Sunday, December 23, 2007
Big Doll Baby
Okay, these photos are ones that the grandparents will appreciate, seeing Gracie all dressed up in her Christmas dress. (We'll miss you Grandma K. K. and Grandpa Bear!)
Gracie's 1st Christmas Party!
Gracie's 1st Christmas party with her sweet little friends.
Gracie & Jack eating candy canes for the 1st time! nummy! num!
Gracie, Jack & Shannon (the babies of the bunch) listening to Ms. Stephanie tell the Baby Jesus story.
HO HO!
Gracie likes Santa, can't you tell? Actually, while standing in line Santa kept waving to her and smiling, so she kinda warmed up to him before she got up to him, which helped I think. So she just stared with wide eyes in amazement and was petting the fur around his sleeve cuffs. Once he gave her crayons they were buddies and when leaving she gave him a little smirk, as to say, I think I kinda like you!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Christmas Decor...Field Girls Style!
Gracie hanging her 1st ornament!
Gracie in full concentration takes trimming the tree seriously.
We made Christmas cookies & decorated the tree. For the grandparents reading, you'll be proud to know she was learning her colors while stringing on the lights. She said "pink" & "boo" :)
Oooohh! Nummy Num!
Gracie likes to feel the fuzzy stockings.
Gracie's Sparkley Red toes! Oh the joy of having a girl!
Gracie girl & Mommy
This is our tree, yes there is a feather boa on our tree...I just heard of a red neck tree so I guess I can have a fru fru tree?! Tonight we were being silly & decided to all wear the boa.
Miss Gracie!
Me
Shelby looking rather sophisticated & fru fru in the boa!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Indian Princess
This is Pari, I just had the opportunity to do her hair & makeup for her Indian wedding and thought I'd post a photo of her. It's not the greatest photo but the only one I have for now. Indian weddings are very elaborate, much more than the average American wedding, and we think American weddings are getting outrageous! This photo of Pari was taken the night of her Garba, which is a party/dance they have a day or two before the actual wedding. After this there is a cleansing ceremony, then a henna artist decorates her with henna all over her hands, arms & feet. Then there's the wedding. The wedding time is chosen by the priest & he chooses it according to the date & time the couple were born, their sign, how the stars align, etc. It's good luck to do it that way. So I was the lucky one who got to be at her house at 2:30am to start getting her & her sister ready for pictures at 5:30am and the wedding ceremony was at 8:30am! After all that work they headed over to the court house to get married! haha Then they went to their temple to pray. She couldn't eat until noon because she had to be "pure" during the ceremony. I said well Americans considers something entirely different to be "pure" but the average American still puts on a white dress & calls it a day!
I met up with her at 3pm that afternoon and did an entirely different look for her reception/party. Before the reception can begin, her husband has to find his name hidden in the Henna art on her hands & feet. Can you imagine the pressure not being able to find it & everyone is waiting? It's for intimacy between the couple, cute, but I think I'd cheat & tell my husband just in case! Everything turned out beautiful, all the jewels she wore & face jewelry, it really was amazing. This was my 2nd Indian wedding and with 3x times the work comes 3x the reward so I'll do Indian weddings any day!
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Friday, November 2, 2007
Royal Day of Treatment
So I'm sharing this day a little later than I had anticipated, a few people have asked about me posting, so thanks for putting a little fire under my tush!
This was my 2nd time going to the Florida Children's Hospital to do a Royal Day of Treatment. Whatever patients are in the hospital on the day we arrive get to dress up like princesses or pirates/cowboys and put fake tattoos on, get their faces painted, hair & makeup done, nails painted. It really is a treat for them and the goal is to make them not feel sick for a day. And Cinderella comes to visit them! This all started from an actual mom who has a daughter that has been in and out of the hospital since she was little, having many surgeries. She works at Disney, so she gets Cinderella to come out & the Disney Photographers to take photos. Her mom and a few other women hand sew all the outfits, which are beautiful, and pray while they sew for the child who gets the outfit. Isn't that awesome?
