Adorable Futility

Read the previous post and you'll know why I needed twelve tiaras today. What you won't find out is how the original, "real" tiaras made of rhinestones that I ordered two weeks ago didn't even get shipped, so I pulled an all-nighter crafting these beauties from random hosehold items. The process took seven hours, and considering how nothing seemed to go right regarding uniforms for my two teams' competition today, genereated a grand amount of frustration and grumbling. I cut the marquis parts from foam core with an Exacto knife (yikes...my fingers are blistered), hot glued them to some ghetto headbands from the grocery store, added wire loops for bobby pins, wrapped the bands with silver ribbon, and dipped the marquis sections in glue and glitter. I was thoroughly proud of my finished product and put-out by the process (my ability to pull all-nighters left me shortly after I became pregnant with Amber), but once the gals had the tiaras on their heads, it was worth it. They looked so cute!

Moments before my team was to run onto the mat to compete, the competition "boss" came over and informed me that cheerleaders were not allowed to wear tiaras; we had two choices: take them off or receive a 5-point-per-judge penalty. So I frantically grabbed three moms and we ripped the tiaras off as fast as we could, making some of the cheerleaders cry...not because it hurt their heads, but because they wanted to be bling-ed out for the competition. I was really glad I went to all the trouble to make those darn things!

Cheery Little Princesses

Amber and Karli participated in their first cheer competition today and they did a great job! I coach their team, the Flash All Stars Tiny Tots, and their routine has a princess theme. I mixed the music with selections from "Drama Queen" by Lindsay Lohan, "Lip Gloss" by 'Lil Mama, and "Happy Working Song" from the Enchanted soundtrack. The uniforms are extra princess-y thanks to those adorable tutus under the skirts, plenty of rhinestones, and some cute tiaras. All twelve of my students looked absolutely darling and they got a standing ovation from the crowd (sympathy ovations are just as good as any, right?).

Since I was running around like a mad woman, trying to arrange everyone's tiara, pass out uniforms (gotta love the last-minute operation I get sucked into by my boss), keep Karli from throwing a fit, direct moms, apply lipstick to twelve little mouths, etc., I didn't actually have time to tape or photograph the routine in progress. The team suffered a bit of stage fright, and made some dazzling improvisations to the choreography, but all in all, they were so cute and tried their hardest and it was one of my proudest moments to date.

Here are the pretty princesses after the competition; Karli couldn't wait to have her hair taken out of those two messy buns. She hates having her hair fixed any way but "like Madeline's". They are also missing their tiaras...those really complete the look (even more than the pirate smiles seen here).
Karli seemed to be intimidated by all the commotion, but when she ran out on the floor to compete, she was a star! I was so thrilled that she did a great job (she's the youngest in her class and still gets a bit distracted once in a while).

Amber looked adorable with her cherry red lipstick, mascara, blush, and tiara on. She kept checking herself out and shaking her booty, and saying, "Oh! I look fancy!". It was darling! She and Karli both sang "Happy Working Song" at the top of their lungs during the routine at the competition. I'm telling you...these kids are talented. They sing and dance (Disney Channel, here they come), which is probably why they won third place. Not too shabby for a bunch of first-timers!

Grundy County, Here I Come

I've purchased a few items on eBay and must admit that each time I place the last-minute highest bid, I get a huge rush. Is that bad? I feel like I may be on the road to some serious shopping addiction problems, because not only do I get a major dose of satisfaction from buying a product, I get all jazzed about winning the bidding war. It's a compound problem. Do I need an intervention? I'll pass for now, thank you, and enjoy my cloistered love for competitive buying.

Since the item I purchased is a Christmas gift for a loved one, I'll post a picture of it and give details about the absolutely killer deal (75% off retail for a new-in-box item) I got on December 26th. I hope I can contain my excitement about said gift until Christmas. I think this episode is even more exciting to me than when I was a child awaiting Santa's arrival. I'm such a nerd!

Almost Three in a Row

The wondrous day has finally arrived...moms know what I'm talking about; the day your potty-training toddler suddenly decides diapers are for babies and wants nothing more to do with them. Karli has been in the potty-training process for about six months now, having on again/off again spells, but for the last two days, she's used the potty every time! Can I get a witness? I'm about to do a back flip!
Aside from one major poop-in-the-pants incident yesterday (which ultimately wasn't that bad because I just threw away the undies, the pants, the shirt, and the socks...it's true...I cannot handle bodily byproducts), I haven't had to change her for a full 56 hours. Now that she's grasped this newfound source of independence, her tantrums have nearly stopped, and she's using words to express needs instead of baby pterodactyl-style shrieks. Maybe I'll go join a robe-wearin', hallelujah-shoutin', Heaven-praisin' congregation so I can fully express my joy. This is certainly a glorious event!

One of Those Days

Can someone please remind me that it IS fun to have a never-ending, thankless job? :)

It's Not Creativity...It's Using My Resources

I've always been a wish-list maker and a major catalogue freak, and I'm proud to say that my girls are taking after their mama. Each week when the "all-new" Pottery Barn Kids catalogue arrives (that's our fave), we hunker down to carefully examine each page and decide what we'd buy if we had infinite income to support what could be very healthy shopping habits. We all fell in love with these stockings; Amber and Karli were especially excited to see the ice skate stocking (they actually think the sled stocking with the doll is an ice skate, so that's what we call it) and begged to have one for themselves.

Me, being the ultra-frugal, wanna-be Martha, decided to try making some because the PBK version ran a steep $33 each once monogramed. Here is my finished product; although I wish I would have sprung for felt-by-the-yard to make the actual bodies of the stockings, I'm proud to report that I made all five for only $10.78 and about three hours of work. I think I'm going to carefully remove the embellishments from these and add them to new felt stockings for next year because broadcloth just isn't sturdy enough, even with French seams inside. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself:

I still need to add the names. I'm working on cutting the letters out of felt because I'm too cheap to pay for professional personalization. Gotta love the rip-off!