Easter Dress Guidelines

How I loved being able to shop for Miss E's Easter dress! Her momma has great taste in dressing the little one and I try to follow her guidelines when picking out an outfit. I owe her that much after making her wear a bowl haircut most of her first five years, and choosing her outfits based upon Peter Pan collars, smocking and saccharin sweet pastel prints in the early 8os. Guideline #1: Modern prints and sassy colors, please.

Guideline #2: Polka dots are a plus.

Guideline #3: Spinners are winners. (The twirl factor in a dress is most important- even if you can't quite twirl yet.)

Guideline #4: Let the momma pick the shoes to get the fit just right.

Guideline #5: If it is cold outside, select a cardigan to go along with the dress.

We had such a lovely Easter with our family, and especially enjoyed the very fashionable Miss E. go about the yard in search of eggs for her basket.

Hope you had a lovely Easter as well!

Fair Warning

The warning is this:

If you look deep into my eyes this following week, instead of the normal blue iris, you might actually see the blue of the Union Jack flag gazing back at you.

Yes, I'm one of those who is eagerly awaiting the upcoming nuptials of

Will and Kate.

In fact, so much so, that I am hosting an intimate little tea party for four - including myself

to review all the splendour (this spelling is intentional) post wedding.

My dear sister, as well as a friend and her dear sister will be the guests. Here is a peak at the invitation:

My sweet husband is sure they are going to come after me with the copyright infringement of the invitation. And certainly one must notice that my sister is a "Lady."

The invitation goes on to mention details such as the

When and Where of the party. As well as the request to

Wear Proper Attire and Hats Being Provided.

Meanwhile, the menu is being planned and decor attended to.

There's also the planning of just the perfect outfit to wear fit for Royalty.

In fact, Wes mentioned this morning that he just saw a televised picture of Queen Elizabeth's 85th birthday frock and mine is quite close in appearance. Fancy that.

So, there you have it as to why I might seem a bit distracted this coming week.

Fair warning as my mind is simply swimming with all the details

one must attend to in the planning of a Royal Wedding viewing and Tea Party!

(Here you might wish to hear the humming of the tune God Save the Queen as this post fades out.)

Aisle Be Seeing You

Now that Miss E is a walker, she explores where she wants to go instead of us taking her where we want to go. After being her exploring companion at the library this week, I would like to report that she likes aisles - coming and going - and occasionally grabbing a book or DVD along the way. She is also quite enamored with the fish in the large aquarium at the library. Her lips can now form fish "lips" with the cheeks sucked in and the lips puckered and moving as fish do. Library patrons were amused with her enthusiasm and jabbering away to the tank inhabitants.

Miss E also likes hanging out at the caterpillar table and doing puzzles. She surprised me with her skillz.

Here she poses with one of our favorite librarians, Ms. Colleen. She had selected a book just for Miss E about an elephant who shares the same name.

What fun it is to have these Mondays with MorMor!

Sidetracked Looking for the Lucia Candle Crown

Because I had promised the use of my St. Lucia crown of candles, I had to deliver with that promise. Years ago, this crown was purchased in Sweden and tucked away in my sewing supplies/quilt closet. The truth of the matter was that it was buried in that closet. And that closet had taken on a life of its own with fabrics, zippers, buttons, old quilt squares, batting, stuffing and unfinished projects. Not a pretty picture, to be sure!

The first shelf I approached with burrowing hands revealed no crown, as did the second. I knew this meant only one thing: I had to empty all the shelves and this was going to be a big undertaking. No time to grab the camera for a before picture! However, hours and hours later, I decided this experience warranted an after picture. The closet is a bi-fold mirrored one in the sewing room and hard to capture in its closed-door state. Might I point out that the flower artwork in the background was painted by John when he was in elementary school?

Here is the opened door view of the reorganized contents.

And a closer-up view of the buttons in happy company with other notions.

The first burning question is now, "Deb, did you ever find the Lucia crown?" and the resounding answer is, "Yes!!" The seconding smoldering question is, "Deb, what on earth do you need a Lucia crown for in the middle of April?" The answer: because one of the district principals will help out our library Summer Reading Club promotion of the One World, Many Stories theme by wearing it on her/his head as a representative of the Swedish culture experience at our library this summer. Mission accomplished - with a clean closet as a result!