How Seussy are you-sy?

About five minutes into Ellie's party, I realized that most toddlers have nowhere near the attention span necessary to participate in the Dr. Seuss identification game I'd carefully prepared. In retrospect, of course I regret investing so much time and effort into gathering remote items for this game that I doubt any of the adults even noticed or appreciated. That's why I'm posting pictures of them here. I know I have a Dr. Seuss fan or two out there willing to take a little quiz, and that will render the preparation I put into the failed party activity less of a waste. (So please pretty PLEASE do this, for my sake if nothing else!) And since we had a no-show at the party, I have a spare party favor... so whoever correctly identifies the most of the following scenes scores a homemade (child-sized) Cat in the Hat hat. Get very excited.

Try to identify both the item displayed and the book from which it originates. For example, if there was a bear sitting on a cactus, the answer would be something like "No Pat no, don't sit on that!" from "Hop on Pop." It doesn't have to be verbatim, just the right idea. Grab a pencil and paper and get to it!

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Turtles are 4. and chicken is 5.

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14.
Review if you need to, because here come the answers!
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1. There's a Wocket in my Pocket
2. empty stocking from How the Grinch Stole Christmas
3. truffula trees from The Lorax
4. stack of oppressed turtles from Yertle the Turtle
5. "chicks in socks" from Fox in Socks
6. "could you, would you, in a house? ... with a mouse?" from Green Eggs and Ham
7. Horton holding his clover from Horton Hears a Who
8. Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose
9. the fish in the teapot from The Cat in the Hat
10. "This one has a little car. Say! What a lot of fish there are!" from One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
11. boy in his hot air balloon from Oh the Places You'll Go
12. the birthday bird from Happy Birthday to You!
13. "pale green pants with nobody inside them" from What was I scared of?
14. star-bellied sneetch from The Sneetches

I got them all right-- how about you? =)

More of this and that

Chicken caught the swine flu.

Dr. Ellie to the rescue! She wrote a whole notepad of prescriptions for the sickies.

LOTS of sickies, judging by the waiting room.

Taking Mo for a "walk." I think she only moved once, to scurry under a bush.

Homemade belt, part of an ongoing series of birthday gifts for Kjerstin (that were all intended to be completed by her July birthday).

Made this little duo for Amy's baby, Katie. It reads "mei mei," or little sister, in Chinese. Amy's family braved Tianjin, too, though left before we arrived. Still, knowing how many of our experiences paralleled makes her a bosom friend. I feel, in some ways, like we went through that year in China together.

Miche R. and I copied this fabric flower design from "the pleated poppy."

This one's a barrette. I'd love to use my scraps to make lots more of these someday.

Pee-pee teepees for Jeff and Cristi. A little silly, but surprisingly useful if you've got a male infant around.

Charlie's trying out their crinkle square. Yep, it works.

Flannel on one side and minky on the other, with plastic wipes case wrapper in between, and ribbon tags for easy attachment. Babies can't resist the crackling of plastic sacks, and finally there's a safe outlet for the urge. Not to mention how much cuter this is than a plastic sack.

I also mod podged (I'm pretty sure that's a legit verb) these letters for their nursery, taking cues from their nursery colors (surf blue and apple green) quite literally.

They were sooooooo enthusiastic and appreciative of my simple gifts-- it made me wish I'd had time to make much more! We had a great visit (over Kyle's winning curry) with the beaming new parents after their Jenny Phillips singing group (technically I'm a member, too) performed for our stake.

Marbled shaving cream craft a new fave.

I love a craft that looks just as good under a toddler's hand as an adult's.

Freezer paper stenciled this shirt for Emily's birthday (also in July, hehe) almost in time for her to wear the t-shirt before it got too cold. (Got the idea from a website Mish found--can't take credit for this piece of "lol" genius.)

I was drowning in party prep, among other things, on Ellie's birthday, so didn't pamper her at all until an evening treat at Coldstone's.

You can safely conclude from their tinted lips that both Mish and Ellie opted for a scoop of blue cotton candy.

And Kjerstin could not suppress her persistent urge to prematurely introduce Charlie to solid foods.

We three went for a walk sporting mobys, chic mamas (and pop) that we are. My moby is the baby item dearest to my heart, and shoulders, and lower back. Because we'd all be aching without it.

This is how Erik feels about shopping at Walmart. The second red purse strap (not very visible) is actually acting as a noose around his neck-- I was almost unable to procure the camera from my bag for this priceless shot.

Ellie spent much of the shopping excursion partially hidden, as well. I don't like to be seen in Walmart, either, but my drive for a bargain sometimes gets the better of me.


Ellie's releve-ing it up in her ballet class. Mish calls it the cutest time of the week. Videos to come soon.


Also coming soon are Dr. Seuss party details, beginning with a short quiz I would love all of you to humor me with by taking, please and thank you.

Aug-Sept

I know I said I'd try for shorter posts, but not today! Ellie's birthday party almost completely consumed my existence over the past few weeks (as well as engulfing the time and energies of any able-bodied friends and family members in my path), and details on that are to come, but let's just combine three long overdue posts tonight and consider ourselves caught up through September. Time is short, so these will be three-worders.

Golden Corrall buffet

Thanksgiving Point museum...

admission only $2!

possessive streak manifested

wearing kids out

scaring kids out

scared worn out

spontaneous photo shoot...

for Kyle's mom's...

new wall decoration.

edit out arm

Charlie Quasi-modo eye?

this my fave

couldn't get enough...

of Grandma and...

Grandpa on their...

too short visit.


so content together

happy birthday Grandma!


fairytale chalk murals

come back soon!

animal farm reunion...

with Kallist/Naomi/pony ride

Cougareat field trip...

loaded apple pie

mother of sprinklers

engagement going well

Laurisa's half marathon

sweet battle wound

sweet hotel suite


Kjerst babysitting craft

face more embarrassing

pink/brown polka-dot party


another attempt at...

pretty family photos...

not quite awesome.

Emily tried but...

Erik hardly cooperated.

later discovered he...

had high fever!

normally not hard...

make him smile.

still beautiful day...

still beautiful life.