Frippery

The gals are going to a birthday party tomorrow. A Fancy Nancy party!!!!

We're all excited and preparations for fanciness have started. I made headbands and hair bows and the girls are planing their outfits as I write this, so far I have seen at least five variations on their party gear already.
Here are some of the things I made this morning and there will be pictures of the girls all dolled up to follow soon. ( You can tell who loves to have her picture taken, what a ham!)

That's My Baby: Anya

Emma

Are you watching the newest Emma on Masterpiece Theater? I did, and while I enjoyed the first episode I'm not yet sure it's my favorite, and that really surprises me. Up until this version all the most recently made Austins have been excellent, surpasing the older movies in doing real justice to the books and with Emma I'm just not sure.

I wonder if the problem is my expectation in representing the book, perhaps it's just difficult to capture the essence of Emma and round out the details in movie form.

With this Austin book I find fault the in movies there is always something I would change. In the 1996 Emma, with Gwyneth Paltrow, detail was lost. It was a beautiful movie and my favorite, but where for instance was Donwell Abby? Kate Beckinsale's movie that same year was better with detail, but not nearly as charming, way to stiff, and Mr. Knightly was a disappointment. Romola Garai has the lead in this new adaptation along with Jonny Lee Miller as Mr. Knightly (interesting choice) and Michael Gambon playing her worrying father, the cast is good but have they added too much?

I will be watching, I hope you will too, and let me know what you think.

Oh,That's My Baby: Lila

Beautiful Smiles

While rummaging through our pictures I found some of Paul's Grandma Myrtle as a young girl, they reminded me of photos of my own girls, who like to hear stories of little girls past and what life was like. These pictures tell the story of how some things stay the same, little girls and their smiles, the special way they look at life and how they enhance ours for knowing them.

Friends, They'll Break Your Heart

I helped a friend today taking care of her little guy, he is very sweet and plays well with my kids. We all love him and have fun every time we get together to visit. Annette especially has a fondness for him, he is her BEST friend, and he was here to play for the whole day!

At Sunday school last year he referred to her as my little raccoon, and would pat her on the head, (he likes raccoons and that summer had a raccoon story every time we saw him.)

Everything was going smoothly today, there were no little squabbles to interfere with their fun, until this afternoon when before naps, (by all accounts a tricky time of day for most) a little disagreement took place. Annette insisted too strongly about something and was pushed. No big deal, sorries were said, tears were dried and the playing went on. (this was the ONLY disagreement between any of them the entire day.)

I thought nothing of it until about an hour later when getting Annette (she's three years old) ready for her nap she said: 'J___ pushed me, he doesn't love me any more!' to which I replied: 'you two are friends, sometimes you push or make each other sad, but you are still friends and love each other.' I thought this was a pretty good response and that would cover it. Boy was I wrong! She looked at me and sorrowfully said: 'J__ pushed me and broke my heart, he broke my heart into a thousand tiny little pieces!'

The little drama queen!

Back to You

I watch the Today show just about every morning. However after this afternoon I might be rethinking that or signing Lila up for junior journalism classes.

I usually record the show and then watch it a couple of hours after it starts, picking and choosing what I want to see. The kids know who Matt and Meredith are and notice when Al or Anne aren't there. Lila in particular asks me where they are, and what they're doing.

Like I would know, because we're all the best of friends.

Today we spent the day today at Papa and Mama's house, escaping the rain at our house in exchange for the blustery rain at theirs. The weather was worse but the company much more fun than just ourselves. We had cabin fever, and needed a change!

After lunch and chasing Papa around for an hour or so , Anya challenged Papa to a game of checkers while Lila found a magnifying glass that looks (to a five year old) like a microphone and started some reporting. It was going for at least twenty minutes when I heard snatches of 'hundreds of tigers were found in the park today in the port city of Baal...back to you Meredith,' and 'there was a fire today in the town of ___ and no one died, however the firemen did not make it... , there were killer caterpillars, what do you think Al?...'

In fact she is still at it now, while I type this, although I have now started to block it out a bit. Her imagination is on full blast and then she is interviewing the family as if they were at the scene.

You just never know what a rainy day might bring.