Raggedy Ann's 100th Birthday party

Most children have some sort of stuffed animal or blanket that they attach to at a young age. My oldest son loves his Blues' Clues stuffed animal.  For my daughter, it's her giraffe blanky that Uncle Joe bought her when she was 6 months old.  For me (even as a 35 year old woman), it was and still is Raggedy Ann.  I got my first Raggedy Ann when I was 2yo and a "little old church lady" made one for me.  Through the years as I utterly destroyed a doll b/c I drug her everywhere, I would get another Ann (known as "Aggie" to my childhood self).  I still have all my old Aggies and love them still.  Raggedy Ann has been everywhere with me.  I even took her to the hospital with me when I had all four c-sections for my children.  So of course, I wanted to be in Arcola, IL this past weekend when Raggedy collectors from everywhere celebrated our special little red-headed ragdoll.  And to make it extra special, my husband and I took along our 8 year old daughter to celebrate.....and party we did.
Arcola, IL is about a 4.5 hour drive from our Ohio home. It also happens to be the birthplace of Raggedy Ann's creator, Johnny Gruelle.  Arcola is smalltown USA and I love it.  Truly a midwestern little town, it has a brick Main St complete with a train track that runs right through town.  It is also pretty much Amish country which means great food, horse and buggies, and kind friendly people.  There is a little Arcola Depot which house a mini-Raggedy Ann museum as well as a Hippie Memorial, a Memorial to Johnny Gruelle and the famous "Walldog Murals" which are all over the little town.

For several years, the Arcola Chamber of Commerce held an annual Raggedy Festival which turned into a Raggedy Gathering (held in Arcola, collectors' homes in Ohio, Florida and elsewhere) and then last year was deemed a Raggedy Rally.  This year it was a Raggedy Gathering for her 100th birthday and collectors came from everywhere (as far as Japan!).  It was one of those few times where it is okay to see a grown woman (or man) carrying around a rag doll.  There were even a few dressed as a Rag doll.  I just wore a tutu (and only for an afternoon).  Friday began with a cemetery crawl and mural crawl around town.  Susie Partridge, a town native and Raggedy Ann/Arcola expert, led the events.  Later in the day was some Raggedy purchasing and a Friday night dinner that also held a silent/live auction to help fund next year's gathering.  It was attended by 200 enthusiastic collectors.  For me, it was particularly fun to see people that I met last year and have gotten to know on Facebook Raggedy pages.  It was a great night.  Highlights of the night (beyond seeing old and new friends and good food) included seeing Joni Gruelle Wannamaker, granddaughter of Johnny Gruelle and hearing from special guest William Carpenter who recently purchased and is renovating a home in Indianapolis that belonged to Johnny Gruelle's parents.  May amazing raggedy items were auctioned off and many people brought their rare Volland Raggedy Ann dolls. Volland was the original producer of Raggedy Ann in 1915.

Saturday started off fast and furious with the Vendors' Barn opening bright and early.  There was a makeover doll contest where various Raggedy Anns were put in costumes and then the people voted on various categories.  Joni Gruelle Wannamaker signed all licensed dolls.  And the fabulous Patty Hall, raggedy author and musician, gave a us a little concert.  There were also a kids' coloring contest, an ice cream social, and a conga line (led by yours truly) around the vendors booths out the door to the depot and then eventually down Main St. Arcola!  Now you see why I had to have a tutu.  There was even an impromptu dance party outside the depot where we "did the Hokey Pokey and turned ourselves around" because, you know, that's what it's all about!

Saturday night was the grand finale of a Saturday birthday party where around 200 people gathered together to chat, celebrate and honor Johnny Gruelle and his Raggedy creations.  Patty Hall gave a little presentation of the history of Raggedy Ann.  There was a great buffet.  The Girl Scout Troops came and sang to us and sang Happy Birthday to Raggedy Ann as a LARGE Cupcake Tower was presented.  I did not get a lot of pictures of the goings-ons because I was off talking, laughing, hugging, and photographing friends and fellow collectors but I borrowed a few pictures to show.  Some amazing volunteers, primarily Kathy and John Ellis, had an amazing display of Raggedy characters through the years.

We headed home during the wee hours of the night after the party but what a great time it was!  I was so excited to go with my little Izzy and share something with her.  I'm still astonished over  a year later at the kinship I share with a lot of these other collectors. They are just dear, dear friends and I love the comraderie that we share.  It is all thanks to a little ragdoll with the candy heart.  After all, Raggedy Ann's biggest legacy is that she "loves you"!

Kal's graduation

So I'm terribly behind (again) on this blog thing.  The school year was just plain CRAZY with many many many activities in May.  The big shebang at the end was Kal's preschool graduation and it looked to be a whole lot of fun.
Kal's preschool graduation always starts with a picnic which was a lot of fun. Then the families move inside the building while the children sing some songs and put on a few plays.  Kal had some great moments in the 2 plays he was a part of.  However when we came inside to start the program, he refused to keep his shoes on.  At the time I didn't think it was a big deal.  Fast-forward to his second play and he is a bunny that hops around.  It was actually pretty funny as he was a bunny along with a little girl from his class.  But he was wearing the pink bunny ears and she was wearing the blue bunny ears.  Somehow as they hopped around, Kal came down on his foot wrong and by the end of the play, he is sitting on the floor crying.  Of course, right after that was the graduation portion and Kal walked on his knees to accept his diploma.  I thought he was just tired and lazy but by the next morning he still refused to put pressure on his foot and my biggest fear was that he broke his foot.
Kurtis took him to the ER and after a few hours, an x-ray, and a special boot, they came home.  The foot was not broken but the thought was that he over-stretched his arch somehow.  He had a special boot that they gave him to wear until he felt better.  It took a few days but he eventually got over it.  He still calls it his "Emergency Boot" which is pretty funny.  Nothing with Kal can be simple!

cute stories

while reading stories to Kal tonight before bed, I said "we need to get to bed early b/c you only have 4 more days and then break and then KINDERGARTEN!" He hangs his head and says "I can't do it" I asked "why buddy; what's wrong with kindergarten?" Kal: "I'll be in the same class as Sammy and they'll want me to be nice. I can't be nice enough for kindergarten." I tried not to smile. I told him we have have all summer to work on it.

