Oh my gooseness!

Wow, it's the last day of 2011!
The days drag by, but the years fly past! Time startles me. I don't like time myself, so I think I'll be glad when time will stop. :)

This is Ivy Ling's special time! I got her exactly one year ago, New Years Eve!
Anyway, I hope you have a good New Year's Eve. :D Random memorable things this year...

*New Camera
*Three new dolls
*Accomplished level 6 in piano {completing level 7 in february}
*Got to watch Captain America in theaters, and Thor at home! I can't WAIT to see the new Avengers movie!!
*New best friend
*Ice skated for the first time {I didn't fall down once, and I beat my friend LB in a speed race!}
*Two new pet rats Cocoa and Bella
*Learning Golliwog's Cakewalk {really random}


Happy New Year's Eve!


~Spicemuffin

P.S. Sorry, not Ivy! I just wanted to steal Ivy's blog for this post...XD

Nahji is Here Part 1 (Video)

Title says all!

Let me know how it goes!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

To all people everywhere, Merry Christmas!!!
It's so hard to believe its Christmas! Yet here I am, at 5 in the morning, waiting. 
So, while I wait, would you like to sing some Christmas praise with me?

Joy to the World 

The Lord is Come

Let Earth receive her King

Let every heart prepare Him room

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and heaven and nature sing

O Come, all Ye Faithful

Joyful and triumphant

O come Ye, O come Ye to Bethlehem

Come and behold Him

Born the King of angels

O come let us adore Him

O come let us adore Him

Oh come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord

Hark, the Herald Angels sing

Glory to the newborn King

Peace on Earth and mercy mild

God and sinners reconciled.

Joyful all ye nations rise

Join the triumph of the skies

With angelic host proclaim,

Christ is born in Bethlehem!
Hark the Herald Angels sing

Glory to the newborn King!

Infant Holy, infant lowly

For His bed a cattle stall

Oxen lowing, little knowing

Christ the babe is born of all

Swift are singing, angels winging

Noels ringing, tidings bringing

Christ the babe is born for you,

Christ the babe is born for you.

Now if Yoda were caroling with us, the lyrics would be a whole different story. (Ye Faithful, O come all, Joyful and triumphant, to Bethlehem O come ye O come ye...)

I would like to wish you ALL a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

~Sunshiny Ivy

Arizona's Zone: Part 11

As soon as I was in my bedroom, alone, I cried. "It's all my fault," I sobbed into my pillow. I didn't see Jubilee standing at the door. "I think it's time you told your secret," a gentle, yet firm voice said. 


I didn't want to hide it anymore, so I told all. Jubilee nodded. "It's up to the police now," She said. "No! I can help!" I protested. Jubilee shook her head. "I don't think so. Why don't you help us prepare Nahji's room?"


"I don't want to do Nahji's room, I want to find Willow."
"Well, you're not making our new sister feel very welcome here." 
I sighed, knowing she was right. But I wasn't giving up.


The next morning, I smiled, remembering that there was no more school. I flew out the door with Spicemuffin yelling that I hadn't had my breakfast yet. :) I had no time for breakfast!


I searched till lunchtime. Grace had told me the name of the fast food place Willow had gone into. I decided to go there. The food was very cheap, both monetary and taste-wise. 


I decided to talk to the manager. "Did you see a little hungry girl the other day?" I bluntly asked. He eyed my for a second. "Sure did," He replied.


"Where is she?" I asked. "Dad came and got her yesterday." He said. I was suspicious. Willow didn't have a dad! She was an orphan. "What did they go?" I asked casually.


Now it was the manager's turn to eye me suspiciously. It was a while before he pointed out the window. "That blue house on the corner over there." I thanked him, and ran towards the house. It was an old house, with paint peeling off the walls.


I grimaced. "Well, Willow must be in there somewhere." I thought. I sneaked up to the porch, and looked around. The windows were covered with curtains. The door had windows!


I promptly stepped up to the door, and peeked inside. Suddenly, an old rotted board in the porch snapped under my weight! I gasped as the door swung open with a horrible creak.


The man standing there did not look pleasant. In fact, his eyes looked evil. "What do you want?" He demanded. My heart was beating faster than the speed of light. But it nearly stopped altogether when I spotted a gun on his belt.

