Rooster Valley Revue

Tuesday was the 4th and last of our Rooster Valley Revues, and they are so special.  The teachers and kids work so hard on them, but there are no expectations, no judgement, just lots of fun and laughter and just a few tears too, knowing this will be the last year.

RVFS has doubled their attendance this year and added a new building, so what was already a big deal is now even a bigger deal.  The usual church where they've gone before was not available, so we drove to the Si View Community Center which has a real stage and a big gym, but there still were not enough seats for everyone.  I was lucky enough to get there early enough to get a parking place pretty near by and a seat.  Half the people had to stand up until the preschoolers finished, and then most of that group left.

Katherine's friend Cora was right behind us, and they got to have a little fun together while waiting.

The preschoolers were adorable with their little yellow duck outfits and turkey shirts.  My favorite was the Turkey Pokey.  "You put your right wing in, you put your right wing out..."  on on through the drumstick, wattle, stuffing, and tailfeathers.  

I was too far back to get any good pictures of Katherine on stage, and the videos are pretty rough, but they make me smile.

I knew Katherine was the cat in Farmer in the Dell and was a mouse in Little Bunny Foo-Foo, but I didn't know what else to expect.

The little square dance was so sweet.  Kate's skirt is a little long, and her partner's hat fell over his eyes, but she wasn't about to let go of his hands to fix it.  Poor thing.  

The Farm Animals Gruff goes on and on starting with the worm crossing the bridge and ending up with the farmer, and the kids do a great job.  Katherine is the horse, and I was surprised at how confident she was.  She's come a long way from the little shy baby last year to being outgoing and having a lot of friends this year.

Happy Trails is the song they sing at the end of the school day every year, and it never fails to make Emily and me cry a little bit, especially this last year and seeing how earnestly Kate is singing all the words.  Sweet girl.

I got this great picture from Facebook of the hard-working, patient, and very much fun-loving teachers.  We're so lucky to have the girls be taught and loved by these ladies.

Thanksgiving 2019

What a great Thanksgiving!  It was perfect from beginning to end.  We're finally able to pull off holidays with the kind of fun and laughter that Mike wanted us to have with just a few times of bittersweet memories and just a few "it's just not fair" thoughts.

A few times this week, I've had this feeling of sadness at things not being the way they used to be.  In a way, even though it was stressful at times, I wanted to be preparing for a houseful of people and dogs and lots of food, making sure there was plenty of hot chocolate and coffee around and cooking extra desserts and everyone's favorite things.

But then I realize I like the place I am now.  I'm the one who shows up empty-handed at Emily and Ryan's house and has nothing to do but just sit and listen to the girls chatter and hear them laughing over last-minute preparations in the kitchen.  

Emily said she was proud of me because I actually CHOSE to walk to their house in 30s weather.  She said she knew I would come around eventually.  I'm not that brave though.  There was sunshine and no wind, so it was a pleasant walk.  Throw in that rain and even snow, and I'm inside by the fire!  

The girls greeted me by showing me the place mats and place cards they had worked so hard on.

 And still working on them.

 I then went into the kitchen to meet this big boy.  They had ordered a fresh turkey from a butcher, but when Emily got there to pick it up, they didn't have the one she ordered, so she had a get a much bigger one.  It was cooked to perfection by Ryan and delicious.

Emily was working on the Brussels sprouts.

Which ended up looking like this and was my favorite dish.

While lunch was being finished, I let the girls open their 2019 ornaments from me.  I used to give the adults one too, but now we're just treating the children.  More pressure off of finding just the perfect meaningful ornament!

Graysen is into penguins this year, so that's what she got.

And Katherine got a white kitty and a baby seal.

"Oh, I love him SO much!"

Then it was snuggles on the couch with Mimi and Aunt CeCe.

They promise this is fun!

My favorite place in the world to be!

Katherine needs so many friends to share her place!

\

It was such a good lunch and so much laughing.  The girls had sweet and thoughtful prayers before we started and managed to eat a few bites.  They had just as soon have had hot dogs.  The rest of us just loved being together and having a good time.

This was my plate.  Emily also made dressing, Caesar salad, and cranberry relish, which were good also.  Two good cooks in this house.  Dessert was all the fruit you want, but no one rushed to have any!  It was just the perfect amount.

