Happy Birthday, Double A

Quick commercial break before the post.  Today I created a glossary of nicknames and things I use on the blog that you may or may not know.  I will put links in posts for those nicknames so you can always click on them and read about anything you might not remember.  Please let me know what else I can add to the glossary, because I know I've forgotten stuff!  Now...on to the post!

Today is Double A's birthday!  (see that underline under Double A?  That leads you to the glossary!)  I can't believe she is 17 today.  Just like last year I couldn't believe she was 16, and 7 years ago I couldn't believe she was 10, and 10 years ago I couldn't believe she was 7....you get the idea.  I'm so proud of the young woman she is becoming.  She has the sweetest personality and she makes me smile on a regular basis.   A couple of weekends ago was her spring play.  She's a drama nerd like me!  Which makes me sooooo happy.  Her costume for the play involved a really bright, fun yellow skirt.   It was sunshiney just like her.  I mean, look at this face, how could it not make you smile?

She was such a sweet, happy baby.  How can you not smile at that face?

OK, these aren't yellow, but they are sunshiney.  I like them.  They are bright and fun.

I love these, but I'm not so sure about the cross detail.  Which is weird...you'd think I'd like the cross, right?  And I do, but just not on these shoes for some reason.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention that all of the shoes are flats because Double A is not a fan of heels.  Silly niecey-poo!  I would like to have a cute pair of yellow ballet flats for summer.

 

These are to much.  Pick one and go with it.  I would pick the laces because I love that bright yellow.

You knew the baby shoes were coming, right?  Baby Double A could have totally rocked any of these.  Any kid who can pull off a red and white striped, off the shoulder Elmo shirt, can make these adorable shoes look fierce!

Happy Birthday, Double A!  Like I said on Facebook, I love you to the moon, stars, pond, and back!

Weather Report

Today, according to my handy holidays tracker, is National Dork Day!  As I said on Facebook, this is pretty much every day for me.  I thought about making this the theme for tonight's post, but wasn't that inspired when I started looking at shoes.  And, if every day is Dork Day, that would make all of my shoes dork shoes, right?

Today is also St. Swithin's Day, which I'd never heard of and had to look up.  "St. Swithin's Day is 15 July, a day on which people watch the weather for tradition says that whatever the weather is like on St. Swithin's Day, it will continue so for the next forty days."  Huh.  See how I learn stuff from writing this blog?  Today was sunny and hot, which I'm sure it will be for the next 40 days.  No real surprise there.  Let's look at some weather inspired shoes.

Oh wow, these are awesomely random.  Meteorology tennis shoes.  Who knew?  I like them.

I've posted these before on a rainbow post, but tonight's picture was titled something like "Things Ms. Frizzle Would Wear," and since it's true and I love Ms. Frizzle, I had to share again.
 

For those of you who don't know Ms. Frizzle, she is the 3rd grad teacher in the Magic School Bus series, and her outfits are always subject-appropriate.  In the PBS series she is voiced by Lily Tomlin, which only makes her even more fabulous.

 

Back to weather.  Partly cloudy shoes.  I would wear these.

Hmmmm...Sun and clouds and rainbows.  And a penguin, an octopus, hearts,  an alien-monster...?   I have no idea what is going on with these shoes, but you'd never be bored looking at them.

Blue and cloudy!  I would add these to the canvas shoe collection.

Also blue and cloudy (and pink and cloudy).  I'm good without these, though, thanks.  Dang, that heel is tiny, I'd most likely snap it right off.

 

Ooooh...lighting shoes!  Very dramatic.

Happy St. Swithin's Day!  And if you think about it, weather shoes almost definitely fall under the category of "dork" shoes, so I say I killed two birds with one post.

Just Another Awesome Kiddo

I am blessed in my life to know some truly amazing kids (a term that can apply to any number of people, aged 0-30).  My nieces and nephew, of course, are amazing, awesome, astounding, and another a word that won't come to me at the moment.  Tonight's post, though, is about a kiddo from St. Someone's.  I've written about her before, and I love this kid.  I should probably give her a nickname instead of always calling her "this kid." I'm going to go with Sunshine, since she fills me life with brightness, and she's got great, sunny blonde hair.  Anyway, her grandma (another amazing person) was one of the people at my birthday party on Saturday, and Sunshine sent me a present via Grandma:

Sunshine, with the help of Little Sister Sunshine, wrote me a book!  And a darn good book it is.  What's it about, you ask?  Well, all you have to do is read the summary she wrote on the back:

 
Yep.  She wrote a summary.  And a really cute book.  It had plot, a problem to be solved, resolution, and a whole lot of adorable animal characters who baked a lot and got really tired.

And that's not all.   She even made her own tissue paper to go in the gift bag.

See?  It says, "I am soft and cushiony."  I love that kid.  And her baby sister.  And their grandma.  It's a love fest, and all three of them helped to make my birthday that much more special.  In honor of the bear and chipmunk characters in the book, here are some bear and chipmunk shoes:

Baby bear shoes!  Love them.  Would love to make a pair of the crocheted ones.

This last pair is almost over the top cute.  Dang.  I love the water shoes with the tiny chipmunk, though.  Very sweet.

The book was definitely one of my favorite presents and made me super happy.