For probably the third time in Hedgehog Hollow history, we are going back in time to May . . . we sure do a lot of time traveling around here, and it seems May is our preferred month!
(See A Mystery of the Sisterly Sort , or Sock Schemes, because both of those series also took place in a past May)
So anyway, it’s the beginning of May, and I, ForestPoodle88, have been gone for perhaps a week or two. Where did I go? Well, tree planting, far from my home, in a whole other time zone even. And while I was adjusting to camp life and figuring out how to plant all these tiny trees, here’s what was happening in the dollhouse . . .
Well, nothing with Victoria right now, because it’s nighttime, and she has already fallen asleep on the couch/potentially-convertible-bed with her stuffed monkey. She’s sleeping great, and probably wouldn’t hear anything even if her sisters were having a party in the other room.
Which they’re not. Sophie is still where she’s been for the whole evening, sitting on the bed devouring book after book after book, some of which she is reading out loud to Glenn.
Nicole walked off a little bit ago, and now she’s back, carrying her pajamas.
“Hey Soph,” she says, “it’s time to get ready for bed. It’s late, you know.”
“No, I’m gonna keep reading.” Sophie doesn’t even look up from the picture book she’s currently reading. Well, then.
Nicole goes to get her pajamas on. When she comes back to grab her toothbrush, Sophie is reading a new book and has changed orientation on the bed, but that’s it.
She sighs and heads back to the bathroom.
Sophie is reading a different book when she returns, and it’s a longer one.
Nicole speaks as loud as she dares, which isn’t very loud, because she seems to have forgotten that naught but fire alarms and the smell of bacon can wake Toria from her slumber.
“Sophie, it’s almost 10 o’clock. ForestPoodle will be getting ready for bed now too, and it’s only 9 o’clock in their time zone. So it’s definitely time for you to go to bed.”
Sophie only grumbles and says “You can’t tell me what to do.”
Nicole’s response is to fetch Sophie’s pajamas and toothbrush and dump them on top of her. No reaction.
“Fine, don’t go to sleep, but I’m going to and I need the bed,” Nicole says. Still nothing from Sophie. “Oh, that’s great,” she mumbles to herself.
So what does Nicole do? She picks up Sophie, who is now reading yet another book and Nicole can’t tell if she’s switching between books or just reading them that quickly, and plops her down on the floor, pajamas and book and all.
Nicole clears books off the bed,
grabs her stuffed dog, ignoring the chicken egg that somehow made its way into the basket,
and falls into a fitful sleep.
The next day, Toria is the first one up. The three of them are all early risers most of the time, but normally Nicole or Sophie beats Victoria to the breakfast table.
She pours herself a bowl of dry cereal, makes a lumpy green smoothie (she tries her best! but alas, the dollhouse has no blender, so she has to mash it up by hand), and props up the word search book for some entertainment.
Sophie fell asleep with a book on her face, and it’s still there. And she must’ve had a nightmare, because her shirt is twisted between her fingers. As the sun rises higher, Sophie rolls over and crawls to the kitchen.
Toria does not ask why she’s crawling. She does ask Sophie what the nightmare was about though.
Sophie pours herself a bowl of cereal, saying “I don’t really remember, but somethin’ about a turkey and a great big knife and a shark-eatin’ monster. Not good.” She grabs the new computer they got, forgets that she poured herself a bowl, gets another bowl of cereal, and sits down to read her favourite blog. (It’s called “Maxie Makes a Mess” and it gives Sophie so many great ideas for science experiments that Nicole hopes Sophie will do outside instead of inside.)
Back in the bedroom, Glenn, the resident calf, sees his chance and bumps his wet nose against Nicole’s chin.
“Auwkk!!” she squeals, and promptly sits up. “Glenny-boy! Oh such a good calf.” She scratches him for a bit before turning to get out of bed.
It’s then that Nicole sees her sisters and all the corn puffs that Victoria has accidentally spilled on the floor. And she sees Sophie’s pajamas, book and stuffed dolphin beside the bed. And the books that are strewn everywhere through the house like it was raining books last week. And, oh, every other thing that is very much not in the spot it’s supposed to be.
Nicole puts on one of her nicest dresses, because she always feels better in a nice dress, puts her hair up, and scurries out of the house.
And just then, Sophie drops bowl of cereal #2, spilling it all over.
“Uh oh.” She stares at it for a second. “Nicole won’t be happy. The mice will be. But I don’t want mice inside.”
Toria looks down as well. “Oh galloping Galapagos tortoises! I’ve made a mess too.” (She got that expression from Nicole – that’s where most of the house expressions come from.)
They spend a bit of time playing a game of “How Many Corn Puffs Can You Find?”
Toria stands on a chair and surveys the area. “I think that’s all. But hey, I’ve got an idea! Do you have plans today?”
Sophie thinks. “No. Charlotte and I spent all day together yesterday, so today is probably a no-plan day.”
“Okay, so why don’t we make a board game?”
“Oh! With fun squares like “pretend you’re cleaning up corn puffs” and “do 15 dolphin kicks” and “move back five spots and forward three”?”
“Yes!! Exactly that!”
So while Sophie goes to change out of yesterday’s clothes, Toria gets set up drawing a squiggly colourful board.
Toria and Sophie play with several counters each, make up rules regularly and are just generally having a fantastic time.
Nicole returns an hour or so later, a paper in her hand.
“Morning, Nicole!” Toria pauses her dolphin kicks.
“Hi.”
Nicole comes closer and shows them what’s in her hand. “I went over to Saila for help and she suggested we make a chart for who is going to clean the house each week. I’m doing it this week, and then you’re next, Toria, and then you, Sophie.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Toria says.