A new friend

Remember a while back, when Fidelia was writing Nahji? I think it was on Mama's blog. Click the linky, and it will take you to the post. :)
Well, I have a story for you!
Yesterday, I was reading. Fidelia came rushing in. "Ivy! Ivy! IVY!" She exclaimed. I winced. She was loud!
"Yes?" I answered.
"I got a fat envelope from Nahji!" She replied.
I grinned. I liked Nahji. She had just turned nine last month, and was a little older than Fide. "Well, open it!" I urged, putting aside my book. Fide destroyed the envelope, and pulled TWO letters out! 
She opened the first one.


My dear friend Fidelia,
Such a lot had happened since last you wrote me. I have made a new friend! She is my pen pal. She is from an orphanage in Ethiopia! Ethiopia sounds ever so far away. Her name is Rahel. She is very nice, and is 9 years old, just like me! I asked her to write a note, and I had her sign a photo of herself. She is a very beautiful girl. And her hair is absolutely amazing! I think you'd like her, Fide. Did I also mention that she, too, is a believer? I hope that soon, we shall meet again.
Friends always,
Nahji


Fidelia snatched up the other letter. A photo slipped out. "Oooo, she IS pretty!" I murmured. Fidelia could hardly keep still!!

Unlike Nahji, who wrote in script, Rahel wrote in plain bold letters.
Hello, my friends in America!
My name is Rahel. I am Ethiopian. I was born on November 24th, nine years ago. I enjoy bright colors. I hope you like my photo. It was taken in a real studio. I am very proud of it. America has always sounded exciting to me. I hope that I get there soon. And when I do, I might change my name. I'm not sure though. Everybody always says my name is pretty, but I'm not so sure. Bright colors are my thing, although I'll wear anything pretty. Anyway, I'd better go. 
Best wishes,
Rahel


I had to say, it was pretty exciting! We can't wait to talk to Rahel and Nahji again soon. Ethiopia and India do sound very exciting.


Sunshiny Ivy

We Clean the Room

Well, Mama's bedroom was getting pretty messy. That meant that our bedrooms were getting messy too! No one wants giant clothes or giant hangers tossed haphazardly into their rooms. So! Us dolls decided that we were going to clean it for her.
First, we wondered how to begin. We decided to gather all the clothes into the center of the room. That was hard! So we took a short nap.

 Then, we folded that big ole monster pile of clothes! I sat on top of the 'skirts' pile. :)

 It was then necessary to browse through Mama's fan art of her favorite series, DragonKeeper.

 The one on bottom is "Dragonkeeper Kale" Can you see Kale? How about the dragons?

 Aha! Jubilee gathered all media. We found an AG hair book, Narnia {squeal}, Return of the King from Lord of the Rings {yay!}

Haha, then we gathered some other of Mama's stuff into a pile. :) Hehe!!

After we finally finished, we struck a group pose for the camera. I can do the splits! Joy did a headstand, while the rest of the girls just created random poses. :)

I hope you enjoyed!!

We never knew

I have a guest speaker today! And it's someone I never even knew about.

We're dolls. I'm a doll. I'm not ashamed of it. Most people don't even know that we're alive, just like everyone else!
But what about our dolls?

My sisters and I have three dolls all together. We assumed they were just...well...not alive.
Well. We were wrong!

May I introduce...Sierra Rose!

♡♥♡Hi! I'm Sierra Rose. Today, I'm going to talk about my friends Taylor Angelique and Karina Grace. We are all 11 years old. It's nice to meet you!
So, our story begins with...well, when we first joined up. Prior to meeting each other, we were shy, and dared not even move or blink. 


Aren't I pretty? I'm the redhead in the pink hoodie. Taylor is, of course, the blond. We were riding on a pony: Chestnut. Those are our dogs. The white terrier is my pup, Cupcake. The brown beagle is Taylor's dog, Patches. If you're wondering, Karina isn't there with us because she wasn't around yet. :)

 Here's the first time Taylor and I got to have a long talk. Using our legs and being silly felt GOOD after months of sitting on Spicemuffin's bookshelf, sitting still and wearing the same facial expression. SO wonderful!

 You don't know how hard it is to be an Only Hearts Club doll. If people thought that AG dolls were small, what do you think we are? Miniscule. Tiny. Hardly even thought of. Well, it felt good to have this special time together. BFF time!

  Even the pups loved it!

I'm terribly sorry about the lighting and quality of these pictures. I'm not so good with the self timer or a huge camera. :( Also, the blue twilight was messing up the cam. 

