a role in the design as well.

After making four lovely suspended sleeves, I added two of them to Libby's dress. The next day I discovered that they just looked weird somehow. Low and behold, I put a size 4 sleeve on the left and a size 8 sleeve on the right! The joys of making identical dresses! Since her arms are both the same size, I had to fix that.

I was going to put the sleeves on Gracie's dress, but it was 86 degrees out and the forcast looks about the same for the next week. Summer is coming too. What was I thinking making lined long sleeves for a girl who never gets cold? I decided to put her long sleeves in the bottom drawer where they will never be seen again, and give her a sleeveless Merida dress. I gave the dress some little cap sleeves, even though I vowed to never do that again because the cap sleeves crack me up too much. They are so funny looking! They stick out like little wings. But, it works on this dress and with the gold on the shoulder, there had to be something. She didn't want short puff sleeves, so funny little wings it is. That's ok, laughter is good for me.

I could not find a good ribbon for the bottom hem. After searching and searching, literally for months, I settled for the black ribbon with a Greek key pattern, or maybe it's Egyptian. Greek/Egyptian ribbon and Irish clovers on a Scottish princess dress. Eh, the kids will never know.  The ribbon does give the hem a finished look and the Disneyland Merida has lots of fanciness at the bottom of her dress, so I had to add something.

The belt is just some brown polyester and I made a gigantic button out of a piece of cardboard covered with the gold fabric. I'm not entirely happy with it, but once I get the plaid piece attached, that will make it much better. Merida has a Scottish plaid hand-towel or snuggle blanket or handkerchief something to that effect hanging from her belt. Whatever it is, I'll make one and attach it. I did not realize that blue/green plaid would be so hard to find in the spring. So far, no luck. I might have to add a blue/green floral print instead. I believe the plaid symbolizes the family clan and if that is true, our clan pattern will be flowery. Why not!  In the movie, she has a quiver hanging from her belt, so if I cannot find a good clan piece, I'll whip up a quiver instead. I love having options.

I put a metal zipper on my four year old's dress and she promptly told me, "Can you make a placket for the zipper so it won't touch me?" Yes, child, you can have a placket. Any four year old who knows what a placket is deserves to have one.

I've decided the ultimate finishing touch would be for the girls to have mops of big red curly hair. Yeah, umm... no. they'll just be wearing the hair they were born with: straight, tangled, mousey-brown. Maybe a red hair clip?

All  that is left to do is take these dresses for a test run at Disneyland. Once the girls put them through a full day of activity, eating, sweating, spilling and such then we will know whether the dresses are a success or not. Stay tuned!

*Update:  I found a piece of plaid! A long lost pair of winter flannel pajama pants resurfaced from the depths of my dresser drawers. The two legs became the plaid kerchiefs and now I have a pair of plaid pajama shorts! Ta-Da!

Friends with Big Warm Hearts

I have friends with great big wonderfully warm loving hearts. And.... then there's me. I've apparently got an ice cube beating in my chest. I'm not even upset by that, see how cold and harsh I am!

Recently, three of my friends have rescued dogs. As each one did this kind-hearted deed, I thought to myself, "No way would I have done that!" Kids, yes, I go all mama bear and am fiercely protective to all kids: mine, theirs, strangers... but dogs, no, they are not human children. My maternal instinct does not kick in for them.

We do have a pet dog and I do love her, but when it comes to other dogs I do not feel the same way. I am especially not warm-hearted when it comes to people rescuing dogs. Our dog has gotten away a few times, bolted out of the garage door when I got home with my arms full. Rather than chase her down while she's running 40 mph down the street, I just let her go while I take in my children, groceries and things and then I go back out and call her home. She enjoys a wee bit of freedom when she escapes, but only for a few minutes. On occasion, she is "rescued" by friendly neighbors just a block away, or less. Those are the times when she doesn't come back right away and I think, oh great, someone saved my stupid dog. ugh. It's the same routine, a few minutes pass and then we get a phone call from the Home Again people from which a code number was found on her tag. Yup, I'll go get her, where? Oh gee, that's just a few houses away and she's been gone for almost 5 whole minutes. Then I walk over, reclaim my lost and endangered dog from her rescuers who express all sorts of worry and distress on their part and we walk back home. These are not rescues, these are people who want to rescue but their big emotional hearts can't tell the difference between a dog who needs help and a dog who is just out for a joyful bolt in the sunshine. Rescue or kidnapping? You be the judge.

