royal wedding recap

I'm sure there is very little to add that hasn't been said: lovely bride, gorgeous dress, happy groom, cool carriages, handsome military men, pomp, Anglophenia Overload...

I wrote out the following blog post, but forgot to make it live :)-
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It's 5:04 am here. I got up at 4:45 to watch live streaming on BBC. 

Watching the guests arrive...

Love their musical choices for the arrival of the guests. The ensemble is playing a particularly lovely arrangement of Greensleeves right now. Beautiful. 

This Anglophile is in a state of Anglophelia Ecstasy...

THE PRINCES JUST ARRIVED!!!! Squeee!!! I feel like I'm 11 again, watching the wedding of Charles and Diana!

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I'm back... it is now 8:13 am. I went upstairs at 5:45 and woke up Ingrid so that she could make a memory :)  She was pretty groggy, but woke up quickly. She wasn't quite as interested as I thought she would be. She is only 7 after all. But she had a lot of questions: 

"Why can't the people in the church see the wedding?" 
"Why are the bridesmaids so little?" 
"Why are they kneeling?" 
"What's with all of those huge hats? They are getting in the way." 
"Why didn't the Prince and Princess kiss each other after they got married?" 
Then a declaration: "But I wanted to marry Prince William!"

Post-wedding reflections:

Glad to see Kate wearing such a beautiful, classic and cathedral-appropriate dress. Stunning. Perfect. Memorable. Timeless.

The order of service was lovely. Beautiful Bible readings. Perfect hymns. Loved the John Rutter anthem written for the occasion. (I'm a choral music snob.)

I don't understand all British traditions. Why would Prince William wear the uniform (even honorarily) of an Irish Guard colonel when he is neither a colonel nor in the Irish Guard, but in the RAF? British friends, please explain. Not that he didn't look spectacular, though.

Well, off to take Ingrid to school. I'm sure she'll be dozey today. I don't care. This will be one of those memories of a lifetime, even if she doesn't think so right now.

words of wisdom

Ingrid and Ilsa have had the privilege of television-watching taken away this week due to fighting with each other. Water under the bridge.

In the 5 days since they have watched television, they have gotten along better (not perfectly, of course), played outside constantly -- even in the rain. Ingrid has read non-stop and Ilsa has made a ton of funny little art projects using paper, glue, tape, scraps, photos and staples.

The icing on the cake came this morning when Ilsa announced at breakfast, "Mommy, I don't even want to watch anymore for a while because I don't want my brain to get soft."

at wits end...

I have been having a tough time with Ingy Badingy lately. We've been at loggerheads. She's been in a state of discipline more times than not, which for her has meant no TV. Pure torture. Her attitude has been sour, her words poorly-chosen: snippy and disrespectful. She is mean to her sister. She's been selfish. I've read "the books" and "done" the suggestions. I know it's a heart issue -- I really do.

I drove her to school today after another morning of battling, I was in tears all the way home. I just am discouraged...the specter of another 11 years of this broken relationship is daunting.

I was going through some of my old blog posts, and found this encouragement. Hope it's a shot in the arm for you today, too. I know I needed it.

disney princessification

Yesterday I took the girls to see Disney on Ice, Princess Dreams. It was a bunch of hoo-haa about "if you wish it, it can come true". Truly don't think they caught onto the silly storyline about wishing and dreams, etc...they just wanted to see Ariel and the gang spin and jump on the ice -- and they ate it up. It was a pretty great show, especially the portions with The Little Mermaid...none of those pictures turned out though.

Belle, Lumiere and the cutlery.

Ilsa and her uber-expensive Tinkerbell spinner.

Ingrid is A LOT happier than she looks. She just hates having her picture taken.

Ditto the comment above.

one dream I hope doesn't come true.

Last night Ingrid dreamed I had 200,000 babies, well toddlers because they could talk a bit. They were all being mean to her, so she told them to, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" They didn't stop, so she hid them in the closet. That must've been a big closet.

barbie tells her side of the story

Interviewer: So, tell us Barbie, what was it really like to sit like a statue on top of a cake for 8 hours. Did you feel...used? Abused?

Barbie: Oh yes, Barbara, I did. I felt used, humiliated, less than...plastic. It was the most horrible experience of my of my entire life. (Dabbing her eyes...) There I was sitting on that horrid fondant-covered cake. Not even frosting! It was hard and smooth. No cush for my bony tush.

And then, all of these little 7 year old girls just started...STARING. It was humiliating. And then this woman with really short hair came and placed these flaming torches right next to my flipper. I...I...I thought my hair was going to catch on fire. I was TERRIFYING. (Breaks down sobbing...) And then, finally, she pulled me off of the cake, just cast me aside without even a thank you.

Just a thank you. That's all I wanted.

Just...a...thank you... (Voice trailing off, eyes cast downward...)

Interviewer: I'm so, so sorry that you had to suffer this humiliation, Barbie.

And to all of you watching this story. Maybe Barbie's bravery in the telling of her tale of humiliation will be a wake-up call about the serious topic of birthday-cake abuse.

Ingrid's birthday cake

I decorated this cake at 5:00 am. I am SOOO tired. And there are going to be 12 screaming 7 year old girls in our home in 4 hours...I need a long hot bath right about now, but I have too much to do in the meantime. I need to get off of the computer!!! And no, I'm not a Barbie fan all of a sudden. Ingrid bought her with her very own hard-earned money because I wouldn't buy her one. Mean Mommy.

if i had a million dollars...

Mr. BikeMan dared Ingrid to pull her loose tooth before bedtime. He had to ante up $4. Way to go, Brave Girl!

anglophelia

On the way home from picking up Ingrid from school the other afternoon, she announced that she wants to move to England.

