Zoe, Chelsea, and Kelly Wardrobe

 WARNING!  NUDE AND CROSSDRESSING PLASTIC CHILDREN AHEAD! 

These are my Kelly/Zoe hybrids.  Wilma, Jenny, Tommy, and Fred.  They are still wearing the Zoe outfit their body donors wore.  (Please see previous blog post for a review of Zoe.)  I finally got around to going through the wardrobe for my brats.

The babies are hoping for hand-me-downs, as their wardrobe is very limited.  (They do get to wear the smaller shirts in the brat wardrobe.)

Mattel outfits.  Made for Chelsea or Kelly.

From various sources, thrift stores and yard sales.

Monster High shirts make dresses for the brats.  Strawberry Shortcake and Lil Bratz are roughly the same size and some clothes can be shared.  I did take in the plunging neckline on one of the dresses.

These were on knock-off princess dolls.  

Some of the clothing in previous pictures will vanish at this point.  Anything in need of serious repair or flat-out hideous.  I didn't even try those on the dolls.

Body mold comparison.  Most of the height difference in in the legs, but there is a bit in the torso.  My Chelsea dolls are awaiting body donors.  My Chelsea dolls have more variety of skin tones and a more natural pose, so I gave the Kelly dolls dibs.

Halloween Costumes!  Fred and Wilma are wearing their original outfits, but he needed britches for modesty.  Wilma looks more like the character she was based on with that shorter skirt.  Jenny's full-length wizard robe now only reaches the knee.  The babies inherit pumpkin, but gingerbread is too big. 

The original group trying on the costumes.  Slight alterations to gingerbread are needed (feet holes). Look for it come Halloween!  Pumpkin can be worn with britches, but loses cuteness, so it goes to the babies, where it is appropriately cute.

As I expected, all the Kelly/Chelsea brand things fit.  Skirts and pants are just shorter.

I only kept three of the princess gowns.  Fred and all the girls had a draft in the back.

You might notice repeat uses of britches.  They were outnumbered by shirts.  Those pink shorts on Jenny might end up in the baby wardrobe - they fit, barely.  Jenny and Fred are wearing open shirts.  The white shirt on Tommy feels sticky/tacky, so it went in the reject pile.  Wilma's holding down the bib on her overall skirt to show the shirt beneath.  Make sure you look at it! Don't make Wilma cry!

Wow, that patchwork dress is short!  Good thing it and Wilma's skirt have a modesty panel! Kept everything here except the white thing on Malachi.  Somebody's drunk grandma made it.

Monster High dresses.

All done modeling and ready to play!  C'mon over!

Downsizing Is Hard (Part Three)

 

I already mentioned that the adolescents in the classroom are either Harry Potter, Creatable World, or Claudia.  My dollhouse family males are hybrids, but the girls are not.  Jeremiah is a Fashionista and the twins are Finnick from Hunger Games, all three on MTM bodies.  Fred is a Kelly on a Zoe body.  Diana is Wonder Woman.  Belle and Hermione are from the recent Harry Potter line. Emma is the Hermione doll from the 90s.  Samara is a Babysitter Skipper baby.  

The children are mostly Chelseas and Kelly/Zoe hybrids.  Dan is the Harry Potter from the 90s.  Roxy is a Gymnast Stacie.  

The shoe holders house everyone else.  Most of the dolls pictured here are hybrids. 

MTM, Inspiring Women Susan B.  Anthony, and two wrestler ladies.  I'm pretty sure the wrestler ladies have the same body mold as Diana.  Divergent couple, Navajo Code Talker GI Joe (broken talk box), and Happy Family Grandma.

Cutie Reveals, Star Wars, and Barbie Extras.  

Fresh dolls, BMR 1959s, and two hybrids.

BTS, Barbie The Look, and a BRM 1959.

Harry Potter adults and a BTS.

Hiding in the bottom of my closet.  Wheelchairs, donor bodies, stands, etc.