One of my husband's coworkers found a little dog and added it to her brood. She already owns three little dogs and after this lost dog wasn't claimed by anyone, she gave him a name and a personalized food dish. If that had been me, I would have not even noticed the little lost dog. And if I had, I certainly would have never entertained any thoughts of bringing it home and keeping it. No way! My ice cold heart wouldn't even have melted a little bit by just leaving the lost dog to fend for  himself in the big world. My friend, she would never think of leaving a lost little dog out on the street. He's a happy little mutt now!

Another friend found two black labs out wandering together in the street. So, she pulled over and put them in her mini-van and took them home. Her heart is big and loving and she just knew those dogs needed her help. She stuffed those big dogs in her van with her little children strapped into their carseats and took the dogs home. No freaking way would I put strange dogs, who incidentally, have big teeth, in my vehicle with my defenseless confined children. Me? Never. Ever. She called Animal Control and they came to her home and scanned the dogs for microchips, found the owners and all was well. Turned out that the dogs didn't eat her children and they were close to their home when she picked them up. Frosty ol' me says that's because they weren't lost and in need of rescue, they were just a short distance from home and probably would have returned home when the owner yelled for them. If I had seen them and felt any inclination to be of any help (let's face it, that feeling wouldn't have come over me anyway), I would have just called Animal Control and reported loose dogs. No way would I have risked life and limb to "save" them. She said she couldn't live with herself if they had gotten hurt. I say, they are dogs.

The other day, another friend of mine rescued a dog too. Once again, I totally wouldn't have done it. My thoughts, "Eh, dog in the street. He'll move."  My wonderful friend, "Oh no! A dog in the street! I'll save him!"  We were having coffee at a cute little coffee shop downtown and sat near the front door. From where I was, I couldn't see the street, but she could. A couple tied up their little dog to a chair on the patio and came in for coffee. Their little ankle-biter ran, knocking the chair over and my friend bolted out the door so fast I had no idea what happened. I heard the chair fall and could see it on it's side, all I could think was that someone fell over and proceeded to fall off the patio. Did that happen? See, I only think of helping people, not dogs. But even that thought did not prompt me to get off my tush and go be helpful in any way. I knew my friend was on the case, so there was no need for me to feign thoughtfulness. She ended up running after (or chasing?) the dog into the street and to catch him, she stepped on his leash. That act of kindness flattened her and she hurt her ankle. It looked like an Easter egg. But, she saved the dog from certain doom. I'm thinking, as fast as that little furball was going, he was not going to get hit by any cars. Plus,  his owners could have chased him down or hollared for him or something. At best, my effort to help in this instance would have been to stay in my chair with coffee in hand and just say out loud to the owners, "Hey, your dog ran off."  See, I'm not all icy inside.

No matter who I compare myself to, I am the cold one. I have ice running in my veins. I do not care about dogs on the loose unless they are about ready to attack me or my children. No way would I grab hold of a strange dog. They don't know that they need to be rescued. They don't know that they shouldn't bite. They might have ringworm or lice or who knows what kind of dog ickiness. I don't want that! My strong sense of caution overpowers any generosity, charity, friendliness or compassion. My friends, wonderfully loving people, they are all admirable women who have enormous hearts. I think they're all nuts.

The Many Adventures of Flat Tyler

We hosted a Flat Stanley these past couple of weeks. He is in transit back to his classroom in Colorado now, but we sure had fun with while we had him. 

We kept him busy and made sure he wrote in his travel log daily. He was very good about posing for pictures and gathering local brochures.

Here is a copy of Flat Tyler's journal:

Flat Tyler’s Travel Log

I arrived safely into the mailbox of my cousins, The Schumacher Family, in California.

Uncle Keith (who is actually my grandma’s cousin) is a middle school teacher and he teaches college. Aunt Mary is the mom of the family and the kids are my cousins, Gracie and Libby. Gracie is 7 years old and in the first grade. Libby is 4 ½ years old and will be in Kindergarten next year. Gracie goes to school part-time and does homeschool part-time.

 They also have a dog named Sandy. She’s 12 years old and very sweet.  

While I was visiting, The Schumachers had company. I met Uncle Ed from Las Vegas, Grandma Helen from Wyoming, Aunt Patty from Montana and cousin Jennifer also from Montana. They drove to California to spend a weekend with me and the Schumachers. Mostly, they wanted to meet Baby Alfred, my newest cousin.

