There was some chat on a craft web site I frequent about how well Waldorf dolls hold up over time. I thought I'd share some pictures of the kids' dolls. I rudely stripped them naked for the purpose of the picture.

They are arranged from oldest on the left to youngest on the right. The one on the far left has shared raspberries with Penelope (hence the stains). It was originally a boy doll that I made for Diego, but he never played with him much and it has been appropriated by Penelope. He (now she) and the next doll to the right are now the twins, Vanilla and Canilla.

The dark skinned doll 2nd from the right is Claudia's most beloved and is definitely showing it--she's lost her mouth and her hair needs some attention. She was originally a fairy that I attempted to make for the daughter of a co-worker. She had awesome sparkly hair, but I could never get the wings figured out, so I kept her and Thorin eventually chewed her sparkly hair off. Claudia calls her "Nati-butt" which is also what she calls her best friend in real life (a little boy whose name is Nati).

The doll in green is featured (tragically) in a previous post.

And the doll on the far right I originally made to sell at the local craft shop, but I became too attached to her so she has sat on my sewing desk for the last few months. The girls kept taking her to play with so I finally gave her to Claudia and now she is "Jared." This is complicated: Diego and P and I are reading the Spiderwick Chronciles (totally awesome) and there are three kids in those books: Mallory, Simon and Jared. Penelope plays endless games where she is big sister Mallory and Claudia is younger brother Jared and together they befriend fairies and fight goblins. So...Jared.

Anyway, even though they are somewhat shabby, they are still much loved and much played with.
Having an assortment of nice clothes for them helps because everyone look better in nice clothes.

I had an actual complaint in real life from an actual person that I haven't been updating the blog enough.

I know. I am still feeling overwhelmed: job, kids, house, holidays, haven't bought a 2011 calendar yet (that's on the agenda for today). Guess where the blog falls in this list of responsibilities/pleasures/privileges....Somewhere after walking the dog but before vacuming the upstairs rugs (and now you know how my rugs must look!).

Anyway, like everyone, we've had a busy month. We had a flute recital--complete with 2 parents crying like loons for every child who played. See the flute player in the center below.
a ballet recital,

a birthday party for a now 7-year old boy who happens to be obsessed with Egypt.


And Christmas of course.

I made a princess doll for P and was very pleased with her. I used the tutorial from Wee Wonderfuls to make ringlets--which took about 2 weeks of wrapping, glueing and sewing. P had asked for a "cradle that wocks" (can you hear the way she says R's?" We had this little black cradle in the basement from when I was little. It had been broken by Diego attempting to climb into it when he was a toddler. Al repaired it and I made a little mattress, pillow and quilt for it. The princess also received an everyday dress, a nightgown and appropriate underpants (petticoat and panties--lace trimmed of course).


By the end of the day, we had lost a shoe and the crown, Penelope had brushed the ringlets (which required an emergency repair) and she had put lip balm on the doll's face. To me, that means the doll was a success.

I didn't do a whole lot of crafting for the other kids this year for Christmas (see 'overwhelmed' above). But I am 95% finished with a sweater for Claudia. When my mom caught me knitting on the toilet on Christmas eve, I decided that it was important to know when to let things go.

We also had a snow-storm adventure (terrifying at the time, but exciting in retrospect) and an awesome reunion with the L.A. Schwarz's, including a chance to meet the newest Schwarz, baby Rowan (but I forgot my camera). And we have some exciting news to share which will be forthcoming soon.

Happy New Year,
Jessi