Up top in my closet and neatly labeled.  Okoye's box (with all her stuff in it in case I decide to display her) and Western Fun Barbie in her box.  The Western Fun Barbie is notorious for not aging well and mine is no exception.

The display dolls are in the living room.  Two 18 inch Pocahontas dolls, Video Girl Barbie (who does work), Monster High Cleo and Lagoona, and Rusty.  I dress Rusty for upcoming holidays.

Blessing In Disguise

During my annual destruction/reconstruction of my window area (aka Barbieville) to decorate for Christmas, I found something very surprising. My babies, Orlando and Samara, have survived three moves and an extended time in storage.  They survived the gentle and not-so-gentle play of many minions - including at least one real effort at decapitation.  (Well, the other dolls have heads that pop right back on, so it was a valid experiment.)

 A word of warning:  This blog contains pictures of a dismembered plastic baby.  

I put this picture here for two reasons - so the slightly disturbing image won't be on my thumbnail, and to remind y'all who I'm talking about.  Orlando and Samara originally came with Baby Doctor Barbie back in the 1990s.  They belonged to a niece but "lived at Jeanie's".  When I moved the second time, I had to downsize drastically.  I told the minions that any dolls that stayed with me would become mine.  All the Midges and Jasmines promptly moved out...  

Well, yesterday I found this.  Honestly, after everything these little guys have survived, I'm at a total loss.  Because she's so small, any attempt at superglue would result in an immobile doll affixed to my hand, so I had a dilemma.  I've had other characters in Barbieville make a quiet exit after the dolls became irreparable.  Kida's exit even became a story point.  But this is a Pike.  A baby Pike.

Then I remembered the Babysitters Inc line.  I got two dolls with the standard five points of articulation for less than one usually is!  Because they're much smaller, I know, but I take my victories where I can. (Update:  Slight fib.  They only have four...  the heads don't move.)

These guys are almost as big as the Kelly dolls, which I like.  I know they're dolls and so won't age like real people do, but it was annoying that they were so tiny.  Hard to pose, for starters!  There's another reason this is a good thing.

Because now they can share clothes!  No more hanging around in diapers 24/7 with the pink dress and only onesie coming out for special occasions!  

I did have to go with a much darker Orlando, but that's not a problem.  I chose the two that looked the most like the originals.  Also, I've known lots of mixed-race babies to get darker.  I even alluded to it when these two were born.  

The original Orlando will stick around in case I need a newborn at some point.  What's left of the original Samara, though, is going to have to go in the trash.  Bummer.

Story Six: The Babies Are Coming!

Early morning, Pike Household, Barbieville

Taylor:  Why are you all dressed up?  Aren't you on maternity leave?

Rose-Grace: The Mayoral Candidate Debate was scheduled months ago, at the museum.  Rather than reschedule, I agreed to work today for just a couple of hours.  I should be home by lunch.

Taylor: Mom, you work too hard.  

Rose-Grace:  I have an important job. (changes the subject) Don't let Freddy eat that leftover cake for breakfast.

Taylor:  Ha!  Me and Stacie ate the last of it.  We barely got any of it.  

Rose-Grace: How you stay slim eating the way you do is beyond me.  

At the museum, Rose-Grace is going over her notes when Kyra comes in.  She's holding a pamphlet.

Kyra:  Have you seen this?  (reading)  Rose-Grace Pike deserted Barbieville for a more glamorous world and returned with two children and no husband. 

Rose-Grace:  WHAT?!  Let me see that thing!  (reads silently)  Well, the facts are accurate, but twisted almost beyond recognition.  I left for college, married, and was a widow when I came back.  I didn't force my parents into a nursing home - they chose to get an assisted living apartment.

Kyra: This is maybe the worst smear campaign I've ever seen on a local level.  

As soon as the opponent arrives, Rose-Grace and Kyra confront him.  He reads it in confusion.

Brent:  You think I did this?

Kyra: You're the only one running against her.

Brent:  (reads from pamphlet)  Paid for by Keep Barbieville Virtuous.  This isn't me, ladies, I'm pretty sure my life doesn't meet their standards, either.  