“So I don’t hafta do a lick of cleanin’ until the week after the week after?!” Sophie asks, all excited.
“No. That’s not it.” Nicole is not exactly in the best of spirits this morning. “You still have to put things away when you’re done and all that, but I’ll make sure everything is all tidy and clean by the end of the week. I’ll make the bed and sweep and put the spiders back outside and pick up random objects that made their way into our home.”
“Oh. Okay.” Sophie turns back to the game and moves one of her counters four spots forward.
Nicole sticks the schedule up in the kitchen and hopes her sisters will actually follow it. Then she squares her shoulders and sets to work.
She wipes down the kitchen, sweeps the whole house, dusts a lot of things (including Sophie, who is somehow often dusty), makes the bed, puts books in neat piles and returns things to their rightful places.
And she collapses onto the bed, because boy was that a lot of work!
Horsey Dear, who’s really very smart, guides Sophie over.
“Uh oh. Nicole, you okay?” Sophie asks.
“I’m so tired . . . and kinda shaky.”
“Oh no,” Sophie says. “Did you forget to eat lunch again?” Sophie has already eaten both breakfast and lunch, but she’s not sure Nicole has eaten at all.
“Yesssss . . . .”
Toria comes over and puts a hand on Nicole’s shoulder. “Have you had any food yet today?”
Nicole pauses for a second. “Oh. No, no I haven’t.”
“Okay, don’t worry, I’m on it.”
“I know what we need!” And while Victoria heads to the kitchen, Sophie grabs the whiteboard and chalk and starts scribbling.
Nicole sighs her thanks and gives Horsey Dear a great big hug.
“What, no, that’s not for you!!” Toria throws her arms up and levels a glare at Glenn. He ignores it, too busy licking up the rest of Toria’s abandoned green smoothie.
“Hey! No, stop!” she continues.
Eventually she shoves the calf out of the kitchen and sets to work making Nicole’s favourite kind of sandwich. (It’s a peanut butter, jam and lettuce one, and Nicole doesn’t know this, but ForestPoodle is also probably eating one of those right now.)
Nicole comes to help, gets shooed away by Toria, and goes to sit down . . . except there’s Wilhelmina occupying the chair, with an egg next to her.
“SOOOO-phieeeee!” she yells. “Did you forget to collect Willy’s eggs again??”
“Yup.”
Sophie hangs the chalkboard back up. “Look, Nicole, I made a sign. You gotta check it off after each meal and then we’ll know that you’ve actually eaten! And if you haven’t, we can help.”
Nicole smiles a little. “Thanks, Sophie.”
And then without further prompting, Sophie goes on a scavenger hunt around the house, finding eggs in the flower pot, the stuffie bin, on top of books . . . all the places Wilhelmina has been in the last few days.
Toria brings Nicole her sandwich and it’s then that Nicole gets a good look at her. “Toria, are you still wearing your pyjamas?”
“Noooooo . . . okay, yes, but in my defense, I forgot I was wearing them!”
“Just like I forgot I hadn’t eaten. Toria, do we need a chart for this too? Oh boy, this is going to be a lot of charts.”
“No, no, I’ll remember. It’s just that it’s a weekend today, so it’s all fine!”
Sophie pipes from a corner somewhere. “It’s actually Wednesday.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you sure about that?” Toria asks.
“Yep,” Nicole agrees. “It’s Wednesday.”
“Super positive? Because I could’ve sworn yesterday was Friday.”
“Super positive!” Nicole and Sophie say, grinning.
“Mmm, I dunno, but okay. I guess you’ve got swimming lessons tomorrow then, Sophie.”
Sophie winks. “Tricked ya! Today’s actually Saturday.” Then she shows them all the eggs she collected. “I think we should make quiche for supper.”
“Sure, quiche is fine,” Nicole says, but she’s confused now too. “I’m pretty sure today’s Sunday.”
“Tricked you too!” Sophie cries.
And then suddenly Toria throws her arms up again. “Guys guys guys!! We forgot to feed the animals!!”
“Oh, gargantuan gorillas! You’re right.” Nicole sets down her sandwich. “Wilhelmina needs to be fed still, and Horsey Dear, and Glenn . . .”
“I’m on it!” Sophie struggles to pick up the chicken feed bag, but in the end, she gets Willy fed.
Nicole offers to make another chart, but Toria says no. “You just keep eating your sandwich and I’ll deal with this one.”
But then it happens again. Toria throws her arms in the air once more and goes “Oh no no no!! I forgot about the hamsters!!” She rushes over to their little cage and peers in. Whew, they’re still happy and rolling about, but they need water and food.
Toria amends her chart, feeds and waters Mama Hazel and Jack Sloth, and sighs. “Okay, we’re all set.”
“Except that you still need to get dressed,” Nicole points out.
“Ahhh!”
Finally, everything gets sorted out. Nicole has eaten, Toria is finally dressed, the eggs and books are no longer everywhere, and all the animals are fed.
“Ya know, this is a lot of work,” Sophie says. “It’s really a very good thing we’ve got each other.”
And Toria and Nicole both nod and agree.
“Now,” Nicole says,” I think this calls for a fun trip to the park.”
And so they do.
* * *
Well, it’s been a while since the last photostory, hasn’t it? I fear I’ve gotten a little rusty. Still, I hope this provided a bit of entertainment.
I’m now back to school, though I’ve got Nicole and Greta with me and yeah, not much else to report. Hope you all are having fantastic doll days and I’ll see you next time I remember to post lol (seriously, I’ve been working on this post for the last month, but kept forgetting. . . ).
À plus tard,
ForestPoodle88
Hedgehog Hollow 