I'm a craft artist

buttercup beauty

2010-08-29T20:50:00.002-04:00

This is me with buttercups in my hair. This is my favorite flower. I pressed some of them to make a necklace. I'm supposed to bring a picture for the first day of school and the first day of school is tomorrow and I'm really excited and it's on Monday. I chose this picture because it was the most recent one that I liked the best.

Multiplication

2009-12-13T20:36:00.002-05:00

Once I had homework about multiplication, then after I did multiplication homework, I made a 10 by 10 array. I had to get 100 pennies out.

10 x 10 = 100!

The Greatest Winter Morning

2009-12-13T20:24:00.004-05:00

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved to play in the snow in the afternoon. The only thing she did was get snowflakes on her tongue. After she played in the snow she drank her hot chocolate. She loved the warm warm warm hot chocolate. It was so warm that she couldn't believe it. She drank until she could see the duckie head. And her mom took pictures of it.
(My mom made the surprise mug.)

Hopi House and Garden

2009-11-21T19:33:00.004-05:00

(this is for a report in school)

The Hopi knew how to live in the desert. They traveled a long way to get wood for their ladders. They made their houses out of adobe blocks, using sand and clay from the desert. It was really hot in the morning and in the night it was really cold. The thick walls made it not too cold or hot inside. The doors were up high, to keep out the animals. They used ladders instead of stairs, so the animals couldn't get up. They ate corn, melons, squash, and beans. They don't need much water to grow.

How I made it:

I got three boxes, taped them together, and then I got sculpey to put on and then I covered it with salt dough. I mixed equal amounts of flour and salt, then added water. And then I wanted it brown so we tried to mix food coloring together to make brown. And it didn't work, so we had to get some real soil. And then I spread it on the three boxes.
The next day, I spread on another coat.
We made plants out of toothpicks, floral tape, leaves from a pretend flower, green wire, tissue paper, and clay. My sister helped me "plant" the garden. We used clay for the soil.
They planted squash, melons, corn, and beans. So did I, but I wouldn't eat them! Of course I wouldn't, because they're just made out of materials, not real food. I like beans and corn for real, but only sometimes I like corn.

I spread thin clay (slip) on the cardboard. I got the stones from the beach last weekend on my vacation.

hair

2009-10-06T21:25:00.003-04:00

I want my hair long again, like this picture up above (Thanksgiving 2007). I miss having pigtails and ponytails. And kitty buns! My hair is like this up above. Last week I got bangs cut so I didn't have to wear headbands and clips all the time. I like my hairdo now and I'm going to get it longer.

disco high heels

2009-10-06T21:12:00.004-04:00

I wanted to decorate them because I like fancy high heels and I have other things to say but I am going to say them after the big big big report.

My old dress up shoes were blue but they didn't fit me for some reason. I wanted new ones so I decorated big high heels that didn't fit me so after I decorated them I put them in the basement. Do not ask me why. My mom made me [that's where the dress-ups get put away in our house! vfg].
I got my sister's old high heels and I cut the straps off so I could use them for slip-ons. And then I got some nice decorating stuff and I glued, glued, sticked, sticked, glued, glued, sticked, sticked, glued, glued... They are so so fancy. So I said this was a disco high heels. I put on disco pants and then I did some disco moves that were so SO SO SO fabulous.

sock cat

2009-07-16T15:32:00.003-04:00

It is a cat made out of two socks and I (and some help from the teacher) made it. I made it at SEEDS. I don't know what the college is called, but it's at this kind of college, so yeah. I like it. Its name is Miss Cloudy. Miss Cloudy eats different kinds of herbs, well, the herbs are out of the garden, of course; that's the only kind of herbs I can give to her. She likes to ride on her buddy Pony, which is just like her: white and with gray spots. They get along together, and they also like to play Fetch. I don't know why, but I have to throw it. By the way, the pony's name is Mrs. Storm ('cause they're both gray and white). They like to play in the rain, especially splash in the puddles. But I get so soaked that I scream. And then I take them to time out.

(Marian is still into blue, and doing some awesome accessorizing these days...)--mama

overheard

2009-07-04T09:45:00.004-04:00

posing by the horse she drew for Reuben's hospital room this week

"Such a great day. I mean, c'mon: she put a flower on the note!"
(this morning, reflecting on the glory of the tooth fairy and the $5 left for 3 teeth).

***

Marian: What's the smallest thing in the world, Mom? Guess.

Me (thinking "nano..", realizing I wasn't really up on my particle physics, then finally just adjusting to what she might have learned in 2nd grade science): A cell.

Marian: Correct. I was going to say toothpick, but I forgot all about cells by then.

***

We just moved. So sorting and purging and saving are on our minds right now.

Audrey: Marian is such a pack rat.

Marian: I am not. I'm a crafty rat.

Still around

2009-06-09T11:05:00.002-04:00

Marian is anti-blog at the moment, but I have a backlog of photos of her little projects that I'll start to post. I suspect if I have posts all ready, photos downloaded and in place, she will enjoy narrating them. The long process bores her. Plus, she's more self-motivated these days...which means less mom-motivated. She's doing fantastic--really thriving--and we're even trying a trial all-oral (no tube feeds at all) week.

Good thing, since her baby brother was diagnosed with cancer last month (call from the oncologist during our house closing) and I can only deal with one sick kid at a time. I can't make this stuff up--we're way too dramatic these days. I feel like a bad soap opera plot. Lots more on that on my blog if you're into the Goates family medical details. Stupid cancer.

Anyway. I logged on this morning to at least post the one funny conversation I recorded on a scrap of paper and can currently find. Marian is super funny lately. A sample:

M: "Dad, will you go get my backpack from the delicious car?"

N: "Why is the car delicious?"

M: "Dad. It's been delicious since the 1930s!"

a glowing rainbow!

2009-04-23T14:09:00.008-04:00

I had to sort this order by color instead of style and size.
For obvious reasons. Just look at this family's order!
(see the whole rainbow on the superstar shirt blog).

They just arrived yesterday and will ship tomorrow to out-of-towners. Boxed & bagged!

I ordered 81 shirts, much more than I expected, so the price point dropped. Rather than refunding everyone 50c, we decided on this exciting innovation:

The superstar still shining shirts glow in the dark.

Really.
I know, totally mind-blowing. We tested last night and they are totally awesome, even if my glowing photos aren't (and thus not even included).

invited

2009-04-19T12:12:00.001-04:00

Please join us as we celebrate Marian's new birthday: the first anniversary of her blessedly successful bone marrow transplant.

Friday, April 24th
The Beistle Pavilion in Southampton Township Park
(in Shippensburg on Airport Road)
4:30-7:00 pm

Park fun, cotton candy, crafts (of course!), and Marian's favorite snacks. Drop in when you can, for as long as you'd like, but you don't want to miss the white cell pinata at 5:30, followed by cake.

See you Friday!

freeze-y treats

2009-04-08T23:57:00.005-04:00

(Marian will work on the text with me tomorrow)

Last call for superstar tees

2009-03-21T11:55:00.003-04:00

The very last order of superstar tees will go out Monday.
$6 plus $2 shipping if you need it mailed

details here

St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-18T20:38:00.003-04:00

On St. Patrick's Day I was at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. We were walking out and we saw this clover at the Child Life. The Child Life helper was saying, "Would you like to make this?" and I said, "Yes!" It was made with wrap and cotton balls. It was cool because it was medical things.

shining all over

2009-03-08T18:37:00.005-04:00

My cousin Terrell told me about this funny story. And Terrell was wearing his superstar shirt at college and there was a boy who saw him and said, "I have another shirt like that. I love it and wear it all the time."
And Terrell said, "Hey, wait a minute. Where did you get the shirt?"
"I got it from my English teacher."
"It's for my cousin in Pennsylvania!"

That's all. bye-bye

still shining in 2009

2009-03-05T12:43:00.005-05:00

Marian's "new birthday", her 1-year bone marrow transplant anniversary, is fast approaching. The big day is April 23rd, appropriately squeezed right between Earth Day and Arbor Day this year. If you're in the area (or flying in, thank you Paul & Christine!) on Friday the 24th, we're planning a big everyone-invited party in our backyard. Watch here for details. All we know so far is that there will be cotton candy and a smash-the-bad-old-white-cells pinata.

Since we've had several requests, I am going to do one last superstar tee order this month. These will be special edition tees, with an additional Marian-scripted phrase underneath the classic graphic: "still shining in 2009".

This is not a fundraiser; I just want to offer them at cost, $6. If you want me to mail you yours, please add $2 more per tee. E-mail orders & send Paypal payments (easiest) to three_goats@yahoo.com. I'll also happily accept checks or $ from the locals, and will send my mailing address to anyone else who prefers that method. Saves the paypal charge.

Order deadline is March 20th, so I can have them ordered & distributed in time for the first anniversary. If you're a first-timer, we still recommend the classic light blue, Marian's favorite color, but if you're ready to branch out, other colors are available. Heaven knows we have the whole rainbow at our house.

We're using Gildan tees, the same sort that we printed most of Marian's other superstar tees on. They run pretty true-to-size, with the women's no slimmer than the men's, but with narrower neck ribbing & shorter sleeves. The youth tees are boxier, like the men's.

Standard size choices are:
Men's S-3XL, Ladies' XS-2XL, Youth XS(2/4), S(6/8), M(10/12), L(14/16) XL(18/20).

Here's the link to the website I use, if you want to look more closely at color choices:
http://www.wearables4you.com/menupage_subsub.cfm?cid=1&mid=25&mill=Gildan%C2%AE
We'll be ordering the first three tee styles listed on the above page.

Feeling complicated? I'm feeling cooperative! You can get fancier tees (more stylized cuts, Bella or American Apparel +) for approximately $2 more. Peruse the website of the company I like to work with (acme prints) if you want to search out details, and just let me know. The t-shirt Marian is wearing is a Bella® Girl 1x1 Baby Rib Knit Short Sleeve Crew Neck Tee - 9001 in fuschia, for example. If you order something unusual, I'll let you know the exact $ when I receive my invoice from the company before they print.

all about crafts

2009-02-22T18:35:00.004-05:00

Cheryl at Caitlin's Smiles asked for this:

(Audrey types)

M: Crafts helped me because they will help me feel better!
A: When did they help you?
m: When I feel bad.
A:How did they make you feel better?
m: That's a hard question...
a: Tell me more about the crafts you did and how they helped you.
m: that's a hard question...
a: Finish this sentence: Crafts helped me because...
m: they are great.
a: what is your favorite craft to do?
m: that's a hard Question...
a: tell me where you were and when crafts helped you.
m: at the hospital when i was doing my bone marrow transplant!