Continuing...

Last week, I called a meeting. I told the girls to meet by the big pumpkin. 

Here's Karina, the girl in the light sweater.

Taylor suggested we tell Spicemuffin. I nodded. We all thought it would be the best thing to do. 

"So what are we waiting for?" Karina blurted out. "Let's go!" We all yelled, "YEAH!"

So, we directly went to Spicemuffin and introduced ourselves, then and there. Spicemuffin, perplexed, excused herself. 
We thought we had messed everything up, and moped.

But then, guess what? Spicemuffin surprised us with a new bedroom! We were so pleased. We still LOVE LOVE LOVE our new room. 

All of us hope that soon, other dolls will join us soon. :)♡♥♡

Sunshiny Ivy

Siggy Test and Estate Sale Finds

Hello! Well, it appears that my HTML code worked out good. :)
So! Mama went to an estate sale a while back, and she asked ME to post them! Yay!

This pin is really pretty.

It's a little golden rose. Mama says it's only costume jewelry, but if I wore it, I'd feel like a queen! I believe it was $5?!

d'Awwww, Mama got a basket for us! She has this weird thing for baskets. And it was free! We love to use it as a catch-all. 

This is Mama's. It's her catch all. :) It's a lovely {heavy!} glass bowl, only a dollar and fifty cents.

Sweater! 

Gray. :) It matches our weather right now.

Mama says she might use this 1 dollar shirt for clothes for us! How nice of her.

*gasp* I adore this necklace. Too bad it's too big for doll necks. ;O

Mama loves it too. :) But it's Nanay's necklace.

Pretty!!! Yet again, costume jewelry. :)

Below is my siggy. I think it worked!! Ha ha, enjoy your day!

Sunshiny♡Ivy

Arizona's Zone: Why not? Part 9 and Part 10

{Woah, sorry it's been a while! I completely forgot about it. Still, it's good to know that people read my poor series. :)}
{And guess what? I'm putting TWO parts instead of just one.}

PART 9

It had been a week since seeing Ms. Jordyn. Every day, I had sent Grace or Natalie to bring food to Willow. I was too ashamed to show my face to the little girl I let down.


"You know what?" A voice snapped. To my great surprise, Natalie stood in front of me. "You need to snap out of it. You can't change what happened." I knew she was right, but I wouldn't admit it.


She sat down next to me, and wrapped her arms around me. "Ari, it wasn't your fault. A week, you've hidden in here. The girls in the gardening club and the author's group have missed you so much."


I didn't respond. "Arizona. Willow is so depressed. Arizona! She thinks it's because she did something that you're staying away."


I turned to look at her. "Tomorrow afternoon, after the club and the group. Tomorrow I will see her." Natalie smiled warmly. I smiled back.


I sighed in relief as the bell rang and glanced at my schedule.

8-8:30 Bible Group

8:35-9:15 Grammar

9:20-10 Science

10:05-10:50 History/Lit

Fifteen Minute Break!

11:05-11:45 Government/Economics

11:50-12:30 Lunch

12:35-1:10 Health

 1:15-2 Math

I had survived my school day...and math! Yuck. I stuffed my things in my locker quickly before running off to the Gardening Club. On the way there, I noticed Jubilee and Ivy running together to their Photographers Guild {just a homey studio created by the girls at the school} I laughed. The two BFFs {and my sisters!!} made quiet a cute picture.

I only vaguely remembered our activities. We planted some crocuses outside our dorm rooms, and Elizabeth gave us some exotic succulents from her extensive collection. I remember discussing plant names, and nothing more.

I was about to head to the Lake when I remembered the Authors Group! Meep. I darted off just in time for the gathering. We wrote some stories and exchanged books. By that time, I was almost too excited to stay in my seat!

As soon as the group ended, I rushed out to the Lake. "Willow!" I cried. Nothing. I scoured the banks of the Lake. Aside from some food crumbs, I found nothing.

I tried searching the woods. I wore my voice out yelling. Willow was not to be found. I stumbled to the meadows by the Lake. It started to rain. "Willow's gone, and it's all my fault," I cried.

The rain bore down heavier and heavier. Still, I stayed out, calling for my dear friend. My limp hair was soaked. My clothes were drenched. I shivered as my clothes started to freeze around me. November weather wasn't conducive to staying cozy in one's clothes.

