I don't even know what this blog is any more

[nikkiagain]

In other news relating to my kids×kotlc, Blayze got this stuffed dog for Christmas and named it Keefe. Then a friend passed down her baby doll, and she named it Sophie.

[arcadialedger]

I as well as many others have said it before and I’ll say it again— Shannon giving Fitz a sword to wield was one of the best things she could have done for his character.

[nikkiagain]

So I did this thing a few months ago when my son started reading KOTLC after I read it where I made his eyes teal in some old photos. Partly it was in thinking about tiny Fitzy leaping around the forbidden cities, and what he'd look like as he tried to blend in.

In one of these, he happens to be posing with a sword...

[fintan-pyren]

Full chapter 1 out??? Haven't read it yet, but this seems like an opportunity for a Garwin reveal

[nikkiagain]

[theunmappedstar]

so i’m gonna have to see… the kidnapping illustrated…. in the kotlc graphic novel

[nikkiagain]

Ryland saw the preview panels and really wants the graphic novel because as much as he loves to read, he said he doesn't have good mental images. (He still prefers books with chapter illustrations so he can get the picture in his head.)

The KOTLC part 1 will be pretty tame, image-wise, but the rest of the series...

Of course he'll be a lot older when the rest comes out, and may not even be interested.

[nikkiagain]

Since Shannon's account posted previews of the graphic novel today, I had to compare one of the pictures I edited of Ryland's eyes to Fitz. I did it to some younger pictures, too, because remember Alden sent him to look for Sophie when he was SIX YEARS OLD, and it's cary to see what the little guy would've looked like.

[shenanigans-of-a-young-person]

“really?” I say to inanimate objects that are not working like they usually do

[gettingwitchywithit]

“Stay.” I glare at inanimate objects that continuously fall over

[unironicallyenthusiasticknitter]

“Thank you!” I say exhasperatedly to the inanimate objects when they do finally work right/stay put

[joestoyes]

“Sorry! I say to the table I bumped into

[q834tq3hgfq39fh9q348h-deactivat]

“SHHH” I say to the inanimate object that keeps making noise

[bittyblueeyes]

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” I huff at the persistent kitchen timer.

[when-it-rains-it-snows]

“why are you like this?,” I grumble at the inanimate object that is doing it again

[victoryorunderground]

“Please don’t yell at me,” I say to the inanimate object that is making vague beeping/the- function-you-attempted-didn’t-work noises

[xiaq]

“Good job!!” I say to the inanimate object that has completed the task it was created to do.

[crazycatsiren]

“Watch where you’re going!” I say to the inanimate object I tripped over.

[balljointedfairy]

“You can do it!!” I say to the aging washing machine when it struggles to go into the spin cycle

[faithhopeloveandtherapy]

“For goodness sake!” I hiss angrily at the inanimate object that my clothing has yet again become caught on as I walk past

[nikkiagain]

"Stop hitting me!" I cry at the doorknob which I run into weekly, resulting in a bruise that never heals.

[nikkiagain]

And here's some recent pictures. I've tried to post this via the app a bunch of times in the last week, but it kept saying "oops, that didn't work," so I loaded everything onto my computer.

1st day of co-op; my 41st birthday; "I mustache you a question" (for interrogative sentences); Ryland and Jeremy mostly geared up for MTB; Blayze being girly and showing that she's 4, Ryland's 11th birthday.

[nikkiagain]

Since I'm sort of posting again, here are our family pictures for each year since we've had Blayze ('19-'22).

In the 2nd one, she's crying because she had a fear of my camera on the tripod.

[readingdreamingscheming]

You’re telling me Sophie Foster fought through all of those combat scenes with her hair down????

I don’t believe you.

[nikkiagain]

The chalky hands of a girl who says she wants a banjo and a toy roach for Christmas.

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A post shared by Nikki A (@nikkography)

I haven't posted a picture of Blayze since right after we adopted her. She is 4 now.

[the-way-astray]

so we know that fitz started searching for sophie when he was six and alvar started the elite levels and couldn't sneak away anymore. that means that the age gap between fitz and alvar is eleven years (because the elite levels start at seventeen). since fitz is fifteen in the first book (when sophie is twelve in human years), this means that alvar is twenty-six years old in the first book, making the age gap between alvar (elf age) and sophie (human age) fourteen years. sophie was five human years old when she saw alvar as the boy who disappeared. that means that alvar was nineteen years old when he was the boy who disappeared.

but then, we see a memory of keefe's where lady gisela tells the boy (alvar) that he should just go to exillium like ruy. alvar responds by saying that it would draw way too much attention if he left foxfire. but foxfire ends at level eight, at age eighteen, so if alvar was nineteen when he was the boy who disappeared, he should've already graduated, right?

so . . . plothole?

[mrsiggytheimp]

I think Foxfire can extend to 19 years old, because when they found out that Sophie was a little older in elf age than she was in human age, she was concerned that she was in the wrong level a Foxfire, but someone told her that some people her age are still in her level 3 because birthdays and stuff. If you start Foxfire when you’re 11, but turn 12 a few months later, you’ll be 12 but a level 1. In unlocked on page 281 it says Level eight extends from 18-19, so if Alvar turned 11 a few months after Foxfire started, and then the next started Foxfire when he was 11 the next year, he would have turned 12 a few months after Foxfire started, so if he started level 8, he would turn 19 a few months after it started, and he could be 19 for the majority of level 8. This also explains why Fitz could be 17 and still in the basic levels.

[nikkiagain]

And Wylie was 30 in year 8, though it's possible he could have been behind a year because of the family tragedies.

It's like someone who has a September birthday in the American school system who's almost a year older than those with summer birthdays.

[nikkiagain]

The girls in our homeschool community are obsessed with Keeper of the Lost Cities, so I started reading it on the Libby app. I got so hooked after the first few that I went ahead and bought them so Ryland (and later Blayze) could read them.

It's my current fixation, so I made bitmojis of all the kiddos.

[nikkiagain]

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Just in case 2020 hasn't been scary enough, here's a video of Blayze doing her creepy laugh in the dark. https://www.instagram.com/p/CHYII9uA1I0/?igshid=ibwn3injpymg

[nikkiagain]

We got the same #sunshine romper in 2 sizes and it's fantastic. 1 month v. 10 months. https://www.instagram.com/p/CAQohJKgoUD/?igshid=1as7ahv3g5p0l

[nikkiagain]

Something hopeful. #light https://www.instagram.com/p/B9-B74qALcd/?igshid=1jnetrbqut1oy

[nikkiagain]

I haven't posted here in a bit... The last time I gave Blayze a bath, she noticed the babies (her reflections) in the faucet & circle thing and was pretty excited. Speaking of pretty, her new "word" is "peaKAY" (said just like that, with the KAY very high pitched). As far as I can tell, it means pretty. She has applied it to flowers, babies, her bloomers, her spoon, and the transmitter of her baby monitor. https://www.instagram.com/p/B9xOIa1gVak/?igshid=1qdgh5lwpvcfu

[nikkiagain]

Hmmm, I think I'll pass on premium codfish breakfast. @wendys https://www.instagram.com/p/B9SLU9SgwZT/?igshid=13zttkibcogez