Emma's Paper Dolls

So, what does any decent mother do when she has to get rid of the beloved family pet, and the children are distraught. Well, I don't know, but I decided on bribery. Emma was in tears and all I could think was to say, "What can I do to make this better? If you could have anything at all right now, what would it be?"

Magic. The tears stop almost instantaneously, and she looks up at me. "Paper Dolls." Really?!? Well, not just any paper dolls - these are $25 paper dolls.

So, these are the dolls. I have to say they're really cute, and it's fun making the clothes. It's a little more than Emma can do at this point (she puts the little doo-dads on them after I make the clothes from fabric), but it reminds me of when I was young and my mom used to make clothes for my Barbie dolls.

Doesn't she look happy? It was totally worth the $25.

They're very sturdy made of this thick board-like stuff, so there's no danger of ripping off a limb or anything.

Emma picks the fabrics and the pattern (there are over 100 different patterns for tops, bottoms, dresses, bathing suits, etc, and also shoes, purses, and other accessories) and I make them.

It even came with a boy, but all he seems to want to do is kiss the little blonde girl. Seriously, Brandon is almost 11, and he still covers his head and makes disgusted noises when people on tv start kissing, but my girl...well, she's all about the love.

Our first fashion show. Did you notice the little blonde people holding hands?

Macbeth Through the Eyes of a Ten Year Old

Brandon recently read the story of Macbeth (an abridged version) as part of a history assignment, and here's what he had to say when asked to give a summary:

Macbeth wanted to be the king of Scotland. Three witches, called the weird sisters, told Macbeth he wouldn't be king.

So, Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, decided to kill the king of Scotland. Their plan worked, and they blamed it on the servant. The youngest son ran away to Ireland. The eldest son's army attacked. Macbeth was killed by Macduff.

I really like this curriculum (it's History Odyssey by Pandia Press). I certainly don't remember reading Shakespeare in elementary school. After he finished his summary, we watched the animated version of the play. We stopped it occasionally to discuss the language (it was the original phrasing). The graphics were pretty old school, so I don't think they (Em watched, too) were terribly impressed, but Brandon did check out a graphic novel of The Twelfth Night from the library, so at least he's interested.

Ancient History

Remember I said Emma's favorite class is Ancients. Well, now I can see why. Look at these great photos her teacher, Miss Cynthia, took of the class and their project: The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Emma and her first grade friends.

Emma and friend J. (Stan says our daughter has a very big mouth.)

Front view of the gardens.

Side view of the gardens - see the cute little figures? Isn't it great?

7 Random Things

So, Kari, one of my friends from co-op (yep, I have friends now, thanks to a brilliant move, and two unsuspecting Virginians that made it all possible) apparently doesn't like that I've not posted anything in a while. I have things to tell about, but all my pictures of said things are still in the camera, and I've been waiting for my husband to put them on a flash drive so I can upload them...anyway, I'll be posting like mad once I get my pictures.

So, back to Kari - she tagged me with this 7 random facts about me thing (if you don't know what tagging is, think of a cyber chain letter with survey attached, and you kind of get the idea). So, I'm supposed to:

• Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. (Since this is our family blog - I'm going to bend this a bit and do 7 facts about us)
• Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a message on their blog. (Like I know seven people. I figure if you see this and want to do it...consider yourself tagged. There.)

Here are my 7:

1. Brandon was born one month early but totally healthy.
2. Emma was born one day late, but I'd been having contractions for 3 1/2 months.
3. We watch The Amazing Race together as a family every week.
4. Stan has a black belt in Choi Kwang Do.
5. The last time Brandon lost a tooth, Emma wrote the tooth fairy a note explaining that though she was 6 1/2 years old, she'd yet to lose any teeth, but could she have some money, too, please...the tooth fairy was very generous and left our savvy girl (who still has all of her baby teeth) $5.
6. I knew I was going to marry Stan on our third date. It was Valentine's Day, and he brought me a single rose, a very sweet card, and a bag of Reese's peanut butter cups. The rose was nice and all, but the Reese's sealed the deal. I went home and told my mom that I'd met the boy I was going to marry. We were engaged 6 months later and married 3 months after that.
7. Emma's Favorite books right now are the Little Critter series - she has to get 2 or 3 on our weekly trips to the library. Brandon's current favorites are the Shadow Children series.