The Schumachers took me to lots of places to see the local sites and experience California culture.  Gracie and Libby taught me to say “Chaw” and “Dude” like a Californian. I never needed my jacket or hat because it’s nice and warm there.  I told them about Colorado; they’ve never been there. The girls didn’t know what skiing is, but they have seen snow and pine trees when they took a winter vacation to Wyoming and South Dakota last year.  

Western Science Center -  Hemet, CA:  Gracie, Libby, Henry and I went to a dinosaur museum. It was a lot of fun! We saw the bones from a mammoth and a sloth. We got to see a short movie about dinosaurs in the Inland Empire (that’s what they call this area of California) and we got to make a fossil out of clay .

Busker Festival at Seaport Village:  We went to San Diego to the Busker Festival. A Busker is a street performer. Seaport Village is a shopping and eatery center along the edge of the San Diego Bay. We saw lots of different street performers and artists. There were musicians, dancers, acrobats and magicians. We also saw an escape artist and a couple of unicycle riding jugglers. 

Duck Pond – Temecula, CA:  One day we went to a city park called the Duck Pond. All it has is a pond and a walking path around it.  It was nice and there were a lot of ducks!  I had to be careful not to flutter in the wind or I’d end up swimming with the ducks.  

San Diego Air and Space Museum: We set out for an adventurous day at the San Diego Zoo. When we got there, the parking lot was packed solid and so was the overflow parking and every parking lot in the area. Aunt Mary finally found a parking spot but it was pretty far from the zoo. Conveniently, she discovered that we parked close to the Air and Space Museum. Gracie and I thought that was a better idea anyway!

The Air and Space Museum has a special Ripley’s Believe It or Not exhibit and we were able to see the museum and the Ripley’s exhibit too.  It was a lot of fun. We came home with coloring pages and paper airplane origami pages for fun at home. I got to see Bumblebee there!

Cabrillo National Monument:  We drove out to Point Loma which is a Navel Base at the tippy end of a peninsula. It was really cool!  From the point, you can see the San Diego Bay, the harbor, and the Pacific Ocean in the other direction.

Cabrillo was a European explorer and he is the first European to set foot on the west coast of what is now the United States.  This monument recognizes his adventures. He’s just like me: an adventurer discovering amazing places!  Cha!  (I’m really getting a hang of the California language).

There is also an old lighthouse at the National Park and you can go down to the shore to the tidepools and caves. There are small caves in the sides of the cliffs that were made by erosion. The land is very interesting and goes from shrub covered hills on one side of the peninsula to sand covered eroded cliffs on the other. 

Coronado Island, San Diego:  We drove across a huge bridge over the San Diego Bay to Coronado Island.  We played in the sand on the beach by the Ferry landing where I met a friend, another Flat Stanley! He didn't speak English, but we played and had a good time anyway.

Balboa Park:  Balboa Park is in the middle of San Diego. It houses the San Diego Zoo, a couple of playgrounds, numerous museums and gardens. The day we went, we just strolled on the walkways and enjoyed the local artists, played in the fountains, and admired the architecture.  Luckily, the bird rescue group was at Balboa Park so we got to see the birds again. We saw them at the Busker Festival too! They save abandoned pet parrots and exotic birds and readopt them to new homes. We didn’t adopt a bird, but we did get to hold a few. Libby doesn’t like to hold them because she thinks they will poop on her. She finally decided to try it and it was a lot of fun.

 

Easter:  I celebrated Easter with the Schumacher family. We went to an Easter Egg Hunt party at a friend’s house. He name is Justin and he’s 5 years old like me. His back yard is landscaped with natural California grasses and plants, so it was a lot of fun. They have the best back yard for an egg hunt! 

On Easter Sunday we went to a friend’s house for dinner. We had lots of great food. The Sanchez family had two dogs and two tortoises. They were really neat! They had an area of the back yard underneath the tree house that was their home. They live outside in the yard. One tortoise lost a leg so the family glued on a wheel from a toy car so she could get around. They both crawled faster than I thought they would. They love to eat dandelions. 

Science Center:  This is a museum in Balboa Park. The girls love this place. When we entered the museum the employee who greeted us at the entrance said, “Have fun and touch everything.”  Awesome!  We had a great time playing with all of the science center exhibits. There is a part of the museum that looks like a city and we played there for a while too.

Montessori School: One day I went to school with Gracie. She is in Ms. Andria’s class. Gracie is in a mixed class of 1^st – 3^rd grade. They have lunch outside on picnic tables. Their parking lot is also the playground and the gym. Most elementary schools have a playground but they do not have a cafeteria or a gym. They eat and play outside every day. Gracie and her classmates have never had a snow day.

