I don't have any new cards or layouts, so I thought I'd share some other cute things I've found recently. First is this cake from Better Homes & Gardens:



It's made from upholstery foam and felt -- how clever is that?!?

The next item is also a type of cake: cupcakes . I love the cuteness of cupcakes, but not the calories. Here is a way to recycle some old sweaters and make a calorie-free 'cupcake' at the same time:

The book above by Betz White can be found on Amazon. There's also an online tutorial for similar cupcakes here.

This pincushion is similar and just as cute. Instructions for it can be found here.

And lastly, here's a photo of Charlotte from today:

Her class had a "Come as Your Favorite Despereaux Character" party after they finished the book. But Charlotte would like to have her beanie back, so I had to capture this before I dismantle it.

Science Fair

I'm working on a couple of scrapbook and card projects, but I've spent most of my week helping Charlotte finish her science project. She did most of it herself, but there was still plenty for us parents to do. Here she is performing her experiment:

and her she is with the rocket launcher her dad built for her out of PVC pipe and rubber bands:

Sometimes I wonder if our kids' science projects aren't a little more involved than most because they have two engineers for parents...

A New 'Do

Charlotte and her aunt made a deal: they would both cut off their hair on the same weekend and donate it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, to be used in wigs for cancer patients.

Charlotte couldn't get in to the hairdresser's the same weekend as her aunt, but she did eventually have 10 inches taken off (with plenty of hair left to spare).

Charlotte's hair has not been this short since her baby hair originally grew out. In fact, her long pony tail was one of her trademark features.

So imagine our surprise when her shorter hair turned out to suit her so well. It's swingy and has much more body. And an added bonus: it looks great under a soccer beanie! (More on that to come in another post.)

Here is the full effect:

And here is a photo of Charlotte with her new short 'do on the trampoline, just because she thinks this is a cool picture:

And lastly, here is a video done by a gal in Portland as a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness:

Pink Glove Dance

It's fun to watch and is done to Charlotte's most favorite song in the world right now, Down by Jay Sean. When the video reaches one million hits, the glove company will make a sizable donation to cancer research.

Sports Photography

Since we're the parents with the fancy photography equipment, always out there shooting pictures at games, we have become the unofficial team photographers.

Here's one of the items we will be giving the girls along with their trophies at the end of the season: a "players card", similar to pro players cards that are traded among fans:



Now I've got to put the individual and team composites together, and decide if/how much to charge.

Christmas Day

We had one of Charlotte's friends and her family over on Christmas day. Here are a couple of quick digital pages of the event I threw together for each of the girls to have. There's a lot to be said for just scrapping your photos right away and getting it done!

The girls got a big kick out of the pages. I think even they realize it's better than having a bunch of prints that may or may not get into an album.

Takes a Licking and Keeps on Ticking

Charlotte was the 'Timex' soccer player this weekend -- she "took a licking and kept on ticking". Her team was in a tournament this weekend, playing four games in two days. And boy did she take a licking.

One team especially had huge players -- some as big as me. The goalie for our team took one looked at them and wailed, "THEY'RE NOT 10!"

You're always biased when it's your child, but I'm positive Charlotte hit the ground more than any other player in the tournament -- often flying through the air first. We weren't able to get any pictures of her actually in the air, but here is one of her just after she was hit by a "10-year old" on the other team (nicknamed 'Tiny", with great irony).

But her team managed to come in second in the tournament. I was most proud of her in the final championship game. Most of her team's offensive line got tired and discouraged and just gave up. But Charlotte stepped up and was all over the field, supporting defense and offense, like a good midfielder is supposed to.

She did start falling apart once we got home, however. She was tired, bruised and sore. It's a good thing tournaments are only a couple of times a season.

All Hallow's Eve

This year's Halloween costumes were a far cry from last year's homemade ones. It took all the energy I had just to pull together candy and some store-bought costumes. But that didn't stop the kids from having a great time.

Charlotte's sumo wrestler costume had a built-in fan to give her extra bulk. And Sophie's was recycled from a previous year, but still looked great on her.

I even managed to make one of the mushrooms that were featured in Martha Stewart's magazine. The flat pumpkins were a little harder to find than I expected, so we just had one mushroom instead of a whole patch.

Taking It Up a Notch

Until recently, I'd never even heard the term 'club soccer'. Basically, it means you belong to a soccer 'club': an organization with several soccer teams that play teams from other clubs. You must try out and the play is competitive, complete with rankings and (occasionally) swinging elbows.

Charlotte is the smallest one on her team, but surprisingly, one of the fastest. She plays 'center midfield', which means she runs up and down the field a whole lot, playing some of both offense and defense. Midfielders generally don't get the glory that forwards do -- but as I keep reminding her, David Beckham plays midfield.

Club soccer is a larger commitment as well. There are hour and a half practices twice a week, with games or tournaments almost every Saturday, year round.