I remember growing light headed. I ignored the sensation, and pressed on. Then, the world started to spin. My vision started to gray from the outer edges in. The blood drained from my head, and I collapsed.

❀❈❁✾❃✿❃✾❁❈❀

PART 10

"Ari! Oh Arizona!!" I heard a voice. I slowly opened my eyes. There was Grace. Her unseeing eyes were scary to me. "I'm okay," I murmured.

I looked around. I was still laying on the grass outside! "Natalie spotted you, and has gone for help." The sky was clear, and it was freezing. There was frost on the ground, and frost on myself.

"Tell me all," I said, and closed my eyes again. "Well, last night, you didn't come back to the dorm--"

"Last night?" I cried. "Let me finish!"

"We thought that you might've gone home. Then, this morning, you weren't at the Sunrise overlook. So, we searched for you. Natalie found you. She thinks you might have 1st degree hypothermia. Do you feel very cold?"

"Not very cold...just a touch. Actually, sometimes I feel warm." I said. Grace nodded. "She's right. Anyway, it's 7:30 in the morning, and 40 degrees F."


I nodded slowly. "Willow is gone," I whispered. Grace heard. She combed her fingers through her silky brown hair. "She was getting sad that you didn't want to see her anymore. I guess she decided to move."


A tear rolled down my face, and I sighed. 

~~~

After that, Natalie came with some paramedics who took me to the hospital. They gave me an IV, and a nasty cocktail of medicine. Yuck.

Then, after all that icky stuff, Natalie, Grace, and Joy walked in. They weren't smiling. "Willow was reported being seen going into a fast food place. She never came out."

J.J. comes over

Yes, I realize that there has been a terrible lack of posts. But you know the holidays. Even a doll has to prepare for Thanksgiving. Mama is visiting relatives for a big feast. Us doll sisters just can't sit around on the big day! At the end of this post is a plan that all of us decided on. But for now, here's some pictures!

One of Mama's besties, J.J. came over not too long ago. And she brought all the Gold Valley Dolls! 

Arizona here! May I introduce...

Stephanie Antoinette!!

*applauds*

Stephanie is a new arrival from France. Luckily for us, she speaks a fair amount of English. Every week we talk to her, the more she improves in her speech and grammar. Jubilee and I have been helping her. She's very nice, and even Ivy loves her.

Oh, you be quiet! Ivy again. That's enough for Ari anyway. ;) My blog anyhow.

 New faces, and old friends. Here's the well loved Sunny. She's been going over fashion changes. Her vest looks rather cute, but I'm not quite sure what to think of the green eyebrows.


I like them.


Of course you do! You'd be rainbow colored if you could help it. :)

 Isn't Jubilee so chic?
My sister is a pro at fashion.
Yes, and she always looks adorable. She went preppy that day. Elizabeth went casual in softly worn denim.
:D

Ari and Joy!
Meeeeeeee!!!!!!
YES YOU!!!
Can you see a the pic of Elliebob on the bulletin board? In case you were wondering, the photo next to that is not Mama. :)

 I don't really know why this is here. I love Mama's camera's macro setting. :D

I'm not even sure if my blog posts are interesting anymore so...
SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!
Tell me what you'd like to see, and I'll try and do it. :)


So! Let's get to the Thanksgiving plans.

Mama leaves.

Start cooking Thanksgiving feast!

Play in some leaves outside

Have a mini dance party.

Eat Thanksgiving feast! YUM!

Watch a movie while falling asleep

Get up and rampage the living room.

Play a game on couch.

Mama comes home. 

:)

I don't know about you, but it sounds fun to us. XD

Don't forget! Suggestions for this blog. :) Anything! :D

Ivy                             and       
Arizona

The Brightest Flowers You've ever Seen {and rain rain rain}

Our geraniums are loving it! I've never seen our flowers this bright. Keep in mind, these are not edited.

I know, right? It almost hurts the eyes!
And today, Arizona and I made up a little poem to the chant of "Rain Rain Go Away"

Rain, rain, come and play

Come and play with me all day

LOL. Gotta love Arizona!

Also, sneak peek!!

Bedroom Redo

This photo is of Jubi and Marie's REMODELED Bedroom!

Yes, those white pillars are the legs of Mama's desk. :) 

We're all remodeling! We can't wait to show you!

Especially now that Ari, Joy, and I share a room.

Come back soon to see the final results!

Sunshiny Ivy

Little Avatar and Something New

Isn't she adorable? I made her with my friend yesterday. :)

Well, the something new is...

