the OTHER mother

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Carrie Makes Movies

Carrie has continued to blog at K-9 Kid Rescue.

Stars of the one-minute short video, Super Dog

In her most recent post, a 1 minute video, she and Cody play the super heroes, and they rescue some hikers (played by Pearl and Scout). Fasten your virtural seat belt. This story is a real cliff hanger!

Chanukkah 2012

 

 

 

 

R.I.P. Little Ghost Boy

Last weekend while we were out of town, our cat Caspar disappeared. The petsitter thought nothing of it, but we knew something was up. He vanishes on a regular basis, but he never stays away for very long. It was dark by the time we got home so I searched only in our yard and our neighbors' yards on either side. After a lousy night's sleep, I went looking further. I found him dead in the yard behind our house. He'd been hit by a car and was stretched out in the grass beside the curb. I've never picked up a dead body before. It was reality's slap in the face.

We miss Caspar very much. He and Finn, our other cat, are brothers. Finn still goes out every night in search of his brother, his very best friend.

 

 

Scenes from the Home Schooling Front

Pup Squad's Pups: A Report by Carrie

At Saturday afternoon my whole family was in our car. My mom Marcia was driving us to Pup Squad. We arrived there. I went inside Pup Squad's adoption center. After looking at Pup Squad's puppies, I got to talk to Fran. I asked Fran how old was Pup Squad. She said 4 years old.  Also Fran told me how she loved dogs.

 

I'm talking to Fran, the Pup Squad leader.

 Fran is the person who helped us adopt our two dogs, Cody and Scout.

Christy was very nice.

After I stopped talking to Fran about Pup Squad, I talked to another volunteer named Christy. She joined Pup Squad in January 2009. At home Christy has a mama dog that is sick is going to get healthy.

Then when I finally finished interviewing Christy, I went to go look at these dogs. How fantastic they were! 

Oh but this dog looks like our dog Scout. Except for the purple shirt!

I looked over to a window and there I saw another puppy. It was off to the side, almost in a corner maybe. I walked over to the strange dog, but I liked it a lot.

I walked over as quickly as I could. I asked Christy if I could play with this dog. She said the puppy might want to sit on the couch with you.

 

I think she liked me too!

 

A Pup Squad puppy waits to be adopted.

 The end.

By Carrie, age 6

Calling All Ninjas

by Carrie

Did you know that there’s a Ninja Class in Texas?

You might think this is a joke, but it’s a True Story! A girl that is 6 years old named Carrie started a Ninja Camp.

Now you might think that an adult is the leader of the camp, but you guys read half of the note and you know that the person doing it is 6. She knows how to be a Ninja.

She can walk quietly like in the olden days. She can spy on her moms. She is good at climbing trees. She can stand as still as a tree. She can balance as good as a cup.

If you want to learn Ninja skills, come to Carrie Chamberlain Reagler. Her phone number is 713-x82-78x9.

If your son or daughter wants to be like a Ninja, then you can come to Carrie’s house and celebrate your holiday here.

by Carrie, 

Black Cat and Green Sprite Go A'Haunting

Halloween 2011

Caspar Goes Camping

The New Season Brings Soccer

This fall Pearl and Carrie are excited about soccer. Although they both have lime green Seattle jerseys in the pictures, they are on different teams because of their age difference. I guess they're on sister teams.

Carrie has this to say about the sport:

What I like about soccer is that I get to play front field. That means I get to kick the ball and score lots of goals for my team. But the kids follow you wherever you go! That's all of my report.

Lately she has me read books about Mia Hamm to her at bedtime. And when she wakes up the next morning, guess what Carrie's been dreaming about?

Arkansas Visit

The Crazy Cousins

 

 Marcia likes hiking.

There's nothing like a creek.

Our guide to Garvan Gardens reads her map.

 

 

Pigtails

Where are those curls? Well, their hair is still wet. 

Pearl is 7

Yes, Mama and Baba are reeling in disbelief. Today Pearl is seven years old!

At school part of the birthday ritual is All About Me Day. So Pearl brought in a few photos of herself. I thought that I'd share them with you.    

 

Officers of the Heart

There can never be too much happiness, right? This year Pearl and Carrie made their gingerbread house a Joy Office. A Joy Office sounds like a pretty great place to me. I think the government should definitely be taking notes!

Carrie Turns 5

You may recall that it was Carrie who planned my birthday party this year so you might assume that her own birthday would receive even greater enthusiasm. And you'd be right!

Carrie's party theme was... interesting. As in, very. Have you ever been to a Chinese horse party? This five-year-old loves horses, and she's learning Chinese (or at least she thinks she is). So in addition to the trusty steed pictured below, she had the bakers draw a picture of a horse with the Chinese symbol for horse beside it. We gave chopsticks, Chinese candy, and fortune cookies for party favors. Carrie help choose everything for the great occasion. 

There are many more photos of the Chinese lanterns, petting zoo, and birthday cake on Marcia's facebook page. 

 

Pearl's Groove

Pearl is in first grade this year. She's doing well in school and can read chapter books on her own. She likes Junie B. Jones, the A-to-Z mysteries, the Magic Treehouse series, and any true story about animals. Pearl joined a soccer team at the Y this year. Her team is improving, but they still haven't scored a point. She's pretty good though. I've been impressed with her athleticism.

Pearl's very favorite activity is still acting out stories that she makes up. Home is for acts, as far as she's concerned. Her favorite tv show is Avatar: The Last Airbender, and her favorite character is Aang whose job, although he's just a child, is to save the world. She wants to be Aang for Halloween.

