tween – Such the Like…

The last two months have been nutty! Too much and too little! As in too much to do, too little time to do it in. (sorry about ending with a preposition….sometimes one has to let the grammar thing go just a little) I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, however. So I’m back! Set the pigeons loose!

My sweet baby angel girl turned eleven Saturday. It was a big day. We invited our two BFF’s over and themed the weekend, “Peace, Love, Spa!”. We even made t-shirts. Our logo was rocking, but our iron on t-shirt transfer let us down…boo….

The t-shirts were just the tip of the iceburg, however. It was a tween dream at my house this weekend. We had Beauty Buckets

We did an array of facial treatments including a cucumber, green tea, avocado mush that we whipped up in the blender.

We had an assortment of fascinating reading material….We’re officially current on our horoscope, fashion, teen celebrity gossip and an assortment of quizzes.

We made a sugar scrub that was delightful if I do say so myself. I used a modified version of this recipe that I found on Pinterest. My modifications were pretty simple. I used colored sugar sprinkles to make the pretty colors and flavored extracts instead of essential oils. I also used a coconut oil that wasn’t super-refined, so the girls wound up with coconut-orange-vanilla sugar body scrub. Baby soft skin ? You betcha!

The next morning, bright and early, we headed to the Nail Salon for mani/pedi’s. (Mom even got a pedicure! Magic hands…that’s all I’m saying.)

Nope. No spoiled little girls at my house. Just soft, pampered tootsies. Zebra striped tootsies to be more specific.

Zebra striped tootsies and an ice cream cake! Does it get any better than this?

I spent a little quality time with my number one girl yesterday. She’s developed a new obsession with stuffed monkeys. She’s apparently in the middle of some kind of tween self re-branding and the monkey seems to be symbolic and key to her metamorphosis. Anyway, the long and short of it is that she’s proclaimed herself to be a monkey collector and now she’s doing the Vulcan mind-meld on me and lobbying for new and more fabulous monkeys in her life. I’m standing firm. Her room is already a fall-out shelter for stuffed animals. No new monkeys!

So, ever the rock, I asked her, “how about we find a pattern for a monkey? Maybe we can make it?” (Be advised, I carry much mother-guilt over how little time I spend with my craftiest child doing anything that could be characterized as crafting.) So I’m thinking, two birds-one stone. I assuage the mother-guilt aka-the “monkey” on my back . She gets a monkey. She was lukewarm to the idea. None of the free patterns we found on-line really floated her boat. I rejected the amigurumi patterns she liked. I didn’t want to present her with a monkey. I wanted her to participate in making a monkey. Then she presented the solution, “Mom-how about we make a pillowcase like I did with Memaw (her grandmother) that time? Then I can like, draw a monkey on it!” Great idea, angel, but maybe we try doing the monkey in applique? So here is the compromise.

Behold our first applique ever! He’s a cheeky rascal…

He’s just lightly fused with some iron-on strips pending stitching. I think he’s cute. My crafty little diva did a great job picking fabrics, cutting and even doing some of the stitching. She’s awesome! We’ll finish him next weekend and place him in a position of honor and prestige in her sanctum, which is of course, a hot pink, black and zebra striped zone fit for a tween!