When I mentioned to Cara that I would make her skirt, she spread the word to her troop leader and it wound up being a troop project! I cut one dozen white poodles out of felt, which the girls each decorated at a meeting. They might not look much like the standard appliques, but the girls loved them.

The moms made the actual skirts using this tutorial. Because we used felt, there was no hemming required and it was an incredibly easy project. And the girls were so proud!

Miss Happy is SO proud, though. Time to head to the bank for some $2 bills!

An update on the BIG girl’s father/daughter sock hop to follow soon.

We have made a lot of improvements on the house in the last year, but my most fun project was putting together Declan’s nursery. It has been fun to go all-out with the blue!

The sources were Nurseryworks (Loom crib-a great deal on Craigslist!), IKEA (the bed is a hacked Hemnes daybed and the rug is from there, as well), Boodalee (twin bedding and wall decals; sadly, they are now shut down), and Dwell Studio (crib bedding). I have had the lockers for awhile; they were purchased via Craigslist and I painted them myself. His book shelf is of the rain gutter variety.

About a year ago, I collected my first celebrity felt finger puppet from Etsy seller abbeychristine. Steve Martin cracked me up, and even though Todd balked (he didn’t think I seriously wanted it when I sent him the link), I had to have him! Martha Stewart joined him last year. The last puppet is my rendition of Judi Dench. Lisa thought it looked like our grandmother until I finished it. We still need Elvis, John Cleese, and Bruce Campbell at minimum, but I haven’t had the time to try making them!

Judi, Steve, and Martha live on the windowsill with some dinosaurs and robots. Along with all of his reptile and superhero books, the Plan Toys vehicles, and all the little characters sitting in his window, it really looks like a little boy room now. I love it!

I’m sure Declan will in time, but he hasn’t slept in it yet!

She melts my heart. Of course, when we asked her about it, she said she’s a good sister to Declan. She hadn’t considered that she is also a sister to Cara.

Isn’t she lovely? She’s FIVE years old. How that happened, I’ll never know.

I have a lot to catch up on re: Cara, but we can start with her Kindergarten homeschooling this year.

Honestly, it’s going about as we expected it to. I knew, with the baby coming near the holidays (he was due 1/1/11!), that a good portion of the year would be a wash. She came out of preschool knowing rather more than she needed to, and I wasn’t afraid of her ending her K year slightly behind, since we will have the opportunity for any catch-up in grade 1. She was on the very young end to start K this year, anyway, so she really doesn’t need to be through that material, since most kids her age aren’t actually starting K until next fall.

I was strongly considering enrolling her in public school next year, but at the end of the day, it’s just not what I want for her. The decision has required a good deal of soul-searching, because I could really use the time that she (and AJ!) are in school, and I think the idea of many uninterrupted hours when all the children reach school age sounds like a little slice of heaven, but there is a big part of me that just doesn’t think it’s the right fit yet, and I’m definitely not interested in dealing with public school bureaucracy. Maybe I’ll feel differently in a few years.

Anyhow, she’s actually doing quite well, and I expect she’ll have learned what she needs to by the end of the summer. She’s doing a little reading, and we’re starting to tell time. We’ve already worked with coins a bit, but will be doing more of that in the coming months. She has been taking a phonics class one day per week since January, and she really enjoys that. She’s also still going to German school on Saturdays (which she does not enjoy as much, but that’s a whole different post, I suppose).

Our approach this year has included a little of everything, but next year we’ll be focusing on a curriculum. I’m pretty sure we’re going to use K12. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve learned this year that I’m really not suited to unschooling, and Cara really needs some more structure, too. It will be nice to have everything I need to teach right in front of me, and I think Cara is really going to enjoy the art portion!

Miss AJ had her ears pierced. I’m still reeling from the shock of being asked (which was my only requirement; they have to ask for it themselves). Cara was exactly the same age, but I was sure that AJ, my little tomboy, wouldn’t be asking for years.

Boo hoo hoo. I couldn’t very well say no when I did it for Cara, so off we went.

Cara had both ears pierced at the same time and did very well, but AJ had to have them done individually. She’s a tough chick (the girl did walk around on a broken leg for five days, after all), but I was scared they’d get through one and she’d have a fit. As it turns out, she did super-well. Big girl.

She chose the exact same earrings that Cara had hers pierced with, little daisy studs, except she went with the blue instead of the pink.

Meet Declan! He was my biggest project of last year, born in December, three weeks early, at a respectable six pounds, ten ounces.

And ohmygosh, am I ever in love. He doesn’t sleep worth a darn unless he’s being held, but I’m soaking it up. I may never do this baby thing again, and I want to make this time count.

Now, at three months old, “Pork Chop” is doing well and growing a little bit more each day. He’s smiling up a storm, started laughing last week, and just today rolled from back to front (he started front-back rolling last month). He has the four of us wrapped around his little big fingers. (Look at that smile! How could we not be?)

That was over one year ago.

Amid some security concerns, I took a break. My short break turned into a long one, and I left my [four] loyal readers without new posts for a whole year!

The good news (maybe that was the good news?)…..well, at any rate, I have plenty of new material. I can spend the next month or so filling everyone in!

I will try. Really.

The biggest news in January is that both girls finally had haircuts! It was AJ’s first and only Cara’s second. A big thanks to Melissa for making them so be-yoo-tiful!

(I had my hair cut and colored, too, and it rocks. Melissa is awesome.)

It felt great to get back out there. I haven’t hiked since before Cara was born, so I’m really looking forward to doing it more often!