(mom types)

V: Mare, why do you like art?
M: Because it's fun.
V: Is it fun to be at the hospital?
M: Yeah..
w cause there's lots of people there that support me and help me.
do they do things with you?
some people do.
did you like your art therapy?
that recess person?
no, that was the child life. did you like her?
yeah.
why?
I liked doing the activities.
did you like getting shots?
no, that was the worst part.
did you like surgery?
no.
did you like blood draws?
I hate them!
Did you like getting packages?
yes! that was the awesome-est part. (thumbs up & cheering arms; jumping on chair)
what did people send you?
lots of crafts.
why crafts?
to help me in the hospital!

Let's say this: you are at a dinner that the Caitlin's smiles people are dong to explain why they give hospital kids craft kits. What would you say to them if you were making a talk about that?

Kids in hospitals need arts and crafts so they have something to do. If I would not have something to do with arts and crafts, I will be bored to death and I'd have to think about all the time about yucky things like about me having big, big surgery. It makes me feel loved when people are sending me a craft. it's making me happy.

bye bye!

about school and stanley books

2009-02-03T17:33:00.002-05:00

I love being back to school it is fun
and it is great

[dad starts typing]

I did two reports. One is about bears. One is about spiders. I like writing reports. It is fun. [to dad] You are a fast typer. I am slow. Because I don't know where all the letters are.

I made (I have to think what I made)...I did a portrait of me in art. I like gym. It is fun. I love it. We have library sometimes too and we also have art and gym. Those are all the specials we have in school. I like making stuff at school and I especially like Fridays because that is when you get to do lots and lots of crafts. I love it too much. My heart is blasting too fast. It is too great. I love it too much. I love it. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Mindy, I have been reading all the Stanley books and the next book is Stanley and the Magic Lamp and I can't wait until I get it because I just really love it. I love it so much that my heart just blasts. I just love it and I can't stop loving it.

Bye-bye.

my first day back to school

2009-01-05T20:51:00.002-05:00

I was afraid at first, but then when I got to school it was funner than I thought! And I just like it very much. And I figured out that I got to have two recesses instead of one recess. And I have art tomorrow as my special and I just like having the same recesses as Audrey. She told me when she was in 4th grade she got to have that. So I guess I like having the same as Audrey. Now I'm going to get back to school tomorrow and it is very late right so I need some rest to concentrate because my teacher always says that we have lots of work every day and I mean every day and so I have to get some sleep. So, bye bye!

Finn at Thornbury Farm

2008-09-10T16:03:00.002-04:00

My friend Shannon (don't forget it's also a grown-up named Shannon) has a preschool. I went for part of it today because here, see the picture?, I'm with the dog Finn that's their new puppy. I also called it Finley for a nickname. Finn's so cute! I helped to babysit.
He is a very very very very very curious. I'm trying to tug him. It's really hard. He is very very serious sometimes, I say, actually. I was able to be strong enough. I tried tugging and tugging and tugging. I kind of dragged him a little bit, though. Like Shannon says, it's just a baby. 'Cause it's a puppy, that's why!
This is with my mom. My mom is holding the little little little Finley very snuggly. I took the picture. I am the queen of Finn.Today the preschool talked about the letter B. I think the preschool knows the alphabet! This is a picutre of my friend trying to get the butterfly on her finger. They let the butterfly go. First they caught a caterpillar, then they saw the caterpillar made a chrysalis, then he gets out of the chrysalis, then he flies and turns into a butterfly.
I made my own butterfly. The butterfly looked beautiful to my mom. I wore butterflies on my shirt today and it was so exciting. I especially liked it.

horse fingerpainting

2008-09-10T15:16:00.009-04:00

I got the idea from my art book. It's huge, so thick and it has four places that you can get to. So I chose in that huge thick book this project that I loved. I used my thumb and even fingers. Don't forget: I also did the pinky! The pinky was to make the hair, mane and tail--to make those parts that have hair in them.
I love this picturrrrrre.
I looked at 2 postcards from Chincoteague Island while I painted. I got that inspiration from the Chincoteague pony cards. (my posted a picture of me on the beach at Chincoteague Island-Island-I-I-I-I-Island here).
Here my fingers got really, really, really messy. Not that messy, actually, just medium, 'cause I'm a neat girl, and also I like to do detail in some pictures.
The red spots are ladybugs.

You Are My Sunshine

2008-08-11T00:52:00.008-04:00

Marian's Uncle Paul was married on July 26, too soon after transplant for our little superstar to travel. She sent this video along with me to play during the nieces and nephews program for the wedding breakfast. She's wearing a lovely little flower girl dress my mom made and sent ahead of time so I could show off wedding-appropriate photos to great aunts :).

(yeah, impressive video skills. And I forgot that my sister isn't here to edit off the forgot-to-turn-off-the-camera end hosta shot. I will someday care enough to learn to do it myself)

This is a baby post

2008-08-10T16:09:00.004-04:00

Babies are cute. I love my new baby brother, even though he isn't born. All of the babies around the world are cute. Do you know why they're so cute? 'Cause they are! These are two new babies I know. One is named Will and one is named Clara. I know they're both cute. I never met Will, but I know he's very cute. This is my sister who's holding him. Little Will is just born. He been in the hospital for lots of days. He been in the hospital because he was born really really early. That's why he's so small. But he is so cute. What can I say to little baby Will? Besides, here's a picture of him.

Now Clara. She didn't just got born, but she's pretty little still. She's cute, she's awesome. She's like one of those babies that say "I'm not used to you." I know Clara because my friends the Budges, they have a baby Clara. That's why I know them so well. This is why I know little Clara: 'cause she visited me! Do you know why she visited me? 'Cause they hadn't seen me for a long time! They live in Tennessee.

I took these pictures of Clara:

Flower bush

2008-08-10T15:57:00.005-04:00

This is me making my pinataaaaaaaaaaaa. [Back space 3 a's. there.] I was going to make a flower bush pinata. To decorate it, we took strips of paper, took a paintbrush, and dipped the paintbrush in some glue, put it on the strips of paper, and put it on the shell.

We also did tissue paper flowers. The yellow flowers are the tissue paper flowers. The other flowers are glassine flowers. That's all. See ya later!

getting ready for my party: mints and cupcakes

2008-08-10T15:44:00.003-04:00

Thank you for all those comments. Ah, do those cupcakes look yummy? Audrey my sister frosted the cupcakes and I put some cream cheese mints on top of the cupcakes. I liked the cream cheese mints. They are yummy and fun to make. Just mix together cream cheese and powdered sugar to make the dough, and then you put in the flavor and the color and then squish it all together like you're squishing some dough. And then when it's all squished and munched together, take some sugar and pour it into a bowl and then take a pinch of one of the colors and then roll it into a ball and roll it in the sugar. And then put the ball into the mold that you want it to be in and we did a leaf and roses and daisies. And we had a coconut flavor, a mint flavor, a licorice flavor, and almond flavor. And then squish it in the mold and then pop it out. See, that's easy! That's all you have to do to make that recipe. Now remember, cream cheese mints are yum! Bye!

2008-08-06T18:09:00.002-04:00

and, yes, the last month (!?) was a whole lot of no news is good news. plus I am a very tired pregnant mama=lazy.

happy birthday, Marian

2008-08-06T17:47:00.008-04:00

When Marian survived the summer before she turned two, her pulmonologist looked at me very seriously during our just-pre-birthday appointment and said, "You better be having an awfully big party this year."

Here's celebrating SEVEN!!!
Your birth was beautiful, one of life's great events, but your life and joy multiply ours daily.
I love you, little darling.

Still here

2008-07-04T22:13:00.004-04:00

My favorite freckles: this semi-circle on Marian's left hand.

We've been cleaning and hiding and enjoying summer. Not blogging. But I thought I'd add a couple of photos for Marian's friends.

Resting and working on a penguin (from the lovely Hillary Lang's Peppermint Fairy Stitchette set) for her baby brother's bound-to-be-oh-so-embellished wardrobe.Sleeping after a long morning walk in our well-used jogger that included work with Mama in the pottery studio (see the clay on her dress), play with sister at the weeping willow on campus (see the leaf), and some see-the-flowers detours (the yucca blossom).Marian is doing quite well, health-wise, except for today. White blood cell counts and platelet counts even on the high end of normal, and hemoglobin just a touch low. Nasty itchy rash all over, swollen eyes, slight fever. Not yet driving to Philly or even the local ER, but I have to keep my exhausted self awake (hence finally posting!) to monitor the fever. We're currently in a wait-and-see mode, but we think it's an allergic reaction to an old medication that was recently restarted. New immune system, new allergies. Daddy, away for a stage race in MA this weekend, has been waking up with high fevers during the night, so we're a bit virus-wary. Weary.

no news _is_ good news!

2008-06-21T10:03:00.002-04:00

because I've had some requests...we are just being blog lazy.

But Marian is doing really well and is thrilled to be home.

We appreciate your concern :)

Guess...

2008-06-03T20:15:00.002-04:00

...who gets to go home tomorrow?
This goofy girl.

(a crafty sent to her by her friends Jeff & Sara).

Blood counts today were beautiful & her engraftment study showed that her at 100%: all Audrey Annette blood. Very very good news.

Nathan is coming to pick us up and we might pull it off being a surprise to Audrey. So if you see her tomorrow, zip the lips.

Real time blogging

2008-06-02T16:23:00.005-04:00

What are we doing RIGHT NOW?
The Vivonex boxes in our room have all been called for. Marian has caught the recycling fever.
In the foreground, the emerging circus train.
In the background, a little townhouse for the tiny doll I wrote about yesterday.
More dollhouse work:

tiny drawings

2008-06-02T00:09:00.005-04:00

Her loyal craft friend Snippety Gibbet sent Marian a sweet little ACEO while I was gone (this is reminding me that I need to post pics of the gorgeous scherenschnitte cards she's sent over the last couple of months; you can see most of them on her blog. If it's darling and fairy or hedgie or foresty, it's now ours!!). When Marian was organizing her Art Star goodies, she had a teeny blank card and bag from packaging of the magnet she chose from the small object, and told me "I could save this for a little drawing or something." I responded that it might be a good idea to draw a little something for Miss Jan, and to my shock she agreed and got right down to business amidst her buttons and treats (in the mail category, she repeatedly refuses to do more than sign written-by-me thank you notes).I loved these little letterpress frames we got in our Art Star goodie bags (sycamore street press). I'm sure they're for gift tags, but Marian kindly volunteered to draw me "our new little baby if it's a girl. Of course [giggle], we don't know what she look like, but I can just draw something. It's okay!". Photo worse than I thought. Now it's dark, so this will have to do. Those are "fuzzy slippers."Last week when buying a USB cable at the Penn bookstore, we bought other goodies. This is why I tried to get N to buy one for me and bring it: the $5 cable cost me $40 because it came with.... But I don't regret this little treat. Intended to be flashcards for your ornithology class, Marian did exactly what I wanted and promptly started to fill it with wee drawings. Two of my favorites: apples and lemonade. You can also see the Eiffel Tower and banana slices...

