Need Bows for your Easter egg hunt?

Why did this not occur to me earlier? A customer asked for a dozen Bitty Bows and said she intended on placing them in the plastic Easter eggs to hide for her daughter. What a great idea! While the Girly Girls are big candy filled egg fans (who's not?) I grew up getting pennies and the occasional nickle, dime or whoo hoo...quarter in my eggs. Bows make a nice change of pace and a pretty surprise. Bitty Bows and clippies fit perfectly into the standard size eggs and the larger basic bows work in the larger eggs available. I put up a deal on the website- any 12 solid color Bitty Bows of your choice for $30 (eggs not included).

Gracie turned 1 !!

Our special little sponsor child, Gracie turned the big O-N-E yesterday. We got a few pictures of her with her doll that we sent. They were a gift to us. I also decided that we needed to celebrate with a cake in her honor. I picked up a pound cake from my favorite bakery, U*krops, and we lit a candle and sang to her. The girly girls wondered how we'd get the cake to China. I had to explain several times that we were not, we were just going to eat it and celebrate while thinking about her. So sweet of them to want to share a piece with her, half a world away. After all, it was her cake!

Signs of SPRING

Beautiful weekend here in central VA. Hard to believe a week ago it was 11 degrees and snowing and here it is 82 and simply delightful. I played around with my camera a bit and enjoyed the backyard with the Girly Girls.


Daffodils starting to come up



My Mother's Day tree is beginning to bloom





The Girly Girls on the swingset






Modeling a new set of Micky Mouse with bunny ears Easter bows headed to Ebay. (Had to pay modeling fees of $1 for cooperation on the job. But it went into the piggy bank!)

Wordless Wednesday

Snow Day!

Whoo Hoo!!
We had our first real snow of the season Sunday night. Even though it was dark, we all headed out with about 15 kids from the cul de sac for the building of snow forts and sledding. We came in at 8:30 just in time to hear that schools would be closed Monday. We heard the older kids still out until almost 11pm! The Girly Girls found that their shopping cart was efficient to transport snow for their pile, um, castle.



Woke up Monday to about 6 inches and then we got another 2-3 during the day. Ever the Girly Girls, the kiddos were insistant that they needed to wear dresses (Um, no!) and that all their layers needed to macth. I reasoned that it was OK to not match (just this once, lol!) because their tops would be covered by their coats.




So they were bundled up best we could. Luckily the $1 consignment sale boots I picked up just in case still fit (we hardly ever get snow that amounts to anything) and they headed out. I'm not one for cold so I took pictures out the open window with the zoom lense. I did get bundled up and joined them for round three (or was it four?) after a reminder email from the teacher that we had build a snowman homework.



It all iced over last night and school is closed again. But the forecast says it will be in the low 70's on Sunday.

Feeling a bit intellectual

I guess it really has been years, in all likelyhood pre-kids, so that would be almost 6 years, that I really read book after book after book. But the bug has bit and I'm going through at leat one a week. Subject matter- China, non fiction. I'm in the mood to learn as much as I can about this complex and fascinating country; it's history, it's people, it's culture- and it's future. The last time I felt this way was in college when I took an intro to Russian Political Systems course, fell in love with the subject and was in awe of the professor so took every course she taught and 4 years later ended up with a degree in Government with a concentration in Russian Politics. Now the China bug has bit, so to speak, and I can't learn enough. In the past two months I have read the following:

The Lost Daughters of China by Karin Evans
~moving adoption journey

China Road: A journey into the future of a rising power by Rob Gifford

~adventures following the "Silk Road" - great writing and much insight

The Last Days of Old Beijing by Michael Meyer

~really interesting look at life living in a hutong in Beijing

Where the Pavement Ends by Erika Warmbrunn
~not as much on China as I'd have liked, but great stories of her time in Mongolia

Silent Tears: A journey of hope in a Chinese orphanage by Kay Bratt

~couldn't put it down, literally read it cover to cover

Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost

~hilarious writing on his months of travel through China

Mr. China by Tim Clissold

~a memoir of a foreign investor in China in the early 90s, witty and insightful

I'm working on these right now:

The rape of Nanking by Iris Chang

The Search for Modern China by Jonathan D. Spence

Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin

The Long March: The true story of communist China's founding myth by Sun Shuyun

Mao, the unknown story by Jung Chang


I'll be busy for a while- do you see the size of the bottom two in the picture!! But do you have
any suggestions for further reading?

Guess what's going to Gracie??

Can't keep it in! Sweet Gracie, the little one we sponsor is turning 1 in March. The Girlies and I brainstormed what we thought she would like. My girlies are B*rbie and doll crazy, so it wasn't a surprise that they thought Gracie needed a dolly. Whodathunk that you couldn't easily find Asian dolls. That setteled it- I'd have to make her one. Far more special that way anyhow. Thing is... I can sew a mean bow, but I'm only a dabbler at sewing much else. I have made some nifty Halloween costumes, but a doll? So I grabbed my tissue paper and set off to make a pattern. I'm thrilled with how she turned out. I drew the face on paper and used my design software to create an embroidery pattern. The doll is just about 16 inches and made out of muslin and cotton. I used this soft 'fur' for the hair and made pigtails I pictutred Gracie being able to grab onto. The dolly has this verse embroidered on her belly- "The Lord will command His Angels to take good care of you." Luke 4:10 . I then had to make her a dress. I found the sweetest birthday present fabric and made the dress reversible with a pink polkadot fabric for two looks! Thie picture is of her still in progress- I'll update with all done pictures. I just have some velcro to sew onto the back of the dress and she'll ship off Wednesday. I hope she loves it. It was certainly made with love!