Minis Monday - Mini Isabelle's Ballet Outfits

Mini Izzy needed some ballet gear. 

Look what she found in the Only Hearts Club girls' closet!

The comfy sweatshirt fits so much better than her "Meet" shirt.

It's not her coral sweater, but it's a really comfy sweatshirt to wear over her practice clothes.

The hoodie is super comfy to wear over her practice clothes.

And the tank underneath fits great, too!

This fairy costume has a leotard a little like big Izzy's purple one.

Best of all, Mini Izzy got a brand new ballet outfit, too. A friend had told us about a great sale on Only Hearts outfits. One of the stores had this pretty white ballet set! It's a little snug on Izzy, but fits when her tutu is on.

Now she has a white leotard and tutu like big Isabelle!

Check out her tiny ballet shoes!

Mini Izzy has her dance bag all ready!

What dance outfits has your Mini Isabelle found?

Next time: how to make Mini Izzy's dance studio!

THON!!!

This weekend, I'm in State College, and one thing I did was visit THON at Penn State.

700 of the college students pledged to stay awake and on their feet, dancing for almost 2 days - 46 hours.

The goal is to get people to donate money to help kids with cancer.

The kids also love the big party!

My seat was way up high. Can you see all the people?!?

The dancers can't sit down, so visitors don't, either.

Here's a screen showing this year's line dance. I love seeing the words the college kids come up with each year!

College kids do funny skits. This is some members of the field hockey team in silly costumes during the pep rally.

THON kids who are fighting or have beat cancer join the party and even get to help out up on stage.

I went to the pep rally to see the Majorettes perform.

And the Blue Band!

The feature twirler.

And the cheerleaders!

Remembering Shirley Temple - My Grandma's Shirley Doll

Shirley temple passed away yesterday (and, actually, so did my Great-Grandpa). She was already a grown-up by the time my Baba  (that means Grandma!) was a little girl, but she's been popular for what seems like forever.

As a little girl, Shirley was a big movie star whose cute movies made people happy during the tough times of the Great Depression. Her movies all seemed like wonderful fairy tales, and I'll bet that 1930s girl Kit's best friend, Ruthie, was a big fan!

Shirley was a great dancer, and I like that she danced with very talented people, no matter of their skin color. That was a big deal, during a time when people thought it was okay to be mean to each other just because of the color of their skin. 

When Shirley grew up, she still loved working with people, and got involved in politics. I love that she worked to help our country to be better friends with other countries by being an ambassador. I'm part Slovak, so I've always thought she was super cool because she was once an ambassador to Czechoslovakia!

I love Shirley Temple Movies, and my Baba was also a BIG fan when she was a little girl. Lots of moms tried to curl their girls' hair to make it look like Shirley's. Even my Great-Grandma used to try it on my Baba's BROWN hair. Here's my Baba with her curls. I think she does look a little like her Shirley doll in the second picture!

My mom saved my Baba's old Shirley Temple doll, and let me take her out to get some pictures. 

Here she is! She has such a cheerful face that she makes me happy, too!

Happy Birthday, Laura Ingalls Wilder!

I got to stay up late tonight to watch the opening ceremonies for the Sochi Olympics. I wasn't going to watch. I'm upset with Russia for a bunch of reasons. But I'm not upset with the athletes, who all worked really hard to get good at their sports. And, learning about things I dislike in other parts of the world (like a government threatening to tell my religion it's outlawed!) makes me really appreciate the good things in my country, want to work to make my country and the world better, and want to support our people (like our athletes!). So, I decided to watch. At least the opening ceremonies. While admittedly yelling at the screen once in a while. I thought the peace jellyfish(???) were weird. I liked Anna Netrebko's dress. Anyway, GO USA!!!



So, I went online a few times while I was watching. And, guess what.
I read Amy Poehler's "Smart Girls at the Party" a lot and my mom follows them on Facebook.  She showed me one of today's posts, where they mentioned that it's Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday today!
Here's a link they posted: http://www.womenyoushouldknow.net/5-things-discovered-laura-ingalls-wilder/
So, I just have to post a big Happy Birthday to her because she was awesome! I love the Little House books. I really like learning about all the things people made by hand back then, and Little House is one of the reasons I learned how to sew and how to make stuff out of yarn. (Actually, they're even one of the reasons I love hedgehogs so much - you can read about one in the stories someone wrote about Laura's Scottish great-grandmother. Oh, I wish real pet hedgies weren't illegal in Pennsylvania!)

Okay, more tomorrow. But for now, I'm tired! Good night!

Minis Monday - Emily's Return, Part 2: Surprise!

"STOP!" Julie cried, as Molly pushed Emily toward their destination.

Emily stopped, just short of  running her knees into the sharp ends of something...

As Isabelle caught up, she questioned her friends: "Shouldn't she be taking that blindfold off by now?"

"Sure. You take care of it, okay Izzy?" replied Molly.

So, Isabelle hurried to untie the blindfold worn by her new friend.

As the ribbon slipped away from Emily's eyes, she threw her hands up in the air and gasped, "Oh, my! That is AMAZI-!"

"I know! I think your new pirate friends would be proud!" Molly cheered, interrupting Emily.

"...amazing. Where did this come from?" Emily continued.

Molly explained to Emily that the ghost pirate ship belonged to one of the big people, and that though the girls had helped to put it together during one of the past month's many snow days, the ship was soon going to be off limits in the big people's offices. "Even though it's perfectly our size!" she grumbled.

"YARRRRR, ME HEARTIES!!!!" Emily roared, rushing over to the ship and cheering in an uncharacteristic burst of exuberance.

Suddenly, she spotted something near the ship, and dove toward it.

"Yep!" said Molly, proudly, "there's a catapult, too!"

Emily played with the catapult for a bit...

...then hurried to climb aboard the ship.

"Climb aboard, Mateys!"

Most of the girls gladly followed suit.

Emily noticed the new girl, and waved, saying, "you must be that voice I met earlier. Hello, Isabelle!"

Their conversation was interrupted as the girls found themselves pelted by small plastic objects.

Well, that explained where Molly had gotten off to.

"Hey!" they called, "stop it!"

Molly groaned, "oh, okay."

Julie asked, critically, "was that really necessary, Molly?"

"Of course!" replied Molly, shocked that anyone would have expected otherwise.

"Now, Em, how about telling us more about you trip?"

Emily gladly settled down on the side of the borrowed ship, to tell tales of pirates, penguins, ships, trains, gardens, and airplane travel.

"I even met a celebrity!" added Emily, bragging a bit.

"Oh, I wish you could meet my new friends. They were wonderful girls!" said Emily, a bit wistfully.

"I brought home this huge poster to share with you guys, too!"

Everyone oohed and aahed, and then Isabelle commented that the dessert in the picture looked delicious.

Realizing they were all hungry again, the girls headed back to their room for another snack.

Emily and Isabelle had just sat down to chat and get to know each other...

...and Julie was setting out another plate of cookies and some clean plates...

... when they all heard a scr-r-r-atching and scraping noise.

...could it be?

"MOLLY! GET THAT THING OUT OF HERE!" they all yelled, as they saw her struggling to drag that blasted catapult into their room.

"Who? Me?"

"YES, YOU!!!"

And, with that matter settled, everyone was finally able to sit down and relax with their snacks.

The end.

(Again, thanks to Emily's host! And, you can check out her host's blog here: http://captainmerrimanstravelingcrew.blogspot.se/)