Our Military Family Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving day with our military family.  Unfortunately, Katie and her husband, The Big Squid, were taking pictures that day, so I didn't take many.  Here are the two I did take though.

This is their Charlie's Angels shot

Princess Bellerella, Princess Rotten Rose, Princess Screams At Bugs

I hope you all had marvelous Thankgivings and safe Black Fridays.  Now, it's time for some made from leftover turkey gumbo!

Life According to Missy: Why she needs her own tree

We were out and about the other day and happened to pop on in to Target as I needed to get some more ornament hooks.  Having been raised by a mother that likes to put Christmas music on for Thanksgiving dinner, I've always been rather anti-traditional Christmas stuff and I HATE Christmas music.

So, that means when it comes time to decorate our Christmas tree, I like it to be pretty non-traditional and decorated with completely hand-made ornaments.  Every year I make a new batch of ornaments and that day I needed more hooks.

Anyways, we're wandering around in the "Christmas Crap," as I call it, and Missy spots some little Christmas trees that are the perfect size, just for her.  Immediately she started up with, "Oh!  It's SO cute!  Can I have this?  Can I have this?!  Please, please, PLEASE!!!"

Normally I don't give in to what I call "Terrorist Demands" but she was so earnest and so very cute that I started to bend.

I said, "And why do you think you need this tree?"

She replied, "We've got our family tree downstairs and that's for our FAMILY but this tree is just for me."

I asked her, "Aren't you part of our family and so isn't the 'Family Tree' your tree too?"

To which she replied, "That's the family tree for you guys, and this is my tree.  I love this tree because I do."

Really, what can you say to that?  So, of course it ended up coming home with us.

PS: Mother, I understand now why you were always eager to put up all your Christmas Crap.  I myself have had our tree up for nearly 2 weeks now.  I'm sorry.  However, I still hate Christmas music.

I've SEEN the Hyperbolic Crochet Reef!

WOW!  I am beat.  We left for D.C. at 3:50 p.m. and just got back at 11:15 p.m.  Needless to say, it has been a LONG afternoon/evening.  Anyways, let's cut to the chase: I have seen the hyperbolic crochet reef at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and it is AMAZING!!!

Over 400 people contributed more than 1,000 crocheted or knitted pieces of yarn corral, starfish, sea cucumbers, jellyfish and more.  The oldest contributor is over 100 and the youngest is Missy Moo at 3 years old.  She was pandered to all evening by lovely grandmotherly types and boy did she eat it up.

Take a gander and stare in amazement...

Some of these were made out of trash to show man's effects on our corral reefs

The two most important people in my world - aren't they cute?

Sea cucumbers made out of yarn make me laugh

Missy with Jennifer Lindsay, the Community Reef Coordinator

Near our contribution - Jennifer told me she calls that area "The Little Mermaid Grotto"

I love my little family.

If you're in the Maryland/D.C. area, I heartily recommend that you stop over at the Museum of Natural History to see the reef.  If the private viewing for contributors hadn't been so very packed, I would have taken a picture of the reef in its entirety, but I think the pictures I did take show how very cool it is.

After the reception, we headed on down to Chinatown and got some Mexican food.  It's too bad Missy fell asleep or she would have been in heaven.  LOL.  

Life According to Missy: How to become a boy

Hey All.

So, I was busy last night making some turkey hairbows for Missy and her friends like these:

I'm really loving them.  I got the inspiration and (really rough) instructions here on Agape Love Designs.  I'll try and do a tute on these later this week so you can have more precise instructions and measurements.

Missy likes hers a lot, as you can see:

Well, you can't really see how much she likes it.  Just take my word for it.

Anyways, back to the story.  I was working on those hairbows last night and kind of let Missy have the run of the living room.  I'd turned on a show for her, got her a glass of milk, and provided her with some grapes.  After about half an hour of pure crafting bliss (i.e.: no interruptions from Missy), I decided to go check on her.  Here's what I found:

She'd taken that red bottle of leave in conditioner, that's only meant for the tips of your hair, and used it to plaster all of her hair to her head.  She smilingly informed me that, "I've got BOY HAIR NOW!!!"  I guess I should be grateful that getting "BOY HAIR" didn't involve scissors.

Can you find the kitty cat?

She just can't seem to let Halloween go.

Board Game MANIA!

Missy and I were cruising through Toys R Us after her dental appointment last week.  We were there to pick up a bike reflector that had been inadvertently left off her bike when it was put together.

Anyways, they are having a HUGE sale on Hasbro board games right now.  Then, to top it off, Hasbro is offering rebates too!  So, our $10 Candy Land and $10 Chutes and Ladders were both reduced to $3 and each had a $2 rebate.  That means both cost me $1.  As my buddy Katie at The Squid's Accomplice says, "That's better than a stick in the eye!"

Here are some pictures of Missy opening her first board game:

Missy Moo's new bike

A few weeks ago, we were in Toys R Us and The Daddy-Man suddenly decided that Missy Moo needed a new bike since she's outgrown her tricycle.  Here are a couple pictures of us out an about, trying the new bike.

This last one is my favorite: