Emma's Editorials: My Memorial Day

Hi everyone!!  It's so wonderful to talk to you again.  It seems like ages since I've blogged.  Sorry it's taken me so long.  I have to admit, I'm a bit scatterbrained and not the best at keeping to a regular schedule with anything in my life, so I guess it should be no surprise that my blogging is as sporadic as it is. :}

I thought I'd tell you a little bit about this past Memorial Day weekend.  Mama and her girls ended up spending the night with Grandmama and Mimi at Mimi's house.  I was invited to go along too, and since it had been ages since I'd seen my cousin Piper, of course I agreed! :)

We spent the first part of the evening at Mama's church.  There was a special service in the evening to celebrate Memorial Day and honor all of the Veterans.  Mama's daughters sang in the children's choir (Middle Gal even had a solo) and Mama read a patriotic poem.  After the service was over, we headed over to Mimi's. 

Piper was in her usual spot, whipping up some delicious treats in the doll-sized kitchen Mimi had set up for her.  Piper has discovered a passion for cooking ever since she moved in with Mimi.  And no wonder...Mimi loves to cook, too...especially cupcakes and cakes. :)

We had a quick chance to catch up.  Piper's been great, keeping busy with her baking and visiting with her friends.  It always amazes me how much she's come out of her shell.  I still remember how quiet and pensive she was when she first came to live with us.  That thoughtful, quiet nature is still there, but she's much more talkative than she ever was.  I really think living at Mimi's has been good for her.  (I'm getting a slight sense of deja vu here, like I may have said something similar in a past post...sorry if I'm repeating myself!) :}

In the middle of our conversation, an adorable brown puppy bounded up and started whining and licking at my legs.  I sat down to give him some attention.  

"I assume you remember Chocolate Chip from Christmas," Piper said, her face bursting with pride.  

"How could I forget him?" I answered, scratching him behind the ears.  "His name is perfect."  He really did look like the color of chocolate chips.  

Piper managed to tell me that Mimi was planning on rearranging her doll space since she had a big new shelf, but before I could ask her any further details, we were called into the kitchen.

The humans had ordered Little Caesar's pizza for dinner and had already helped themselves. 

The pizza looked amazing!  Piper and I couldn't wait to dig in.

The rest of the evening, we watched the humans move the shelf into the doll room/office (it was rather humorous watching them push and shove and sweat). ;)  They were able to set up a few things, but decided to wait on the rest until the next morning since Mama's girls were too distracted by all the noise to sleep. 

I'd thought that we might watch a movie, but the humans were too tired to put one in for us, and to be honest, I was pretty tired myself.

I got changed into my PJs and went to tell Piper goodnight.  I was surprised to find that she was still in the same outfit.  

"Aren't you going to get changed for bed?" I asked her.  

She shook her head.  "We only do that every once in a while.  We've found it easier here to stay in our regular clothes."

"Where do you sleep?" I asked her, looking around for beds.  

"Oh, we just plop down wherever!" came a bubbly voice from behind my cousin.  "We don't really need beds."

I was embarrassed.  I hadn't even noticed Piper's friend Cecily behind her.  I looked at her smiling, cheerful face.  She was wearing glasses just like mine...er...the ones I'd forgotten at home. :}

"Aren't you uncomfortable?" I asked.

Piper shook her head reassuringly.  "Honestly, Emma, it's fine.  We don't sleep that much anyway.  There's far too much to do."  And she gave me one of her gentle smiles.

I stifled a yawn.  "Well, sorry to be a party pooper, but I'm used to a pretty early bedtime.  I'll see you girls in the morning."

We all said goodnight, and I headed off to bed...

...stopping briefly to visit with Zaara on the way. ;)  I know she's not really the character from my favorite Bollywood movie, but it's fun to pretend she is. ;)

I stayed in the guest bedroom that night with Mama and her three girls.  At first, I found it difficult to fall asleep.  The girls were all noisy sleepers.  Plus, they'd been afraid of the darkness of the room, so Mimi had found some old Christmas lights to plug in for them.

The lights were so beautifully distracting, I found it hard to think about sleep.  It felt like Christmas with the merry lights strung over the headboard.  I almost expected to wake up to stockings and presents the next morning. :}  

At last, though, my sleepiness took over.

We woke up the next morning to an unexpected rain shower.  May is usually unbearably hot around here, so it was a nice surprise. :)

Piper immediately set to work fixing breakfast.

She made delicious pancakes and scrambled eggs with cheese.  There were no doll-sized forks, so I had to use a human-sized one.  I still managed. ;)

My yummy food.

I'd never had Mrs. Butterworth's syrup before, but I've officially found my new favorite!! :D

After breakfast, Mama mentioned that she and Grandmama were going to go shopping at Goodwill since they had their big 50% off Memorial Day sale.  She invited me to go with them too.  As much as I enjoyed the thought of spending the day with Piper, I thought that shopping sounded fun, so I accepted.

Here I am in front of Goodwill...

...and here I am with the aftermath!!  Mama and Grandmama found lots of great goodies at great prices.  Mama was especially excited to find some nice new shorts and capris for the summer. :)  And may I just say...that was the CRAZIEST shopping trip I've ever been on!!  It was nuts!!  The checkout line stretched all through the store!  Thankfully, the workers were very efficient and moved everyone through the line quickly, but still...I'm glad it's not that crazy all the time.

After our shopping trip, we had snack wraps and ice water at McDonald's.  Not quite as yummy as the pizza, but probably healthier (not that we dolls really have to worry about that!).  

We went back to Mimi's and shared our finds with everyone.  Then, the humans put some finishing touches on the new doll rooms.  Here's how they turned out: 

The kitchen

The new shelf of doll rooms next to the kitchen.

