Birthdays and Family

Good morning everyone! As you know, yesterday was my birthday. Yes, I am now 16 years old. Of course I would rather be 6 again. 6 was a wonderful year. But enough of that. I need to get on with the post that I promised a while ago.

Last May Matthew, Margaret, Walter, and Owen came from California to visit, and my other brother, Patrick, and his dog Lando came for a few days. On Saturday we had even more family members over and it was great fun. We had such a lovely time with everyone that, despite my darling mother's constant asking, I really didn't get many pictures. That's all right, though. There are certainly enough good ones to make a pleasantly long blog post.

I hope you enjoyed looking at these pictures; I'll be back soon with lots more fun posts.

A Little Medley in Time for Spring

As I was sitting here browsing Facebook and sipping tea, there was only one thing on my mind: I should probably blog. For the past few days I've been thinking about how many interesting topics I have to write about, some happy, some sad. I suppose I ought to start with the sad part, since no one wants to end anything on a sad note, and the happier part is much longer than the sad part.

Well, you know how I live in a house surrounded by tall, beautiful trees? Heh. Not anymore. Our new neighbors clear-cut their property and now all that's left are stumps and slash piles. It makes me very sad to see the woods I used to walk past almost every day gone. To make matters worse, though, another neighbor is logging now too. Now, these woods were the ones I used to play in all the time. I went over there yesterday evening and looked at all the trees that had been cut down. I have many memories of those trees, and it pains me to think that I'll never be able to make more.

Now that the terribly sad, frustrating part of my life is out of the way, we can get on to the happier parts.

First, we have some wonderful newish chicks. We actually got them a few months ago, but they're still just as cute as they were when they fit into my hand. I have two very special ones in the group. At first I had planned on picking out one special chick to be my pet and naming her Barrow after one of my favorite "Downton Abbey" characters (yes, I still love that show), but then the smallest chick of the group, an Ameraucauna, was acting awfully sick. Daddy noticed her, and Mother and I held her and fed her and gave her water until we went to bed that night. In the morning we expected her to be dead, but she was fine! I was a bit funny, though, because I had named her Sybil after "Downton Abbey," and then she happened to be the chick who almost died. It was all rather appropriate for the poor thing. Anyway, Sybbie became very close to people because we held her so long and took care of her, so now she and Barrow are my two pet chickens and they always stick together like the best of chick friends. I'm afraid I don't have any recent pictures of the two at the moment, so here's a picture of when they were much smaller.

Sybil is now white with black instead of yellow and black, but Barrow has basically the same coloring (Barrow's a Buff Orpington). When they were little I had lots of fun setting them up with the dollhouse furniture. I do love to play with my little chicks.

You might remember that this time last year, my brother, his wonderful wife, and, of course, my nephew Walter came up here from California and we had a family reunion. Well, they're coming on Wednesday to stay for a few days. This time, though, I have two nephews to play with and take on walks down the (treeless) driveway. The last time they came, Margaret was pregnant with Owen, who's now eight months old. We saw him when we went to California in the fall, but of course he's completely different now. I'm sure you'll be waiting for me to blog all about their stay here and how much fun we all had, which I shall certainly do.

I'll be quite busy in the next few days, as one of my other brothers, Patrick, is coming home on Sunday, and Sunday happens to be Mother's Day. I must also do a great deal of cleaning this week. My room's just a bit of a mess at the moment.

I'll talk to you all in a few weeks!

An Adventure (or Two), Part 2

Alas, the long awaited ending to my birthday adventure (which took place over half a year ago) is here. I'm well aware that I promised it would be up before the end of the year, but this time I have a perfectly acceptable reason: I started watching "Downton Abbey." Now, for those of you who have not seen me since Christmas, this may seem a rather feeble excuse. But until I've watched all five series two or three times, everything is "Downton Abbey" to me. Yes, I am quite happy to sit in front of the television and forget about all my blogging obligations for the next few months.

I suppose it's time to get on with my birthday story since you've all been waiting so very patiently. You probably skipped that last paragraph anyway.

An Adventure (or Two), Part 2

Last July I ended Part 1 with the intentions of taking Isabelle and her goody bag goodies outside for some pictures in the gorgeous summer weather. I never actually got all the necessary pictures, so I'm afraid I cannot show you what came in the goody bag. Until it gets a little lighter and dries up a bit outside, I shall simply give you a list of the items in the bag.