Honestly, I wasn't sure about going because the first time I had a few bad weeks afterwards trying to cope & make sense of what I saw. It really broke my heart. It takes very special chosen people to work with sick, hurt or dying children. There are unimaginable situations happening, things we never would think of. So after experiencing the first visit, just going on a trip to the mall with Gracie was totally different, I remember every little thing I did afterwards I would think about the children & their moms, and what they were doing at the hospital, if they were okay.
So I'm on my way and was talking with Michele in MN and Todd's car started shaking & making a weird noise. Right away I was like, oh good, I don't have to go, the car is about to break down on I4, so I pulled off the next exit (I was one exit away from the hospital exit) (yes, seriously mental I know) and turned around to go home. Trying to make excuses of the fact the car was being weird and I really was being wishy washy about going. I made it home, and realized I really did need to go. Got in my car and on the way said a prayer and thought it's not about me it's about them.
(and nothing was wrong with Todd's car, he said it does that occasionally because it's old)
As soon as I got there, I knew I was meant to be there. They had assigned me to go to ICU because they remembered last time I worked with a 3 year old girl who was in the middle of a treatment, she had cancer and barely any hair on her head. She was sleeping so peacefully & looked so sweet. I put sparkle blush on her cheeks and lip gloss on her little lips, dressed her in a princess hat and had to fight back tears the entire time. Patients like her were the reason why we were going back that day. Even though she was asleep, she would soon awake and see all the pretty things someone left for her and I'm sure it made her day brighter.
On my way to ICU I learned there weere two kids, brother & sister, boy is 1 and girl is 3 had been in some sort of accident and were on life support. The mother & family were there and the situation didn’t look promising for them to live. And here I was to dress up these babies and mom as well to cheer her up. WOW. I can’t say I’d want someone to come dress me up like a princess while my children are on life support. We were in the elevator putting on a brave face before getting to the unit. I was nervous to meet the mom, but she was very sweet and excited about what we were doing. Something so simple did put a smile on her face. She was eager to first go into her daughter and paint her fingernails. As I looked in the glass window I saw such a little body lying in bed with machines & tubes hooked to her. Taped to the window were pictures of her before the accident, so full of life, which I think was even harder to see. So they dressed her up in a princess outfit, painted her nails and took pictures of her. Then I went & put a tattoo on the baby boy's arm and his mom put a bandana around his head. He looked like a macho dude. I couldn't imagine what happened to these little kids, they just looked like they were sleeping. A thousand questions rushed through my mind and I couldn't say a thing, you just have to do what you're there to do. I did the mom's hair and I listened to her talk to her family members. I finished her off with a tiara to match her daughter and she looked beautiful with her makeup on. She had a smile on her face, excited for her husband to come & see them all dressed up.
There was another girl in ICU who had an oxygen mask on. She was able to talk to us, which was nice. She was definitely excited about seeing us and choosing her outfit. I got her dressed and ready for Cinderella, yes THE CINDERELLA from Disney World to visit her. I told her I was so jealous!
Then we made a visit to a girl who is 8 years old on the pediatric floor. She had surgery and her head was wrapped in gauze padding. She was sitting in her bed with silky pink pj's, a leopard pillow and a red fuzzy blanket. This was my kinda girl, she was already glam! She had fun choosing her outfits and coordinating them, she didn't want makeup on because she said she looked like an old man with this "thing" on her head. She was a breath of fresh air for me, being the last girl I visited and knew that she was soon to go home.
There were other kids able to walk around and come into the main room to get their faces painted. One boy was in a wheelchair and had no legs, he had his face painted and couldn't wait to go down to the lobby to show off, he was full of energy and fun. There were other children in the cancer unit I didn't see that had been made up. So it was a great day for everyone...so glad I went! God bless the hospital staff for their efforts every day.
This was my 2nd time going to the Florida Children's Hospital to do a Royal Day of Treatment. Whatever patients are in the hospital on the day we arrive get to dress up like princesses or pirates/cowboys and put fake tattoos on, get their faces painted, hair & makeup done, nails painted. It really is a treat for them and the goal is to make them not feel sick for a day. And Cinderella comes to visit them! This all started from an actual mom who has a daughter that has been in and out of the hospital since she was little, having many surgeries. She works at Disney, so she gets Cinderella to come out & the Disney Photographers to take photos. Her mom and a few other women hand sew all the outfits, which are beautiful, and pray while they sew for the child who gets the outfit. Isn't that awesome?
