Introducing Flat S.B.

What has earrings, a necklace, high heels, fingernail polish and fits in an envelope?  Flat S.B. (not to be confused with SOB...lol), who else?  This adorable self portrait belongs to my niece.  The little one in the picture has been with us since the beginning of December.  My niece turns 8 today so we decided to throw her paper self a party to celebrate! 

But this little paper self is special.  It all started with a text from my sister-in-law.  She wanted to know if she could send us my niece's "Flat Stanley".  My first thought was that her auto correct was playing tricks on her because I had no idea what "Flat Stanley" was or could be.  But it turns out that Flat Stanley is a book about a little boy that is accidentally flattened by a bulletin board.  As horrific as this sounds for a children's book, I promise it gets better. Since he is now much smaller he can conveniently be mailed from place to place to visit friends.  This gave her class the inspiration to create their own flat versions to send to family or a friend.  

Her story of getting to us wasn't without it's own problems since I absentmindedly gave my sister-in-law the wrong zip code so after her first trip to Florida she was returned to Kansas only to make the trip back again.  I can't give away too many details but we have managed to have quite a bit of fun with her.  And she's managed to make it all in one piece (so far) which is a miracle in and of itself for this family.  I'm not surprised because the niece I know is a pretty tough little girl that puts up with her two brothers and some pretty relentless uncles. We still have a few precious weeks of more adventures to send back with her.  Then we send her back complete with a picture timeline so that my niece's class can see the adventure she got to take.  

Thank you to my sister-in-law for thinking of us!  I hope our adventures live up to her expectations!  I'll share this complete journey with all of you in a later post after she's had the opportunity to enjoy the pictures first.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!  I HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT DAY OFF FROM SCHOOL!