You know Dasher and Dancer....

We started decorating in the Holsapple/Brinkman abode. We haven't reached our full twinkle-potential, but it's starting to feel warm and festive. I like a lot of twinkle. When my mom passed away a few years ago, I had to clean out her home. In the beginning of the process, every object caused tons of emotional turmoil when I had to decide whether to keep it or donate it or throw it away. After awhile I made a firm conviction that my mom was not her old furniture, wooden bowling ball trophies, or her gargoyle collection---this conviction was easier to make since I was moving with my husband to a tiny one bedroom apartment with no storage space. I kept all her old photo albums and a few choice things, but the rest went. These Christmas ornaments stayed. She painted little Christmas scenes on them, glued some velvet ribbon down the middle, and on the back wrote "Merry Christmas 1978". They are friendly and charming, like she was. She painted them before I was born, when my brothers were toddlers. It's different for me to look at them now because I know what it is like to balance creative time with taking care of your young ones, so I can picture what it must have been like for her to be painting those while simultaneously preventing her mischievous boys from pulling down bookshelves. I love having them hanging in the house, they make it feel like she's right here in the room with us, drinking coffee.

One thing I didn't keep is this giant, stuffed rudolph head. It was one of those whimsical objects that made Christmas seem full of magical possibility. I am a bit busy this month, but I really want to make a papier mache version for our house. The more I think about it though, the more insane I feel. When I sew or draw and watch Walter I can just set down what I am doing and tend to the monkey, but with papier mache there is a hand-washing step in there that I think won't add up to good parenting. We'll see.


Here is a sneak peak of what I have been working on for a show in Chicago at Oh No! Doom which is happening December 11th! I am almost done with him so I should be able to show you the rest soon.

Betsy

At summer camp, Betsy created her own baseball team, the Yams. She named her team the Yams for 2 reasons:

1. Yam is an under-rated vegetable that can be candied.
2. Yam rhymes with all sorts of things (wam, bam, slam, cram) which makes rooting for the Yams a lot more convenient when inventing cheer lyrics.

Betsy's team will go far, she is certain of this. She works her team very hard. In the cafeteria, none of her team mates are allowed to eat cheesy puffs the old fashioned way. They are to promote team work by throwing them up really high into the sky and then the Yam that wants the cheesy puff the most is to call it loudly and then catch it with their mouth. If Betsy catches you eating a cheesy puff the old-fashioned way, she will for surely bench you.

Thanks to Stacie for this other special request! I hope the special Yam in your life enjoys her.

Freddie

Freddie can't wait to go to summer camp. His mom tells him all about it, and he thinks it sounds like the bee's knees. He has started preparing now even though he has a few years to go until he is old enough. He calls his koolaid bug-juice and has started practicing tying knots to prepare to sail a boat. Anything resembling a string gets tied into a knot: cords, knitting yarn, Skippy's tail. He's not sure if he is using proper knot-tying form, but he carefully recites some jibberish about bunnies and trees and holes in the ground as he ties like all good sailors do. He can't untangle the knots when he is through, so he is fairly certain he is well on his way to earning some type of award.

Freddie was a special request from one friend to another who has a bun in the oven. Both friends went to my summer camp. The shirt he is wearing is one that my son wore, and it was handed down to him through another little future camper boy, so I think it is pretty special. Normally I don't re-purpose clothing into Pink Cheeks unless it is stiffer fabric like jeans. It's not very green of me, but I have tried and the results are usually disappointing. The shirt on Freddie works though. It's a knit and it stretches in a way that makes for a charming little muffin-top.

Joseph thinks Freddie looks a little crazy, but I think I captured the camp Eberhart spirit in him. Which is colorful, charming, and a little random. I miss that place. I get so nostalgic for it that my belly hurts sometimes. It was so nice to be in the woods with a bunch of friends. The days would stretch on and on for an eternity and we'd fill them with songs, rockets and choco-tacos.

Monkey Boy and Photo Shoot!

James is really fond of that song about the monkeys that jump on the bed. He also thinks that maybe he is a genius because he would not have had to call the doctor to find out what he/she said about monkeys jumping on the bed. He would have just known that if you don't want to bump your head, then you don't jump on the bed. And, he has not even been to medical school! One day he may go though, but he wants to go to the kind that trains you about how to save animals' lives and then he will make it his chief concern that no monkey, mouse, elephant, whatever jumps on the bed. Though in secret, James jumps on the bed. It is just too awesome not to.


James is for Charlotte's brother. I think they sort of look related in plushie form.


