Letting my geek flag fly

Roger Ebert wrote an article for Newsweek recently that said there are 27 movie sequels coming out this year. It's pretty much the only way Hollywood likes to do things anymore--take a successful movie, make it into a franchise, and drag it out as long as humanly possible. Boo-hoo for all you film purists. I for one am SO EXCITED about Harry Potter 7, Part II and The Hobbit that I can barely contain myself.

The Hobbit is still in production, and the first part won't even be released till late 2012, but if the casting is any indication, it's going to be smashing. Some of the old gang from LOTR has signed on: Ian McKellan, Andy Serkis, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Ian Holm and Orlando Bloom. (Time for "Do you know your British Actors?")

Martin Freeman is going to be Bilbo Baggins. I think he's going to be great. Have you seen The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with him as Arthur Dent? How about the new BBC TV series Sherlock with him as Dr. Watson? That's a good show, by the way.

How about Stephen Fry, who is going to play the Master of Laketown? He narrated the movie and the audiobook of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the audiobooks of the UK version of the Harry Potter series, he was in Jeeves and Wooster, etc. He is SO British. He's going to be funny and fantastic.

 Even Mr. Crankypants John Thornton from North and South (aka Richard Armitage) is involved, as the haughty Thorin Oakenshield. Check out this fan's Photoshop transformation of Richard into his dwarf persona:

Isn't that awesome? Hahaha. 

*Side note: I just barely watched North and South for the first time, and man, was it GLOOMY! I was not expecting that. I guess the last five minutes of the movie made up for it, but still.

I just became an official fan of The Hobbit and Harry Potter movies by "liking" them on facebook. Now I can see the latest pictures, video clips, and the priceless, badly spelled international interactions opinion wars between the fans. Reactions to Orlando Bloom signing on to play Legolas in the Hobbit (he isn't strictly mentioned in the book, but a large part of the plot happens at his father's palace, so ya' know....fodder for debate):

  

Christer Plånborg: Dont make it cheeeeeseee!!!!

Patricia B. Charlick: Oh Yer. good on ya mate.

Mike Schroerlucke: Makeup will have a challenge making Orlando look one hundred and eleventy years younger. 

Laura Lopez: Porquuueee? Mas legoladas no porfavoreee xD

Michael Zöller: So important, so important!!!

Ken Wolfe: Please don't add him, Mr. Jackson. He doesn't belong

Gul-Alice Erg: ♥rlando Bl♥♥m :D

James Ronan Winter: there was a Legolas in the Hobbit mentioned but it doesn't say if it is THE Legolas.maybe Legolas was a common name like John.

 (BAHAHAHAHA! That one kills me! 

Or should I say, "Ja ja ja ja ja ja ja ja")

My favorite response to this movie still from The Deathly Hallows, Part II:

Addie Doe: YOU'RE SO FANCY VOLDEMORT!

Here's the latest trailer for your enjoyment. It completely overwhelms me with its action/suspenseful-ness/drama. I am officially in Harry Potter mode until the END comes July 15th. Woo-hoo!

P.S. Happy birthday, Dad!! Love you!!

Luke's Spidey Sense

I can't believe I haven't told you about Luke's Spidey Sense. The kid has it honed down to where he can tell the exact moment that:

a. the fridge opens
b. the front door opens
c. the door to the garage opens
d. I try to go to the bathroom by myself

...and in all cases he will materialize out of thin air to try to sit inside the fridge, run out the front door, go mess around in the garage, and go barge in on me in the bathroom. He also has an uncanny ability to tell when I'm trying to go to bed. It happened last night--it has happened approximately 300 times since he was born.

It doesn't matter when I go to bed--it could be hours different night to night, but he will wake up either:

a. the moment I decide to get my pajamas on (ever try to get jammies on, wash your face, brush your teeth, use the bathroom, etc. while holding a baby? No, Mark will not do. Luke only wants mama.)
b. the moment my head hits the pillow
c. 30 minutes after my head hits the pillow and I'm finally falling asleep

Seriously. When he was a baby, it would happen every. single. night. Last night it happened because he was sick, but most of the time he just wants to snuggle.

Anyway, he also knows how to find mud. He's had ample opportunity this past week or two. A week ago, we'd had tons of rainfall and his empty sandbox had filled up. He wasted no time climbing in for a swim.

 

  

Madelyn tried to help by scooping water out, and Luke tried to help by scooping mud in.

He had a super time.

Yesterday, Madelyn and her bestie Aidan were running in the sprinklers.

Luke settled for a nice, murky puddle

Naturally, I'd just bathed him that morning....

Guess what this reminds me of

Madelyn, July 2009

Perhaps this couldn't have been avoided. It appears to be in his genes.

Poor Luke caught cold from yesterday's escapade, and spent all night fussing and tossing in turning in our bed. He's wheezing and coughing and throwing up and it's that same old nasty thing all over again!  I guess we'll have to try not to let him get wet and cold for long periods of time. Who wants to break the news?....I have a feeling he's not going to listen to me anyway.

Miss Madelyn grows up

 

Kindergarten graduate!

 

I can't believe Madelyn is done with kindergarten (on Friday)! Last night was her school program and "graduation". The three K classes performed patriotic songs and poems and a few dances. It was so cute. We couldn't see very well and Luke had no intentions on sitting still (not after Monday night's fiasco....) but it was short and sweet. Then the sun even came out! We'd had a thunderstorm with rain and hail just a few hours earlier. Will spring PLEASE decide to stick around from now on??!? I'd like to get my short sleeves out of storage, now that it's almost June.

