The Adventures of Barbie

I am the mother of girls. In our house, that means a couple of things....one thing is Barbies, and another is paper. Girls love to write. I confess that many times, I grow weary of papers strewn here and there--of drawers that seem to fill overnight with paper trash--of a refrigerator that is, more often than not, hidden by their most recent artwork. Recently though, I ran across some interesting reading and thought I'd share.

The Adventures of Barbie

Chapter 1

TUNA

There is a place, a closet, a big walk-in closet used as an apartment. The Barbie Apartment….where all Barbies are welcome. Young and old, poor and rich, although none are very poor or rich—they are just Barbies.

Well, it was supper time at the apartment and as usual the woman Barbies would each bring one thing to eat—enough to feed everyone. Karen brought beef stew, Rupunzel brought hazelnut soup, Cinderella brought chocolate pudding, Nurse Nancy brought french fries, Belle brought french onion rolls, Avis brought berry pie, and to the shock of everyone, the Topham Sisters brought tuna!!! Betsy, who lived with Belle and her prince, had brought fried chicken and politely asked, “Is that tuna?” “Yes!” they replied, happily bobbing their heads up and down in glee. “Oh,” said Cinderella. The tuna was hardly touched by anyone except the Topham Sisters, and Bruce, who loved tuna. No one liked the smell either.

That night, Betsy dreamed she was being chased by a tuna monster! The next day at breakfast, when she told Belle about her dream, Belle replied, “I had a dream too….a tuna dream!” “That’s funny! I did too!” said Cinderella coming up behind them. “Oh?” said Belle and Betsy at the same time. “MmmHmm” replied Cinderella. “Well,” said Betsy, “I wouldn’t be surprised with all the tuna on the table.” All three of them laughed.”Yuck!” Nancy screamed so suddenly that everyone almost dropped their plates. “Yuck!” She screamed again. “There is tuna in my cinnamon roll!” Everyone at the table carefully checked only to find tuna rolled into the dough! “April fool!” Said Violet the cook. No one really saw the point of the joke, but Betsy did see Belle, Rupunzel and Cinderella trying to hold back giggles as they worked together to make a new breakfast of French toast with strawberries, whipped cream and coffee.

Chapter 2

BUBBLE GUM

The next morning, after breakfast, Betsy decided to go for a ride on her horse Nutmeg. Nutmeg was of course, Nutmeg colored and very boney and strong. Betsy decided to invite Cinderella, Rupunzel and Belle along on the ride. When they got back, Belle went to get her book. It was on the floor, not in the dresser drawer where she had left it. Belle leaned down to pick it up and discovered that her shoes were stuck to the floor. She looked down and saw gum! The others had gone on a picnic and wouldn’t be back for hours. Belle tried to free herself from the mess, but the hem of her dress got stuck in the gum and pulled her down to the floor which just so happened to have more gum on it that she hadn’t seen yet. Now she had gum in her hair, on her face, and her dress was covered in sticky, gooey, slimy pink bubble gum! Belle knew……

.....and sad to say, that was all there was. I'm kind of hooked on this novel, so I'll keep my eyes open for a sequel and keep you posted. =)

The photos I've included are some I snapped this afternoon from this magical sounding place. I've talked before about how we use a shoe bag on the door to organize Barbie's and accessories. I love the way it works!

The bed below is a new addition. The girls just made it last night. It is for the Barbie named Betsy. She is named after Betsy Ross and therefore likes patriotic things!

The beds are made from shoe boxes and scraps. A few of them have special wood headboards courtesy of daddy.

The table is also a shoebox covered with a scrap of fabric for a tablecloth. Notice the matching napkins and the construction paper plates. They also tape pretty pictures and things on the wall in the Barbie Apartments. I loved playing barbies as a girl and love that my girls enjoy it too. This is where my homemaking/decorationg skills got their start, so I'm all for encouraging it in my daughters!