Ruler of the Elves

Recently, Pinky’s Uncle came up with a fun idea. He thought it would be neat to start a “spy” network and ask Pinky to become a Secret Spy Cadet with different fun tasks that she must complete. After receiving communications via snail mail, she had decided to try her hand at spying. Thus far, she has had to decipher secret codes and send out secret spy dolls that will hopefully infiltrate all continents of the world as part of her duties.

Since I am not as well versed on the subject as some, I will let my Step Bro give a better explanation of all of this spy stuff so that it will hopefully make a little more sense…

To: The Black Widow’s (a.k.a. Pinky) Loyal Readers (a.k.a. Minions)

My name is ‘The Green Flying Monkey’ and I am an international spy with the Secret Program of International Espionage Service (S.P.I.E.S.). As you may be able to tell from our name, we are an agency of international spies that work tirelessly to protect the world from secret, evil organizations such as J.E.R.K.S. (the Jeneral Essembly of Riters that Kan’t Spel), U.P.S. (the Underground Pirate Syndicate), and N.B.C. (the Network of Brainwashing Chipmunks). While spying on an evil organization that has taken over the dog food industry, it came to my attention that one of our youngest spies is the star of a popular blog.

As you are already aware, the girl you know as ‘Pinky’ is a very special, talented girl. On top of being super smart and creative, Pinky has a great imagination, has great interpersonal skills and can hide in small spaces. Recognizing these qualities, the Secret Program of International Espionage Service (S.P.I.E.S.) has asked that Pinky join our group of super international spies as a Secret Spy Cadet. We are very happy that she has accepted this offer as our newest cadet and is now secretly known as ‘The Black Widow’ (at least while she is spying). Unfortunately, due to her age, we cannot yet admit her into the dangerous, but really cool, world of international spy-dom. However, our Secret Spy Cadet program will begin training her today for her career in Awesomeness tomorrow.

As a Secret Spy Cadet, the Black Widow will undergo the most extreme training exercises on the planet. She will have to hide and stay quiet, memorize stuff, and maybe even have to hold her breath for a long period of time. She will be facing dangers such as paper cuts, thinking so hard that her brain hurts, and maybe jumping a motorcycle through a ring of fire (… though probably not the last one). The training will be difficult, but we at S.P.I.E.S. are confident that she will prevail and become one of the greatest spies of all time.

Because she is so popular, we have decided to chronicle the Black Widow’s spying adventures here on this blog. Thanks to state-of-the-art security technology involving lasers and satellites, we are certain that these entries will be safe from our rival spies. We have even infiltrated the Ruler of the Elves organization with one of our own spies to be sure.

However, we must ask you to also keep all information regarding the Black Widow’s training as Top Secret. Spying is very sensitive business and it is important that the Black Widow keeps her secret identity. There may even be times that Pinky does not admit to being a Secret Spy Cadet. Just know that she is probably doing it for your safety.

First Senior Officer of S.P.I.E.S. Spying and Secret Spy Cadet Training

The Green Flying Monkey (… Esquire)

Just dropping in quickly to say Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope yours is going as good as mine. My wonderful husband is currently making us a yummy steak dinner and Pinky is working on an art project for her bedroom. Everyone is happy, healthy and home together, which is all I could ask for!

Oh, and by the way, the cookie pictured above it the most delicious ever. We made these the other day. Pink cotton candy sugar cookies with pink icing. Yum!

It has been beautiful outside, thanks to the wonderful sunlight we’ve had this weekend. However, it is still too cold to do much of anything outdoors. We are certainly longing for warmer days so we can get outside!

Today marks the beginning of my 3rd trimester with the little Sweet Pea. To be honest, I’m a wee bit scared about the thought of adding another person to this household in the next 12 weeks or so, however, I am super excited to meet him and ready to not be pregnant. I’ve may or may not have been saying that since the beginning though.

As you can see below, I’ve been rockin’ a pretty decent sized baby bump.

So, with time running out and my nesting instincts kicking in, we need to get our butts in gear and focus on making a space just for this little one. His new room, which was recently our office, is pretty much cleaned out and ready for some paint and furniture. However, adding much of anything to the small 8’x7′ room with a 2’x4′ closet inside will be quite a challenge. Here are some before photos of the space, which looks pretty rough in my opinion.

The view looking in from our bedroom. The step ladder and fish tank will be finding new homes in other parts of the house.

The little alcove where the mini crib will fit just perfectly, I hope. Please ignore Pinky’s dirty footprints on the wall. We didn’t notice them until we pulled the desk out, but it’s nothing that a little paint won’t fix.

The doorless closet (we will add curtains) which will house Sweet Pea’s stuff on the bottom two-thirds.

And our office over flow in the top one-third.

A view from the other side of the room towards the door to our bedroom.

Currently, we are thinking about going with a really neutral look for the space vs. the normal primary colors featured in many nurseries. The reason being that since the room is so small and won’t be used for anything more than sleeping/feeding, we want it to be a very calming/relaxing space. Think sleep promotion. Of course there will be plenty of other stimulating toys and activities for Sweet Pea in other areas of the house.

And to give you an idea of how all of this stuff will actually fit in the space, I whipped up this floorplan which is pretty true to size for most of the items.

As you can see, the space will be pretty cramped, but we hope that since we have a play room and plenty of other spaces in the rest of the house for Sweet Pea to play as he grows up, that he won’t feel too slighted by his mini sized bedroom for now.

Pinky’s little cousin turns one today and this past weekend, we helped him celebrate.

It’s hard to believe that it has been a year since he was born.

This little cutie thoroughly enjoyed opening all of his presents and entertaining us!

And we can’t forget to share the all important 1st cupcake photos…

He was very delicate with his chocolate cupcake, slowly inspecting it and then nibbling on a bit of icing first before he started munching on the fluffy chocolate.

I must admit I was a little disappointed that he didn’t make a bigger mess, but I’m sure his parents were happy that they didn’t have more to clean up!

Oh, and I had to add this little gem I captured of my two favorite people. 29/52