The yellow star is a Christmas tree ornament that was given to my mom. She thought it was ugly and tried to pawn it off on my sister or me. Neither of us wanted it. Someone (my mom?) decided to just go ahead and hang it on someone else's Christmas tree and run. When the tree was being put away later that year, someone (me?) found it and snuck it back onto her tree. Thus began the traditional "Get rid of the yellow star game." Sometimes the yellow star shows up on your Christmas tree. Sometimes the yellow star shows up in the middle of the year… maybe you find it on your desk at work. Maybe you hang it from your sister's rear view mirror of her car to surprise her. Maybe your mom and dad pretend to come visit you and really are outside hanging the yellow star from your porch light (they call you later and tell you to go look on your porch). Maybe you add it to the pile of gifts for "Free Christmas" and the lucky person who opens it has to take it home. The only rule about the yellow star is that you must get rid of it without being caught… if you are caught trying to "give" it to someone else, you have to take that thing right back home with you. The yellow star has been MIA for over a year now… otherwise I would include a picture of it. Sister, cough up the star already!
(I'd like to clarify that the only reason my mom thought the star was ugly was because it is yellow, and she doesn't like yellow. It is not actually an ugly star. My grandmother made it and I'd like to thank her for giving us a very great gift, since it is a treasured item in our family now.)
Apparently my sister finally found the yellow star because it showed up at church on my husband's music stand last Saturday.
She made a list of new rules for the star, and they are as follows.
Once the star is given to you, it must remain in your possession for 24 hours.
Try to be unique when you pass the star on.
Try not to lose it like we (my sister's family) did.
Keep a log of where the star has travelled/is travelling. (Which I will do on this blog in the future.)
Quick turn around time is preferred over hoarding the star for months on end. (This rule was my idea.)
The star stays in the family.
So, that is the history of the Yellow Star game.
My sister left for Ecuador on a mission trip this morning. I asked her if I could pack some small care packages for the long airplane ride, and add some snacks.
Check it out…
Hiding the yellow star…
My sister called my mom from an airport this morning, and she had already found the yellow star.
Can't wait to see where the yellow star shows up next!
***Because we have no log of where the star has been previously, I'm going to list the places that I remember here, and will add more if anybody remembers places I've forgotten.
Mom's Christmas Tree
Staci's Christmas Tree
Pam's Christmas Tree
Review mirror of Pam's car
Staci's porch light
The front desk at Staci's work called and said a package was delivered for her (the star was inside.)
Free Christmas (inside a gift)
Rogene's music stand at church
Pam's m-n-m bag (in her airplane care package) on the way to the mission trip in Ecuador.
Remember how the nail tech asked me what color of gem I wanted in the center of the flower on my big toenail? Remember how I said clear and she said, "You can choose red!"
Well, this time the nail tech told my sister that she picked a pink nail polish that was too light and she needed to pick a darker color.
And when my niece asked for a palm tree on her big toenail the nail tech told her "You can choose a flower!"
This is what they ended up with.
Totally not what they asked for. But still, pretty!
Tomorrow morning at 2:45am (that is only about three hours from now!) twenty five people from my church are leaving for Ecuador on a Mission Trip. They will be building a church in less than two weeks. Please pray for their safety, that they will get the church built, and that they will be good witnesses for God.
My sister Pam, brother-in-law Darryl, niece Kiara and nephew Braden are all part of Team Ecuador 2007 so this is very dear to our hearts. (Pink hard hats in the back row are Pam and Kiara, bright blue hard hats in the front row are Braden and Darryl.)
I'm so glad you are well. You had another ear infection this month (both ears!) and it seemed like you were sick for weeks. I even had to take you for a midnight run to the Emergency Room. We finally got you on the right antibiotic and you got well pretty fast. The antibiotics had some weird side effects, however. Stealth pooping. We didn't even know your diapers were dirty because your dirty diapers literally didn't stink. (Believe me, that is not usually the case.)
We have been experimenting with dropping your morning nap. If you take two naps each day it seems you can't sleep through the night. Could this be the reason you've decided to showcase your ability to stamp your foot and throw your sippy cup to the floor when you don't get your way?
You are getting four molars all at the same time. You've been waking up a lot at night, and have earned the new nickname Her Grumpiness. I know this is a passing thing, and our sweet baby is in there somewhere. We see glimpses of that sweet girl often enough to know that it is pain making you behave in such a grumpy fashion.
You and Tessa (whom you used to call "Teh-tuh" but now call "Sessa") have decided this month that is very fun to play together. Tessa looks forward to when you wake up in the morning, and you chase each other down the hallway laughing and giggling. Your daddy and I have started making sure (if we travel somewhere with two cars) that we put both of you in the same car. You two don't like to be split up. Tessa has been in VBS this past week and you nearly cry when we drop her off in the mornings.
You try to copy the things Tessa does all the time now. The juice in Tessa's cup tastes better, the toys in Tessa's room are more fun, and anything Tessa is currently interested in is what you want for yourself.
We play a game now where we pretend to lose Cuppy or Taggie and then we have to find them. You say, "Gigi, are you?" which is your way of saying, "Taggie, where are you?" When you find Cuppy you take it to Tessa. When Tessa is sad you find Cuppy and bring it to her, which is so sweet.
When I'm sorting laundry, you like to help. I separate things into several piles such as whites, darks, reds, towels, etc. You take items from the whites and add them to the reds. Darks go into the towels. It is SUCH a big help. Thanks!