The Pretty Baby Bird

2008-06-01T23:46:00.002-04:00

I was enthralled with the generous patch pockets on this little Old Navy shirt, and promptly after putting it on her found all sorts of tiny, light tidbits to fill them: a wooden nickel from the small object (handed to us by Sarah herself because we bought stuff at her Art Star booth yesterday. I felt kind of like a stalker --"I'm an avid blog reader!" were my brilliant words--but really delighted to buy in person), a tiny crocheted baby in pouch from made by gettig, and this little sewn book and the important mechanical pencil (Marian likes her pencils sharpsharpsharp). While we were eating breakfast, it became the beginnings of The Pretty Baby Bird, a sweet little thing chronicling the hatching and life of a wee robin with drawings and one word per page. An early page, photographed by the artist herself:Higher res versions to follow!

baby carriage

2008-06-01T23:11:00.005-04:00

I spent the week home with Audrey, and I'm afraid my computer time got devoted to a little cloth diaper obsession I have going right now (and I know a lot of you--particularly my most beloveds--are rolling your eyes at me, but I'm encouraged with innovations...).

I have rather a backlog of great Marian craft artist photos, but have decided to stay current rather than try to play catch-up right away (a problem I used to have with my junior high journaling: I'd want to write, have a little guilt trip about not writing for 5 months, and fill pages with a dry little logbook items instead of passing on the passion that brought me to the little book in the first place).

Marian is dying over all things baby right now, filled with daily angst that she can't "hold that cute little baby right now." The main Marian-driven project of the weekend was making a baby carriage for her favorite stuffies (today it held Lambie, Bunny, and Achoo). When Audrey & I arrived Friday night, we were greeted with this sketch:I love how she's using sketch lines for some of her drawings when she wants to be careful of her dimensions. I hope she keeps the clear-lined drawings in her repertoire, too, though: they have a lot more spontaneity and character. When she sketches, sometimes she gets hung up on accuracy and loses a bit of charm. I'm sure I'll see plenty of changes in her style (age 6 & all), and I'm sure I'll stay nostalgic.... The pig on the side was her original decorating plan: lots of wee piggies and apples. Each side got just one in the end.

We decided to use a Vivonex box (her formula comes in packets that come 6 to a box, 6 of which are in another box, which is then shipped in another box. It drives me crazy.) for the base to start with a bit of stability (the box lines on the sketch above are mine), and add cardstock sides. She chose to make the wheels from one of the cardboard hospital meal trays I saved for crafting purposes because "I really like the texture" and the handle from a stick that's been floating around our room since I brought it home from a hospital walk (I hadn't been outside for awhile, and I kept it next to my bed for 3 weeks).She was delighted with the result, and decorated it with ephemera gleaned from postcard artist ads in the goody bags we scored at the Art Star Craft Bazaar on Saturday. After an overnight drying, we loaded it with stuffies this morning. I'm afraid she ended up a bit disappointed, though: "I thought it was going to be big enough for me to push it standing up!" She hasn't given it the time of day since. Tomorrow I'll try to put in a good word for it ;).

peeks into our life

2008-05-22T23:00:00.004-04:00

Our apartment is in this corner of the PRMH (Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House) . I'm ecstatic to share that all 3 windows in the corner tower are ours. Plus 5 on the other side. Really, it is cooler than our permanent digs.
Walking to the hospital for school (Marian gets an hour a day with the same lovely lady who taught her during her inpatient stay. In a very clean room that is wiped down after every student & with brand-new books, markers...). If you have super eyes and a bit of imagination, you can see my ripening belly & her mask and the stroller I decided not to replace (but I have months yet to re-decide...).
The development guy here (I forget his title) here is new to his job (and very nice) and, in making up these save-the-date flyers, wasn't finding an existing photo he liked. So he chose us! More Marian laying on the charm (She's really shy right now, actually. He was watching us interact alone the day he approached me).

Lots of sweet volunteers and--especially--guest chefs who come to cook dinner every night (such much good food here!) try to chat Mare up, but she's pretty stony. I can't blame her. She has been on permanent display for the last month + and probably wants her privacy back. Everyone stares, everyone notices. As someone who much prefers being under the radar, I cannot blame her, and say she doesn't have to talk to anyone she doesn't want to, but just ask that she not be mean. She just casts me desperate glances, I say something like, "oh, thank you very much, but she's shy right now. So many new people in the last month..." and we whisk back to our room, where she loves being. When we talk about it together, she realizes that it's great to have everyone want to be nice to you rather than want to be mean to you, but cannot play hostess to the world at age 6.

Working hard

2008-05-22T22:47:00.005-04:00

Two things I loved about Marian today:
*Working on a recycling craft project..."Mom, do you have an empty plastic bottle and some tin foil?" Why, yes! Yes I do...
(okay, this photo is from yesterday, but she worked on it today, too. That's her craft desk in the background. Serious work done there.)

*"Will you get me your wallet? [emptying...] Don't worry [confidential laugh], you know I put all of this back. I'm not one of those c-ray-zee kids who make a mess. It just I want to play store." Which evolved into writing out little money math problems for herself on the bottom of her medication schedule and this, after I wandered off doing my own whatever: "Mom, you want to see the stairs I made?" Yup, and take a picture!

new address

2008-05-22T09:46:00.004-04:00

I put the new address in the sidebar, but thought I'd post that it's there since comments indicated 'twas initially missed. Especially if you're a google reader blog reader like me :).

And I watched American Idol (my favorite was David Cook performing with ZZ Top. How cool would that be?) and did a little paper flower project instead of posting pics. sorry. tonight! really!

:)

2008-05-21T11:10:00.002-04:00

(internet problems again, but now we have an ethernet connection & hopes are high...)

How are you, Marian?
"mama! you know..."

yeah, she's not in the mood.
but labs yesterday looked good, she has a craft corner set-up, and thinks she looks like an elf today in a green hat Aunt Camie crocheted for her.

doing well

2008-05-19T12:37:00.002-04:00

just got our internet figured out here & wanted to say that all is well. Marian is very cheered to be "out of that place" and we're getting settled in. They found us a room with a table, which is pretty luxe for here...

More later.

this week

2008-05-15T18:37:00.006-04:00

A quick way to post a bit of my sweetness. Clockwise from top right:

*She wore this tiara all Sunday after making it from a tiara kit her Grandma G sent. It inspired her to start planning her birthday party (for August...), because it was obviously a perfect birthday girl crown. She has decided a flower party will be "really great", and you can see the pod flower bobby pins we started for the pinata...oh yes, plans are being made...

*Marian adding a red wagon full of produce to our window. She was still unhooked during her bath & enjoying a bit of freedom. And looking wee and cute: look at that little pink foot!

*Playing bingo. Every Tuesday, the Child Life Department broadcasts a bingo game over one of the hospital channels. Marian has won three times, netting a card game, a beanie baby, and (this is my score!) a whole case full of Webkins trading cards. She gave 18 packs to Audrey & kept 18 for herself...

*A good smiley baldie photo :). Marian is playing with patterns here, using mosaic bits (tumbled glass & tiny ceramic tiles) left over from a project with the art therapist. She also made 3 permanently-glued tiles that I'm hoping she'll let me use as trivets. She really loved this one, and has them slated as birthday party decorations.

*Eating macaroni and cheese. We order it twice a day. She just eats a couple of tablespoons, but her food interest is encouraging. We watch Food Network for most of the day, too. I really do think this child will eat someday! It was funny to me to hear her describe why she likes mac-n-cheese. "It's just so warm and feels good." That's why it's called comfort food, baby!

*Napping and cutie. She was totally into wearing her superstar outfit yesterday...and is wearing the skirt & legwarmers today, too, though with another tee :).

*Posing with some of the photos sent from her school on her transplant day. All of the kids wore their superstar tees or blue to support Audrey & Marian. They've been fantastic.

AND: we're heading out of here this afternoon. After some worry (a crowded weekend), we did get a room at the Ronald McDonald House, and once Nathan & Audrey are here, we'll move on out. I'm mostly nervous. Her counts are still bouncing, but everything else is good, so on we go! End of my laziness, though I will still have very little other responsibility while staying in Philly. Ay. But good.

I'll let y'all know when I have the exact address.

still truckin'

2008-05-15T09:08:00.003-04:00

Mare & I spent the evening (until midnight! bad mommy!) looking at stroller options online, so I didn't do photos. Do I get a new stroller immediately so it will be clean for my can't-get-germs Mare? Wait for the baby? Will Marian be strong enough to do her own walking? I hate big strollers (though we have a jogger & a bike trailer, that's different) with all their gets-so-sticky padding and big plastic parts. Ick. A "real" double stroller just doesn't seem palatable. One option are the "sit and stand" strollers that have a platform and little bench on the back for a toddler (or little 7-year old) to perch for a rest. But all of those are the biggie kinds, if not as biggie as the double. I like better the add-on stroller boards and this cutie little strolli rider, but am not sure how flexible their use will be and if I'll get mighty sick of taking it off & on. And still an "investment" i.e., $. I frankly just love me a little umbrella stroller, and admit I had the $9 variety until a friend took pity on my kid & gave me her old Maclaren. Really I just want to get a new Maclaren. Any not-quite-double experiences that you want to share?

I guess that our minds are on other things is a good sign that we're feeling a little less panicked about the medical situation. Which is good :).

2008-05-14T21:19:00.003-04:00

A good day. Sugar pie was fun, but did succumb to a nap. ANC is up in the 700s, and plans are being made for a Friday release...eek. That's to the Ronald McDonald house a couple of miles away, but will be a new step at least.

I'm much more excited to see my honeys this weekend than to get released. I really miss Audrey today.

Since I napped, too, maybe I'll feel ambitious & post some cutie photos of my favorite baldie tonight.

Loves, V

hope...

2008-05-13T12:20:00.002-04:00

and today her WBC counts are back up, a 590 ANC. So we all stop bawling...and Marian goes on being charming and cheerful. Talking about being released on Friday, though we'll be in Philly another month or so. Not planning on anything yet, of course (guard my fragile heart).

I'm hoping that I'm less depressed enough today to write thank you notes for packages...though I have given up on taping up all of our cards. They're on display in a bin, instead. Y'all have been extremely supportive (and we love it!).