Kyra: I'm sorry, Mister Spiner.  We shouldn't have jumped to conclusions.

Brent: It was a reasonable assumption.  Like you said, I'm the only opponent that we know of.  

Rose-Grace:  Guys.  My water just broke.

Kyra:  You aren't even having contractions!  

Rose-Grace:  I have been, but they weren't very close together, so I kept quiet about it.  Both my other pregnancies, I was in real labor for hours before my water broke.

Brent:  I'll drive you to the hospital.  Kyra, can you take cancel the debate?

Kyra:  Right after I call her husband.  

Finnick:  I can't get a hold of Mom.  Signal must be bad in the Amazon. 

Taylor: You're calling Dad's ex-wife because his current wife is in labor? 

Finnick: Hey, she's friends with both of them and the mother of four of us.  She has a right to know.

Taylor: Whatever.  

Freddy: Look, Stacie, a whole big magazine about kitties.  Read it to me.

Stacie:  If we have time.  How long does it take to have a baby?

Freddy: I don't know.  How come we don't got a kitty?

Stacie: Because we have three dogs and two horses? 

Finnick: We don't have a cat because Dad's allergic.  (to phone)  Jeez, Mom, pick up!

Nikki:  I googled the name you suggested for the girl baby.  I cannot believe you tricked them into naming her after a horror monster!  

Tanner:  (takes the lap top from her) You talked her into naming her second husband's kid after her first husband.  That's just twisted.  Besides, we just suggested the middle name.  She already had the first name picked out.

Nikki: I saw the look you and Finnick gave Stacie.  The keep-your-mouth-shut look.

Tanner: Oh, come on!  Stacie is totally in on it!   Besides, Step-Mom had already chosen the first name. And it's a very cool horror monster.  

Nikki:  That poor baby....

What seems like an eternity later, Pike returns from the delivery room.  

Pike:  The babies are fine and so is she.  We're allowed to visit her, but only three at a time.  I'll take the youngest kids first.  

Finnick: That's you, Fred.  

Stacie:  Me, too!  

Rose-Grace:  Meet your new brother and sister.

Stacie:  Ooh so cute.  Which one is which?

Freddy: That one looks just like me when I was a baby!  

Pike:  The one with brown hair is the boy.  And I noticed he looks like you, too.  I think the girl looks like her mother.

Stacie: (confused) I thought they'd be browner than they are.

Rose-Grace:  We'll see.  They've not been out in the sun much, you know. (laughs)  You guys go on and let someone else come see them.  

Kyra:  Pike's on the phone with Candy, so I said I'd come back with the girls.  

Rose-Grace:  Really?  I thought one of the twins... 

Taylor:  They were trying this whole time.  They finally reached her and the first thing she did was demand details only Dad knows.  

Nikki:  Mom, I have to tell you something about the girl's name.   

Rose-Grace:  Oh, sweetheart, I know. Where do you think I got the first name?

Taylor:  You knew?!  

Kyra:  She's not really evil anyway.  I feel bad for her.

Rose-Grace:  And that's why we're friends.

  

Tanner:  I brought you this magazine.  You'll want something to do while recovering.

Finnick: I was going to leave the laptop with her.

Rose-Grace: Once you guys leave, I'll probably sleep.  I'm exhausted.  Maybe leave the magazine for me to read when I wake up.  But take the laptop home.  I might accidentally see something a parent shouldn't.  

Tanner:  You think we've got porn on it?

Rose-Grace: I think you're teenage boys.  

Finnick:  That means yes, she thinks we have porn on it.

Dear reader of this blog and followers of this story, meet:  

Orlando Christopher Pike

 and 

Samara Morgan Pike.  

Story Five: Gender Reveal Party

Side note before the story begins:  I was debating doing this one - wasn't sure how to pull it off without too much cost or work involved.  That was why Pike's against the idea!  Anyway, I wandered into a thrift store and found a bag of gender reveal stuff for cheap.  Apparently someone up there wants this story!