Disneyland and Cars Land:  On my last day in California, I went with the Schumacher girls to Disneyland and California Adventure.  Gracie and Libby go to Disneyland often because it isn’t very far away. We left after school and got home a little after bedtime.

First we went into Disneyland. It was very exciting! We saw Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Goofy right away. Our first stop was the first aid station because Gracie’s tooth was falling out and she wanted an envelope or something to put it in when it fell out. They were very nice and gave her a little container. We walked up Main Street. Gracie’s favorite part of Main Street is the Magic Shop. It was amazing! Libby wanted to go to the Princess Fantasy Faire. We saw Ariel, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. I was made an honorary citizen of Disneyland and I got a button to wear for the rest of the day. Then we rode the Small World. We then went into Fantasyland and rode Alice in Wonderland’s Teacups.

Next we went to California Adventure, which is where Cars Land is. Cars Land is amazing! It is just like you step into the Cars movie! I got to meet Mater and Lightning McQueen! I also got to see the main street of Radiator Springs and see Ornament Valley. When it got dark, all the neon lights came on and it was just like it was in the movie. We rode on Mater’s Tractor ride which was more fun than anything!

I touched the Berlin Wall

I did. I touched the Berlin Wall. I put my hand on it, actual physical contact. It was cold and powerful and ugly.

My meeting with the wall was coincidental.

The other day I set out to take my daughters to the zoo. We got to the zoo and drove around the parking lot for 40 minutes trying to find a parking spot. It was packed solid! People were creating their own parking spaces and then two cars collided in the parking lot while they were trolling around searching for a space. I drove through the lower lot, the overflow lot, the two lots nearest the zoo but aren't really for the zoo, and the streets were packed too. There was no parking! The zoo was a zoo!

Forget the zoo. We drove across Balboa Park and found a parking lot with spaces and decided to do something near there instead. The nearest museum was the Air and Space Museum. I have very little interest in planes and rockets and stuff like that, so I was encouraging the girls to walk to another one, but they like planes. I was outvoted, so we went in.

There in the Ripley's Believe It or Not section of the museum was a piece of the Berlin Wall.  It was not roped off or anything, in fact it was right along the walking path  between exhibit pieces. It was big too. 

Wow. The Berlin Wall. I remember all of the celebrations on TV when it came down. I laid my hand on it and it was amazing. I told the kids, "Look, it's a piece of the Berlin Wall." I got no response because they were looking at a motorcycle made of bones and a car made of wood. Those were way more exciting than a hunk of ugly concrete with rebar sticking out of it.

I hung our paper doll on it (Flat Stanley) and snapped a picture. The paper doll is pretty good size and he looks small on the wall.

Homeschooling Meltdown

Is there anything worse than doing worksheets at home? According to the resident first grader, No. Nothing on earth could be worse than sitting at the table with a pencil and a worksheet. Nothing!

I've been following the school's guideline to the tee. Worksheets for Language Arts, Math, Handwriting and other subjects. I've been super-nagging and making the kid do them all. Then I've been topping it off with spelling lists.

This is not working.

I've lost track of why we are homeschooling. The child is not a worksheet girl, she's a hands-on girl. She learns best when there is something to manipulate, touch, or experience. She's a tangible learner. (Is that a legit educational term?)

After our parent/teacher conference in February where I expressed my concerns about our weekly worksheet wars, the teacher said "so, don't do them". Really? I love her! She's right! Why didn't I think of that?

I made her do one day of worksheets because I really didn't know what to replace them with. How do I do homeschool without the worksheets? It was a horrible day. Fine, I give! The teacher is right, if she hates worksheets at home then they are not teaching her what she really needs to learn. The lessons will be lost in the madness and she will hone her skills in whining, rebellion and arguing. Yeah, we don't want that.

Besides, I don't like being called "Evil".

I looked over her worksheets carefully. Let's see...  this month's worksheets are covering contractions, plural vs possessive spelling, and in math: measurement and time. We can do these in other ways. We have to!

First rule: Read anything you want anytime you want. 

The monthly project is to write a healthy recipe. So, we need to learn about nutrition and cooking too. I'm lucky enough to have a helpful friend who is wonderful with concocting recipes and has her own child in the kitchen often. These are two things that would make my brain implode, so I enlisted her help.