Keep on praying...

2008-05-12T13:34:00.004-04:00

Shoot. ANC took a precipitous fall to 293 this morning, which is not good. No one's trying to be particularly reassuring, either... She is CMV positive (a virus that she had as flu or cold a long time ago, but stays in the system forever, usually controlled by the immune system, but when you don't have one...), and either the activation of that virus or the antiviral medication she's on to control it can suppress the immune system, so that's a possibility. Blood tests for CMV levels are pending, and the next step is to do a marrow aspirate to check it out or an engraftment test (see how much of her blood is her sister's). She can get the pump-it-up shots, but they' won't help permanently. So it's a little wait and see and a little well, maybe try it again. Just barely not quite panic time yet.

But...Marian is super cheerful and upping her craft output like crazy. Also a chatty little thing. We're having lots of fun and she feels well and that's all good.

The dolphin baby named Alice

2008-05-12T13:24:00.001-04:00

Once there was a baby dolphin. She had a mom and a father. She had two sisters and one brother. Her favorite food was candy jellyfish. Her favorite drink was jelly water. She liked almost everything of jelly. Except jelly macaroni. Instead of jellyfish macaroni she liked seaweed macaroni. She had a seashell crib that her grandpa made for her. She had a blanket that was knit out of seaweed; her grandma whale made it for her. She had a jellyfish pillow, made of the top of the jellyfish. She had a teddy bear that was made out of dead seaweed (kind of like for a brown color, kind of light to make it for a teddy bear). Her house was made out of seashells, like big seashells for the walls, and a big bent seashell for the roof.

All of the buildings are made out of seashells. She went to the sea grocery store. They went there to get food for the baby dolphin. She got macaroni and cheese. She got bananas. She got rice krispie treats. She got rice cakes. She got a little sweet potato, and she got some milk. They went to the next aisle that had bottles for babies and they chose a dolphin baby bottle. And then they went to the counter and spent all their money for the stuff they purchased. They went out of the grocery store.

They got into the store that had baby clothes. They bought a little onesie that had a picture of a fish. They bought some socks that had bubbles. And they bought a little jacket that had a fishing pole on it and it also had a picture of a bucket filled with three fish. And on the fishing pole was a fish. They bought some shoes. The shoes had a baby rattle on it. They had some slippers. It had a fish blowing bubbles on it. They went to the blanket aisle and they bought a blanket with a bunch of little fishies on it, and some fishies were blowing bubbles, then they went to the counter and bought all the stuff.

The last store that they're ever going to go to is all the other stuff that the babies need. They bought a rocking seahorse and they bought a rattle. They bought a bib and they bought a stroller. They bought some baby food. They bought some diapers. The picture on the diaper was bubbles and fish. They bought a ball. They bought a jellyfish squeaky toy and they bought a pacifier. Then they went to the counter and bought all the stuff.

Now they are going home. She had a thing kind of like cancer instead of cancer it was called kanre. You still have your hair fall out but half of your hair falls out. And she really did live a little good life with her family 'cause all about this stuff and she died when she was ten. Lots of dolphins have kanre. The end.

hooray!

2008-05-11T09:59:00.002-04:00

Two bits of good news today: after dropping for 4 days, her ANC is UP again today. Ups and downs are normal at this point, but still made me nervous.

We also have good belly news. Marian has had crazy liquid diarrhea & is retaining fluid, so puffy wuffy. Overnight, she had all sorts of wet diapers and no stooling at all, and this morning, her first bm wasn't preceded by the total liquid. Too much information for those of you not immersed in the world of intestinal drama, but, believe me, it's hot stuff! We've been a bit worried about her kidneys, but this non-Lasix-induced cleansing is super good news.

Plus we're cheerful and wearing a blue tiara from the kit grandma sent :).

Happy mother's day, y'all (Nathan is still in Nashville and I'm not, and both situations make us miss our southern home something awful. We'll be looking for opportunities....).

Love, Valerie

Visits!

2008-05-10T21:21:00.006-04:00

First, thank you for visiting Marian's blog. I read all of your comments, and most of them to her (she's occasionally anti-computer...I think because it can suck me away). Feeling the love & so appreciating it.

Although we technically can receive visitors with certain precautions, we've discouraged it in general: the less bugs the better. Since our home is a couple of hours away, no one's really biting to come, anyway, so this has not (I hope!) made us unpopular with our friends (and family who would fly out at the slightest word if we needed them. "This fall after the baby's born," I say). So it's been only eagerly anticipated weekend visits from Audrey and Daddy. And Grandma Donna when she was so kindly here for a month.This weekend, Audrey & Nathan are in Nashville living it up with our beloved friends there (AS I TYPE THERE IS BBQ FUN I AM SO JEALOUS! ) because Nathan (ta da!) graduated yesterday from Vanderbilt and is now very officially, as Marian puts it, "a doctor of philocity." They were lucky to have Nathan's parents there, too...anyway, I digress. My point here is that they could not visit (okay because we saw them Wednesday--Audrey's birthday!--before we left) us this weekend, so I was lucky to arrange another visitor today: Marian's teacher. I cannot even tell you how much Marian loves this woman, who is so kind as to think the particular situation of her one-year loan as the first grade teacher at the girls' school may have been kindly arranged by Providence so that she could be inspired by Marian. Quite the other way around, think we, and have indicated so in more than one family prayer in the Goates household...

I didn't tell Marian that she may be coming until the night before, because plans were not yet firm, but ooo did she wiggle on her little behind in joy & satisfaction. They talked for 2 1/2 hours and she grinned the whole time. Thank you, Konnie. You really made our day.
First hugs.
Looking at a scrapbook of the first and second grade and their "partners" notes to Marian. If you look closely on the cover, you can see three awesome photos: one of a framed photo of Marian that sits at her old desk. The kids turn "her" so they can see her grinning face & she now has to rotate tables because there was jealousy... another shows two of her friends posing with the photo, and the third her cutie-patootie 2nd grade partner, Nate, holding her photo and missing her (he has been such a darling friend to her all year).

I also must mention that, beside a good joke book and book of children's classics and 2 envelopes FAT with cards from the first grade and university students in the Education Department who help at the school, we received a most fantastic activity book custom designed by the third grade class: pages and pages of mazes, color-by-numbers, math sheets, survey-the-nurses tally sheets...so darling. And Marian looked through EVERY page while she was here. Which took a considerable amount of time; they must have been working on it for a long time. Have I told you how much I love the girls' school?

reminder

2008-05-08T17:50:00.004-04:00

I walked out to the mailboxes with a snack, a purple petunia shipment (hedgie family and tiny mouse) I packaged while I was home, and a (late) Mother's Day package. In the corridor on the way out, I saw a man who caught my attention: standing so formally. Why the suit and, especially, boutonnière? Then I saw, walking past, chomping on my apple: a guerney with a body bag. Funeral home.

When I walked back, the guerney was gone, but I heard the mother.

Day +15

2008-05-08T15:03:00.002-04:00

I loved coming home (yes, I just typed "home" to refer to the hospital, and decided to let it stay--look how absorbed I am in this!) from real-home and seeing how much Marian has turned a corner. Silly and interested and marching backwards in the hall with her physical therapist.

Her counts have been down the last couple of days, but I am assured that ups and downs in this stage are normal for transplant patients.

Day +13

2008-05-06T13:27:00.003-04:00

Camp was really blissful, and I didn't worry nearly as much as I had planned on :). Lots of kind words about my girls, and lovely comments about reading here daily (thank you, GBLUES family!) and questions about Marian from sweet students in all of the grades. Perfectly gorgeous 60s and 70s weather and a little embroidery on the side. I have loved being with Audrey.

Reports from the hospital say Marian is in a jolly mood today and escaped any fevers last night. I hear there was a nasty fasting-for-a-CAT scan & problematic IV placement (I think for the contrast), but the CAT scan (looking for something fungal) didn't show any problems and, since the fever is gone, it's a good assumption that the previous ones were, in fact, part of the engraftment. Her ANC in 3600-something, and they restarted her feeds. Getting her off of IV food and sustaining weight on formula again will be the next goal, and once that's taken care of, we're OUT. It really seems unlikely to me....the D has been really horrible.

Daddy talked her into a session with the clippers, and she's at least buzzed (a closer shave made her too nervous). He says she just has some patches on the tops and sides, and is darling in her first scarf today. I'm bringing the batches this evening.

Thank you for your good will and prayers. They're working!

Much love, V

Day +11

2008-05-04T21:00:00.002-04:00

I'm home with Audrey for a little bit of girl time, which we are both excited about, though I'm a bit panicked about leaving Marian in the hospital for so long without me. I'll admit she's in the best of hands--the great nurses...oh, and her beloved daddy ;)--but doesn't she need me? I need her!

But I stepped out of the car and was H O M E and instantly smelled the lilacs and heard the church bells chiming (we live on the main street in a bitty town full of beautiful churches). I get to see lots of my darling yards' perennials bloom that I was missing and I get to be with my sweetie tweetie Audrey at her school's awesome camp for the next two days. So don't expect to hear from me; I'll be at Camp Nawakwa!

Marian continues to be feverish and her blood cultures continue to be negative, so all agree that it's just her body's reaction to engraftment: those new white cells are really going to work! It's sad, though, because she is feeling her worst right now. And the hair is going quickly, which is just a mess and gets in things. Sigh. But still all is good news & her PICC line keeps working.

the house that love built

2008-05-03T11:10:00.002-04:00

I am so into the Ronald McDonald House. Such an emotional experience for me every time I am there. Like the kind words (and cards and letters and packages and prayers) from each of you, it's part of the joy of this experience--getting to witness so much goodness and earnest effort. I even feel lucky.

See "our" house, the very first, here:
http://www.philarmh.org/Chestnut+Street

Day +10

2008-05-03T10:44:00.004-04:00

A smiley face on our blood count report today from the nurse:

100 cells on the slide
1000 WBC/ul
hemoglobin 11.6 g/dL
46,000 platelets
ANC: 660

hair loss beginning in earnest (today's bath will be interesting....)

Marian is extremely preoccupied with the fact that Daddy will be here in under 2 hours. She misses him something fierce. And gets to spend a few days with him; I'm heading back to Shippensburg to spend a couple of days with Audrey and go to camp with her. Everyone involved is excited ;).

