Sequel to The Moco story

So I never mentioned that when Brooke first got her little green doll, she turned up her tiny nose at it and tossed it away (when Lynn's mom wasn't looking of course.)

We kept that little mucinex guy in the minnie van for quite a while. We would hand it to Brooke when she was upset or bored but she would toss the hapless fellow away every time.

This led us to believe, naturally, that she didn't care too much for him.

So when Vanessa asked for him (see comments below)I thought "why not?" and gave the Moco to Vanessa as a birthday gift. She was delighted!

As Vanessa laughed and held her new little Moco guy in her hands, Brooke toddled right up to her and grabbed him away with force. She had a frown on her face as if to say, "that's mine!".

Well, Vanessa wasn't ready to give him up, so they had a bit of a tug of war over the Moco. Brooke vs Aunt V.

Aunt V, being bigger and stronger, won.

The Moco

Not too long ago, I was unloading the girls from the car into their school. It takes a while. Emme likes to take her time. We have homework to remember, seat belts to unbuckle, friends to say hello to.

This particular morning, Emme's classmate Lynn's mom drove up and parked a few spots from us. As I was standing at the open car door waiting for Celeste and Emme to come out, she called out to me.

"Wait! I have something for the baby!" she rummaged through her bag and walked up to the Minnie van.

"Hello Brooke!" she cooed affectionately. She handed my baby something small and green. A little stuffed something with a tee, plaid pants and a small hat.

I thanked her graciously and shepherded the girls into the kindergarten class.

I usually pick Emme up at 1 - right before nap. Then I pick Celeste up at 3:30. All this driving on the 405 has been taking its toll on me and I decided that it was time for Emme start taking naps at school. One of the ways that I was able to convince her to stay was to allow her to take her Care Bear to school.

"How was your nap with your Care Bear?" I asked one day.

"It was great mom. May I take a Care Bear for Lynn to nap with too?"

"Sure." I said. "Just ask Celeste if it's okay and you may let Lynn borrow one."

Next day:

"How was nap today Emme?"

"It was great mom. But Lynn wants you to buy her a new Care Bear. She doesn't want to nap with an old one."

"What?" I am dumbfounded at the nerve of this little kid. "She wants me to buy her a new Care Bear? Tell her to nap with a little moco like the one her mom gave Brooke!"

"What's a moe coe?" Celeste asks her in her gringo accent.

"A moco" Emme says in a perfect Mexican accent "is a booger."

This one's for you, Vanessa:

Early Birds

Celeste, bless her darling heart woke up early this morning because I asked her to. I needed to get this set out today - Thursday is a good day for listing auctions. Last night I kind of asked her casually, "hey, could you wake up early tomorrow?"
"Sure!" She agreed cheerfully. "Then we can watch the sunset together!" (I think she meant rise).

True to her word, this beautiful child came to my bedroom at 6:30, dressed and ready to change the world. She was wearing a mini-skirt. Quickly, I got out of bed, curled her hair and lassoed soft, sleepy Emme into feeding Brooke some cheerios.

Celeste and I did the shoot lickety split and we had time to spare. Emme was dressed - they had their new pink jelly sketchers on - and we stood looking at eachother. What next?

"Let's go to school early!" I suggested. "Hurray!" they chimed. We climbed into the minnie van and got to school a half hour early. We were one of the first there. The teacher was so surprised and delighted to see us, she gave me a sticker. I'd take a picture of it, but Brooke chewed it up and spit it out. It was a little circle that said:

"Good Job!"

No Rest For the Weary!

I plan on making my next few sets OOAK. Just so that I can catch up on life and get my home organized and pay more attention to my kids and my hubby - hehe - Good thing I don't have pets!

Among all that, what do I do for fun? Sew! So I sewed up this cute little beach ensemble for a launch that I had been invited to. I'm at the tail end of the launch, but I made it and there it is. I'm calling it "Buckets and Spades". Kind of British sounding, I think. The fabric is by Makower of U.K. Sounds British to me.

Ignore the dirty soles of the shoes. You know, she didn't go very far to get those dirty. She barely walks! I was horrified when I saw the pix, but that's all I got from her. Only 5 good pictures. I had to use the shoes, and cropping didn't work. Hey! It's life. People walk.

"This Song Scares Me"

I just sent off my last custom order today.

For weeks, I had been sewing every spare moment I could squeeze in among:

a vacation at the beach
a virulent bout with the stomach flu (my whole family)
a stuffy head and fever (me and Brooke)
every day life

After I collapsed in relief with the last stitch, I called Bruce and asked him to pick up Celeste from school and take her to gymnastics. I was drugged up on Sudafed. He heard it in my voice and quickly agreed. Later, he brought home dinner from the yummy taqueria "Carnitas Michoacan". He looked at me affectionately and gave me a hug.

"You're stressed." He said. He had brought my favorite drink: Horchata.

Stress manifests itself in me in destructive ways. It's either my hair - I go bald - or my immune system - I catch every virus that comes through the pike.

It's not the sewing that stresses me out. It's the time management. Or lack of. Emme wanted me to help her with a puzzle today. I couldn't because I had to get this last dress out. It was 3 days late. I had to finish. "That's okay mom." she said. "I'll wait until you're done."

She smiled and finished the puzzle herself.

Coffee in my Junk Drawer

What happens when you make coffee but forget to put the coffee pot in the coffee maker?

A big mess.

The drawer was closed! I had to pull everything out and dry the inside of the drawer. All of my junk was soaked in coffee. I couldn't believe how many things could fit in there. I need to sort it out. There is no way I'm sticking all this stuff back in.

Cute Kid

This evening as we were getting ready for bed, Emme pulled out a carpenter's tape measure. I had been using it earlier to measure some things. She must have picked it up from where I had placed it and hidden it in her room.

The industrial strength measuring tool looked huge in her dimpled 4 year old hands. As I stood wondering what she was going to do with it, she placed it at my feet.

"Mama, let me see how old you are." She said pulling and pushing the yellow metal tape out trying to reach my head.

"How old am I?" I asked.

She looked up at the top of the tape as high as she could see.

"Hmmm...two...no, that's not right."

She looked down at the bottom of the tape. She counted.

"Eighteen Mama. You're eighteen o'clock."