A Girl and her Dog

One of the best friendships you can have is between a girl and her dog.

Winterstorm and I are like this.

He and I sit together at the park in the evenings to watch the sun set.

I watch the birds fly to the trees.

Winter watches the other dogs play.

When one of us is lonely, the other is there for comfort. Winter always makes me feel better!

He trusts me, and I trust him.

He's the best pet ever! Sure, the other girls have their own cute dogs, but I think Winter is the best one of them all.

As the sun disappears behind the trees, we walk back home, knowing it will be dark in half an hour.

Winter always stays right by my side. He is a good, loyal dog.

And when the day is other and it's time to go to sleep...

We sleep, knowing there will be a new adventure for us tomorrow.

One of the best friendships I've ever had is between Winter and I.

I regret that school is starting soon. I will be back to boarding school, and Winter and the other dogs will be lonely. But, I can look forwards to weekends when I walk home to visit. And Winterstorm will be there, waiting for me.

Goofing Around

While at J.J.'s house, we always love to goof around.

Fide loves handstands!

But Marie somehow always screws up her gymnastics. :)

Christina accidentally landed on her stomach when she overshot a front layout. :O Ouch!

Ta-da!

I'm not quite sure how they landed in the same position. :/

Have a great summer!

On Behalf of Spicemuffin

This is a status update on behalf of Spicemuffin.
She's very sorry that she hasn't been doing real posts {so am i}.
She was on vacation, and just got back.
Also, she thinks she has poison oak. It's on her stomach, and it's spreading. :O

So, we will try to upload some pictures for you soon!

New McKenna Stuff

Have you all seen the new American Girl stuff?

I've been drooling over McKenna's stuff. That lucky gymnast! I don't have HALF of the stuff she has.
Here's her "Performance" set. It's really for rhythmic gymnasts. :)

Here is her team gear. It doesn't come with much. Just a jacket, bracelet, medal, and slippers. :)

I would post more, but our pictures have been haphazardly disappearing randomly. Freaky. :O
As soon as I get my next upload in, I'll do a post.

Jessamine Dances

I remember her excited face as we waited in the dressing room. She wasn't nervous at all. How could she be? Dancing was her newfound passion, her joy.

She stood there, barefoot near the door, patiently waiting for her name to be called out. "How do you feel?" I asked her.
"Alive," She replied.

As it was getting closer to her turn, Jessa took a few minutes to stretch.
Her legs slid into the splits seamlessly.

I blushed, remembering how many years it had took for me to get my middle splits. Jessamine was dancing in the beginner's level!

"Next is Jessamine Kate, dancing to a song called 'Indescribable'"
I gave her a quick hug and a smile. Her eyes were dancing long before her body ever moved.

She walked out to the stage like a diva, the audience applauding loudly.
Quietly, she stood at center stage, waiting for her music to begin. I slipped out to stand against the wall by the front row.

Then her music started. Thinking ended, and then it was all dancing, feeling, and loveliness.

With a sweet smile towards the judges throughout the entire dance, her body moved fluidly.
I was amazed that a beginner could dance like this.

Then came a series of split leaps. I was worried, knowing that she had had trouble with these at practice. I remember her face looked concerned. She didn't get enough height.

She landed solidly, seemingly laughing at her doubt and my own. I smiled. She pointed her foot in front of her, throwing her hand in the air.

Like a fairy, she seemed to float across the stage. Her releve was very well done. She pivoted as she prepared for the next section of the song.

The chorus of the song came again, and so, more gravity defying movements. This time, she leaped off the floor, and got excellent height on her split leaps.

She slid forwards, spun around, and performed tendu. I was beginning to be very proud of my little sister.
I looked to my right. The audience was captivated by the little 9-year-old.

She glided into her arabesque. The dance was almost finished.

With the final notes of the song, my sweet Jessamine slid into her splits, hands to heaven. The audience cheered. I looked over at my family. Jubilee, my level headed sister, sat smiling and cheering. A tear was in the corner of Joy's eye, while boisterous Fidelia was screaming, "Go Jessa!"

I smiled. It was a wonderful dance. But what would she place. I met her backstage and gave her a hug. "That was absolutely terrific!" I whispered.
"Thank you!" Jessamine replied.

I grinned. "Now I may call you Aerojessa."
"Hey!" She laughed and shoved at me.

Stay tuned to see what Jessamine placed.


~Sunshiny Ivy~

My Sister Joy

My sweet s'istra, Joyce. And yes, I do realize that s'istra is not Chinese at all. Who can tell me what language it is? :)

Today, the spotlight is on Joy!

My wonderful little sister, Joyce Eloise, is 12 years old. She mostly hangs around inside the house (which explains why her skin is so light.)

She always wears a sweet smile on her face. Sometimes she can be a big tease. She always wants to know where everyone is for some odd reason.

When she goes outside, she usually brings a book to read.

This afternoon, she decided to read a book about cats on the front lawn.

But then, the neighbor's cat came for a visit. "Ai!" yelled Joyce as she felt something wet at the back of her head. "Oh, it's you, King!" She said.