Our story opens at the day care center.

Freddy: I got a noun-cement!  Tomorrow at my house we're having a sex party!

Ty:  A WHAT?!  

Wilma: He means a party to find out what kind of baby his step mommy is having.  

Jenny:  Well, duh.  A people baby.  (giggles)  Ty, sex means boy or girl.  You are the boy sex and I am the girl sex.  

Ty: My daddy says that word is gender.  Sex means what you do to make the baby. 

Bobby: They're cinnamon.  They mean the same thing.  

Kelly: Ty!  You quit pushing me! 

Ty: Well, I thought they was doing nasty stuff at Freddy's house.  It's my turn anyway. 

Vivica: No, it's my turn!  You two been hogging the swing! 

Candy: I can't believe you talked Pike into letting me throw you this party.  

Kyra: She's a politician.  She can talk anyone into anything.  

Rose-Grace: You're just mad because I talked you out of quitting last fall.  

Candy: What happened last fall?

Kyra: A zoning dispute that got really nasty.  Lots of verbal abuse when all I could do was take calls and deliver messages. One side wanted to preserve the old theater and the other wanted it gone because it was an eyesore - it collapsed and solved the problem for us.  

Candy: I missed all that.  I was on assignment in Indonesia and came back to find the new playground!  

Rose-Grace: Well, we didn't.  It was a nightmare.  (changes the subject) Pike just didn't like the idea of someone knowing the sex before we did.  Frodo actually came up with the idea of doing it this way. 

Candy: I just love throwing a party.  Any excuse will do.

John: I hope you don't mind that I came uninvited. Freddy insisted that I had to see what kind of babies were going to be joining my day care.

Rose-Grace: The kids were allowed to invite people.  You're fine.  

John: I saw an awful lot of teenagers helping to set up.  They were up to something.

Rose-Grace:  Finnick's got a thing for Nakoma Nedakh and they conspired to have her help him take the horses to the back field.  I think the whole town's playing matchmaker. 

John: Speaking of making matches, who is the woman with the green stripe in her hair?

Rose-Grace: Candy?  She's the mother of my stepchildren.  We've become good friends, which is nice.  Low drama with the ex.  

John: Is she seeing anyone?

Rose-Grace: She's not interested in dating.  Completely focused on her photojournalism career.  

John: Bummer.  

Rose-Grace:  When I started dating again, I tried too hard and made some mistakes.  Mistakes that hurt my kids.  Don't do that to Roxy and Kelly.  I wasn't looking for a man when I met a keeper.

John: Good point.  Lots of pressure to get back out there, though.  My buddies trying to set me up, stuff like that.

Rose-Grace: Where do you think I met my mistakes? 

Finnick: Thanks for helping me with the horses, Nakoma.  I can't believe how lazy those guys are.  

Nakoma: Honestly, do you not know what they're up to?  Mariko and Whitney at least tell me up front what they're doing.  They know you like me.  They're trying to help you get up the nerve to do something about it. 

Finnick: I'll kill them.

Nakoma: Don't you dare.  I would have told them to stay back there if they hadn't done it.  

Finnick (still clueless):  Why?

Nakoma: Because I like you, too, you big dummy.  One of us has to get past being so shy if we're going to ever date. (She grabs him and lays a lip lock on him.) Idiot.

Finnick (stunned): What?  

Nakoma: Finnick, we like each other.  The whole town knows it.  It's time we admit it to each other.  

Finnick: Um...  Are you asking me to be your boyfriend?

Nakoma: Oh, my God, you are such a dork!  Yes, Finnick, I am asking you to be my boyfriend.  Or go steady.  Or date.  Whatever they call it nowadays.

Whitney: Are we even getting paid for this gig? 

Zenobia (snickers): Finnick is. 

Tanner: Hey, finally growing a pair and asking Nakoma out has nothing to do with this gig.  And no, we aren't getting paid.  Unless you count a free meal.  

Whitney:  As if.  Nakoma's the one that grew a pair.  

