The unexpected reaction

I'm behind in posting Lexi's reactioIs to to the "adventures".  Trying to blog with her home is tricky.  Any way.....

After the cleaning of the house Alexis came downstairs (the house is still in the living room), took one look at the house, & got angry!

"Someone messed up my house!" She said with crosed arms and scowled.

Then she dumped everyting out of the dolls bedroom.  Grumbling and complaining the entire time.  She put the bunk back to were it was originally and tossing the clothing in a heap.  She then dumped out the kitchen. Tossed all the shoes into the kitchen.  Just totally changed everything.

When the boys woke she demanded to know who messed up her house.  None of the boys even smiled.  Noah had helped with the cleaning and the others were there when we were doing it.  They played it cool as could be.  All of them told her they didn't know what she was talking about. 

About noon time, Alexis was still stuck on the fact that someone messed up her doll house. Ethan opened the laptop and let Pheebe's note flutter to the floor in front of Alexis picked it up and said "Maybe Pheebe messed up your house".

Suddenly it clicked and Lexi wanted to check out the blog again.  Ethan was roped into reading her the blog.  As he read she started to panic.  It was Pheebe that made the changes to the house.  Lexi then wanted to put the house back exactly how she had found it and insisted on looking at the pictures in order to do it.

It took some convincing, but finally I got Lexi to understand that Pheebe wouldn't be happy if Lexi just stopped playing with her and left the house as a museum.

She played all day with the dolls and once again trashed the house.  As she was getting ready to go to bed I started cleaning the doll house.  Of course she wanted to know why.  I told her I didn't like to leave messes for other people to have to clean up.  She immediately pitched in and helped clean up.  She tucked the dolls into bed and layed down beside the doll house with her pillow and blanket.  She was sleeping over Pheebe's house.

Last night Hally did Pheebe's hair.  This may sound like a simple adventure, but it took 4 hours to do it.  That doll's hair was a matted mess!

This morning I woke around 6:30am to "mom, they did something again.  We need to check the blog."

I think she will bounce out of bed for a long time to come.  :-)

"Someone messed up my house!"

"Who could have done this?"

"Fixing" the mess

Ahhhhh....  nice and messy,

Now I can play again!

Did I mention how big this house is?

Christmas morning

Lexi came down stairs to find the new doll Hally, her jeep, & her camper sitting in front of a VERY large package.

Upon opening the package this is what she found.  

Lexi immediately wanted to know how Pheebe  got downstairs.  She had me read her the note.

But she had no intrest In going to the blog to check it out.  I was a little worried, but gave it time hoping she would come around to it in a while.  

She kept asking who brought Pheebe downstairs, but no one knew a thing.

To give you an idea of the size of this beast of a house....

Once presents were opened Lexi quickly dove into playing with her dolls, while dad and I unpackaged everything else.

At the end of the day Lexi left the doll house in a heap.  So adventure #1 was spent cleaning up the mess, playing go fish, and having some giggly sleepover fun.

For the details about each adventure check out the blog "Dear Alexis".

Gifts from Grandma

Saturday my family got together for our Christmas dinner and gift exchange.

Pheebe didn't come, if she was forgotten by mistake Christmas would not go well as my parents are heading south for a while.

Even though she wasn't there she made out like a bandit.  She got a weeks worth of clothes, glasses, shoes, tights, a swim suit, and her very own American Girl doll!  Pretty lucky little lady if you ask me. 

Pheebe (in a new outfit) with her doll Saige.

another out fit.

The boys got a dart board from their uncle and have been begging me to put it in their room ever since.  I told them I would hang it Christmas day.  Now they are complaining they don't have enough space.  Oh boys just hang in there 2 more days......

Getting back to it...

Okay so I messed up the mattresses.  Oh well.  In reality I wasn't crazy about them being black, but was trying to use what I had already, be frugal and not waste money where I didn't have to.  I'm over it now. Practice makes perfect right?

Oh did I mention sewing is a fairly foreign concept for me?  I don't have a clue where to begin when looking at a pattern and so I do everything by eyeing it.  I envision what I want the end result to be and I just think it backwards.  I probably waist a lot of time and energy on some steps, but it works for me so.....  Any how......