In her acts, she combines characters from Avatar with characters from other stories that she and Carrie like--Scooby Doo, The Lion King, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame--with characters from their original stories--a baby named Baby, dog brothers Alex and Johnny, and Pearl and Carrie are always characters in the stories too.

Pearl still loves to draw. Her drawings are like comic books, often done in the format of sequenced squares. She loves to make them funny by placing the characters in unlikely places--kings in cages, cats hanging upside-down from trees. She still loves animals. They love her too. As do we, Mama and Baba, so very very much!

The Princess Within

They say that every young girl imagines themselves a princess, but I never did. Just to verify this assertion, I double-checked in with my mom. She confirms it. This Baba skipped the princess phase with no regrets.

Of course They say a lot of things, but I suppose that most of them are true.

 

Here's the story of my recent birthday. I walked into the house at 5:30 pm on a Wednesday afternoon. Pearl and Marcia were doing the usual things, and Carrie was *hiding* behind a chair. She jumped out, yelling in her loudest voice: SURPRISE!

Carrie (let's call her Party Planner Junior) had worked out everything--decorations, food, and activities. Baba's favorite color might be blue, but at this birthday party, all was pink, pink, pink. Everyone got a pink princess cap except for me--as the honoree, I got to wear the tiara.

We ate drank, ate, opened presents, and other jolly activities. Then the two younger princesses performed a special birthday dance for the elders. Carrie seemed to be air-bending while Pearl's moves resembled break-dancing.

And while the royal children "did their thing" so did the royal kittens. Napping in the laundry, naturally.

 

For this *princess*, parenting has taught me one thing: never say never. Celebrate.

Home Is Where the Art Is

New house, blank walls. You know the story. So yesterday, while Marcia was completing a work project, Pearl, Carrie, and I whipped up an art project.

I read about this project here and was planning to do it on my own, but the grrrls were interested in helping. The white lines are made with painter's tape, and each field is a different color, so it really is easy enough for children.

I like the way they turned out. Pearl's comment = they look like they were painted by real artists! Carrie's comment = don't worry Baba, I'll finish them tomorrow while you're at work.

Meet the Secrets

The Secret Kitty Club has somehow exceeded its own lofty ambitions, and today Grrrlville welcomed not one but TWO new kittens. Meet Casper and Finn!

 

The brothers are very sweet. Everyone seems to agree except for Cody (the dog) who is still unsure.

Grrrlville on the Move

We moved. Correction: we moved!

I asked Marcia to make a list of what she likes about the new pad. Here's her list:

• the French doors in the master bedroom 
• the decks
• the red front door
• the sparkling pool
• the trampoline
• chandelier over the claw foot bathtub
• the glass doorknobs
• the windows over the farmhouse style porcelain sink
• the hardwood floors
• the little white porch swing
• quirky little nooks in the hallway
• gigantic pine tree that's shaped like a bonsai
• magnolia trees
• solar-powered gate opener
• flagstone path connecting the cabana to the main house
• that the house is painted a Menil shade of grey

Papa and Nana came to help us move. (Nana and Papa rule!) Here's Nana's list:

• the white porch swing in the front yard
• the beautiful landscaping a la better homes n gardens
• Marcia's little nook of an office--so adorable
• all on one level
• of course the pool!
• my little adorable cabana

I asked Pearl for her list but she was in dog mode and all her answers were in a foreign language, i.e. barking. I waited a day, and she made this list.

• the pool
• the big yard and the trampoline
• the "other" house
• I love that we don't have to walk Cody as much because of the yard.
• the good hiding spots!
• my bunk bed
• that we kept almost everything that was in our old house
• There's going to be lots of fun things going on there.
• I feel good about almost the whole thing.
• I like living close to a donut place.

Carrie says:

I like the bunk beds, and I like the trash can because it opens "like this."  [In the kitchen one of the cabinets pulls out and is a trash can. Top secret!]

 

This Is Me, Bald

I'm sure that Carrie (age 4) is not the only one out there who wonders, on occasion, "What would Baba look like if she were bald?" Motivated by generosity, no doubt, Carrie has provided us with this artistic rendering that answers the (above) question. Grrrls with crazy hair find this picture particularly hilarious, by the way. So now you know.

This is a picture of me when I was six, which is Pearl's age now. For some reason, it seems to me the photograph of a writer. In retrospect, of course.

Pearl at Writing Camp 2010

Carrie at Writing Camp 2010

Kindergarten, Coming to a Close

This is Pearl at the Awards Ceremony in her class at Kindergarten. She was very serious about it, as you can tell. Pearl has had a wonderful year with an amazing teacher and friends. I just keep thinking: WOW. WOW. WOW.

Spring Flings Itself Into H-Town

These girls are springing into all sorts of new things.
  
 

Spring Break 2010

Greetings from Galveston Island. If there's one thing we've learned about parenting--and it's possibly the ONLY thing we've learned--it's this: there's an amazing chemistry between kids and beach. It's golden. 

Pearl Turns Six

Yes, SIX! Can you believe it?

 

This year the theme of her birthday party was dragons. We had a gigantic red dragon pinata with yellow spikes and orange wings. Almost her entire Kindergarten class came to celebrate. It's making me feel totally nostalgic, this birthday, so I though I'd share with you a few sweet memories from the days of yore.

Birth of Pearl (2004) with special recipe for smothered okra

Pearl's 3rd Birthday (2007)

Pearl's 5th Birthday (2009)

Kindergarten has been a great year for Pearl, so far. She loves it all!

Sneak Preview (Boo!)

Two somebodies discovered the trunk full of costumes this week.

Be not afeared, gentle reader. It's Carrie and Pearl!