& for those as fascinated as me:

Day	ANC	WBC	HGB	platelets	# cells
Normal range		5.0-14.5 thousand/ul	11.5-15.5 g/dL	150-400 thousand/ul	Sighted on slide in a defined field
-8	14385	15	12.5	564
-7	8304	8.9	10.7	546
-6	8396	8.7	10	472
-5	6732	6.8	9.4	498
-4	5298	5.6	8.3	492
-3	4730	5.0	9.1	431
-2	4992	5.2	9.2	459
-1	4124	4.2	8.8	448
0	3135	3.3	8.3	396
1		2.6	8.3	342
2		1.2	8.1	241
3		0.3	8.3	182
4		0.1	9.4	140
5	0	0.1	12.4	77	0
6	0	0.2	10.2	60	0
7	0	0.1	9.6	23	0
8	0	0.1	7.7	9	0
9	320	0.4	11.9	91	10
10	660	1.0	11.6	46	100!

A little bit of lightheartedness

2008-05-02T16:34:00.009-04:00

All photos in the last couple of days, that show Marian's cheery little spirit is still there, even if she is also tired and grumpy, too.

First, goofy grins for her ice. Ice from the machine, even though it's that cool easy-to-bite kind, is not sterile enough, so I make her custom ice chips by freezing 1/3 bottle of fresh water (meaning it hasn't been opened longer than 1 minute...that's hyperbole, we're allowed 4 hours before is is suddenly unclean), then smashing the bottle on the floor until it is crushed enough to shake out chips. Then into a clean new cup to be eaten with an individually-wrapped plastic spoon. She loves it.
Bathtime karaoke. When we were readying for her bath Wednesday, she caught up the end of her feeding extension (just used for medicines right now because she is all IV--TPN--nutrition) and started singing. So I had to grab the camera and make her do it again.A bit of energy for crafting yesterday, so I pulled out the bin and let her choose (my choices get a lot of "NO!"s lately). She stickered a tin. We've a rich sticker library these days from packages and her trips to Michaels with the $ she earned via project superstar. She had me decorate the bottom with some bits of colorful twine sent to us by my sister's coolio mother-in-law. And did a weird pose with them...

Day +9: more from mom

2008-05-02T14:26:00.005-04:00

Reading with Miss Joan during today's school session. Her teacher is a lovely, gentle person. And Marian reads for her! (won't for me).

I can't get much blogging out the the little one lately, though the last really was her.

The "new cells!" pronouncement really is an exciting one: it's a sign that Audrey's marrow has started producing a measurable quantity of new cells. We won't have "for sure" data that we're seeing Audrey's cells rather than Marian's cells until 30 days, when a blood sample will be PCR amplified and compared to samples taken from both girls before everything began, but the general assumption, particularly this early is a happy "yes." Daily blood counts are generally done by machine, but a smear is visually checked as well, counting the number of white cells in a defined field. We've had 0-0-0..., then today: 10! Her ANC, or absolute neutrophil count, is now 320, again after some time at "0" (normal is >1500/microliter). A healthy batch of newbies. Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell that fights infection, little warriors that rush at infection and suicide burst with a little splash of peroxide; their dead little selves are much of what you see in pus. This type of white blood cell is particularly used to track the development of new cells because they have a lifespan of less than a day, so we are assured that these are not residual white blood cells, but fresh-made beauties whose numbers testify of busily working new marrow.

For some children, these couple of days surrounding engraftment can be some of the most difficult because the new cells go right to work busily repairing the usual wear and tear that the body had neglected when it had no warriors to send out. Marian had a pretty good fever going late last night (now passed), and we're hoping this is the explanation for that. I think she's feeling pretty well, though obviously doing hard body work. She was energetic this morning, but somewhat cross today and crashed to sleep around 1:30.

Red blood cell and platelet transfusions yesterday, because her counts finally dropped below THE LINE. She did start to have tiny pinpoint bruises caused by the usual capillary breakage not being stopped by the usual platelets. They're called petechiae. I have found it very interesting, though of course it makes perfect sense, to see how ruddy she is today after being so pale yesterday. Look at them RBCs.

Her mouth is redder today, finally inflamed because there are WBC to do the inflaming. Her throat has been pretty scratchy, and of course her gut is a mess, but it looks like the dreaded mucousitis, the mouth and whole GI tract sores that are some of the most painful side effects of chemotherapy, has been avoided. No blood or visible sores, and she has not needed morphine. Our nurse on the day she received her malphalan, the mucousitis culprit, said some research has shown that sucking on ice or something else very cold during her infusion has been shown to reduce the effects. We did, and I'm very happy that, via that or good blessings, she seems to have slipped it by. I'll cheerfully accept either (likely both).

We expected hair loss to start a couple of days ago, but have seen our first loose hairs today, and her scalp was ultra-sensitive during her shampooing today, also a sign that the hair loss is beginning. I had my mom bring us the clippers last week to buzz her head when needed. Earlier, I was all for just shaving it all off at the first sign, to avoid the mess and the trauma, but the team here thinks I should wait a bit; her hair is so thick that she could lose 2/3 of it and still look like a normal 6-year old, with a sleek little bob instead of le pouf. So now I'm waiting for a bald patch. I'm much less distressed about the little hairs left on the pillow than I thought I would be; certainly seeing all of the little bald heads on this floor has normalized it. Plus, as we've written before, Marian is looking forward to it. We may not, however, feel the same way 5 or 6 months from now (usually takes 3 for a little growth to start again)--such a visible tattoo of "sick." My dad hated hated losing his hair, and it surprised me, because he wasn't really a concerned-with-appearance sort of guy. But it was the looking sick that bothered him, not the looking bald.

Day 9

2008-05-02T11:53:00.001-04:00

New cells!

Day 8

2008-05-01T15:56:00.003-04:00

in lieu (temporarily?!) of a good post, here's a something post. No big drama, but lots of medication and electrolyte adjustments, a brief appearance of ketones in the urine, and our first platelet and red blood cell transfusions. And a low-grade fever that keeps flitting in and out. And lots of mail!

A cheery Marian today and a tired mama. Avoiding insomnia, I simply avoided sleep...stupid, because I'd like some now ;).

love, V

the window

2008-04-29T17:31:00.011-04:00

The children's rooms at CHOP all have large windows along one side, overlooking the central atrium, outside or, if you're very lucky like us, the emergency room. It spawns a lot of thought that I hope I'll write about...For many, especially in the oncology ward where long stays are standard, window decorating is big. I wouldn't say ours is an artistic triumph, but is organically growing, and Marian heartily approves.
Audrey's panel is on the left. She's getting quite adept at backwards writing.
The center is mine, I guess. Our What a Wonderful World silk scarf and Mare's name.
I'm documenting the making of the right panel below. Coffee filter watercolor flowers and painted-by-Marian vinyl window clings. Both new-to-us projects that you should try, too.
Art therapist Jennifer introduced us to coffee filter flowers. I think they might be a hospital standard, since we know another charming 6-year-old getting a bone marrow transplant in Minnesota who wrote about them on her Caring Bridge site. I know I've seen coffee filters in craft applications before, but I've never indulged, probably since I'm not a coffee drinker, so they weren't handy. I thought their allure was "hey, here's a round circle of white paper that you already have". But more impressive is their durability when wet, awesome for wet painting with young 'uns (look at how wet this paper is!), and (I know, surprising) filter quality: color travels on them in cool ways, even separating into its components. A very tie-dye effect. Materials:

Washable surface. Your painting turns out two-sided, which is awesome for windows, but also means bleed on the bottom. So make sure you can easily clean what you're working on. A paper towel or another filter underneath works, too (plus, cool effects).

Coffee filters. The grande size is great, if you can find it, but everything works. Since they have distinct ridges, crumpling up the filter first helps you to flatten it out before you start. Just go ahead and embrace it, like nice crumply linen pants :)

Watercolor paints. I have to admit this project was twice as cool because Jen brought us amazing metallic watercolors. They cover everything with great bitty mica-like bits of sparkle and I cannot believe I, with an eye out for all things new and kids'-art-related, didn't find them myself. One (there aren't many) upside of being in sterile isolation is that everything has to be new. So the watercolors are now ours!!! Prang brand metallic watercolors. You must find them.

Brushes & water. Oooo, guess why? Bigger brushes are better because you want to splash on a lot of color.

Process: Use plenty of water to work up a generous amount of paint, and let the colors run together.

another option: washable markers. The same water base that makes them wash up nicely also makes water a great solvent for these markers. I think this is a good technique for children whom you don't really trust with paint, but want to give them a chance to play with color--call it pre-painting :). Draw a line design or just scribble, then use a big brush to spread water around. Once you get the filter paper wet, the color will slowly spread by itself. Or brush vigorously (I love that word), and accelerate the process.

If you were holding these in your hands, you would get to enjoy all of the good shimmer :).

Seriously, get yourself some Prang metallic watercolors. Who loved this project most of all? My mom and I. Giddy.

Plenty long, this post. So vinyl clings later.

Day 6

2008-04-29T11:42:00.005-04:00

Yesterday found Marian vomiting and sleeping. I just watched her & changed her when necessary.

Finally the 3rd anti-nausea medicine worked, because the long sleep (4:30-9:30, with a couple of brief awakenings) wasn't interrupted with necessary bed cleanings. She lost nearly half a kilo yesterday, and is on more fluids today to try to catch up. We've switched to total parenteral feeding (IV) to give her torn up gut a rest. She's also getting a rest from one of her antibiotics and her cyclosporin because her kidney-related blood tests are rising. Still urinating, though, so that's good, and her hemoglobin levels have risen a bit, so no need for transfusions yet.

Today she was alert enough to open a whole stack of mail: 30 letters, 6 big envelopes, 2 boxes. THANK YOU! And people already come in and say "Wow, you have a lot of friends!" It will take me all day to get these taped up :). We love it.

Now, 5 pm, she's been sleeping for a little more than an hour and enjoyed school and art therapy and even a little computer play (by request) before she asked for nausea medicine and promptly fell asleep.

something sweet I got out of bed to add...

2008-04-27T23:02:00.003-04:00

When I got back from my sleepover with Audrey & Mom around 10:30 this morning, Marian was resting in bed and I was missing my girl. I immediately (well, after handwashing, of course) draped myself across the bed and snuggled up, resting my face against her shoulder. She wrapped her other little arm (the tube-free one) around me and we said the nice "I missed you" things, and then I asked, "Tell me a story." She hadn't been feeling very active, and frankly didn't look that hot, so imagine my delight when she complied, launching into a fairly long narrative about my favorite animal: "Once upon a time, there was a little hedgie who lived in a safe barn..." The story continued, seeing the brave rescue of baby hedgie from the forest by his "brave Dad Hedge", who killed 7 scary bears with "just one claw" to bring his baby hedgie safe back to their barn. I got delicious details, like "his prickles were soft and nice to pet, not owie pokie ones". I'll be pulling for her to write & illustrate it in one of the little sewn booklets that I had my mom make for us just before we left. If I'm successful, you may be so lucky as to see it soon...

