Slipper Family

Yesterday was a day of sewing.  I got out my old Singer but it was acting up.  The bobbin thread was getting all tangled up and since I have no idea how to fix that.... so I put the machine away and got my newer one out.  I'm an excellent problem solver...

At the end of my sewing spree I had a family full of slippers!  And since I've been in such a creative mood, I decided to name them.

This little pair in front is named Stewart.  Stewart is the first child of the Slipper family.  Amazingly, he was born before his father, the stuffy looking pair in the back there.  The Slipper family defies the natural process of reproduction.... 

Standing just in front of her dad is Valentina.  She's a simple pair but being the youngest in the family, she tends to get a lot of attention.  Right now, she's trying to decide how to do her hair... Maybe some flowers in the back? 

Oh, Valentina has short brown hair... see?  Flowers? Buttons? Headband ribbon?  Ahh the choices.

And here is Sybil, the little chillens' madre.  Sybil is old.  And I mean old.  Like two weeks old.  Considering that the rest of the family was born yesterday, this is quite a feat.  This also means that she has the most haphazard stitching and construction.  My beginner skills improve oodles with every pair I make.  So sorry you were first Sybil...  

And the father of this charming little Slipper family is Boris.  Boris is tough.  And stoic.  (It took me 3 minutes to think of the word stoic.)  And shorter than Sybil.  I always thought that was a funny combination: when the husband is shorter than the wife.  Probably because my personal experience is so opposite.  Anyway... Boris is a good guy.  He is actually a clone of another pair I made named Leslie, after my mother-in-law and for my mother-in-law.  Strange that Boris is a man and Leslie was a woman...  I think it's the interfacing that did it.

Well thank you for venturing over to meet the Slipper family.  I apologize for the utter pointlessness of my blog posts and the random names that accompany them.  And I apologize for the time you spent reading when you could have been doing something worthwhile... like eating sugary goodness or something.  Farewell!  I'm off to chase down Stewart... he's got fast feet...  

Claw-Foot the Mighty Attends a Pool Party

This weekend is Nationals for my studio competition teams.  All of the solos were performed yesterday and the groups will perform today and tomorrow.  I worked with three teams this year, choreographing and cleaning their lyrical dances.  The girls worked hard this year and it is amazing to see how far they have come and how much they have grown!

So, in celebration of a year of hard work, we had a pool party on Monday.  Amazingly, nobody was injured in all the craziness.

It was a pretty good day for a pool party.  It was only hot enough to sweat small circles under my arms instead of soaking my entire shirt.  That's a good day.

There aren't too many things cuter than 9 year olds in goggles.... Except maybe 3 year olds in goggles... but that's it.

The girls had a lot of fun jumping off the diving board.  Can you tell they're dancers?  We clearly need to work on pointing our feet (not our toes) a bit more next year... I'm not a big fan of "pointing toes" because in reality, if you point just your toes and not your whole foot... well... eww... That's what I call claw-foot.... which is also a good name for a bubble... or a turtle... Claw-Foot the Mighty.  I like it.

Woot to Pat Riddle Dancers and best of luck this weekend at Stage One Nationals!

Turtle! Turtle!

Yesterday I took Grant lunch at work.  It has been really rainy lately so it was a bit cooler outside, (although super muggy).  We stuffed our faces in the comfortable A/C and then took a little jaunt out to the giant sauna also known as Mother Nature.

And we made friends!

 "Hola!  I'm a giant turtle with a pointy nose and awesome webbed hand-fin things!  I speak Spanish because hey, I'm from Texas so I'm basically half-Mexican!  Woot!"

This is "Squirty" swimming next to our new half-Mexican pointy nosed friend.  I just named him.  Just right now.  Because I name things.  They were interested in the ever tempting goodies Grant threw to them.

Carrots!  Oh, and this is Squirty's friend... um... Lyle... yep.  They are covered in gross lake moss.  Lyle and Squirty liked eating carrots but had to venture into shallow water to get them.  The fish in the lake we much faster.  And honestly.. much scarier. 

"Hey Lyle!  That's my carrot!"

"You wish!  Eat my swimming turtle dust, Squirty!"

They are extremely competitive... when the fish aren't around.

This is when Grant hit Lyle on the head with a carrot.  Good thing they have those creepy extendable and shrinkable necks.  How handy in case of flying carrot pieces!?

Excuse my strange weirdness today... I basically woke up laughing... must be a 3 day weekend...

In case you're not sick of turtles and basic stupidity, get a little more turtle action here.  "Turtle!  Turtle!"