• An enormous "Isabelle Dances into the Spotlight" poster
• A doll-sized poster of Jackie Sanchez (Isabelle's favorite ballerina)
• A human-sized movie ticket
• A doll-sized ticket
• A sheet of Isabelle stickers (I think there are five)
• A doll-sized plastic container of popcorn
• A doll-sized Isabelle T-shirt

There were plenty of items to begin with (the popcorn and T-shirt are especially delightful), but since they handed one out to each person, I now have three of each item.

Anyway, after we left the theater, we drove to Lincoln Park where we had a picnic by the water and watched the ferries. It was very beautiful and it reminded me of McKenna, Girl of the Year 2012, who lived in Seattle.

After we ate I took Kit (my very first American Girl), Filumena (my precious My American Girl), and Isabelle (the new girl, of course) onto the beach for some pictures. 

Filumena, Izzy, and Kit were very obliging and leaned against a rather large piece of driftwood. I fancy I would be terrified to stand in front of a colossal chunk of wood.

Naturally, Izzy got the most pictures taken. She really is lovely.

Kit and Izzy were quite intrigued by the seaweed, which happened to be the perfect size for them.

Filumena was lucky enough to find a seashell. It is now sitting in her bathroom in my bedroom.

My parents were the ones to find the seaweed and shell and set them up with the dolls. We had a great deal of fun.

After we left Lincoln Park (finding our way back to the car was an adventure in itself), we drove home. I read about half of Isabelle's first book in the car. It's a fairly good series, even if it's not my favorite. I think my favorite GOTY story is Nicki's or Chrissa's.

When we got home I was tired and it was dark outside, so I had to wait until the next day to really play with Izzy. But, that was my birthday, and it was a very enjoyable day. This is really the end of the adventure, but I still have so many pictures of Isabelle to show you, so I am including a sort of review of her. Just think of it as my apology to you for practically abandoning the blog.

Even though you've already seen her, here is the queen of all other Isabelles.

Her shirt has a ballerina and pink sequins on it, and the ballerina has a small triangle of tulle sewn on for a tutu.

Her capris are, unfortunately, stiff and a bit out-of-scale, but the cuffs on the bottoms are made out of a very soft knit.

Her shoes are delightful. They're better than many of the shoes American Girl makes now, and they're very sparkly and pretty.

Her hair is long, thick, and the perfect shade of blond. It has a lovely mix of dark and light blond streaks, and it reminds me of my hair when I was younger.

The one "special" thing that Isabelle dolls come with is a hot pink hair extension. Anyone who knows me probably wouldn't think that dyed hair, especially pink, is my style. It certainly is not, but Isabelle's extension is wonderful. It's just a chunk of hair sewn to a fabric strip with three plastic hooks at the top. The hooks go into three flesh-colored loops of ribbon sewn to her wig cap. They stay in very well, but the only problem is that pink hair doesn't show up very well without considerable effort.

While I was at the store, I bought her accessories. These coral fingerless gloves the black jacket are from them.

I didn't know that her jacket was made out of knit until I opened up her accessories at home. I do wish I had known, because I actually wasn't terribly excited about the jacket. Once I realized that it was made out of soft, stretchy knit, it became my favorite doll coat for all of two months.

Hooray! I have even more pictures of Isabelle's face.

Her hair comes in two twists, and once the larger one is taken out, her bangs like to completely cover her face. I generally keep her hair out of her eyes, but once in a while I let it down.

Here she is in her Performance Set. I bought this at AGP Seattle too.

It comes with a charming little crown which perches atop her head beautifully. I think I would wear this crown every day if it were mine.

And here is one last picture of Isabelle. That's one of the T-shirts that came in the movie goody bags.

Well, that's it. It's finally over. I will try my very best to blog more frequently, and now that I'm finished with my online English class, I shall feel guiltless when I do. Come to think of it, the English Class is story which very few of you know. Perhaps I shall write about that next. Until then, I wish you all a lovely day and a relaxing weekend.

Hi!

I'm afraid this blog has sat untouched for far too long. I did at least want to get a post in before Christmas. Don't worry about the second part of my birthday story: it will come before the end of the year. I'm so sorry for the long wait.

Anyway, I am enrolled in school. Wait, let me rephrase that. I am taking an online English class with which I am almost finished. If I must be brutally honest, it's quite silly. It's all answering questions, and my teacher seems to enjoy dwelling on stories/poems/speeches about sports and black segregation. I had to read To Kill a Mockingbird, which was fine, but there is a very interesting, long story connected to one of the assignments I had to do. I shall tell it to you some other day, as it commands a post all to itself, and "An Adventure (or Two), Part 2)" must come first.