Day 4

2008-04-27T22:29:00.002-04:00

Audrey, Nathan, and Grandma Donna were here this weekend and it was lovely to be together. The logistics of lots of people feeling good in a little room and Marian feeling good about Mama leaving are a bit tricky to manage, but worth it. We need each other.

Yeah, so still no photos. New computer, new camera, new software=very slow editing while I keep forgetting the right tabs and prompts. Plus, dumb new Windows Vista (I don't know if the clever Mac commercials are right about the problems, but I don't like it because I'm just more familiar with good ol' W98).

Marian is getting sicker. Expected, but still sad. Today when I got back after having a sleepover with Audrey & my mom at the Ronald McDonald house ("the house that love built"--seriously. I am so moved my each of my stays there), she had dark circles under her eyes. Nausea started a couple of days ago, but she had her first vomiting today. The liquid bowels continue, but, intestinal drama being "our thing," we are not easily impressed (okay, I still am). Marian is, of course, a tough little chica, and we had giggling and cheerful chatter now and then, but her stamina is slowly decreasing. More napping, less sitting up in bed, and shorter fun periods. She did a bit in a Bible activity book with Grandma while the rest of us slipped out to attend church together, but that was it for her activities today besides Webkinz with her sister. She was delighted to play Webkinz remotely when Audrey got home (each on their own computer & talking on the phone), but 15 minutes was plenty.

As Marian's cell counts drop, her body is less able to do its repair and energy work, while the effects of the chemotherapy continue. I understand that the worst time is when her new cells start to grow & wholeheartedly dive into the work that had been neglected by her mini-to-gone-immune system in the past few weeks. All sorts of inflammatory work going on. Planned pain, I suppose, but the most difficult part. We hope, now, besides for the new cells to grow & thrive, to avoid (1) introduced infection and (2) graft vs. host disease--GVHD--, the battle between sisters' systems. Our risk of that is minimal with a sibling donor, but some skin problems at least are likely. Sigh.

I love being with her here, though (stressed when I'm gone, though I do treasure the time with Audrey while Nathan sleeps over), and am glad for our friendship. Plus, we're well into Little House in the Big Woods and I missed those books :).

Day 2

2008-04-25T23:31:00.004-04:00

After a very tired morning, Marian was good and goofy this afternoon. It was a mood probably aided by a little trip on her anti-nausea meds, but she was delightful even before that. Physical therapy, art therapy, crafting with new package from Janet, thrilled to pieces with Aunt Mindy's joke quilt (not to mention Uncle Jason's promise if she was brave), and lots of good silly cuddling.

Her counts keep falling, which is expected/deliberately planned (!), but still a little weird to see. I admit I'm unsure of the units (and the nurse couldn't enlighten me), but I think these are
thousands. I thought a little "normal CBC" google search would clear it all up, but no. Lots of different units out there. I'll ask during rounds.

WBC: 1.2
RBC: 8.1 (transfusion tomorrow)
platelets: 241

She misses her daddy something fierce.

Day 1

2008-04-24T19:58:00.005-04:00

I have had this window up for an hour, waiting to want to write, but I think this whole process overwhelms me enough that finding words, particularly condensed words, seems like an unbearable process. And, honestly, more of a plain dull process than a painful & emotionally wrenching one. Perhaps that I've talked it into dullness, more likely that living it is so intense that writing it again seems to be decided overkill. I hope I change my mind because I know I'll regret not having my own record, but for now....oh man was I excited to check my e-mail and see that my champion of a mother, Donna, just wrote a sweet e-mail to my extended family that can cover yesterday in the interim. And this photo: Marian sleeping through the oh-so-understated-drama. You can see the stem cell bag, sideways, between the clear IV bag on the right and the brown-covered-against-light-damaged cyclosporin on the left.

Dear Family,

Yesterday was transplant day and I know many of you are anxious for a report. Things went very well. Audrey went in at 1:00 pm for the bone marrow harvest. They gave her general anesthetic and went in with big tough needles into her hip bones to extract the marrow. They got about 250 ml of great marrow. The doctor said that it was especially rich and that Audrey's bones were especially tough. Sweet Audrey was so brave. She did great. Today she is still a little pale and her hips hurt, but she is not complaining. Because the girls have different blood types, (everything else was a perfect match) they had to "wash" the red blood cells out, leaving about 70 ml of bone marrow. They brought it in a little bag to Marian's room and hooked it up to the IV at about 10:00 pm. It was cool to watch that precious pink liquid drip into Marian's veins with the promise of so much goodness. Marian slept through the procedure. They give them tylenol and benedryl as preventitives and those just relaxed her into slumber. It only took about 45 minutes to drip in, and even though it didn't seem like a big "to do" it was quite thrilling to watch. The whole thing was tolerated very well. Today, Marian was feeling a little tired, but mostly great. The doctors said it takes about 2 weeks for the bone marrow to graft in and start producing. This is a crucial time to keep Marian from infection as her blood cell counts are way down to accept the bone marrow, so they aren't able to fight infection as well. They told us that Marian would probably experience some ups and downs with how she felt and as she waits for the new bone marrow to start producing. I guess side effects are varied and different for each child. Marian has the benefit of having a perfect match sibling donor and also of having realitively healthy marrow to begin with. Some things that can occur are loss of hair and mouth sores and digestive problems, but they have things to help. I was very impressed with all the hospital staff-- doctors, nurses, physical therapists, teacher, recess lady, cleaning people, everyone was so thorough and dedicated to doing everything right. Valerie and Nathan are champions. They are so patient and good with their girls. So, we are thrilled that transplant day went so well and are praying for everything to go just right with these next few weeks. Thanks for your prayers and concern. We felt the support and love and it really helps. Love, Mom/Donna

Hope she doesn't mind. I want to add this detail: the processed marrow looked just like raspberry lemonade.

My first transplant day

2008-04-23T20:12:00.004-04:00

(Marian deciding between her favorite stitchette in each seasonal group while working on a special picture for her sister celebrating their donor day.)
A big yellow poster boasting those words is on Marian's door right now. She made it in art therapy with the lovely Jen yesterday. Audrey's harvest got bumped to 1 pm, so our sweet little cells haven't yet been delivered (since the girls are different blood types, A's red blood cells have to be washed out), but we expect them around 10 pm. Audrey was a trooper, and the girls so darling in their love and dedication today, but she sure feels lousy now. Her bones are sore, but she's primarily suffering from the anaesthesia right now. I'm thinking that she'll have a very welcome sleep tonight. She's working on it at the Ronald McDonald House with Nathan right now. The doctor said her marrow was very cell rich, and her bones rock hard. "Does she drink a lot of milk?" Why yes, still lives on the stuff!

My mom is hanging with us--we're all working on our Wee Wonderfuls stitchette embroideries. Marian is doing the peppermint fairy's penguin pal, Grandma Donna the acorn fairy's owl buddy, and I'm stitching a blue dress on Georgia Grows, in honor of blue day (our friend Shannon said there was so much blue at the girls' school today ("wear your superstar shirts or something blue today") that she felt like she was in the ocean). Thank you, Hillary! (Marian received a care package from the crafting rock star herself that we still haven't posted on...).

More when there is more to tell!

2008-04-23T07:36:00.002-04:00

Valerie asked me to share a sweet experience I had yesterday as I picked Audrey up from school. It was the last school day she had before the bone marrow transplant. and when I met her at her classroom, she was carrying a large tote bag full of gifts that the students and teachers had given her, wishing her good luck. Everyone in her class and all the teachers in the school had signed the canvas bag with colorful markers and inside was a large assortment of pens, pencils, markers, and notebooks, along with a little folding desk--the perfect gifts for Audrey who is a wonderful writer. As we made our way down the hall, everyone called out to Audrey, wishing her luck and sending their love. I was so touched by the outpouring of love and support for a sweet big sister who is donating her bone marrow this morning.
Another precious thing was watching Marian tell Audrey about the surgical procedures she was going to be having and encouraging her. Marian was so sad she couldn't go with Audrey and hold her hand. They are the sweetest, most loving sisters.

WEAR MY SHIRTS TOMORROW!

2008-04-22T09:02:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is my transplant day, 4/23/08. I'm gonna make a new big poster and I'm gonna watercolor it. On my transplant day! And I'm gonna be in the same room like now on my transplant day! My sister is my donor and that means part of her bone marrow is gonna go inside my body and the bone marrow is if you have seen a dog chewing on a bone and you see the red stuff inside the bone and the red stuff is the bone marrow. My sister's gonna come tonight and her harvest is gonna be early in the morning to get just part of her bone marrow. Enough bone marrow inside her body for her to live still.

If you have a superstar shirt, wear that on the transplant day. If you don't have a superstar shirt, at least wear a blue shirt. Bye, bye! See you later!

surgery yesterday

2008-04-22T08:53:00.002-04:00

I got a PICC line yesterday, 4/21. A PICC line is a tube going inside you and you have a bandage on it. That tube goes into a big vein. It starts to your arm and it goes to your body. It's the vein that's inside your arm and there's lots of veins connected to it, little veins of course, and then it goes to your heart. My Broviac got taken out and it got taken out 'cause it had an infection and if you are wondering when it got put in, my mom will tell you right now. [Tuesday, 4/15--stinkin' thing didn't last long!] At my surgery, nurses were nice. When they gived me the medicine out in the hall and they put me in the surgery room I got dizzy 'cause they give me the sleepy medicine.

using the it-could-be-worse trick

2008-04-21T01:49:00.005-04:00

It's a favorite little mental game of mine. Certainly it helped me feel better in the light of day. The dark of last night and the midnight surgeon (residents, I'm sure) visits left me heartsick and using tissues in the parent's lounge. This photo is really a good summary of our day. Calm and good in many ways: phone calls from darling friends, quiet crafting and stories, and the first food Marian was interested in eating since we arrived (potato chips and ketchup, of course!). She was feeling good enough to be this goofy...but you may also notice her sweet hand carefully held to her central line. It was sore for longer than it should have been, and, sure enough, is infected. The discharge-and-redness signs finally showed up last night, and she's on antibiotics to slow it, but the line has to come out tomorrow morning. They'll place a PICC line during the same anaesthesia, and that should suffice to keep the transplant on course while what next? is decided. We had a may-or-may-not be related blood infection on Thursday that reared its very ugly head with rigors and cyanosis (that's shaking like a leaf and turning blue in the lips and fingers for you lucky non-medical folks) and broke my heart right in two. The shaking preceeded a fever that was caught by antibiotics and Tylenol, and only lasted an hour or so. We did find out that (1) they respond quickly if it's an emergency, (2) 20 people fit in one small room, and (3) their swish-boom arrival doesn't scare Marian. Sweet soul. I was trying to soothe her and she worriedly told me, "I trying to settle down, Mom, but I just can't!" Wanted to make sure I knew she was "good". Oh, very, my dear.