I said, "Ingrid, did you know that the United States used to be a part of the British Empire? We used to be English." We do live near quite a few key Revolutionary War sites, after all, and we remind the girls often of our great nation's history.

She replied a bit petulantly, "I don't want to be American anymore. I want to be English!"

Perhaps I have her watch one too many BBC costume dramas, Doctor Who episodes, or left too many Austen and Dickens novels laying about.

Then she asked, "How long does it take to drive to England?" I suppose a geography lesson is in order.

PS I thought this photo was a bit Twiggy (with longer hair). Those are my boots, by the way.

10 things for which I am thankful

I haven't made one of these lists in a while. It's about time I did. In no particular order:

1. Mr. BikeMan is done with his month-long road trip. He came home last night!*
2. Christmastime is here (queue Charlie Brown music...)
3. I actually had the forethought to buy hats, mittens and scarves before the cold weather hit on Thursday.
4. My girls are happily coloring together. In the same room. From the same box of crayons and pens. Wow.
5. I have a hair appointment today -- mmmmm, the smell of an Aveda salon.
6. Ingrid actually likes math now that we have pulled her out of the Spanish immersion program.
7. Ilsa has been making her own books -- she just made her own counting book with the following pages: 1 Doctor (Who) with 1 TARDIS, 2 bad guys (a Cyberman and a Dalek) 3 ladybugs; 1 Ilsa, 2 flowers, 1 flower, the numbers 1, 2, and 3 and a Slitheen. LOL!!!!!
8. I found the Christmas version of Cadbury Mini Eggs at the PX yesterday. Screeeee!
9. When I put up the Christmas tree on Tuesday night, there was only 1 string of mysteriously dead tree lights in the box.
10. I participated in my first NaNoWriMo and actually did it! 50,282 words in 30 days. The story is totally crud, and it's mine, and no one will EVER read it but me!

*See post "Heart Attack" for the whole story

ilsa got her first tat...

....kidding...

But she DID earn a "Read!" temporary tattoo for her participation in our local library summer reading program. We recorded 6 hours of read-alouds (before the move, this is all we could muster).

And of course, because it was I who was applying the tattoos, I goobered-up Ingrid's. She is not happy. I forgot to take the protective plastic sheet off of the front, and I moistened the back. So of course, the tatoo has adhered to the plastic sheeting. However, she needs to be satisfied, as she completed the entire "reading path", plus the bonus 6 hours and earned a book. She chose a neat Usborne Look and Find book about sea creatures. She's still looking for a mermaid within the pages, even though I told her there were only real creatures within the book...

anne & diana saga update

Ingy has decided that her missing hair is now a really cool thing. I kind of agree. My "ticked-off-ness" has worn off. She has proudly told Grandma and Grandpa and the neighbor all about her trade with her friend "H".

anne shirley & diana barry

If you are familiar with Anne of Green Gables, you surely must remember the part where Anne and Diana vow their undying friendship to each other, even though they have been separated by circumstance and parents, solemnized with the snipping of tiny locks of hair given to each other as a token of their friendship.

Ingy's little friend, "H" decided a few weeks ago that she would follow Anne's example. She cut a lock of her hair and put it in a ziplock. (As you can see in the picture above, it was not a lock -- it was a chunk.)

Today, we were visiting "H". So....it was a bit too quiet back in "H's" room. I go back there to let Ingy know it is time to go. You guessed it. Chunk of Ingrid's hair is gone and in a ziplock. I think that PDG has some "buyer's regret" at the moment, so I'm not even bringing it up. I'm minimizing it in fact. She's going to beat herself up enough over the next six months when she can't have pony tails this hot, sticky summer on the Eastern Seaboard. I'm sure we'll look at this incident with fond remembrance. I'm not ready to do that just yet... still kind of ticked, in fact.

- cut side -

- intact side -

unauthorized use of government property

The girls got their hands on my stash of free Priority Mail boxes which I use for eBay sales.

softie

Softie is gone. Toll the bells. Play a dirge. Hopefully Ingrid's thumb-sucking habit has disappeared along with it. My hope, now, is that I find the lost remnant of her beloved blankie before SHE does. Sweet Ilsa was so concerned about her big sissy's well-being that she offered Ingrid her baby mini-blanket to which she never became attached (she uses it as a dolly blanket).

there's a crack in my mouth...

This morning, Ingy came to me very concerned and nervous stating, "there's a crack in the back of my mouth, Mom!" I looked and saw a little cut, like she'd eaten something that had cut her gum -- we had really crusty bread on Easter Sunday, so I figured that's what it was.

Tonight, during dinner, she exclaimed, "Mom, I can feel a BONE in my mouth!"

What????? So I took a harder look. Lo and behold, she's getting a molar.

So the question now is, does this warrant a visit from the tooth fairy? No tooth was lost...

disclaimer

I didn't pick this sugar-shock Easter blog background. You can guess who did. That is all.

thanksgiving in march

We love turkey. Well, in "we" I can honestly only include Chad and myself. Ingrid and Ilsa will eat it, but all bets are off for both girls on stuffing, "mash" and gravy (they favour British nomenclature regarding mashed potatoes). Ingrid was not thrilled about the dinner; I'm a bit ashamed to say that this picture makes me giggle. It was nice to pull out all the stops for dinner last night. Note the fancy Sesame Street paper plates. This shows that Chad served the dinner.

Ingrid has learned to tie her shoes

Ingrid has mastered the art of tying her shoes. It has taken about 9 months of trying (off and on, not every minute, you Silly!), but yesterday, she did it on her own. No, if only we could get her to wear something other than clogs...

wordless wednesday: first lost tooth