We've been learning about HTML!

We know how to put up images in a JavaScript gadget, format signatures into our posts, and create drop down menu boxes!

Yeah, pretty much pointless post. ^-^

Still, I don't want to send you away without photos! So here you go...

Winterberry! My awesome, incredibly cute, super puppy!

Yes, I love my pup.

Rainbow! {if you can see it}

Little sis Noni {Naomi} calls them "Rainy Bows"

 Mama's awesome succulent dish. Doesn't look like that anymore though...I think because winter's coming.

 I think we named this plant "Nonay"

 The fuzzy plant is "Chia" That's not the name of a variety, but the name that Mama gave it. :)

"Heartit" is this plant's' name. Sadly, Heartit is losing its leaves. Wah!

Well, the Rose Hollow Dolls have to sign off now. Be seeing you real soon!

Giveaway at {allie photography}!!

We love giveaways. We enter them any time we can!

So we wasted no time in entering THIS giveaway. 


Allie is giving away this amazing handmade flower headband! Go, click the linky, check it out, and enter!


Thanks, we will have a post up later. :)

Changes ahead

Well, if you haven't noticed, we're in the process of revamping our blog. Sorry that we've deleted the pages! We're still trying to get the hang of things so...thanks for being patient. :)

Changes already made:

*New fonts: Blogger has added new fonts to Advanced Design! Check it out! :D
*Deleted pages: They're not necessary since we're sisters again. :)
*Bevels: Gotta love bevels! Just in case you don't know, bevels are those dark lines separating the gadgets on my sidebar. :D


Changes to come:
????????????????


Well, yeah, we don't know!

THAT's for sure!


Ari, GET OFF.

Fine!


Yes, well. :) Stay tuned, we'll have some sort of interesting post up soon! XD

~Sunshiny Ivy~

Grrr

I'm so upset with Spicemuffin, AKA my mama.

Do you know what she means to do?

She wants to change the whole plot of our lives!!

She wants to make us all adoptive sisters! I am so. Angry.

It's not that I don't like the other girls, it's just that we originally were adoptive sisters before she threw us into different families!
Now that we've finally adjusted, she's changing us back. How frustrating.

Nothin' I can do about it though. She's waay taller than I am after all.


~IVY~

Please forgive Spicemuffin

Hello, it's the Rose Hollow Dolls all assembled on the computer! LOL. ;)

Ivy here in red. :)
Arizona {i have to pick one color?!} in green.
Joyce in blue!
Fidelia in dark yellow!!!
Jubilee in purple. <3
Marie in a light purple!




I believe we are all here?


Except Naomi and Peace of course.


Then, yes, we are all here.


So, we want to apologize for our dearest guardian and friend, Spicemuffin.


You see, Mama has been well. . . very busy!


Isn't she knitting the giveaway present?


HUSH!


That, and she's been dancing and practicing gymnasticisms!


You mean gymnastics?


Yeah, that.


Yes, well, we'd like to say she is almost done with the giveaway present. 


So please forgive Spicemuffin. She is very sorry for not posting.


Since it's no good keeping a secret, YES, we're having a giveaway. We're giving away a pair of fingerless gloves for dolls just like us! In case you're wondering, there'll be other *mystery* items to be given away. Excited? We hope so. You **MAY** even get a hand-drawn picture from Spicemuffin. That's a huge maybe. Considering she's so busy.


I CAN'T WAIT! That'll mean pictures of the giveaway items, and Spice will need models, won't she? I'll be a real live model! How cool!


Um, yeah, I guess you would! So yeah, Spice WILL be done soon, no worries. :)




We'll be seeing you soon!

Video Story

You've all read {this post} right? If not, go ahead and read it. :)


The video below is my version of the story. :D

Hope you like it.

Arizona's Zone: Why not? Part 8

{I also realized I forgot my colors of awesomeness last time! Oh no!}




Nervously, I knocked on Ms. Jordan's office door. When she opened it, a worried look came over her face. "Arizona, Natalie, and Grace! Whatever could be the matter?" She was getting anxious.


Then, she noticed Willow. "Who is this?" She asked. "That's why we're here!" Natalie spoke up. "Yes, we would like this girl to be able to stay here with us, so we could take care of her."


"It's a noble thought, of course, but her parents should be caring for her!" Ms. Jordan said. "But I don't have any!" Willow protested.


Ms. Jordan softened. "I'm sorry, but unless Willow has her tuition paid, she cannot stay here in the building." I sighed. Tuition. That was $1000 a year. 