I gave Gracie an analog watch for her birthday and I am constantly asking her what time it is. This is helping to teach her to tell time. She can look at a digital clock to check and see if she was right. It's working! Not only that, but she is grasping the concepts of how long is a second, minute, hour, etc. I also downloaded a free time telling game to my Nexus and I told her she had to play for ten minutes before playing Angry Birds.

Disneyland turned out to be a wonderful place to learn about time. What time is it now? What time is the next show? How long do we have to wait? What does 20 minutes feel like? 

I put one of my sewing measuring tapes in my purse and had her measure anything she wanted to at the park. She had to measure 5 things before being allowed to go down the big twisty slide. Score! I let her choose to measure in inches or centimeters, in her decision making she would flip the measuring tape over and look at both before deciding. Yay! She's doing it! 

I was reading one of my favorite sewing blogs, Indietutes, and the blogging mom "unschools" her children. This is a new concept to me; basically it is as she describes it, "project-base, interest-led, home learning".

I'm not sure how to unschool on homeschool days, but I think it's totally worth a shot! I want this to work and it's up to me to make it work or find a way to succeed. Success is learning. With that in mind, I'm trying my best to unschool this homeschool thing!

So far, I think we're doing a pretty good job. She asked to go to the Dinosaur museum, so we went! I've taken her to many places but this month on our outings, I've been trying to see what she is learning. She's also been having movie-nights with her dad and learning lots of pop-culture. This fills her with questions and she's learning a lot.

Right now, as I type this, she's watching Spongebob and not learning a darn thing. But, it's Sunday.

I have to figure out how to account for her homeschool days without the worksheets when we turn in her next homeschool folder. I have no idea how to do this, so I'm going to wing it and hope it works out.

My Turn to Experience the Magic

I cannot believe this happened, but it did.  Disneyland showered some of its magic on me for once! No worries, the kids got plenty of magic too. It was nice to get in on some of the good stuff though.

We had a very long day at Disneyland and as usual, I was focused all day long on the kids. Keeping them close, keeping tabs on them, worrying that they'll trip and fall or run into a lamp post or something, making sure I don't run over people with the stroller, constantly taking inventory of the jackets and toys and other tag-along items, monitoring the kids for hunger, thirst, and potty, and taking pictures.  That's how I do it. At the end of the day, I'm always tired! We usually head for the exit around 6 or 7pm at the latest, this gets us home right at bedtime and frankly, that's a long enough day for me.

Last time we went, it was 8:30 when we got to the end of Main Street. I always make a bathroom stop before exiting so that we don't have to use the car potty in the parking structure; I don't think the security staff wants to see me on the security cameras using the potty chair in the parking lot. We stopped at the restroom right at the end of Main Street.

Libby just hates to use public toilets, even at Disneyland. But, I persuaded her to try. At first she tried on toilet and decided it wasn't good enough, so we moved to another stall and tried again. Success! Got everyone through the stalls and hands washed and all, and off we went through the exit.

KaBoom! Fireworks! Really? We were here late enough for fireworks? I was in shock that we stayed so late! This was really when I realized what time it was. It was 8:45pm. We had a great view of the fireworks from the area outside the gates, so we just stopped and watched the fireworks from there. They were amazing!

After a while, I decided we should get on the tram before the mass exodus of the huge crowd in Disneyland are all upon us. I put my hands on the handle of the stroller and realized my purse wasn't hanging on the hook. The ground? Did I set it down? No. In the basket? No. Gracie, did you pick up my purse for me? No. Wait, where did I put it?

Panic.

My purse is GONE!!!

Was I so enchanted by the fireworks that I wouldn't notice if someone took it right from my side or from my stroller? No, I would have noticed. I think. We had a good size personal bubble of space where we were. That could not have happened. Could it? How could that have happened?

In the interest of safety, I keep everything that is super important in my purse and everything else (except the kids) are replaceable. My purse has my keys, phone, camera, cash, credit card and Disneyland passes in it. That's basically all that is in it. If I lose anything else at Disneyland, I can still call for help, get whatever I need with my credit card, preserve the day's memories, and drive home. I never thought about what would happen if I lost my purse!

How could I have lost my purse!!!

My inner voices were all screaming in my head. My heart was pounding. I was panicing on the inside. Trying to hold it together on the outside so that my kids wouldn't freak out.