The sweetest thing

beading

2008-04-21T01:44:00.004-04:00

I like beading. I make cool stuff. I made a microscope. I made slides that go with the microscope. I made one slide with a poopie slide, one slide was a wet slide, one slide was a blood slide, and that's what the scientists need to look at to make sure you don't have any germs in your poop, wet, and blood. And I made a stethoscope, and I made a formula bag (formula is what I eat), and I made a bottle of pills and a shot, and I made tubing for a blood test. And I made a bottle half full of blood and a pill bottle I talked about. The medicines that I made were I made two little pills of endocort, I made synthroid that I take. Two hours after my feeding my mom gives me my synthroid. And I also made another blue pill that was light blue, not dark blue, and I made two green pills. And I'm making another pill bottle and I will show you all the pictures when we are done. Bye-bye for now!

t-shirt orders

2008-04-21T01:06:00.002-04:00

I'm placing the last-for-awhile T-shirt order on Wednesday. E-mail me with special requests or questions: three_goats@yahoo.com.

Pre-ordered shirts will arrive in about 3 weeks: 2 week turnaround at the online shop I order from, and a week of shipping.

thank you, NBC 10

2008-04-16T21:04:00.004-04:00

for posting Marian's segment online. You can see the video story on our "Little Superstar" right here!
http://video.nbc10.com/player/?id=240730

We might even get to watch it tonight if the hospital wireless suddenly has a warp speed moment... (edit: it was really slow, but we watched anyway, and loved it!)

and so it begins

2008-04-15T14:53:00.003-04:00

Marian's having a bit of a nap now, recovering from surgery to place a double lumen Broviac catheter (as she explains it, "it's 2 tubes that go to my heart and now no more pokes!") and a very late night in the ER. We were scheduled to come in this morning and start our BMT adventure with the surgery, but crazy intestine action this weekend had the powers that be concerned that she was dehydrated, not really the way to start before fasting for surgery. So Nathan finished up taxes and I finished up all the unnecessary packing that made me feel better and we rushed out to Philly. Except it all took us forever and we didn't get here until midnight :). Into the room by 4:00 am, though, which actually exceeded my expectations. We've been coping via games this visit, with Settlers of Catan in the ER and Nertz (a card game) in the surgery waiting room. I was giddy with lack of sleep and panic, but have been able to keep it silly instead of sobbingly so. Such a fine line :). I think the worst part of being at the hospital, other than the REASON, is all of the sad parents. The waiting room vista is seriously sobering, and slipping through the ER to our triage room (our doctor arranged for us to skip the soaking in germs part) almost brought me to tears (granted, a rather easy feat). Luckily, our room overlooks the ER because, for some reason, the ER waiting lounge has a 9-story vaulted ceiling for our viewing enjoyment.

But we are safely settled and the princess is resting well. So far we've only dipped into the Legos in her treasure bins, but great things are in store! Thanks for checking in with us.

bunny

2008-04-11T18:16:00.003-04:00

This is me pinning the pattern pieces to the fabric. I did the pattern and my mom sewed it on her machine.
I'm embroidering the mouth and after I 'broidered the mouth I did dots for the nose. It looked like a pig but I didn't worry about it. And the eyes are safety eyes.
Here I am pouring bullets in my bunny. And those are my two favorite animals, named Pony and Lambie. They have pellets, so I wanted pellets for my bunny, to make it stand up. And to make it feel like Lambie and Pony.
Here I am stuffing my bunny. My bunny looks cute so far. I like it. I like it! I like it a lot. Oh, yes, I DO-OO!
Here I am sewing my bunny. We wanted that blurry picture there 'cause it could show that I was really tight-ing that thing and that I was doing it FA-AST!

[It is very important to Marian to have a favorite stuffie to sleep with, but the doctors will only let her have cloth items if they can be washed every day. We launder Lambie and Pony often, but thought it might work well to have a larger rotation through the laundry so I'm not washing clothes daily. Audrey also made her an awesome little dolphin with Grandma Donna while we were in the hospital last week. Hopefully she'll share it soon.]

it's a date

2008-04-11T16:41:00.005-04:00

If you live in the Philly area, watch NBC channel 10 at 2:00 pm on Monday: Marian will be on TV!

There are hopes of having the segment available on their website. If so, I'll let you know right away :).

I'm gonna be on TV

2008-04-09T11:37:00.004-04:00

Here I'm practicing the fairy for the TV interview. And they wanted to talk to me about my bone marrow transplant and why I'm getting it and other sorts of things like that and I showed them the T-shirts and I showed them how to make a craft that's a fairy. I liked it.
Here's this funny picture. I was trying to get away 'cause I didn't want any pictures and I was done with the pictures, you know! And I didn't want any pictures any more. And you can see the camera man and the TV lady trying to get a picture with me. It's for the 10! show.
[everyone there, the camera man, host Lori Wilson, and intern Lisa Reindl who "found" us--she's friends with our immunologist and saw him wearing a superstar tee--were so kind and great to work with. They got Marian to talk cheerfully for an hour and a half until she was just plain worn out. She announced "And now I'm done." And she really was! It will air soon, after editing & all & I'll let you know if it's viewable. ]

more crafts I did in the hospital

2008-04-09T11:13:00.005-04:00

My friend Ella gave me some glow-in-the-dark fairies that I could have in the hospital and we made stuff for the glow-in-the-dark fairies. For the beading we use skinny wires to make different stuff and you put on tiny glass beads, and then you make it into something new! We made wands for them. We made a butterfly for them. We made a mama snake and a baby snake for them. I had a new IV so they put it up on my arm so could still use my hand and I liked how they did that. When I go back I'm not going to have an IV. I'm gonna have this tube connecting to my heart and out of my body there's going to be two tubes hanging out but the one that's connected to my heart is just one tube. And it's called a Broviac. And that will be nice because I will be able to use my hands for CRA-AFTS!!
I got some supplies from the TV lady. And I got instruction paper [construction!]. I got foamie stickers, I got Blendy markers. The play lady made a beach for me and I made a machine. And I made that bunny all by myself, with a tiny bit help. I will post the pictures about that later.
My IV was kind of hurting this day so I used my foot to hold the paper. And I have a tricky foot, you see! And the foot helped me cut. Bye bye! See you later!

And I have Vanderbilt scrubs on. I got my Vanderbilt scrubs from my dad 'cause he comed back from Vanderbilt. That's where I used to go to the hospital.

crafts I did in the hospital

2008-04-09T11:00:00.003-04:00

I was talking on the phone with my sister and it made me really happy 'cause look at that giant smile. And here I am working on my Zelda and Ivy paper dolls [mom's post on paper dolls, including a link here], and I drew food trays for them. And you can see the coloring book that Elmo gave me. He gave me a coloring book because he saw that I liked drawing because I was drawing that time and so he gave me a coloring book. I like Elmo!
I'm drawing a house for my paper dolls Zelda and Ivy! I like Ivy. Ivy is the little sister like me. I made a stone roof. I made a stone chimney. And I made ivy all around the house.
And I drawed a picture of a fridge--a little fridge--and I made a remote and I made a shot. I made a microwave. I made a bottle of synthroid [one of Marian's medications]. I made a feeding tube. I made a bottle of formula. I made a bottle of water. I made a pill. And there's the bottle of methotrexate. And methotrexate is a kind of shot. And I made the tubing for the blood tests, and I made the two bottles. One of them are filled with blood. The other one is half full filled of blood. I like drawing. And these are for Zelda and Ivy when they get to the hospital. Bye-bye! See you later!

The hospital

2008-04-09T10:34:00.003-04:00

Here is the Children's Hospital at Philadelphia. Everyone there is an expert. They are very careful. Why are they very careful? 'Cause they don't want the children to get nervous and the children to get hurt. It was good getting blood tests there than the other hospitals because a guy there took a blood test on me and when he poked the needle in it didn't hurt at all. At other hospitals, it's usually like they hurt a lot, but this hospital is very careful. When I got the second IV, the girl didn't look as smart; she looked like she couldn't do it, but POP! she could do it! I told her: "Oh thank you oh thank you oh thank you oh thank you thank you thank you. You are an expert!" My nurses were nice and they were good and they were careful and they were how they were supposed to be.
And this is a picture of me sleeping in the hospital after my first chemo treatment. All of my tubes are: I had stickers on my chest and a sticker on my tummy, and I had an IV (this is my first IV I had), and I had a blood pressure cuff on my leg and I had an oxygen monitor on my toe. And I had a feeding tube hanging from my belly and it makes me hard going to the bathroom.
Mostly I liked to watch TV. And we watched Animal Planet and we learned about a hippopotamus that lived with a family and they made a door that a hippopotamus couldn't open because if she opened the door she would sit on the bed and break it. And we also watched cooking shows 'cause I like cooking with my mom and I like going grocery shopping, even if I'm not a real eater. It will help me eat later. Of course. Bye-bye!

And ELMO! came to see me. And that was the first time I even met Elmo. I like Elmo.

a quick note from dad

2008-04-03T21:38:00.002-04:00

Marian wants all her friends to know that even though she doesn't have very good computer access right now (thanks to Make-A-Wish, this will be remedied on her next, longer visit...more on this later I'm sure) that she's very thankful for all the good wishes and that right now she's doing fine.

Hospital life is sometimes exciting (Elmo visiting) but mostly boring (which is a good thing--drama in the hospital is undesirable).

Anyway, keep wearing your awesome superstar shirts (because you look awesome in them), send your pictures of you wearing them to three_goats@yahoo.com (or marian.grace@yahoo.com), and keeping thinking positive thoughts.

Marian will be home on Saturday and will update personally then.

delays...

2008-03-25T18:25:00.003-04:00

Hello, friends. Thanks for all of your kind wishes. Marian was due to enter the hospital for chemo round one in preparation for her bone marrow transplant on the 17th, but came down with a little fever, so we're bumping everything a week to make sure her body has a possible infection figured out

She's feeling pretty chipper, so we're not worried or anything, just letting out a collective held breath and looking forward to a sudden bonus week. Maybe I'll clean out the pantry. For sure I'll finish those Easter dresses...and finish up my etsy work (including a delayed giveaway to celebrate my 400th sale. Comment on my blog by Friday, 5 pm ET here for a chance to win this little porcelain vines cake stand).