Honestly, I wasn't sure about going because the first time I had a few bad weeks afterwards trying to cope & make sense of what I saw. It really broke my heart. It takes very special chosen people to work with sick, hurt or dying children. There are unimaginable situations happening, things we never would think of. So after experiencing the first visit, just going on a trip to the mall with Gracie was totally different, I remember every little thing I did afterwards I would think about the children & their moms, and what they were doing at the hospital, if they were okay.
So I'm on my way and was talking with Michele in MN and Todd's car started shaking & making a weird noise. Right away I was like, oh good, I don't have to go, the car is about to break down on I4, so I pulled off the next exit (I was one exit away from the hospital exit) (yes, seriously mental I know) and turned around to go home. Trying to make excuses of the fact the car was being weird and I really was being wishy washy about going. I made it home, and realized I really did need to go. Got in my car and on the way said a prayer and thought it's not about me it's about them.
(and nothing was wrong with Todd's car, he said it does that occasionally because it's old)
As soon as I got there, I knew I was meant to be there. They had assigned me to go to ICU because they remembered last time I worked with a 3 year old girl who was in the middle of a treatment, she had cancer and barely any hair on her head. She was sleeping so peacefully & looked so sweet. I put sparkle blush on her cheeks and lip gloss on her little lips, dressed her in a princess hat and had to fight back tears the entire time. Patients like her were the reason why we were going back that day. Even though she was asleep, she would soon awake and see all the pretty things someone left for her and I'm sure it made her day brighter.
On my way to ICU I learned there weere two kids, brother & sister, boy is 1 and girl is 3 had been in some sort of accident and were on life support. The mother & family were there and the situation didn’t look promising for them to live. And here I was to dress up these babies and mom as well to cheer her up. WOW. I can’t say I’d want someone to come dress me up like a princess while my children are on life support. We were in the elevator putting on a brave face before getting to the unit. I was nervous to meet the mom, but she was very sweet and excited about what we were doing. Something so simple did put a smile on her face. She was eager to first go into her daughter and paint her fingernails. As I looked in the glass window I saw such a little body lying in bed with machines & tubes hooked to her. Taped to the window were pictures of her before the accident, so full of life, which I think was even harder to see. So they dressed her up in a princess outfit, painted her nails and took pictures of her. Then I went & put a tattoo on the baby boy's arm and his mom put a bandana around his head. He looked like a macho dude. I couldn't imagine what happened to these little kids, they just looked like they were sleeping. A thousand questions rushed through my mind and I couldn't say a thing, you just have to do what you're there to do. I did the mom's hair and I listened to her talk to her family members. I finished her off with a tiara to match her daughter and she looked beautiful with her makeup on. She had a smile on her face, excited for her husband to come & see them all dressed up.
There was another girl in ICU who had an oxygen mask on. She was able to talk to us, which was nice. She was definitely excited about seeing us and choosing her outfit. I got her dressed and ready for Cinderella, yes THE CINDERELLA from Disney World to visit her. I told her I was so jealous!
Then we made a visit to a girl who is 8 years old on the pediatric floor. She had surgery and her head was wrapped in gauze padding. She was sitting in her bed with silky pink pj's, a leopard pillow and a red fuzzy blanket. This was my kinda girl, she was already glam! She had fun choosing her outfits and coordinating them, she didn't want makeup on because she said she looked like an old man with this "thing" on her head. She was a breath of fresh air for me, being the last girl I visited and knew that she was soon to go home.
There were other kids able to walk around and come into the main room to get their faces painted. One boy was in a wheelchair and had no legs, he had his face painted and couldn't wait to go down to the lobby to show off, he was full of energy and fun. There were other children in the cancer unit I didn't see that had been made up. So it was a great day for everyone...so glad I went! God bless the hospital staff for their efforts every day.
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