I thought for a second and remembered that we just used the restrooms. Did I leave it hanging on the stall door hook? I could have. I remember hanging it on a hook. I went in one stall; I went in the stall Gracie used to check to see if she flushed, and I went in two stalls with Libby. Did I get my purse off of the stall door? I don't remember. I know I herded the kids to the sinks and helped Libby wash her hands. I washed mine and then we left. I must have had my purse; I never forget it. Guess it's possible.

Great, I can't get back into Disneyland because my passes are in my purse and I'm outside the gate! And I can't just go home, my keys are in my purse! How did this happen? I was praying that is really what happened anyway.

Thankfully, a security guard walked by and the girls were still watching the fireworks totally unaware of my panic attack. I walked up to the security guard and said, "Excuse me, I have a problem!" And then I told him that my purse is missing and I thought I had it but now I don't and maybe I left it in the ladies room but it contains my keys and my passes so I can't go look and I can't leave and." He very calmly asked me if I had it out here or if I left it in the restroom. I said in the whiniest voice ever, "I don't know!" He said what does it look like? I told him, it's a smallish brown fake-leather backpack and contains keys, wallet, phone and camera. He said to follow him.

He took me to the gate and told the ticket lady to let me and the girls through and another security guard took me from there to one of the trees in a planter. There were a bunch of Disneyland staffers just standing there and the guy nodded to them and they stood aside, there was my purse. Sitting on the planter. I squealed! "That's it!!!  Thank you! But, I wasn't over here, I went from the restroom on the right (we're now on the left side of the entrance) straight out the gates and stopped out there. I wasn't near this planter.  And they were all standing around it like it was a suspicious package and they were waiting for it to explode or something.

They asked me to identify the contents, again, I told them what was inside then without touching it they said I could look inside and one guy held a flashlight so I could see. Yup, everything was there! I checked my wallet, nothing disturbed or missing. I realized at this point that my camera was in the cup holder of my stroller and not in my purse. I used it to take photos of the fireworks. They said it was found in the ladies' room hanging on a stall door. Yes that is where I put it. How could I have walked out without it? They said I could go back in and watch the rest of the fireworks.

I said Thank you a million times and then I started to cry. What a relief! They were consoling and saying everyone loses something, no big deal, was there anything else wrong? No, just so relieved and happy! I put that purse on my shoulder and exited again, this time with my purse.

We  headed for the tram and got there just before the huge crowds came pouring out of Disneyland. I cannot believe I left my purse in the bathroom and then exited the gates. I am so very grateful to whomever found it and turned it in so promptly where it could be retrieved. I am amazed at the security taken to protect my purse while it waited for me to come to my senses. I am so mystified by the Disneyland magic that took over and made a non-event out of something that could have been the highest level of stress and inconvenience and hassle and agony.  All is well and I am glowing from the magic that is Disneyland.

I also feel a lot like Grover at the end of the book "There is a Monster at the end of this book".  I am so embarrassed.

Welcome to the World, Alfred!

My oldest daughter, Katie and her husband Andrew have given us our third grandson.  We now have Charlie, Lexie's son; Henry, Katie & Andrew's first son, and now Alfred.

He was born March 1st at 9:38am.  22.5 inches long, 9 pounds 11.5 oz, 14.5 cm head circumference.

Katie called our house phone at 5:15am. I answered the phone in a groggy haze and had no idea who would be calling at that hour, so I said "Who is this?" in my grumpiest morning foggy voice. I forgot to sleep with my cell phone and I know the house phone is just for telemarketers.

Once I heard Katie's voice, I forgave the phone for ringing and waking me up. She said she was in labor and I should plan to come down to San Diego. Ok, I can do that. I laid back down wondering if I could sleep for another hour, but I couldn't. I tried, but I just tossed around thinking about how to handle the day.

I would have to drop the girls off somewhere and I have people lined up to watch them, but who do I call so early in the morning and leave them with. It's a school day which means someone has to transport Gracie to school and back. I'll need to give someone both carseats in order to get this transportation done right. Keith can't stay home, it's a school day. I juggled carseats around in my mind for a bit and then decided to just get up and get ready while I figure things out.

I showered, dressed, and started packing Gracie's lunchbox before waking the kids and then Andrew called. It was 6am now. He said, "you better hurry". Ack! School doesn't start until 9am and I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do with the girls! I was starting to think about dropping them at different places so that one friend wouldn't have to squeeze her own kids and mine in together. I decided to ask Keith to take the day off.

He wanted to, he thought about it, paced back and forth a bit and finally said he just couldn't. Lexie wasn't home either, and her phone is broken so I couldn't get ahold of her.