Even though all of us like cats, giant cats getting in our faces while trying to read is just plain distracting.

Joyce plucked a flower off our geranium plant and climbed up on the pillar. The red matched her jet hair so beautifully.

Oh no! The cat climbed up on the pillar too! Spicemuffin tried to push him away. Finally, she got him to lay down in the lily bushes. :) I must say, it was all very entertaining.

I like this picture. It declares the simplicity of who Joyce is, yet the bold red color is like her colorful personality. At first glance, one wouldn't think Joy was a fun person to be around. :)

I like this picture too! The lighting was just perfect.

As King the cat kept bothering us, we adjourned to the back porch. Joy immediately headed for the potted plants. A touch of green provides great relief to the eyes. Did you know that green is the easiest color for the eyes to look at?

Well, Spicemuffin's plants aren't green, per se. She has reddish succulents, blue succulents...

And even a purple/black one! Isn't that just so amazing?

Once you actually get her to go outside, she can be quite adventurous. She just prefers either being in the house or in the gym. :) I told her to do something crazy. She decided to jump off the pillar.

Joy is rather good at handstands. I think I can beat her though! I am level 6, she's only level 4. :)

And here is Miss Joyce inside yet again. This is what she does a lot. Sit by the window.

I wish I had such pretty eyes. Hers are dark brown with an explosion of amber lights. My eyes are plain  brown accented with grey.

My sweet sister. It seems like yesterday when we were adopted out of China...

I better leave her alone for a while. Enough pictures! :D

I hope you enjoyed this post!!

~Sunshiny Ivy~

Arizona's Zone: Why Not? Part 12

Hey there! I finally got to continue my series! Yayz! Sorry for the LONG delay. 

Click HERE to read the last part.

~*~*~*~

I had to think fast. What should I do?! "Ummmm..." I started to say. The man glared. "I was wondering if....if...you would...um....care to make a donation to the Rose Hollow Animal Shelter?" 

The man glared at me for a few moments before digging in his pockets. I noticed a blanket hanging on the coat rack. Willow's!

The man shoved a dollar at me before heaving the door closed. I exhaled. My palms were sweating. That was too close.

I panted. What to do now? I suppose I had better call the police. Instead, I went down to the station and told them in person. I hoped they would listen.

A nice officer, Officer Gonzalez, offered to bring a couple of officers. Officers Turner and Barnes came along with us. They accompanied me to the street where the house was.

I wanted to go in with them, but they told me to stay by the restaurant. I obeyed. I twisted my fingers as I watched them surround the house. They burst into the house. From my position, I heard echoing cries of "Clear!"

I was confused. All clear? It couldn't be! I just saw the man with the gun! Where was Willow? Maybe the man had left her? The police officers exited the building and approached me.

"There's no-one inside," Officer Barnes reported. "And it looks like nobody's been there for a long time. Have you been telling stories?"

"No!" I cried. "I saw him, I really did."

Jessamine's Dance Competition

Yes, I know I've been absent for a long while. :( Our computer wouldn't upload pictures for the longest time! And finally, I can upload pictures. :)

A long time ago {a few weeks, I think}, Jessamine had her dance competition. She was in the beginner's level, because she just started last year.

She was so excited the day of the comp.! She was unstoppable, and uncontrollable! Good thing there are no more competitions until the summer.

First, she got on her outfit. Usually, one would get ready at the dressing rooms, but we had a little too much time on our hands here at home.

Jessamine wore her simple pink tunic. She loves the crinkly texture, and the fact that it's very light and airy.

Mama was in charge of getting her ready. First, she worked on Jessa's hair. She slipped a pearl headband on to keep the short hairs out of her face, and slipped all the curly unruly hair into a ponytail.

Jessamine asked for a flip, so Mama gave her one. The pink elastic matched her dress perfectly.

Next was makeup. I'm not quite sure what to think of that small a doll wearing makeup, but I decided I didn't want to get into a fight on the day of her competition. I know how excited and jittery a doll can become. I decided to play nice, and let it be. {of course, if there wasn't a competition, she and mama would never hear the end of it!}
She got lip gloss.

And eyeshadow.

Mama didn't have a makeup brush small enough for Jessamine, so she just used a small, clean paintbrush.

Jessamine also asked for perfume. Perfume! At that, I almost exploded! But surely, Mama wouldn't let her?
But she gave it to her!
I was about to argue, but Arizona strategically pulled me out of the room. "Save it for later," She whispered.

I joined them again only when it was time to get on the bus to the dance center.

We met Jessamine's dance teacher, Miss Elizabeth, as we filed in. She's very pretty and nice, but very serious.

You could clearly see the excitement in Jessa's eyes. She was so thrilled! I was also surprised that she didn't appear to be nervous. Good for her.

-sigh- Pretty much everyone's face got cut off in this picture. I wonder why Mama kept it? Oh well.

Outside the dance center, we all gathered for a group picture!
Here's us, the 18 inchers...

And here's all the Rose Hollow Dolls! I have a LOT of sisters.

The actual competition will come another day. It will have pictures of Jessamine during her dance, and the results! Stay tuned!!

~Sunshiny IVY~