I love the age of the girls now.  As soon as we finished, they were upstairs playing and chattering and leaving us to clean up the kitchen in peace.  Such a change from their baby days.  Cleaning up was even fun, and Elise and I left in a bit to leave them to their afternoon.  So thankful for these folks.

After a brisk walk home, I was ready for a cup of coffee and finishing my good book:  A Nearly Normal Family.  Very appropriate!  Very good book too.

Stockings and Doll Clothes

I think I've mentioned that I go a little crazy sometimes and take on new projects right in the middle of other things I've got going.  That's the norm for me, and I guess I won't ever get any better. 

I got the fabric ordered and delivered and had the cuff fabric.  I decided to use some plush white stuff I've had forever for the insides and was glad to get rid of it.  I had only enough for four stocking, so I went down to the garage and dug around until I found some white Minky for the girls'. 

Probably everything that could go wrong did, but I overcame all the obstacles and finished them. 

In hindsight, I would have used ribbon for the hangers instead of the fabric, but I most likely won't ever be making any more, so this will have to do. 

For Kate the cat lover.

Graysen is into penguins lately, and this is the best I could do.

The grownups will have to fight over these.  Elise chose the green, but the rest of us will just take what we get.

I now have to make one for Layla and one for the favorite dolls - plus the two they don't know they're getting. 

And doll clothes!  As slow as I am, I am not turning out vast wardrobes of clothing for the dolls, but Graysen doesn't seem to understand I'm not her personal seamstress.  She pores over the pattern books and picks out exactly what she wants, and most of them take fabric I don't have lying around - satins and taffetas and lace and sequins.

But we nailed this outfit.  The planning anyway.  We'll see how close I can come to it.  This is a library book, and Graysen has been eyeing this particular page since I brought it home. 

It would not be my first choice - or my 10th choice, for that matter - but I'm not the one playing with and dressing the dolls.

When I was in Hobby Lobby last week, I glanced at the lace fabrics, knowing I was not going to buy a huge piece for that little sample, but then I saw this piece of 5-inch lace trim and knew it would probably work nicely.

Graysen found this aqua knit in my doll clothes fabric and excitedly chose that.  I might could do an overlay since it's scalloped at the bottom.  We'll see!

The lace is gathered, so I think I bought enough to make a skirt overlay also.

Now to the pants.  I knew I could never find any fabric like that, but something kept rattling around in my head, and I finally figured out what it was.

Years ago, Sherry had sent me two pieces of black and white fabric that you could color like a coloring book.  At that time, I didn't want to let the little scribblers have access to it, so I tucked it away and did the "out of sight, out of mind" thing.  Almost.  It wasn't buried so deeply that I couldn't find it, and I triumphantly pulled it out and showed it to Graysen.

 She stared at it for a few minutes, and said, "It's not as cool as the fabric in the picture."  No, butterflies and flowers are not as cool as hearts and rainbows and stars to a little girl, but once I showed her the fabric markers and how she could color it any way she wanted to, she was hooked.   The pink marker is dried up, so I'll be ordering some more, and maybe there will be some lighter colors, although this is looking good and exactly what she wanted.

I hope I can find that little bit of black lace at the hem, because no detail escapes those eagle eyes.

The Diary

I'm sure almost every little (and big) girl has had a diary at one point in her life.  I remember mine being off-white with a gold trim and shiny gold lines to write on.  Most importantly it had a key that I usually managed to keep hidden.  I doubt anyone in my life then cared about my childish scribblings, but my brother would delight in finding the key or the diary unlocked and read my words back to me.

Elise and Emily both had diaries growing up, but I guess it speaks well of me that I wasn't curious enough to remember what they looked like.  In a box of mementos, we found (and repacked) a Hello Kitty diary of Emily's that looks like around third grade.  Graysen is very interested in finding that one.  Because this 6-year-old now has the greatest diary in the whole wide world!

It's not just any diary.  I has a cover with floating sparkles and a mermaid's tail and says, "Mermazing."  But best of all it has a ribbon page marker with a pompom.  I think that is the best thing about it right now, next to the key.

This week was the school book fair, and she took some money to school to spend any way she wanted to.  She found out that $20 doesn't go too far when your first pick is $13!  But it was exactly what she wanted, and it didn't matter that the only other thing she could afford was a poster showing a white kitty with a donut that said, DoNut Disturb.  She learned a new term from her dad:  play on words - and loved repeating that.