This just in:

The Mossimo boyfriend tees I told you about a few days ago are on sale this week at Target for $6!! Shwoo! I think I'd better grab a few more colors. Remember, you don't even have to layer a tank top underneath with these, so they're great for the summer heat.

And now I'd better do something about my house, which has been ignored for a day and a half and so now is a total sty. Bye for now.

Gettin' off the crazy train....well, sort of....at least for now

Oy. We survived Madelyn's first year of dance! Just barely!

 Last Friday, she had a performance at the SUU Business Expo. I don't know why her studio insisted on doing stuff like that 2-3 times a month, but it was getting old and I was constantly so frazzled--I'm sure they thought I was the biggest airhead. Remember her performance three weeks ago, when I forgot her costume?

This time, she was to perform her pirate dance for the first time, followed by her mermaid dance, and she told me that she was supposed to wear her green Dance Magic t-shirt and black pants. So I had her put her blue mermaid costume on underneath, drove her over...and found out she was supposed to wear her orange dress, not her t-shirt and pants. So I raced back home to get it (with Luke, having to get him in and out of his stroller and car seat, etc.) and made it back just in time for her to change on the sidelines.

  Those hats crack me up!

Mark tried to get there in time to watch her, but missed it by a couple minutes, and then she didn't even end up doing her mermaid dance because most of her class didn't show up. Sigh.

Last night, her end of the year recital and Peter Pan production finally arrived. Her Grandma Yoder, Aunt Doris, Grandma Carolyn, Grandpa Rich, Auntie Meg, daddy and Luke and I were all going to be there. An hour and a half before we had to arrive, I started getting ready, determined that things would go smoothly for a change. Ha.

...about which time, Madelyn decided to dismantle the living room...

40 minutes before we had to be there, I was gathering Madelyn's things when 

* * * "Where are your tap shoes? * * *

*

*

*

After about five minutes of searching, it was obvious that her tap shoes were gone. I called the director and she said that she was bringing the lost and found bin from the studio, so maybe they would be there. I packed Madelyn's black patent leather Sunday shoes just in case...

Luke could sense I was stressed and so went ahead and destroyed my iPod earbuds for me in the meantime. Thanks, Luke!

I had to hurry and try to put Madelyn's hair up (which is chin-length now and needed some serious shellacking to stay put), do her makeup, get Luke dressed and get out the door.

 

 

I was asked to stay in the hall off the stage to help Madelyn with her costume change, but it became apparent that the kids outnumbered the adults about 15 to 1.

So, I stayed behind the scenes for the entire 3 hours and 57 different dance numbers.  (Mark took Luke, thankfully) It was what you'd imagine a small hallway to be, full of excited but tired, hungry, dramatic and hyperactive girls (and a few boys), x107. They were supposed to be quiet, which of course meant that they were all making as much noise as possible. It was rather harrowing. Lots of giggling and crying and shrieking and tap dancing.

There's always something magical about being backstage, though.

 

Mermaid dance...

Pirate dance...

...handing out trophies and certificates

...greeting my parents and Auntie Meg

Luke got some wiggles out

I asked Madelyn to do some poses for me

 

She certainly has flair!

Then she ran and skidded on her knees (which she does all the time and always has bruised shins because of it) and got her tights all black. So I had her change into the extra pair I'd brought and was feeling very proud of myself for having the foresight to bring them. The second part of her recital was about to start.

Ten minutes later, I realized that there was a big hole in said tights in the back of her knee. I thought I had made sure to grab a good pair before we left home, but I guess I didn't! Yay for me! So then she had to get back into the first pair. I had her put them on so the black parts were in the back. Is this night over yet?!??

"I can hear the bells" dance

We never did find her tap shoes. Her Sunday shoes were a close enough match. I didn't care anymore at that point.

Especially because there was this girl in her class with no tights or shoes at all, and there were a couple others with no tap shoes. Check out that sunburn Madelyn got last weekend! Ow.

Her tap number. Last one! We're out of here!

There were still a few numbers left, but after 3 1/2 hours of chaos, we'd all had enough.

I'm proud of my little dancer! She did a great job. She is taking a mini "Pinkalicious Princess Camp" during the summer that will involve dance, but she's decided to try out gymnastics in the fall instead of doing all this again. I was so relieved until my friend Elisha asked if I wanted to help teach the advanced ballet class there next year! I haven't decided yet, but I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to a break. Tonight is Madelyn's kindergarten program, but I'm thinking it will be MUCH more low key. I hope. At least I won't have to be backstage.

Summer dresses

Remember this cute top Emery was styling yesterday?

I made it!

 

And the one Madelyn's wearing.

And this one for my niece Hattie...

And this one for my niece Ava...

...and this other one for Madelyn.

I basically made a giant pile of them, in the Sewing Blitz of Spring 2011, BIBTS (Before I Broke The Serger).

Two for Emery

Two for Hattie

Two for Ava

And three for Madelyn, because she had to put up with my sewing mess for a LONG time.

 

Then I made some fabric flower pins to go along,  just in case they wanted to accessorize.

 

 I used this Simplicity pattern, but you can literally make these out of pillowcases. You just cut across the top, cut a notch out for the arms, and fold and stitch a casing over for the ribbon to go through. Very easy! Although making nine of them at once is another matter....

 

But it was fun making something for my nieces, AND I cleared out some of my long dormant fabric stash. Now if the weather will just crack above 70°F, these girls can have some summer fun!