Solemnly, we all walked out of her office. We took Willow outside, next to the lake. Natalie had gone back to pack a basket full of nonperishable food for our little friend.


"What if it rains?" Willow asked. "You'll have to stay in the woods, over there," I pointed. The little girl nodded solemnly. "Here you are!" Natalie announced, running towards us.


She had a basket, two blankets, and a walkie talkie. She threw them down, and brought the walkie talkie to Willow. "If you need us to come, press this button," Natalie pointed to a red square button.


"And this button is to invite us to talk. Our device will vibrate until we talk to you." She showed the little girl a round green button. Willow nodded again.


I was the last one to go. With tears in my eyes, I waved to my little friend. I wished her luck, and told her I'd visit tomorrow. 


I was so torn. What could I do? I couldn't just leave a young girl out at night by herself. I wanted to adopt her, but, being a kid myself, I couldn't do it. I cried myself to sleep that night. What could I do?

Arizona's Zone: Why not? Part 7

{Oh my goodness! Has it been that long since my last entry?}

It was Joy. I forced a grin. She didn't smile back. "Ivy told me something was up with you!" She said. "I see she was right. Arizona, why would you do a silly thing like this?"

I'm pretty sure my hair must've been on fire, for I was really angry. "You think it's silly that there are orphans out there? You think it's silly that Willow has been starving until now?"

Joy shrugged. "You have to tell Ms. Jordan, you know." She stated. I shivered just thinking about having to talk to the headmistress. "We know." Natalie sighed. "I'll go," I offered. Grace squeezed my hand. "Me too."

"Not without me!" Natalie put in. Meanwhile, Willow was just standing there the whole time. "Me too!" She chirped. We all stared at her. "You realize you might not get to stay here?" Grace queried.

Willow nodded. "Maybe the headmissy will change her mind!" She smiled. Joy giggled, and I relaxed. "Head-missy, eh?" The chinese girl's eyes sparkled with absolute merriment.

I grinned. It was a funny thought. "Well, I probably should head off to my gymnastics practice." Joy said. "Good luck on your routine!" Natalie grinned. Joy nodded, and slipped out the door.

I shivered in nervousness. What would Ms Jordan do?

I love this...

Look what I found at A Pondering Heart!

Isn't this a lovely thing? Mama and I love this. We want to do it...but it's hard, isn't it?


~SunshinyIvy~

songbirds

It was a gorgeous sunset. Arizona and I were taking a friendship stroll. I pretended we were fashion models, showing off new styles on the catwalk. Needless to say, Arizona pretended we were two inseparable spies, investigating a scene. 

in the distance, songbirds sang, celebrating the joy of friendship. A mourning dove cooed in recognition of the sad days we left behind. A chipper little finch celebrated the beauty with zest in his little chirps. I love the songbirds, singing without any concern. A scrub jay screeched at us {hardly a song}, and a little swallow performed a perfect dive, singing a lovely melodious tune. Then, we came upon a quiet little group. The Rose Hollow Dolls!

We waved.

They reminded me of the mournful dove, singing of past sorrowful events. Arizona preferred to look to the future with an energy and zest that I've come to love. A look of concern washed over her face, and she rushed up to grab her sister Jubi's hand. "Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Nine eleven." Jubi simply said. 

"I know!" I said. "How about this. Let's sing the national anthem and put up the flag one more time in honor of that sad event."

"Then," Arizona burst out, "We can look to the future and show those terrorists they can't terrorize us!"

I agreed heartily. The other dolls agreed, and we gathered into a formation. Joy rushed to put out the flag, and came back in a hurry.

"Ready?" I asked.

 And so we songbirds sang.

Oh say can you see

By the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed

At the twilight's last gleaming

Whose broad stripes and bright stars

Through the perilous fight

O'er the ramparts we watched

Were so gallantly streaming

And the rockets red glare

The bombs bursting in air

Gave proof through the night

That our flag was still there

Oh say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!

 It was a beautiful song, and when the lovely notes of that beloved tune died away, we all felt better.

Whenever you are feeling down, pipe up a song. You'll find that you'll feel much better.