I decided to just take them with me. Forget taking Gracie to school today, it just wasn't going to work. I have two people in San Diego who offered to watch them so I can call them later and that would work out better than trying to get Gracie to school and back. That sounded like a good plan.

I poured a to-go cup of coffee and grabbed a bag and filled it with clothes for the girls. We woke the girls and tossed them into the car in their pajamas.

I got on the freeway just before 7am. I don't know where that last hour went, but it was gone. Traffic was thick, guess I was on the road with all of the people who commute to work. Good thing I brought the girls so I qualified for the carpool lane! I got to the Birth Center at 8am. I was hoping I made it on time because Andrew said to hurry and I really got the feeling that he meant it.

Henry was playing with a barn and some animals behind the receptionist's desk, happy as can be. I got the girls dressed and they started to play with Henry too. Everyone was happy and Katie was asking for me. She was in a birthing room up the stairs from the waiting room. All I could think was, "she had to climb these stairs while in labor?"

The nurse said "right at the top of the stairs", um ok, there were 4 closed doors at the top of the stairs, and it was silent. Great. I tried calling out to see if anyone would come see who the loon was lost at the top of the stairs, nothing. Nobody. So... I started opening doors and yelling. Hopefully, I wouldn't disturb anyone else, but I was just standing there for such a long time trying to figure out where to go. Finally, a nurse came out of one of the doors and she said Katie was just through that one. Ok, I opened it and no, it looked like a waiting room so I went in there. Finally found her, I had to go through that waiting room and down a little hallway. She was laboring in a warm bath tub and Andrew was fully clothed and in the tub with her.

Katie really wanted to tell me to take Henry and go do something fun with him, he needs to have fun, just take him somewhere fun, ok, go, just go and make sure Henry has fun. Then she waved me out.

The midwife, or nurse, or someone, I couldn't tell who was who, anyway she said it would be soon, very soon. I sure didn't want to leave if she was going to have that baby in the next few minutes.

The kids were having fun in the waiting room, playing in the toy corner and having fun just being together. My job was easy. I decided that I was honoring her wishes without going anywhere, besides, I forgot to grab the other carseat. It's sitting at home in the garage. Now I have three kids and two carseats, not sure if that's such a great idea to be running around San Diego like that. Plus, I had time on the parking meter. We'll just wait it out for a bit and see how it goes. I kind of want to hear from the midwife or doctor about how Katie is doing.

I caught one of them coming out of the stairwell and asked about Katie and was told she's doing great and it will be soon.  Eh, that's not really helpful news, but it's good to hear. 

The kids did great playing in the waiting room, but it was 9am now and Henry was starting to get rowdy, Libby was hungry and Gracie was bored. I told the receptionist that I was going to take them all for a walk around the block and we'd be back shortly, but they need some fresh air. She said there was a park two blocks away. Ideal!

I walked them to the park where they had a great time. I recognized the park, it's on the edge of Balboa Park. Felt nice to get my bearings and know exactly where I was. I get lost so easily!

Luckily, I had Gracie's lunch box packed and had the presence of mind to bring it along. I didn't bring water, so the kids had snacks but nothing to drink. Oops it was 80 degrees and sunny. We were there for about half an hour and Andrew sent me a text. Alfred was born!

We walked back to the Birth Center and after just a few minutes, Andrew came downstairs to get us. Henry jumped up into his arms and then wanted down. "Ewww, wet." We herded the kids up the stairs and through the labyrinth to the corner room where Katie was in a nice bedroom with beautiful sunlight, and she was holding a perfect little baby with lots of black hair.

She looked great! The girl didn't even look like she was in labor a few minutes ago. How does she do that? My daughter is a natural beauty. She said she felt fine and she was very happy to see all of us, especially Henry. He loved meeting his new baby brother and it was such a joy to be there and witness that moment with the four of them were together for the first time.

Gracie was super excited and curious. She wanted to touch him and she was concerned about Katie and asked a bunch of questions. I don't even know what all she asked; I tune out her chatter a lot and I think the moment was just so beautiful that I didn't allow her chatter to interfere. Libby was excited too, but she was just a happy little observer. She didn't get in the way or ask any questions, she just absorbed it all in her own way.

We went back to the waiting room to wait for him to be measured and assessed. Katie wanted food and wanted it NOW. She also wanted chocolate birthday cake. Andrew volunteered to go get it, in fact, he insisted, so off he ran. It took him forever to get back!  He finally came back in dry clothes, with a fruit and cheese tray and a sandwich wrap for Katie and chocolate birthday cake that looked like cookie monster. Very cute. And very very blue!