Anyway, she came skipping out of school clutching that fabulous diary and gushing on and on about it.  The only problem was that the purple ribbon bookmark had come out.  Everyone knows Mimi can fix everything - or so they think.  I wasn't so sure, but out came the Krazy Glue, and I gave it a try.  I'm the messiest when it comes to glue, and I was sweating by the time I finished working on it.  If I had messed that thing up, I would be in bad trouble.

But so far it's worked - very neatly, I have to say - and is still in there.

The purple-striped pen is an amazing addition.  She just got it Saturday at her friend Everly's party in the goodie bag, and it matches perfectly.  She also brought that to me at one point to be glued back together.  It was a crazy day for Krazy Glue.

School was out around noon for teacher conferences, and we had to wait until 3:15 to pick up Katherine, and she could hardly wait to show her.  She took it into the school and showed it to Katherine and all the little envious 4-year-olds plus Katherine's teachers.  As soon as we got in the car, she started writing in it.  She did let Kate hold it and examine it, but she wrote nonstop all the way to McDonald's, which was only about two sentences.  She even wrote about seeing a little girl dressed like Elsa crossing the street to go to the Frozen matinee in North Bend.

Friday night was sleepover night, so I heard every exclamation and was asked to spell many words before bedtime.  She loved reading her words over and over and sometimes to us.  She slept with it beside her.

Poor Kate.  I knew she would be sad.  She's used to not having all the new clothes, but a new diary too!  She was quiet and accepting, but I found her secretly opening it and holding the key when Graysen was doing something else.  My heart!

Elise felt it too!  She decided to give Katherine a diary for Christmas and picked out the same one but with a different design.  I thought it was a good idea, but something made me not want to rain on Graysen's parade.  I know these are just possessions, but everyone needs to experience that special gift sometimes and not have to share it.  We compromised and found her another one that's pink with a heart on it and possibly a little glitter.  She will be thrilled, and Graysen will still feel like hers is special.

She brought it to me and asked me to write (like a grownup) "THIS BOOK BELONGS TO" and a line.  Then she wrote her name on the line.

I found a little box for her keys and lock, and I'm pretty sure that's going to be a problem, keeping up with those tiny things.

Such special memories.  I hope she will read this one day and remember.  I told her I was writing it down in MY diary for her to read one day.  

It's Just Going Too Fast

I want to remember things, but the weeks are just passing so swiftly that I can't keep up.

I enjoy my weekends so much and am lucky enough to have easy Fridays and Mondays, so I really have it so good.  Just busy Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and I can coast for 4 days.

Going backward from today:

Sunday sleeping a little later and waking up to bring in the paper and have my coffee in front of the fire.

I was pleasantly surprised to get a call from my oldest (but younger than me) and bestest Debra.  She was headed home from celebrating her granddaughter's ninth birthday, and we enjoyed catching up with all the little ones and also discussing how life has changed for us as we've gotten older.  It's good that we can laugh about things even though they're not exactly the way we'd like them to be.  I'm so glad we're managing to talk at least once or twice a month.

The girls went to a Fancy Nancy tea party this afternoon, and they came by to show us their outfits and tell us all about it.

They were a little bit wild and high on sugar by the time they got here but just the sweetest.

There was face-painting that went on as well as some crafts, so the "Paris dress" that used to be Graysen's was a little the worse for wear.  Emily treated the stains with blue Dawn, and they seemed to have come out perfectly fine for wearing to see the Nutcracker in a few weeks.

It's really hard to not be shocked every time I look at this baby and see
how big she's getting.

I hear the mothers had just about as good a time as the daughters.  Emily loves a good tea party.

After they left, I worked on the Christmas stockings I started to make all of a sudden.  I don't know why.  I had planned to made them when we first moved here, but that Christmas was not the time for it, and then I just put it off.

I played around with a few patterns until I found one that I wouldn't have to spend a fortune filling up all five of them.  Not sure who's going to fill mine.  I had in mind chapstick and some candy canes!

I ordered 6 half-yard pieces of fabric from Etsy, and they are so pretty.

Christmas trees for the grownups, cats for Katherine, and penguins for Graysen.  The penguin one hasn't come yet.

I had some off-white fabric from years ago with a little gold thread running through it that I'll use for the cuffs.  I got them all cut out and will iron on the fusible interfacing and do a little quilting before I put them together.