Joseph and I are super lucky to have two very talented friends from Tall and Small photography who came all the way to our tiny town to take pictures of our little man. They have done this 2 other times. I am very much into posterity and I want to have an amazing record of Walter's first year. I hope Tall and Small can do this for all our future babies, otherwise they will feel pretty ripped off when they go comparing baby books, which is inevitable. The pictures are so fun. Here is one:


And, if you go to their website you can see a few more including one of Walter dressed as a reindeer (sorry Walter!). Afterward we went out to eat at a place that makes nice Italian, but more importantly, serves tuxedo cake. I didn't know what it was before that night, but now I will never forget. My belly was mad at me the next day for eating it, but it was worth it. I was just looking for a link to it, but I couldn't find one---basically it was two kinds of cake (vanilla and chocolate) with two kinds of frosting (butter-cream and chocolate) all layered again and again like a jailbird's uniform. It was soooooo good. But, enough about cake! Tall and Small Photography are awesome! And, for hire! Go get married in Fiji and ask them to take pictures of it for you!

Charlotte

Charlotte is a night owl. She simply can't go to bed without at least 5 stories and no less than 4 tall glasses of water. She'd rather be having cream soda, popcorn and movies featuring muppets than water and Goodnight Moon, but she's wise and knows what requests she can get away with. She likes to research owls since they can party all night without any necessary disciplinary action which is pretty amazing. Their lives became less glamorous however, when Charlotte discovered that they dined on mice.

Charlotte is a special request for a little girl whom I don't know personally, but who is adorable in photographs and has one of my top ten names. **side note, I never know if I use 'whom' properly, I just use it when it feels right. I was very excited about the prospect of making a little hooty owl girl and I think she needs to be added to my regular repertoire! She was very fun to make and I hope she makes someone happy on Christmas morning!

Bloomington Handmade Market Recap

Sorry, I forgot to take photos of my booth until it was less inhabited with Pink Cheeks. Which is good, business-wise, but sad image-wise. Hopefully you'll forgive my lame booth picture because the cutest of all Pink Cheeks made it into the shot. We made a little Walter-window for him. I really wanted to duck under the table and pretend like he was the vendor, but I was too chicken. There were so many great vendors, including this guy who I was lucky enough to trade with. I need to take a photo of what he traded with me, but I have to hang it in Walter's room first. Friends stopped by (thanks friends!), and there was such a friendly, fun atmosphere in the place. I was nervous about Walter being there the whole time, but as it turns out about every other booth had it's own personal baby mascot, so we were in good company. Also, I find with Walter that he is really well-behaved as long as there are people to look at, so he was basically awesome all day long (thanks, little man). The customers were great, and so generous with nice words which feels so good. My absolute favorite part is when people take the time to read the stories and then actually laugh at them. I had a few people read every. single. one. (thanks!) I have seven left which are all going up in my Etsy shop today. Then, I need to work on some special requests and hopefully get some new ones into the shop for Christmas. In the meantime though, I really need to clean my stove-top.

Nelson, Timothy and Barry

Nelson is so shy that butterflies start fluttering in his stomach before his mom even wakes him up for school. People misunderstand what he says 98% of the time because his voice is softer than his super-soft bear coat, which he wears for both protection from the cold and as a way of intimidating bullies. His mother told him that if bullies ever pick on him he should always take the high road. He can't find it yet, but searches Google maps every day.


Timothy is an excellent public speaker. He is going to grow up to be very important and people will turn on televisions and hear what he has to say. So far he only holds firm opinions on how awesome his pet lizard is (very) and how delicious cotton candy is (very). He speaks candidly about both subjects, and he always makes sure to make proper eye contact with his audience.


Barry is an inventor. After school everyday, Barry draws his ideas out in his loose-leaf notebook. He only uses sharpies because

a. they smell good
b. they are the best

his inspiration for his inventions come from recess. When playing, if someone puts up a "force-field" as a ways of being "safe", Barry uses one of his made up inventions. So far he has "force-field-breaker-bullets" to break their defense. The second they invent "force-field-breaker-bullet-proof-force-fields" Barry will be in trouble.



I am getting prepped for the handmade market. I only do 1 of these a year, possibly I'll do more now that I am a stay-at-home-mom. I really love it. It's like having your own tiny store front. My favorite part is watching the kids reactions. Last year a grown woman ran over screaming "Awwwww!" and gavea bear-girl a hug, which made my heart do a tiny flip. I am also very excited to be in Bloomington again. I think I will drink 20 Soma chai-teas while I am there