I took the daycare to buy fabric today.  It wasn't working out to go in the evening and if was going to happen it seemed it would have to be with babies & toddlers along for the ride.  They were surprisingly good, and very patient as I looked through fabric looking for what Lexi would like, that had a small enough pattern that wouldn't look out of place on a small scale, fit the color criteria (fusha & orange), and wasn't too pricy.  I decided on a bright pink leopard print (I'm not sure if it is truly fusha, but I think Lexi will like it), a bright orange flower print, & a teal with hearts on vines.  I still need to figure out paint & stain, but for now I have a start anyways.....

I made my purchases, got the kids home and settled, started to work on cutting pieces and the doll house & leggo table arrived.  :-)  I managed to get one mattress done during nap time and started on the second.  I hope to finish that one during tomorrow's nap time. I was so freaked out just 24 hours ago.  And now it feels totally doable again.  It is amazing what one day can do to turn things around.

This weekend I hope to be able to sneak out to the garage to at the very least make room to work in there.  I've been stashing all the Christmas stuff in there and all the summer stuff just kinda got dumped in there so it's in desperate need of organizing before any work can be done.

My dad surprised me by asking if he and my mom could put up the insulation next week!  That would be awesome as I'm really not sure when I was going to be insulating, but most likely in the over night hours.   Not like I could take the daycare out to the garage for that little project.   It's one thing to pick up a sewing project whenever they are all preoccupied (basically only when they are all either eating or sleeping), but puttin up insulation is a whole other ball game.

Have I ever mentioned that I have the world's greatest dad?  My mom is pretty awesome too!  However, her offering to help my dad hang insulation blows my mind.  She has always been the shopper in the family, always hunting for a bargain and always brings clothing and or food when she visits.  This will be a whole new experience for her. 

Is it bad if we "test" the heater we got the boys for Christmas?  I certainly don't want my mom (who has always snuggled close to the fire place and buried her frozen feet under the rumps of her loved ones) to freeze when she is offering to help with something that is very much outside her comfort zone.

Why bunk beds?

You may have noticed in the last post that Pheebe is getting bunk beds and wondered why does one little doll need 2 beds?

Well, I've been informed that Pheebe's frieind Hally will be rolling in about the same time as the man in the red suit.

Why?

What's more fun than one doll that can get into mischief while you sleep?

The answer of course is two!

Hally is packing her bags and getting ready to make her voyage.  Why so soon?  Quite frankly Lexi is at Gramma & Grampa's house and who wants to be opening all those pesky boxes on Christmas eve?  Not me!

 

Not when I have so many things to put together all in one night.

How does Santa do it all?

Next on Hally's to do list....

Pack up her camper of course.

While Pheebe rides a "motorcycle" (yes I know it's a scooter, just don't tell Lexi that.  She will fight you to the death.  Pheebe rides a motorcycle! Period. end of arguement) and camps in a tent roasting hotdogs over the fire.  

Hally prefers going mudding in her jeap and camping a bit more comfortably in her RV.

Well, I guess it's back to cleaning out the junk in Lexi's room.  Have to make room for the doll house.  Besides, Lexi's room has doubled as storage for way to long now. 

Pheebe's first peek

While we were enjoying our turkey dinner Pheebe snuck off to check on the progress.   She seemed pleased so far, put in an order for some window's, so I think those will come next.

I will be off in search of a bed, some chairs, & a kitchen table in just a few hours.

Plans for Pheebe's house.

I looked at doll house's for 18" dolls and the prices are crazy!  Anything affordable is really too small to do much with.  Besides they are already decorated.  Where's the fun in that?

So I asked my dad what materials would be best to build a house out of and he offered to make something.   Awesome!  That just saved me a lot of time, energy, & sneaking around trying to make it without getting caught by any of my children.  HUGE thank you to my dad!  I don't know what I would do without him.  He already has all the wood and has cut out all the big pieces as of Tuesday morning.  It's going to be big and heavy, but it will only have to be moved a couple of times.

That leaves me with the search for decorating materials & furniture.   Bring on the fun!  I picked up a kitchen set, some hair accessories, and a shopping bag for Pheebe while wondering the mall yeaterday.   I posted on a swap board that I was looking for some paint, tile, material, carpet remnants etc.  Already a couple of people have said they had paint and someone has offered some tile.  I have a piece of carpet that could be used throughout the whole thing, but it would be nice to have different flooring in the different rooms.  I saw a bed at Target, but I know Lexi kind of has her heart set on a different type of bed for Pheebe, so I will keep looking. 

I am hoping to go wonder around home Depot, walmart, & dollar tree tonight and see what I can find.