Could It Be?

Is this a sign of spring?
I thought I heard something.
Yup!
A pair of ducks!

A little while later, as I passed the back door, I noticed that they had notified all of their friends!
By then the sun had set, so not such a great picture.
But isn't this a hopeful sight?
Well, I think so!

Well, I Tried

This is my feeble attempt to depict the grand kids as paper dolls. I drew these quickly, and for a quick draw, I'm fairly satisfied with them. Maybe someday I'll spend a bit more time on this. But probably not, so I thought I'd post these just for fun.

Let the Christmas Crafting Begin!

Or, should I say.., continue?
Because we are ALWAYS crafting around here.
This particular ornament was made on Monday, but lately it isn't just on Monday that we make things.

My Pinterest Board is FULL of things I WANT to make.
This one we just came up with on our own.

 And this one is TOTALLY from Hertsje's fabulous imagination.
If you can't tell, it is a monster snowman with A LOT of eyes.
Do notice that the monster maker has THREE eyes.
I'm always thrilled when children can easily follow directions and make something recognizable.
I'm also equally thrilled to see children come up with their own ideas for things and have the freedom to do it!
The two of us have a great time creating things, but I'm guessing that is obvious.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Yesterday the BIG trucks arrived for the building project down the street.
For most of the summer, all it looked like from here was a lot of moving around of huge piles of dirt.
Back and forth, day after day.
Notice the picture below.

In just one day, ALL of this happened.
I did not do much today but watch this, running out from time to time with my camera.

Wow.
It is REALLY going to look different in the neighborhood.
Can't wait to see the finished product!
(i have NO IDEA why there is a giant gap here before the next post begins.  one of life's great mysteries, apparently.)

AG Doll Stuff

This is the area Famke and I deemed best for the dolls den.  Also library and art studio!  The carom board won't be staying, as it belongs to Oldest Son, who with his wife has just bought their first house!

This thing with the books.  Until this week it was on the dresser in our bedroom.  I like it here better.

A couple of these books were gifts.  The rest were found at the thrift store.

I'm sooo glad that the dolls like to read!

Both Famke and Hertsje like gymnastics, so we are leaving floor space for that sort of thing.
I should probably be looking for something to work as bars or a balance beam.  Hmm.

Thankfully, when it is only me, my doll is happy to drink her coffee, read her books, and draw with her very own teeny tiny colored pencils.

One day, I handed her my cell phone to use as a tablet.  But then I had the thought that maybe, just maybe, I had taken things one step to far.

There IS a fine line between sanity and insanity, or so I've been told.

I must tell you here that I was not the kind of little girl that played with dolls all day long. And when I did, it was NOTHING like this!

My favorite thing to do with them was to play airplane crash, pull them apart, throw them around and then play nurse and put them back together again.

And people wonder why I don't like to fly.

So in this, my second childhood (or is it my third or forth?) I am trying to get it right.

As far as scale goes, I shall never be true to that.  It's difficult to do it all exact, and gratifying to find amazing things that work well.  Making do works for me, and so far, not a peep of complaint from either doll!

Last week I watched a few videos on how to make yarn rope.

That means that I have a rather large number of yarn ropes lying about.

After awhile I got pretty good at it, and taught Jonge and Famke how to do it too.

These make GREAT belts, scarves, and possibly even hair extensions for the dolls.

Can you tell I am having fun with this?  I am!

Famke is really excited about it too, and that makes me very happy.

On Monday after we had set it all up, we went upstairs to have lunch.  After lunch I asked her if she was ready to get back to it.

Her reply?

"You stay up here.  I want to play with it by myself".

I did not cry, but I came close.

A Room of Her Own

 It is spring break here at my house.  The youngest two grand kids are vacationing in Nebraska for the week, so I only had the oldest four on Monday and Wednesday, and THGGM had those days off too. We had plans to do outside stuff: the zoo, Meijer Gardens, or just playing out of doors, but THAT never happened, as it was cold, and either rainy or snowy both of those days.

But did we still have fun?

Oh yes we did!

Famke and I set to work early Monday morning (they spent the night with us on Sunday) setting up a room in our basement for our American Girl dolls.