Zenobia:  What?!  Finnick, you waited around til she asked you out?

Finnick (uncomfortable): Hey, it's the twenty-first century.  Girls can ask guys out if they want.

Whitney: Especially if the guy is a coward. 

Tanner: I'm just glad one of them finally jumped the other's bones.  I was ready to lock them in a room with some Barry White tunes.  

Finnick: Hey, no bones were jumped.  We have morals!

Tanner: Chill, bro.  Just giving you a hard time. 

Time for the big reveal!  

Pike:  I hope this thing falls like it's supposed to and not on our heads.

Rose-Grace:  It isn't heavy enough to hurt anything but our pride.  

Pike:  That's what I'm worried about.  I've seen "Gender Reveal Party Fails".

Stacie:  I hope it's a girl.  I already have a little brother.  

Tanner: The whole thing's embarrassing.  They're old enough to be grandparents.  

Taylor: Our parents love each other, how can that be embarrassing?

Nikki: Well, it's one thing to know they're doing it.  It's a whole other thing to have, you know, proof.

Taylor:  You guys suck.  I think it's beautiful. 

Nakoma: This is so exciting!  I just love babies! 

Freddy: When you and Finnick get married, you can have lots of them and I will babysit.

Finnick: Whoa, sport!  Getting a little ahead of yourself there - we're only been a couple, like, two hours. 

Freddy (ignoring Finnick): When you have babies, will they be white babies or papooses?

Nakoma (both amused and shocked): The baby in Rose-Grace's belly right now has different color parents, but it's just a baby, right?  The word papoose isn't from my language, anyway.  There's lots of different tribes, you know.

Freddy:  Really?

Finnick: Dad and Step Mom are ready to pull the ribbons.  Nakoma will tell you all about it later.  

Kyra:  It's a hermaphrodite?

Zenobia: Can you be transgender while still in the womb?

Rose-Grace (laughing at every one's confusion):  It's twins!  A boy and a girl!  

Taylor:  More twins?  Aren't those two bad enough?

Tanner pushes Taylor off the bench they're sitting on.  

Freddy: Least they ain't dent-cull.  We can tell them apart easy!

Stacie:  They could still be identical.

Rose-Grace: No, identical twins are always the same sex.  They could still look an awful lot alike, though.  (To Freddy) How did you know that?  I'm proud of you.

Freddy: Mister John gived me a book. Nikki readed it to me.

As the party winds down, Candy insists on some more-or-less formal photos.  The whole family poses under the reveal banner.  

Freddy:  Step-Mommy?  What color will the new babies be?

Rose-Grace:  It's hard to say.  Maybe black like me, maybe white like Daddy.  

Freddy:  Maybe one will be whiter than the other and then we can tell them apart real easy? 

Pike: Let's hope so.  Finnick and Tanner were a nightmare.  (laughs) Sometimes they still are.

The twins: Bite me, Dad.

Finnick and Nakoma pose for Candy, too.  Nakoma is much more into it than he is.  He's still a bit stunned by how his day turned out.

Candy:  See, Pike?  That wasn't painful at all, was it?

Pike: It was all right.  Once I got my way about knowing before the rest of the world.

Candy (joking): That's why I divorced you. Always gotta have your way. 

Pike: I got my way about Nakoma, too.  I've been telling that boy for months now to ask her out.

Candy: I think he's too young for a serious relationship. 

Rose-Grace: You were his age when you had him.

Candy: Exactly.  I ended up divorced.  And I'm not ready to be a grandmother.

Pike: We've told our sons condoms exist.  That's more than our parents did for us.  They also hear about the problems we had and how much better Rose-Grace's first marriage was because they waited until they were a bit older and more educated. 

Candy: I know.  And I trust you to be a good dad.  Gave you custody, didn't I? 

Pike: I thought you did that so you could gallivant all over the planet taking pictures.

Candy (laughs): That, too, but I knew you were up to the job.  Just, he's always gonna be my baby, you know?