Marsbarn Designs...

Happy Birthday, Little e

Little e is 9.  

My sunshine girl is no longer my little, little girl.
She's in that funny place between being little and being
big.  She is still full of smiles and joy, but there is a
new push-back, a new willfulness.

There have been many debates, as of late.  Everything
is a process, a conversation, a bargain, and sometimes,
an argument.  It's a new adventure, living with our
girl.

I think there will be a lot of growth in this coming 
year.  This time between 8 and 10 is a big jump;
so much is going to happen.  

Here's to a good year full of growth and transformation.
Happy birthday, my sweet Little e. 

Breakfast in Bed, oh yum!

My birthday is this week, and the girls started my week 
off right with breakfast in bed on Sunday morning.

I adore breakfast in bed.  It is one of my most favorite 
things.  There is just so much love in it.  (And the 
idea of having coffee (my favorite part of morning)
brought to me in my warm and comfy bed?  Pure Bliss.)

So, when they asked what I'd like for my birthday,
the answer was simple.  I would like you two to make
me breakfast in bed, without bickering.  I gave them
a budget, and they planned the menu, and shopped
for the supplies.  It was Sweet G's idea to make muffins.
(They made raspberry chocolate chip muffins from scratch.)
The cooking magazine was their idea, and I loved it.
I loved it all, but my favorite part was listening to them
talk and work together making the muffins.  

 

A girl doing what she likes to do the most-est

Here is Sweet G doing what she likes to do the most.
For Chirstmas, Auntie O gave her the gift of a giant bag
of old Vogues (both US and foreign) to analyse and cut
apart. G's inspiration board has gone through at least
two complete transformations since Christmas.  


Auntie I supplied several art lessons in during the
holiday break.  Sweet G's school has a serious lack of
art instruction, and although I can supply craftiness and
supplies, an actual art education, I do not have.  (How 
I wish I'd been braver and tackled some art between
the physics at college!)  

So it is good to have sisters that can step in
and fill in the gaps.  Already, I can see the 
next evolution beginning in Sweet G's art that
was fed by fashion magazines, art lessons,
and a whole bunch of Dr Who. 

 (Click on the images to enlarge.)
My favorite of these warrior women is the redhead.
Isn't that kimono jacket divine? 

TARDIS as biology

In a further sign that school has changed since I was 
in 6th grade, Sweet G had a biology assignment
analyzing the parts of a cell.  She was supposed to
demonstrate her knowledge by comparing a cell's parts
to an object of her choice. 

Being the girl she is, she chose the TARDIS. Talk about
the perfect project for our Whovian.

The Key:

1. The outer wall of the TARDIS is the cell wall.
2. The inner wall of the TARDIS is the cell membrane.
3. The atmosphere is the cytoplasm.
4. The TARDIS control center is the nucleus.
5. Huon particles are the mitochondria. 
6. The TARDIS swimming pool is the vacuole.
7. The Tribophysical Waveform Macro Kinetic Extrapolator are the chloroplasts. 
8. The different parts of the console are the Golgi  Bodies.
9. The doctor is the nuclear membrane because he controls what enters and exits the TARDIS.
10. The cables and pipes are the Endoplasmic Reticulum.
11. The soul of the TARDIS is the ribosomes.
12. The briode nebulizer is the chromatin. 

 

Click the various images to see them in a larger format.

Sweetheart G art

Auntie I gave Sweetheart G an art lesson when she was
home last month.  It was a figure drawing lesson. 

Sweet G's art has made an amazing progression since.
This is the beginning sketch she made for a friend's
birthday card.

Then she added more details,

before coloring it in.  Voila, Matt Smith as Doctor Who.

 

Don't blink

Miss G as a Weeping Angel.

Miss G was able to wear her costume to school for the
entire day, much to Little e's jealousy.  This is a shot
I took just before she walked to school.  You can't
tell in this photo, but we've sprayed her hair silver and
she has silver makeup on the edges of her face.

Notice the tenth doctor isn't blinking.

Fezzes, I make fezzes now.

 

Fezzes are cool, dontcha know. 

 

I got out the red wool that I fulled last winter, and 
set to making Sweet G a fez.  Once the first fez was
done, Little e needed one.  Then a friend of Miss G
needed one.  You see how this goes? 

 Oh yes, a girl and her fez are a lovely thing.

Download Fez

lumpy lantern and interdimensional squash

October was a busy month, and no it's not quite finished.
It's going to be packed to the end. 

Today there was pumpkin carving and parade marching.

Little e made an elephant.

And Sweet G made a David Tennant pumpkin...

with a TARDIS on the side.

How the cookie got there

Little e:  Mom where's my book?

me: Why would I know?

Little e: (blank stare)

Sweetheart G: "Because you're the Momma."

me: You're like 'Mom, where's that thing that looks like a dandelion, but is bent in half and is kind of blue but really it's red, and I haven't seen it since I was five?'  and you expect me to know!

Little e: Mom.

me: Yes.

Little e: Do we have something like that?

me: Um, no.

Little e: Oh, okay, 'cause if we did, I'd ask for it.

And that's when Sweetheart G tried to laugh cookie out through her nose.

from camp to coast for the girls, and the adults do that adult thing

Sweetheart G went directly from a week at camp,
to a week at the beach with Grand M, Little e, and Papa.
I know, right?  A week at camp, followed by a week
at the beach?  What could be better?

Little e helped me make graham crackers and
marshmallows to share with the beach house crew.
Big E and I didn't linger at the beach (beyond a taste
of s'more), we headed home for a week of adult time.

Let's not confuse "adult time" with "fun time".  While
the girls walked beaches, ate great food, read, and
made art, Big E worked and I did chores.

I washed, cleaned, dusted, cleaned, and organized.  
And cleaned.  Did I mention cleaning?
All of those "should do's" that get pushed aside, I did.
Little e's curtains were sewn and hung. Which should
thrill Little e.  (I'm fairly sure she's expecting her
curtains to be stalled on my To Do pile.)

It is nice to start the school year with a tidied house,
and school begins next week(!).  We'll see how long
the flat surfaces stay clear once the fury that is 
family life starts up again.