This was as close as we could get to getting a picture of the whole thing. :}

On top, Mimi made a space for her Hearts For Hearts Girls dolls.

The top room was for Zaara but also had some of Piper's stuff (including her Chococat collection). 

The bottom room was for Jo, Mimi's Gotz doll, and also had some of Cecily's stuff (including her mini Doctor Who figure collection). :)

We had a wonderful visit, but all good things must come to an end, as they say.  Especially when there are three little human girls who need to get home and take naps. ;)

I got my stuff together, and Piper saw me to the door.  I promised I'd come back to visit as soon as I could. I hoped I wouldn't have long to wait. :)

I guess that's about it.  Hope you enjoyed hearing about my weekend as much as I enjoyed living it. :)

Until next time...

~Emma

Maggie's Memos: Cherry Picking

So apparently my fellow bloggers are completely unable to post on any sort of a regular basis, leaving it up to me, once again, to save this blog from stagnation.

I mean, sure, things have been "busy" with Mama's girls getting out of school and having company over (ugh...housework again...Mama really is a slave driver).  Still, with a little bit of discipline someone could have posted (ahem, Tess, Emma, Hayden, ahem).  If no one else does their part though, I have no choice but to be the responsible one and save you all from boredom. ;)

Anyway, we'll move on since I'm such a kind, forgiving soul. ;)  Last weekend, Mama's cherry tree was full of ripe cherries, and she asked Rachel and me if we would like to help her pick them.  Hmm, going outside, climbing trees, and eating yummy cherries...what's not to like? ;)

Here we are, ready to work!  Not sure why Rachel's not looking at the camera here... :}  

The weather's been super mild for this area, so the day was just the right temperature:  not too hot, not too cold.

 

I immediately climbed up to the highest branches I could reach.  It's been such a long time since I've climbed a tree!  It was great to be back at it. ;)

And having fresh cherries to pick made it like a scavenger hunt high in the sky.  Mama kept on mentioning that I needed to stop eating the cherries and put them in the bucket.  Huh...don't know what her problem was.  I only ate three...or four...or...well, that's beside the point. 

Rachel opted for the lower branches.  She's not a big fan of heights.  I guess she won't be flying with Thor anytime soon. ;)  It was a little awkward sharing one bucket when we were so far apart, but we managed.

"Look, Mama, no hands!"

Mama has no sense of humor.  All she did was tell me if I didn't stop goofing around, I'd have to stay on the ground.  Sheesh.

After about half an hour of picking, our bucket was full.

It was very satisfying to see that full bucket.  Best of all, Mama shared some of them with us as a thank you for our work.

The only thing that wasn't thrilling was the fact that I was forced to use a Disney Princess bucket.  *Shudder*

That's all for now.  Hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend. :)  I'll try to get my friends to post more regularly like they should.  

And don't forget, we're still waiting to get to 100 followers!  We're just two away. ;)  We're planning on having a little giveaway when we hit 100.

Laters!

Maggie

Guest Post by Jenna: Fiddler on the Roof

Hi everyone!  Jenna here.  Two Saturdays ago Mama took me with her to see a local production of "Fiddler on the Roof".  It's been ages since I've seen a live musical, and "Fiddler on the Roof" is one of my absolute favorites, so I was thrilled that Mama invited me along.  Grandmama, Mimi, and Mama's mother-in-law also came with us.

Here I am beside one of the posters outside the theatre.

The inside of the theatre was quite lovely, with beautiful metal artistry on the ceiling.  

It had two huge staircases on either side of the lobby.  I just posed for a picture here.  We had orchestra seating, so we didn't need to use the stairs.

The staircase had this pretty wooden curve at the end of the railing.

Here I am in my seat!  We were able to get a playbill and were able to keep our tickets, so I have a few souvenirs.  I'm not sure where I'm going to be able to put my playbill, though.  It's a little big. ;)

The play itself was just brilliant, especially considering the fact that it was a community theatre production.  What made it even more fun for Mama was that the man who played Perchik was someone she used to babysit when he was a little boy.  He had a beautiful tenor voice and did an excellent job.  Tevye was incredible as well.  The props, staging, and lighting were all very effective.  And of course, we all cried at the end. ;)  Grandmama and Mimi were especially touched.  Mama has a thing about crying in public, so she tends to try to hold it in.  She jokingly told me that she'd probably burst into tears over something silly later that day. :}  

I'm so glad Mama was willing to let me join her.  I had a fabulous time and have been humming "Fiddler on the Roof" songs ever since.  Mama said that later she might try to get me "Perchik's" autograph (he attends Mama's church).  How wonderful that would be! ;)

Have any of you ever been to a local theatre production?  What did you see?

P.S.  I nearly forgot!  I should probably mention a slight change to our schedule here at Mama's house.  The Literary Ladies Society has been temporarily disbanded while we figure a few things out.  For one thing, I discovered that I'm a bit like Mama.  I get excited about things at the beginning but have trouble following through. :}  I also recently discovered that Hayden agreed to be our secretary basically because she didn't want to offend me.  She's been majorly stressed about it, though.  She prefers making up stories to taking notes during meetings.  Tess was embarrassed that she got so long-winded at the last meeting and is sure that everyone hates her now. ;)  Of course, none of us hate her.  But to be perfectly honest, the meeting did go way overtime in March.  I'm so burned out on Jane Austen now that I've considered choosing a different LLS name for myself. ;)  Emma is still completely on board for meetings every month, but she's not necessarily interested in being in charge.   To make this happen, all four of us will need to work together and decide what will be best for the group.  We'll probably get together sometime soon and figure out where we should go from here.  At the very least, we'll cut down the meetings to once every two or three months.  We'll try to keep you informed as we figure all of this out. :}