Living Dolls

Costumes, make-up, and pretend are not solely the domain of those Hollywood and Broadway folks who work so "hard" to make sure we are entertained. Dressing dolls is an entertaining passion for some. Our dolls dress themselves.

This post is just a small sample of some of the (I was going to say FREE ! LOL Anyone with kids knows how NOT true that is!) ways the girls have entertained us over the past year.

We participate in the traditional HUGE party, carnival, and Trunk or Treat at church every October, usually the Saturday evening before Halloween. Then, since the girls have already had a chance to stock up on sweets in a safe environment, we started a NEW family tradition to replace Trick or Treating. On the actual Halloween, the girls dress up in their costumes and then we go on an adventure. In 2008 we used our annual pass to visit the Aquarium of the Pacific. The colors in their costumes rivaled some of the gorgeous tropical fish we saw.


Doodle decided that we should have a Native American at our Thanksgiving feast. Here she’s helping to sauté the aromatics that will flavor our dressing. Doesn’t she have amazing eyelashes? My brother has eyelashes like that, too. No make-up needed there!

The Sunday after Thanksgiving finds us at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA, welcoming the Christmas season with a traditional Messiah Sing-a-Long. It may not be the White House, but the roses are beautiful and the smiles are sweet.

December runs the gamut from silly to sublime. Most of what you see here is the silly.


Jelly, at ALMOST age 12, got this sunny rose at her New Beginnings program – perfect for our sunshiny blondie. She is growing up wonderfully! (The roses in the background are in the planter at the front of our home. Jelly’s own bedroom window is just out of the top of the frame.)


This collage represents the months we all spent preparing and sharing the production of the Savior of the World. Everyone who knows us agreed that the girls were the most angelic angels!


Woody Family Vacation 2009 was dubbed “The Big Loop Trip.” We traveled over 5000 miles in a very lopsided figure 8.


We went so that we could participate in granddaughter Tamara’s (she’s the cutie wearing the pink jacket and belt) baptism, (and being so close, we couldn’t NOT go to the Mall of America),

*Jelly*

*Doodle*

and we stopped at many National Parks, monuments, and memorials, and kid-friendly museums along the way.

Salt Lake City was the last stop in the loop that provided dress-up opportunities of a HUGE variety, including not-pictured-here dressing up to go to a live broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir – Music and the Spoken Word in the company of the most wonderful senior missionary couple serving!


When we’d recovered from the trip, we didn’t wait long to further our adventures. The girls enjoyed most of the attention they got (they weren’t thrilled at the idea of being sold to pirates!) in their costumes at the German Renaissance Festival, Koroneburg, in Corona, CA.

Dressing up, dressing down, costumes, make-up, stylish do’s --- there are no end to the possibilities.

As Lucy Maud Montgomery, writing Anne of Green Gables said, "Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?"

That’s what dressing up or playing with dolls does – provides extra scope for imagination as we adventure along!

And if you’re entertained in the process, so much the better. ;o)