But she loves it. These are her kind of girls -- athletic, energetic, and physical. (As opposed to most of the girls at school, whose main interest is fashion.) And she never complains about soccer practice (in stark contrast to violin practice!)












Photos courtesy of Min Mar

I am apparently a perfect example of the cliche 'soccer mom', because I actually enjoy going to all those games and practices!

Charlotte's 15 Seconds of Fame (with Taylor Swift!)

Charlotte's not mentioned by name either, but she was on the local news this morning as part of the Taylor Swift concert coverage. Taylor came down the aisle of our section at the concert, and a kind lady offered to pick Charlotte up to get her closer to Taylor. Charlotte said "Hi, Taylor!", and Taylor came over and put her arm around her.

I have to say, I love what a good role model Taylor is. The fame doesn't appear to have gone to her head at all, and she seems truly grateful to her fans. Plus the show was just to darn much fun!

I knew these photos from my camera phone would turn out lousy, but I totally under-estimated just how God awful they would actually be. But with the belief that (in this case at least) any photo is better than none:

You'll have to take my word for it that the bright spot to the left of the girl in the yellow dress is Taylor's blond hair. ;)

10th Birthday

Yesterday, for Charlotte's 10th birthday, we went to the biggest amusement park in the state. (Which isn't saying much, compared to other places!) But we had a great time.

Charlotte went on the big double-loop roller coaster once, but Sophie went over and over, for as many times as she could squeeze in.

Here's Charlotte looking somewhat terrified in the front car of "Desert Storm":


Here's Sophie looking a lot more relaxed in the same car:


and here's the birthday girl on a slightly less intense ride:

The {Long-awaited} Guinea Pigs

Months ago, we promised Charlotte a guinea pig. But we said first she had to read 8 chapter books to earn the privilege... Then we said she had to wait until the flooring was done... Then until after the Thanksgiving holiday... Finally on Friday, it was time to follow through. We went to every PetSmart in the area, but none had the guinea pig.

Part of it was my fault -- I wanted a classic Beatrix Potter guinea pig: fluffy, with cowlicks. Finally, we found a PetSmart where they had 2 adoptable guinea pigs. They said they had one in the back with cowlicks, but that she was a little "tippy". (Apparently these two guniea pigs had had scurvy.) They brought out this little gal ("S'mores") and set her on the floor:


She was definitely a bit tippy, listing to one side. But that only made her more adorable, so we said we'd take her. Meanwhile, Sophie had fallen in love with this little one ("Oreo"):

Sophie wasn't supposed to be getting one, but since they were adoptable (i.e., free) and had been waiting for a home for quite some time, we decided to get them both.

It's taking awhile for them to settle in. They're gentle animals, but skittish in new surroundings.

S'mores is quite vocal, which is fun. We're still trying to figure out which are her happy sounds and which are the opposite.

Kids with Cell Phones: The Layout

The photos from the last post have made it onto a scrapbook page. (Much quicker than normal, too!) That's because I used one of the great templates from Hillary Heidelberg at scrapbook graphics.com. It's so easy, it almost feels like cheating. If you've been thinking about dabbling in digital scrapbooking, a template is a great way to do it!

Pre-teens with Cell Phones

I've never wanted to be one of those parents who gives cell phones to kids way before they really need them. (2nd-graders have cell phones at my daughters' school!)

But I must admit, my children are now officially Pre-teens With A Cell Phone. In my defense, we had to get all new phones because our carrier is discontinuing their old service... And the phone was only $20... And my oldest is starting to want to go places without us (like the mall)... And my daughters are sharing it... And it will be checked in and out... But, they are still Pre-teens With A Cell Phone.

And obviously loving it, as evidenced by these photos.

The funniest part: The phone wasn't even in service when I took the photos!

Wall-E

Here, as promised, is Charlotte's Wall-E costume. It "only" took 2 engineers (Karl and me) and a scrapbooker (me) about 6 hours to create this.

I did the body, but Karl gets credit for the binoculars. I have to admit, they make the costume. Without them, she would be in danger of just looking like a kid in a box!



One of the funnest parts of the costume was seeing the other kids reactions. They were studying her in rapt fascination. I guess that's the sign of a successful costume!

Party!

Charlotte's party may have been more than a month after her actual birthday, but that didn't stop it from being a blast.

I loved this interactive card that she received. If I'm feeling ambitious, I may use it to make a template.


Here are a few other pictures of the party action:

Roger Williams

For her Colonist Report, Charlotte was Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island.

The real story behind this photo, though, is how we pulled the costume together at the eleventh hour. We ran to JoAnn's, where we bought a foam pirate hat, big buckles, and brass buttons. While Grammy sewed the buttons on an old vest, I taped the buckles to some ballet flats. It's amazing what a little pressure will do for your creativity!