Cracking good toast!

Connor's birthday present is complete. I put the finishing touches on this little fella tonight:





Ten points go to you if you can name this little guy correctly.




Time's up. This is Gromit. Isn't he cute-ums? If you haven't heard of Wallace and Gromit... they're a series of animated films starring a goofy bald dude named Wallace (he's British and he loves cheese) and his mute dog who is clearly the brains of the outfit. The entire catalogue of films includes three shorts and a feature-length (one more feature-length has just been released in Britain, entitled Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death...it's set in a bakery. Expect highbrow humor, obviously). My love affair with these little guys began in high school. I've passed it on to my kids. Ask Connor and he'll tell you, they're his favorite movies. We own every DVD and he's about worn them ragged.




He's nuts for the little dog, Gromit. Problem is, it's darn near impossible (and fairly expensive) to locate any memorabilia promoting the characters. The only stuffed "Gromit" I was able to dig up was a tiny stiff miniature one. Not ideal for snuggling, which I know he'll want to do at night. And it was unavailable at the time. So I decided I'd make one. Believe me, this has been an exercise in experimentation...but hooray--Mommy's Gromit is plushy, snuggly, entirely hand-stitched (with luuuuv!), and measures an ample 18"! Maybe not something Toys R Us would want to mass-produce, but in our household, he's sure to be loved thoroughly.

My personal favorite touch is his little leather collar, complete with engraved license:



I've totally got dibs if Connor decides he's not interested. Is it his birthday yet?????

Videos!

I finally got the videos to load!!!!!

You're getting a double feature this afternoon. The first is the footage I promised back before Christmas of Connor reading from the Bible. The second is hot off the presses from last night's Little Promises Preschool Choir performance. Apparently my son is under the impression that we belong to a Pentecostal church...

OPTIMISM...

Days on end of rain make us Medlins downright melancholy...




Even a bit insecure...



But it makes for marvelous puddles in the garden...




And sometimes it helps us meet new friends...



And it certainly makes things delightfully green...




The best policy is to just grin and bear it...



Isn't that better?

Birth and Birthdays

Everybody and their Aunt Tilly is having babies lately! I've been busy cranking out cards. Here are a couple I put together. Connor scrawled "Welcome Baby" inside. That's the best part.


Can I admit to being positively giddy with planning Connor's big Fourth birthday party (FOURTH? Gak! Where did the year go?)? His chosen theme this year is "Robin Hood." I went to Hobby Lobby today and started experimenting with materials to enhance the theme. I cranked these out today. They're just thin wooden dowels (2 dollars for a bag of 30 at Hob Lob!) outfitted with red feathers and florist tape. They'll eventually be fitted with foam tips.




Am I really going to outfit a bunch of preschoolers with primitive weaponry?

You bet.

Just not until they're headed home.

Patterpillow!

Peekie Boo.

Inconvenience

It's been more than a decade since I was last plagued with stinkin' migraine headaches, but...yesterday I was struck with the third migraine I have had in two weeks. I've never had three in succession like this, and it is SO irritating to know you're about to be down for the count for several hours...This one was by far the worst of the three, and lasted the rest of the day until I went to bed and slept it off. Yesterday morning I woke up feeling "not quite right" after a restless night of very little sleep. Shortly after lunch, as I was putting the children down for naps, I started having the familiar visual disturbances that herald an oncoming headache. I called Steve (again), took some ibuprofen and crawled under a blanket. Pretty much stayed there until bedtime. I feel twenty times better this morning. My plan is to do a "coffee detox" and stay away from caffeine for a while, just in case that's triggering something. I don't drink but one to one and one-half cups a day, but it could be that I've got an extreme sensitivity to it. To be honest, I don't know what's causing the headaches. I've read studies that link just about everything possible to migraines, from changes in weather, sleep patterns, caffeine, milk, juice, meats, vegetables, processed foods, spicy foods, bright lights, stress, happiness (okay, maybe not that last one). Good golly, do they think water causes it? Bottom line is, nobody knows. I'm going to call my doctor for advice and hopefully an Imitrex prescription. In the meantime, if you could just pray that this problem goes away, I'd be super grateful. It pretty much grinds my day to a halt when I get a migraine, since I can't see to do anything.