While sewing a rather difficult pattern for an animal tonight, I realized (as I turned the animal right side out) that an unfortunate fold in the fabric made it anatomically correct. Kurtis got a good chuckle out of the experience

Sam and Iz just got home from their last day of school. My Sam who had never passed a spelling test in his life till mid-way this year came home with an A/B Honor Roll Medal and a gift certificate for making the AR 100 point club! Woohoo! My Sam! And sweet Izzy, who has struggled with reading and started the year with a "0.9" STAR score (which means 0 yrs, 9 months-kindergarten level) finished with a 2.3 (2nd grade, 3 months). This is HUGE! So proud of my sweet babies!

A portion of Kal's exit interview for preschool:

Sam's super month of May

Not only was May Sammy's birthday but he also had a "Super hero" themed choir concert, his choir sang the National Anthem at a Dayton Dragon's game and he was awarded Student of the Month for his fourth grade class.  We had a great time going to all those events and Sammy felt special.

This is the cape I made for Sammy's costume.  I also made him an eye mask.

The highlight of the ballgame for Izzy was when a player from the away team reached over the fence and gave her a ball he caught in the outfield.  She was so happy and carried it around all night.  She wouldn't let me take her picture with the player but we did go over and say thank you.

May beginners

The month of May is always crazy busy and I feel like I can't keep up with it all. This year was no different.  Once we had the first weekend in May celebrating Sam's birthday and Kal's Opening weekend in t-ball, we moved right along to school programs, Mother's Day celebrations, concerts, preschool graduation and so on.  Here are some of those things.
Izzy had a 2nd grade program and I wasn't sure how she would do with it because she gets so shy but she really did a great job up front and even was in a special group that played instruments for the whole 2nd grade.  Her classroom teacher and her music teacher both commented about how much she'd grown and we were all impressed with how she did that day.  It was great to see her shine!

The past few weeks were super funny when Zeke decided to dress himself.  We even left the house to go to the Mother's Day Preschool event and I forgot to check his shoes.  Not only were they two separate shoes but they were both left shoes.

Kal's preschool had a Mother's Day brunch and it was a lot of fun.  Kal painted me a brick and had a poem that talks about being a foundation. It was cute.

What a weekend!

I've realized that I'm so much better at posting on facebook than I am on my blog.  For instance, I didn't blog about having pneumonia or breaking my finger and let's be honest, who wants to hear all that?  But it would great to keep it record for my kids, which is why I do this?  But anyway, so I want to be better about that so here is my details from our very busy weekend.
Sam's 10th birthday is actually on Monday but b/c we knew Kalen was starting t-ball on Sat, we thought let's do Sam's party with friends on Friday night so it's done and doesn't have to be scheduled around ballgames.  Sam totally asked for a ninja birthday party....again!  We did it last year.  SAM-urai birthday parties you know?!  But I couldn't do it the same as last year b/c that's lame.  So onto pintrest I went to get some ideas.  And super budget items too!  Games included: 1. "Wrap your ninja in under a minute" (take a roll of streamers, time them for a minute, and watch the partner wrap that ninja!)  It didn't take a super long time but they had so much fun wrapping and then busting out of it!  2. Write your ninja name.  Someone had a copy of this online and we went right off of it.  It was so funny!  3. Ninja obstacle course (where they had to run through inner tubes while being pelted by nerf guns, shoot throwing stars at inflatable ninjas, and use a pool noodle turned ninja sword at the punching bag ninja!)  Super cheap ideas!  4.  Last but the highlight of the night, Grandpa Eber put up the rope bridge he has made for his Scouts and we all, me included, walked the rope bridge.  Sam was super scared and quit the first time but at the very end of the night with everyone getting ready to leave, he gave it another shot.  I was so proud of him!
The party favors were ninja headbands that I sewed and painted their names on, pool noodles cut in half to make short swords, and my nephew made throwing ninja stars out of origami.  Sam had a great time!

We got to bed pretty late Friday night but had to be up and out the door at 8am for Opening Day for T-ball.  Kalen insisted that he did not want to walk in a parade b/c "people will look at me."  He fought us on it all Friday but Sat morning off he went with Daddy.  And boy, did he walk!  He loved it.  Walked with his coach, ran to the front of the team, came to the side to give me a hug!  He ate it up!  He even told Daddy that his favorite part of the day was his parade!
We got to head home after the parade, where Mom promptly passed out for 3 hrs and then we were back to the fields at 3:30pm for his first t-ball game ever!  They did coach pitch 3 times to give the kids  a chance to hit it.  If that didn't work, then they went to the tee.  Kal batted last for his team in the first inning and he hit the ball without using the tee!  He was so excited and he got to run around all the bases b/c he was last (most of the kids move one base at a time).  He did a great job and seemed to enjoy it.  Of course, I forgot the sunblock and Sam was in pants and a long-sleeved shirt but we learned our lesson.  Everyone will sleep good tonight!