Thankfully, my friend Audrey had just given me a package of diapers and they were still in the trunk of my car or Henry wouldn't have a nice clean bum. I was very thankful for that fresh diaper supply, as was everyone in the waiting area. Henry suddenly had a bout of diarrhea. 

When Andrew arrived with the food we all went up to see Katie and Alfred again and watch him get measured. The midwife measured his length and said, "Well, that can't be right." and she tried again. He's a big boy: 22.5 inches long!  Everyone guessed he might be a nine-pounder, she put him on the scale and it turns out he was almost ten pounds! At this point she mentioned that they would need to check his blood sugar to make sure his size wasn't a result of gestational diabetes (his sugar level was fine). He's just a big healthy boy. I herded the kids back down the stairs so that Katie could eat without the kids all begging for her food, they were pretty hungry at this point and it was close to noon already. I also didn't want them to see Alfred have his sugar tested and get his Vitamin K shot. No need to traumatize the kids by seeing a newborn get a needle. Who am I kidding, I didn't want to see that needle!

I was about 2 hours past my parking expiration on the meter, whoops, but luckily no parking ticket! Score! I put Henry in Libby's carseat, Libby in Gracie's booster seat and Gracie in the middle without a seat. Illegal for two of them, but it was the best I could do aside from walking in an area I didn't know well. Libby isn't legal in a booster seat until she gains 4 more pounds and Gracie isn't legal to sit on the actual seat of the car until she is 8 years old, she's got another year to go even though she is bigger than all of the 8 year olds in her class at school. I've broken so many laws today, what's a few more?  (Speeding, parking meter ran out, didn't feed the kids very well so far, took small children to a birth center, probably more.)

I took the kids to Costco and fed them pizza and fruit smoothies. Filling, yummy and cheap! Then we walked across the parking lot to Ikea and I checked the girls into the play area. They love the ball pit! Ikea offers an hour of free babysitting and the kids love it. They needed to burn off some energy anyway. Henry fell asleep in the carseat and was still asleep so I strolled through Ikea while he napped in the stroller.

It was 3pm now so I called Katie and told her we're on our way back to the birth center to see her one last time before heading home to Murrieta. She said, "I'm home now" What? Really? That was fast!  I drove to her house instead.

Andrew cut cake for everyone. It was cute and festive, but I just couldn't bring myself to eat that blue frosting. Katie opened presents from her friend and poor Henry had two more yucky diapers.

I grabbed a fresh outfit for Henry and his carseat, and took all three kids home. Andrew said he would come and get Henry tomorrow. I know they need this night alone with Alfred, especially since this would normally be a night in the hospital for Katie.  Henry loves coming to our house anyway.

Poor Henry had one more nasty diaper in the morning and started to run a little fever. Not bad, and he seemed to be eating and playing well and he was in good spirits, but he has a brand new baby brother at home so I called Katie to warn her that he might be hosting a germ. His diapers were fine the rest of the day, maybe he worked it all out of his system. Katie decided to let him stay one more night to keep Alfred safe.

I babysat for a friend so she and her husband could attend a retirement party, and the kids had a fabulous time together! Henry hung out with the kids and wasn't at all acting ill. Whatever he had, it was gone and he had so much fun with all of the kids. We had 6 kids from noon till bedtime.

In the evening, he was still fever free, playing hard, eating great, smiling and no more signs of diarrhea except for the rash it left behind. A bath nearly cured that though. Just when I thought he was all better, the blue frosting worked it's way through. Yuck!

When Henry woke up in the morning, he had a big smile on his face, looked at Keith and I and said "Yes!" Funny boy!

Andrew came around noon and poor little Henry had to go home. He was having so much fun playing with his little aunties and cousin that he didn't want to go home. He covered his eyes with his hands to hide from his daddy. What an attitude! I'm sure that once he got home to his mama and his new baby brother he was happy. I'm so glad the four of them can have this family time together. I know a lot of military families do not get this opportunity so it is extra special.

We're so proud of Katie and Andrew. They have two beautiful boys now, what a wonderful family! Katie had that big baby after only 4 and half hours of labor from start to finish, and delivered without any medications. She is feeling great and doing well. Andrew is taking extra great care of her and the boys too. They are they kind of family you hear about, but are afraid to believe that much happiness could be true. They are living proof that dreams come true. Welcome, little Alfred.