Well, I've complained enough and it's getting a bit late, so I shall leave you to ponder what I have just said (or not; it doesn't require pondering).

Bye!

An Adventure (or Two), Part 1

First, I must start out by saying that I am fifteen.  Yes, my birthday was on the eighteenth, and I am now considered one year older.  On that day, Mother, Daddy and I traveled to Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood.  There is a very special store there where we have gone for three of my birthdays.  That's right, we went to the American Girl Place for the third time.  This year I have come back with the most surprising of surprises: Girl of the Year 2014 Isabelle!  You see, I wasn't planning on buying her there, but apparently Mother and Daddy were.  The dialogue went like this:

Mother: Where's the Isabelle section?

Me: Over there.  I begin walking in the direction I think it is.

Mother: Are you sure?

Me: No.  I catch a glimpse of an Isabelle display.  Yes.

We walk over to Isabelle, pointing at different things along the way.  We get to the Isabelle display.

Mother: So, we were going to buy you Isabelle.

I look at Mother, then at Daddy, then back at Isabelle, probably with my mouth slightly open.

Mother: Is that OK?

Me: Yeah.

Mother: Why don't you pick out your Isabelle?

I pick out the very best Isabelle they have.

And that is my story of how I got my Isabelle.

Anyway, after spending a good portion of my money, we went over to the theater for the next exciting part of my little birthday adventure.  About two weeks ago, Mother went onto AG's website and saw that the Isabelle movie was playing at the Seattle store on July eighteenth, the day we happened to be going there.  Reservations were five dollars a person, and they still had room at the 2:00 showing. (The earlier showing was entirely booked.)  I must say, "Isabelle Dances into the Spotlight" was quite good, but I am getting ahead of myself now.  First, we got our free popcorn and sodas with American Girl tickets, then we sat and watched the movie.  When we left the theater, they handed out a goody bag to each person (they do it every year.)  What was in the goody bag?  Well, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little while to find out.  I'll have the second part up tomorrow or the next day.  Until then, farewell!

I decided I had better leave you with a picture, which is also a clue to my next birthday adeventure.

Walter

Two weeks ago we picked up my brother, sister-in-law and nephew at the airport.  They stayed with us until Tuesday, so we had plenty of time to spend with them.  Friday, Sunday and Monday were spent relaxing and playing with Walter, but on Saturday we had a family reunion, and I happen to have lots of pictures of those days.

I started taking pictures on Sunday because Mother was practically begging me to.  Actually, my dear almost-sister Kari took some of the pictures too, so I thank you, Kari, for making Mother smile.

In this picture, Mother and my cousin's husband and their son Joshua were feeding the turtle some worms.  Silly Sara was scared, though, so it took her a little while to eat them.

Walter and Josh had quite a bit of fun climbing on my beanbag chair.

Walter with my cousin Meghan and Joshua.

Josh and Beyonca (Kari's friend's daughter) holding hands and dancing.

Saturday went by quickly and Sunday was here in a snap.  We had a lot of fun on Sunday.

Walter and Grandma watching Grandpa's tractor.

Walter and Grandpa on the tractor together.

Walter's mama, Walter and my mama walking down the driveway.

Walter playing in our playroom.

Walter and his Uncle Patrick making music.

Walter and Uncle Patrick playing.  To be perfectly honest, these two pictures of Patrick and Walter were taken on Friday, but we are going to pretend they're from Sunday.

 On Monday I had a chance to take Walter out alone while Mother cleaned up the house a bit and everyone else was gone.

I think the pictures make it obvious, but Walter loved Rosey very much.  I do believe Rosey loved Walter, too.

Walter played on the swing a bit,

Slid on the slide,

And just ran around the yard.

Tuesday came much too quickly.  Since I had been the one taking pictures, there weren't many of me and Walter, so I had Mother take a picture of me with Walter, and then I took one of the two of them together.  After the three of us walked the dogs, we went home and got ready to drive to Oregon.  Once there we visited my great-grandma.  Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Margaret, Matthew and dear little Walter.   They got into Margaret's father's car and drove off to her parent's house where they spent a week.  They're home in California now, but we had so much fun with all of them, especially Walter, and I'm glad to have so many pictures by which I may remember the wonderful time we had.