The first picture shows a couple of boxes that I am hoping to soon turn into a suitable bed for her.

Famke had a great time arranging things.

I was looking around for a small vase for flowers for her nightstand.

Famke was looking for something too.

Not being quite sure what she had come up with, I asked her.

Her reply?  "A throw-up bowl."

Anyway...

I'm hoping to hang the mirrored shelf, add rods for her clothes in the wardrobe, and maybe a picture or two on the wall.  I haven't done it yet, as I also have a few old maps I've been meaning to hang.  So much to think about!

This week I learned that I am no good at sizes.

Truly I pictured in my mind that ALL of the stuff I had for this doll would fit on one, or maybe two tables.

Ugh.  This is NOT the case.

I still have more I want to make, but I'm quite sure that THGGM isn't willing to give up ALL the space in the basement to me.

He's a generous man, but he does have his limits.

This is just an old small lampshade I had.  I plopped it on top of a thrifted candlestick, and there you have it - a lamp!

Well, now you have seen the bedroom portion of our arranging.

There is still a living room, den/library/art room, and kitchen to see!

And soon I hope to have the school room up and running.  THGGM went to the hardware store to look for spindles for legs for the lap desk.  He thought them too expensive (he was right) so came home and dug around in his garage for a minute where he found a set of four legs that are just the right height for it!

This made me happy.

But then, I am easily entertained.

Dragonfly

 This dragonfly.  Oh, my!  It seemed to be posing for me!

 I can see how one could mistake this for a tiny fairy.

 The wings are just amazing.

And look at that face!

My Neighbors

 Zooming in on the birds this morning.  These two are so pretty!

 I made it out today for a bit of shopping and to Shelde's for lunch.  Had salmon, rice, and zucchini/summer squash.    Feeling hopeful that I am on the mend.  Tomorrow is our 37th wedding anniversary!

Benjamin

Awhile back on the drive home from school, Pake pointed out that gas had dropped below three dollars a gallon.  Jonge asked Pake if gas would drop below two dollars, and Pake's response was that that would NEVER happen.  Jonge asked, "But what would happen if it DID?"  Pake said that if gas dropped below two dollars a gallon he would give him a hundred dollars.

Well, yesterday that happened.

One of these two looks happier than the other, don't you think?

One must always keep ones word, musn't one?

Still Discovering Things

Quite by accident today I discovered a special effect on my camera.  You know, the camera that I bought in January and still haven't figured out yet.

Yes, that's the one.

Anyway, I didn't realize I had it set for this until I'd taken a few pictures.

I rather like it!

Seems I shall have a great time playing around with this.

Hertsje and Doll

As you can see, Hertsje still adores Doll.

Notice how she is helping Doll feel the bale of hay in the Touch and Feel book.

Doll truly seems to enjoy it just as much as Hertsje!

I'm not sure if there is anything more delightful than watching children play.  If there is, I cannot seem to remember what that could be.

A Relaxing Sunday

 THGGM is down there SOMEWHERE on the beach enjoying the lovely warm summer weather immensely.  I prefer it to be much cooler and am happy to be on the upper deck painting with my Crayola watercolors.

Cute As A Bug

 The grand kids found this in the backyard Friday afternoon.  There is just something so beautiful about how intricate this creature is.  And I LOVE that shade of green.  He posed for a bit and then hopped around the yard with four kids chasing him.  He ended up safely in the lily of the valley patch.

Friday Morning Entertainment

Not sure what YOU did for fun on this Friday morning, but over here we watched for the garbage truck.  

It's not like they throw candy or anything, but they certainly do draw a crowd.

Jonge and Famke spent the night with us.

Pake made us French toast which we ate out in the backyard.

This very tiny bee was flying around my mint plant.

This is the smallest one I've ever seen.

Since tiny bees aren't really keen on close examination, I took some pictures so I could enlarge them and get a good look at it.

What beauty on such a minuscule creature!

Yup. I Think She Is Ready.

Not only does Hertsje find Big Baby fun to dance with, but she also spent the day reading books to Big Baby, playing "This little piggy went to market" and covering Big Baby in sloppy wet kisses.

Only two more months until she shall have a Big Baby all her own.

I think she is ready!