We've been trying to teach you to be gentle. We touch your face very lightly and say, "gentle". You take both hands and smack our cheeks and say, "gentle!" Let me just say, Emma dear, if it leaves a mark on mommy or daddy's face it is not so very gentle. You are finally getting it I think, but daddy and I are still on our guard should you decide to give us another "gentle" smack in the face.
You like to say "sock" and try to put a sock on. You say ABC, ABC, ABC over and over. When you want to jump on the trampoline (or the bed) you say, "jumpy jumpy". (Daddy is the one who lets you jump on the bed, not me.)
There is this cool thing you can do and I don't know where you learned it, unless it was Elmo who taught you. If I say one, you say two. If I say three, you say four. We make it up to about seven.
You've discovered Dora the Explorer and Hi-5, and love to dance to the songs. You can say "Dowa!"
Your nicknames this month are Cuddlebunny, Cootiebug, Snugglebunny, Emma Yemma Ding Dong, Eh-muh (said in a whiny voice), Tofutti, Elmoid, Cruddyface (still true), Pooh, Little Pooh, Snugglebucket, Little Moon Pie and as we have already mentioned, Her Grumpiness.
Since so much good fruit is in season you've been sampling a lot to see what your favorites are. I'm trying to get you to like cantaloupe and mango, but it seems your favorite fruit right now (other than bananas of course) is red grapes.
My favorite thing about you right now is that you are very cuddly and loving and you like to be held. At night we rock in the rocking chair if you wake up in the middle of the night.
Your smile and laughter light up the room. My life is so much better, so much richer because you are in it. I'm so thankful for you. I'll never forget what a blessing, what a gift you are.
Start with a pink cake mix. Actually buy several, just in case.
Mix.
Prepare Barbie…
… by removing her legs. (Gasp!)
Bake cakes in several shapes and sizes including…
Bundt
Round
Pyrex measuring cup (what?)
and cupcakes (which you should frost in case the Barbie cake doesn't work out)
Assemble barbie cake by stacking the bundt cake on top of the round cake. Jam a cupcake down into the hole, and then cut up the pyrex measuring cup shaped cake into three pieces and see which one seems to fit the best. Jam legless Barbie into the center of the cake. Begin to frost with copious amounts of frosting.
Keep adding frosting. Lots and lots of frosting. Realize that legless Barbie is sinking into the cake like quicksand.
See if adding Barbie's tutu helps. Nope. All the frosting in the world isn't going to hold her steady.
Decide to reattach legs. Pull Barbie out of cake.
Reattach legs. Realize Barbie is now too tall for the cake. Cut Barbie's feet off with snips to make her shorter.
It worked! Here is the finished Barbie Cake.
You could follow these steps and make your very own Barbie cake.
~~~OR~~~
You could buy a Wilton Wonder Mold and do it the easy way. It even comes with a Barbie doll pick… so there is no possibility of having to cut any limbs off Barbie.
*When I was searching the Internet for how to make this cake I found this Barbie doll cake. That is where we got the name "Princess Lumpy."
**Tessa was very offended by the name Princess Lumpy. Since she had a Barbie 12 Dancing Princesses Party she wanted the cake to be called Princess Genevieve.
Who does adventurous things like ride to the bottom of the Grand Canyon on a mule.
And rides his motorcycle to Alaska to see the bears.
Who spends hours and hours every week volunteering at the school where he taught for about 30 years doing various things, including mowing the lawn which (I think) is 13 acres.
Who takes time to visit and play with his grand daughters, even getting down on the floor to play games and color with them.
And who comes over to fix my fence when the wind blows it down, nails new shingles onto our roof when the wind blows them off, helps us install a utility tub, paint the house, and put in a new bathroom floor (among about a million other things) and never asks for anything in return.
Thanks for always being willing to help out. Thanks for being willing to come along on trips to the park, camping trips, and even the pediatrician or grocery store. Thank you for coming to church to help me wrangle my kids during the service. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for being generous with your time, money and energy.
Happy Fa-vers Day! I hope you have a nice fa-vers day. I like it when you color with me. You color really nice. It's fun to play the Wii with you. You play tennis so good.
I love you. Your my best daddy in the whole wide world.
Tessa's first ever ballet recital was today! No video or pictures were allowed at the recital so all of these pictures and the video is from the dress rehearsal.
We were at the mall on Thursday and stopped at Claire's to buy Tessa some new headbands. In the store that day a girl happened to be getting her ears pierced. After we left, Tessa asked if she could get her ears pierced too. I explained what would happen, and even though she is afraid of needles and shots, she decided to go for it.
Waiting… looking a little scared.
All done. That wasn't so bad!
Yay!
Filed under: Tessa, Milestones — by laughing mommy @ 11:20 am
Last week I used the gift certificate Rogene and the kids gave me to get a pedicure. Remember this video? I had another one of those experiences.
I asked for a little white flower to be painted on my big toes. The nail technician held up a container with at least 20 different little diamond-y type gems and asked which color I would like to have in the center of the flower. (I didn't ask for any diamond-y thing, by the way.)
So I said "clear would be fine"…
She spoke in a different language for at least 3 minutes with the other nail technicians in the salon and kept looking back and forth between me and them. Then she held up the container and said, "You can choose red."
Um… okay. Red. Thanks.
Why do they even ask?
I wanted a simple white flower. This is what I got. *sigh*
Filed under: Laughs, Me Me Me! — by laughing mommy @ 6:37 pm