I keep on putting off working on the quilts and start new projects, but that's nothing new to me.  All the time I was cutting out the stockings, I was planning Christmas skirts for the dolls and hair scrunchies from the leftovers.

I went to Issaquah Friday to take some consignment clothes and look for a few little things but never got quite enthusiastic about anything.  My main goal was to find boas for the party, and that was successful at Michaels.  Texting Emily:  How many?  What colors?  Anything else?

I guess it's good for my budget that I was not into shopping.  Hobby Lobby didn't have any of the small sewing things I went in for, so that was a bust.  Target, I just wandered around and ended up getting the girls some socks and came home.  It's been a beautiful week, and the drive home was so pretty.

Graysen had early pickup, and we took our time walking home.  She stopped and played a little in the park.

I left her with Elise while I picked up Katherine.  They had made stuffed goats for the letter G week.

I read about the process on the Rooster Valley Facebook page, and they actually were allowed to use the sewing machine (or supervise) to sew them and dyed them with spices.  I thought they smelled like coffee, but Elise recognized some spices.  These teachers are up for anything, giving the kids experiences and allowing them to make messes.  We're so lucky to have them.

 Katherine and a beautiful little friend.

More G for Goat pictures with sweet Makena and Brodie.

Going back to Thursday, I went back to the Y and did something I vowed I wouldn't do.  I learned how to play Mah Jongg.  When I got there, there were 5 people there who all played together and were planning to do so.  Debbie had not gotten there yet, so I told them to go ahead and I would just look on, thinking I would do that and just not go back if no one was playing anything I knew how to play.  It's mainly for the socializing anyway, but one of the Y workers came in to check on us, and somehow it worked out that there would be a playing table and a teaching table.  Four would play and the 4th would teach Angie and me, and it turns out I had a great time.  Whether I will ever understand all the rules is still to be determined, but I held my own when we played a hand.

There is such a ritual and key words - like building a wall of tiles, doing the Charleston, craks, bams, soaps, dots, flowers and winds and a particular way of picking your tiles.  You don't just all reach in and grab 13 tiles.  You do it in increments of 4 at a time - and it's just crazy and fascinating.  Probably I won't be as enthusiastic when I start playing for real and seeing how much I DON'T know.

This is not us but a setup similar to ours.  There's a little bit of rummy, some of hearts, and a touch of Scrabble all mixed up with little rituals and courtesies.  I'm afraid I'm not going to be serious enough, but I'll try!  It's very interesting though, and I love learning new things.



This IS us week before last when Spinner was the game of choice.  I caught on to that one pretty fast.  I'm not sure how many new things my mind will hold onto.



Just a bunch of pictures from Katherine's Halloween parade at school with BFF Makena, of course.

Again, the teachers are up for anything.  I kind of want this for the upcoming winter.

Bobbing for doughnuts is lots more fun than apples - and drier - and sweeter!

Graysen wore her Captain Marvel costume to school the day before Halloween.

I hear this is how Captain Marvel wears her hair, but I wouldn't know.

She and her two best friends dressed alike without even planning it.  I asked about the "lamb" in the front row, and Graysen didn't know what I was talking about.  She said she was dressed like an old lady.

 

Grandma and Grandpa Bindert sent a box of goodies, including personalized cookies.

Just some random fall pics on my phone.

A neighbor's house that got lots of discussion and staring and shivers from the girls.

Playdate with Makena and Brodie and his sister and brother at Kidz Bounce one morning.

That's just a bit of what's been going on since I last posted.  Again, life is wonderful, and we're all happy.  I'm reading, sewing, walking, playing games, loving on the girls and taking them all their places.  Often hearing from old friends and reminiscing.  Can't ask for much more.

Oh, and we had a couple more earthquakes Saturday morning.  I only felt one of them and wasn't sure about the second one.  I woke up thinking the cat was having one of her moments, but she doesn't usually get wild during the night.  It was more noise than a shaking, like she had run into the door.  I guess it spooked her.  They were small, and not a lot of people were aware of them - 2.-something, I think.  One person who was outside described it as, "it sounded like the mountain rumbled."

But no snow and just sunshine all week, so weatherwise I'm happy.  Lows in the 40s and highs up to 60 next week.

And just saw this.  Too close.  About 3 blocks from the school, 4 blocks from our place.  It's just looking for food - but so scary.  I'm so glad I don't have a dog to walk or any other reason to be out after dark, but bears have been spotted at any time of day in town.