If you already sent mail, thanks! They know who we are there & will hold it for Marian's arrival next week.

What a Wonderful World Love

2008-03-15T11:31:00.002-04:00

I was doing this while I was having IVIG. I have IVIG to help me. While I was painting with my IVIG in, I was having fun, and as you see I painted part of the tree when I didn't have my IV in and part of the tree when I did have my IV in, and I also painted the roses as you see here. That's all I painted and my mom painted the rest. That's all I did 'cause it was hard to paint in all the roses. I am going to use this scarf for my bone marrow transplant. My room theme is going to be "What a Wonderful World," and I will be glad if you will make some pictures of what a wonderful world and you will send them right to me to decorate my room with. [you can find the lyrics to Louis Armstrong's beautiful world here].

Caitlin's Smiles workshop

2008-03-15T11:08:00.007-04:00

I like this 'cause it is special to me and we could give lots of stuff to Caitlin's Smiles. It is great 'cause it gives a journey to me everyday and when I got there I saw a BUNCH of people and they are from Pennsylvania and I was using this to help Caitlin's Smiles and I was doing it at my school at the art room.

Love, Marian

Mirabelle

2008-03-15T11:03:00.006-04:00

I love my doll.
She is so cute.
She is so nice.
She is a goot.

Who is she?
She is a ballerina!
She dance about
'Til night and noon.

Now that's the end of my poem. Thank you, Jennifer, she just looks like me 'cause I go to ballet class with short hair and I have a pink ballet leotard. And also I have black ballet slippers. Her name is Mirabelle.
Love, Marian.

love sweaters

2008-03-15T10:36:00.004-04:00

I love my doll with this sweater on. I like it 'cause it's brand new from my Grandma Goates. And it's lucky that I have one that matches me. I decided every day to wear this sweater when it's spring time or summer and have my dolly get a dress and put this sweater on, too, and at recess we will always play together with our two coats. Thank you, Grandma Goates!

bunny love

2008-03-15T10:23:00.004-04:00

Our new pet is gonna be a bunny. We thought of it 'cause bunnies are cuddly. And also they're cute. They're soft. And because we can take walks with them. And also we can sleep with them.

computer notes

2008-03-13T09:00:00.002-04:00

I made this for my sister named Audrey. She likes them. The one with the cents sign and the six on it I wanted her to put 6 cents on the line. So she did a nickel and a penny. The one that has a picture of a pancake on it and the other stuff on it, those are for things that she likes to do. Her favorite food is pancakes, her favorite color is purple, she likes to play on the computer, and her favorite animal is cats. I made these notes when we were playing on Webkinz World. And also there's different kids of A+s. One with a plus that's made out of two lollipops, and another plus that is curly and another plus that is made out of two 9s.

girl owl.

2008-03-12T23:30:00.007-04:00

I love my owl.
She is so cute.
I just finished her.
She's like a bug-a-boot!

She flies away, 'til night and noon.
She catch some wheat, to eat from the ground.
She takes the wheat, and puts them in her house.
She makes that wheat into speet.
Speet is a kind of soup.
She takes the speet, and puts it in a pot.
She roasts it for ten million minutes.
She eats it up, and goes to bed to sleep.

And that is my owl poem.

[from a sewingstars pattern, Woodland Toys to Sew. I made one in the fall for my nephew, "somebody sweet and sneaky" & Marian wanted a "girl owl." And to show you all the sides, though skipping the right side was accepted: "It's okay you only took one picture here because both of them are the same".]

finally!

2008-03-11T23:59:00.001-04:00

Our superstar shirt order finally arrived yesterday, along with superstar buttons we're throwing in to apologize for how long it took us. Because ...[I typed the reasons and they looked as weak as excuses usually do. We just had all you'd expect]

Also, this dumb situation: they sent us all unisex tees instead of part ladies' tees. So the men's tees will go out tomorrow, and if you don't care & just want the usual (the difference isn't in cut, just shorter sleeves and a slimmer neck ribbing), then I'll send your ladies' right away, too. The printer I used, acmeprints.com, is being super-awesome and doing a rush job, printing & shipping the replacement tees today, so I hope the delay won't be too long.

if you're local...

2008-03-10T09:30:00.004-04:00

...please join us for a project superstar work party on Friday afternoon. A copy of the note I sent to Marian & Audrey's school secretary this morning to e-mail out:

Many of you know that Marian Goates, a first grader at GBLUES, is having a bone marrow transplant this spring. Her family and medical team have high hopes that this will be a turning point in her health, but it will also be a long, frightening journey. As part of her personal preparation, she is earning money and doing work for Caitlin's
miles, a Harrisburg-based organization that distributes craft kits to children in hospitals, and have passions that match ours: crafts and brave kids! They are low-profile, but powerful: in 2007, they distributed 49,536 craft kits to kids in hospitals, as well as thousands of other bags of treats and family support items. You can learn more about this marvelous group at http://www.caitlins-smiles.org/ , and more about Marian's work, project superstar, at her blog, imacraftartist.blogspot.com.

This Friday, March 14th, Marian and the Goates family will be hosting a work meeting for Caitlin's Smiles in the Art Room. We'll meet right after school (2:45 pm) in the Art Room, have a snack, and get to work assembling craft kits, making get-well cards, and decorating bags for their “Bag of Smiles”, a treasure trove that includes a drawing pad/coloring book, crayons/markers/colored pencils, a journal with pen, modeling clay, two craft activities and a Ty Beanie (they distributed 4,715 of those last year!).

Showing up for an hour or a few minutes will really help Marian to feel supported in her sweet charity work. If your child is a friend of Marian's, and worried about her, the opportunity to help can be empowering in a confusing and scary situation. Thank you for being part of the nurturing environment Marian has found at GBLUES. She loves you!

hamster playsets

2008-02-26T12:23:00.004-05:00

Listed in the shop today!

A limited edition of nine. Audrey and Marian worked very hard (with remarkable dedication/attention span) on them, and now deeply desire one themselves, a true test of little girl appeal.

hamsters & hedgehogs

2008-02-25T07:24:00.004-05:00

I like making crafts. There was a snowstorm so we got to work on some new projects for project superstar.

Valentine drawings

2008-02-22T08:23:00.005-05:00

My sister's friend drawed a picture of a duck for my sister, and I drawed a Valentine one, with a Valentine skirt.
I made this big ticket for our Valentine making party.
My nurse Jan comed and I hadn't maked her Valentine yet, so I hid under the piano and had my glue and these little hearts and glued them on the note while she was making my clear medicine work. This is what I wrote.

The artwork of drawing!

2008-02-22T08:02:00.005-05:00

We are at LuLu's Bakery. There's my art from school, and one person from my class artwork got here and my artwork got here. And it has other artwork from other schools. It's a picture of the inside of a house with no no people inside it. And it has furniture. I like furniture. My favorite furniture is TV and computer. And I like beds, too. Beds are super comfy.

Wash!

2008-02-09T18:51:00.000-05:00

superstar soap comes with an original piece of germ art & this handy poem Marian learned in school last week (nice timing, Mrs. Serr!):

Germs are tiny and can't be seen.

They may be small, but they can be mean.

Germs make you feel sick, all sniffly and sneezy.

Your tummy could hurt, or you might be wheezy.

Germs can spread from you to another,

So when you sneeze, your nose needs cover.

Even after you sneeze, germs might try to stay.

They are there on your hands, so wash them away!

Help fight infection with superstar soap!

for some easy-to-remember handwashing songs (most adaptations of familiar tunes), see this helpful webpage.

Handwashing is the easiest and most effective means of reducing the spread of infection.

soaps

2008-02-08T23:18:00.000-05:00

[Anne-Marie at Bramble Berry graciously donated a rather massive amount of melt-and-pour soap to the project superstar effort (in the shop starting tomorrow!), and Marian and I had great fun with our first batch. I didn't like the soap molds I found, but did find a star candy mold, and found that our IKEA silicone ice cube trays worked so slick. And then pushed back bedtime for a second! (and third, but that makes me irresponsible, not "fun". sigh.)]

coming up!

2008-02-07T11:14:00.001-05:00

[On vacation for the last week, but a peek at what's next for project superstar. Marian stole my camera during a pottery shoot she was "helping" with (kept trying to steal her favorites & sit in photos!)
to photograph her stars :)]

thank you

2008-01-30T00:17:00.000-05:00

[A big thank you to everyone for their support and encouragement. I am trying so very hard to be positive during this whole medical and family drama for my little darling and you are helping more than my clumsy words could tell you. I especially appreciate those of you who are, unsolicited, spreading the word. Like roman sock. And dot and mae. (also a good chance to meet lovely new blogs!). It all just makes me feel so hopeful for the world in general--all sorts of rosy hues I'm seeing! --Valerie, Marian's lucky mama]

packaging the superstar necklaces

2008-01-29T19:10:00.000-05:00

We've been working really hard on the snowglobe necklace kits and I hope you like the thank you notes. Mom said to do them quick but I wanted to do everyone's name on it. We'll mail the last of them tomorrow. You can still get them if you want but there are a hundred more. But I hope you still have a nice day. Thank you, we need to get this money to Caitlin Smiles for you want to help!
This picture is blurry because this is how fast I was when I did it, you know.

my hair when I was in kindergarten

2008-01-29T19:06:00.000-05:00

We put this picture up because I used to have long hair like this and now I'm totally different. I still have my stuffed animal lambie but now I cut my hair when I was in first grade. But I like it short. And also it's darker. We cut off of all of the blonde.

hair cut salon

2008-01-26T17:45:00.000-05:00

This is me hugging my daddy before I get my hair cut. I love my daddy. He is very fun. I'm getting my hair cut because one of the pictures on my blog says that I'm getting bald on my bone marrow transplant. And this is why I'm getting my haircut. I'm getting my hair cut because it will be a mess when my hair falls out. And there won't be a big clump there of hair and a big clump there of hair and a big clump there of hair around the hospital and also for it to not get messy.

It was fun getting my hair cut and at the the end I did a very silly dance and I really like it. One of my friends comed with me, and her name is Hailey. It was fun getting my hair cut and of course I showed Hailey my haircut and she was surprised about it. She really liked the cuteness and the love that I did with it and also the cuteness. And I cut enough to give to Locks of Love and that my mom did, too, even though she doesn't like her hair short, but I think it's still really cute.

I especially I washed my hair in a sink. There was a little spot where your neck could rest. I was too small that I couldn't fit my head in the sink to wash my hair. I sat on a lady's lap and her name was Lisa. And there's a picture of me holding my hair that I'm gonna give to Locks of Love. We are gonna mail the hair to Locks of Love and they gived the hair to kids that don't have hair.