Birthday Week

Six years ago on September 11, my Little Bird joined our family. She's had a really big year this year with losing her first tooth (followed by 5 more), starting Kindergarten AND turning 6 years old!!! I wanted to let her know how special she is to me so I baked some cupcakes and took them to her classroom at school. Here she is smiling cheesily while the class serenades her with the "Happy Birthday!" song. The hat that she is wearing is from the Teddy Bear picnic the class had just enjoyed before I arrived with the cupcakes.

Here she is enjoying a cupcake!!!

Just a few days later, on Sept 15, Kangaroo turned 4 years old! Since she had accompanied me taking cupcakes to school on Little Bird's birthday, I also wanted to do something special for her. She does not attend preschool or anything so there was no class to share with. So, I called my mom to join us for lunch at a Ryan's restaurant. I figured that the waitresses would do the Happy Happy birthday chant and that would be Kangaroo's special time. It worked too!!! She wanted to wear a crown she had made about a month ago and then she requested to wear her Tinkerbell dress so she could be a birthday princess. Who am I do deny her request on her birthday? Doesn't she just look beautiful!!!?

With DQ at the table.
Showing us how royal she is.

Checking out the sweet stuff.

Mmm Mmm Good!!!

Gotta wash it all down!!

THEN, we had the OFFICIAL birthday shingdig at the local Chuck E. Cheese's to celebrate with family and friends. The girls had a grand old time!!!

They were especially excited to meet Chuck E. himself in person!!!

Happy Birthday to my sweetie pies!!! Don't grow up too fast!!!

Dance Recital Mishaps

My girls had their dance recital yesterday afternoon. It was Little Bird's Third and Kangaroo's First recital! They love to dance and when I tell you that they LOVE to dance, I mean, they LOOOOOOVVVVVEEEE to dance! It's gotten to the point that when they misbehave, I tell them we won't go to dance class. They quickly straighten up at that!

Yesterday was a pretty uneventful afternoon, well, except for the rain. We got backstage and dressed in their tap costumes for their first dance of the evening. They did great! Watch the Video to see them dance to Crocodile Rock! Watch Kangaroo as she attempts to do what the other girls are doing. Little Bird just does her own thing. LOL They're too funny!

At intermission, I was "paged" to come backstage. My Little Bird was crying and had mussed up all her theatre makeup. She was having a dramatic reaction to the fact that the other little girls didn't want to play "I Spy" with her. I calmed her down and proceeded to repair the make up damage when I heard what sounded like running water. I thought to myself, "Uh Oh, someone spilled a bottle of water!". At the same time, it was announced that my girls were lining up for their ballet performance. I'm putting the finishing touches on Little Bird when Kangaroo comes to me, walking like a cowboy with bowlegs, and announces that she had a tee tee accident......while wearing her ballet costume!

Thankfully, another mom had an extra pair of matching tights!!! Little Bird got in line while Kangaroo and I made a run for the restroom to get cleaned up and changed. We got backstage just in the nick of time for her catch up with the other girls before going on stage for their "Pure Imagination" ballet dance number.

All I can say, is THANK GOD she didn't have her accident while ON STAGE!!!

After the Finale, I went back stage again to gather up their things and exit with the rest of the crowd. We met Daddy in the hallway where he presented our angels with a bouquet of flowers.....EACH! They were thrilled to receive their very own flowers and while riding on the way home they carefully examined each and every blossom. Half of the flowers survived the ride (the other half are in the back floor board of the suburban) and are currently residing in a table top vase on the kitchen counter.

All in all, it was a great afternoon with my dancing angel babies!

Will post pics and dance videos soon.

Disney: On Ice

In anticipation of our upcoming Disney vacation, I decided to get my gang in the mood by attending the Disney On Ice show.

We were welcomed to the show by some classic Disney characters.

Following the welcome was a short Lion King production number that featured a pair of skaters representing Simba and Nala. The performance they gave was absolutely breathtaking. They treated us to several stunts, flips, and tricks that literally made me gasp out loud! The athleticism of the cast members left me awestruck.

When Simba and Nala left the skating rink (or stage), Sebastian appeared with some mermaids to introduce Ariel to the crowd. She was so beautiful and skated amazingly despite the little fish tail skirt that had her knees bound together. I couldn't walk around dressed like that much less skate as amazingly as she did!

As Ariel and her fishy friends finished their part of the show, a group of hula dancers (wearing iceskates) came out onto an elevated stage area. They did a little hula number and then Lilo and Stitch appeared to entertain for a bit. I didn't think this particular part was very impressive but
the girls enjoyed it.

Then we had a short intermission where everyone made lines to the concession stands. A 21 oz. bottle sports bottle of iced lemonade was .... TEN DOLLARS!!!! Did I buy one? No. I bought TWO of them!!!! I know, stupid stupid stupid! And these plastic sports bottle thingies aren't even dishwasher safe! THEN I purchased two snowcones in these cute Little Mermaid cups (which ARE dishwasher safe). The snowcones were only three dollars. Much better than the sports bottle but....well, live and learn. I shoulda just found a water fountain.

If the concession and souvenir prices at DOI are any indication of the same at Disney World, then it looks like we're gonna be in trouble!!! Somehow I'll need to get the message across to DQ and The Teen (okay, and me) that we will not be purchasing a bunch of junk while we are there on vacation. I'm thinking that we won't have too many complaints from the little ones. **shrug** Maybe?

Here's DQ sporting all her Disney On Ice regalia. Note the Flounder hat and Ariel snowcone cup. In her Left hand she's holding a bucket of cotton candy and the 21 oz sports bottle.

Little Bird and I enjoyed our snowcones!

Happy little spectators.

After intermission, the show resumed with a big Peter Pan production complete with the "We Can Fly" scene where the Darling children flew to Neverland with Peter. Captain Hook's pirate ship also made an appearance.

Tick Tock the Crocodile was also there AND he ate Captain Hook!!!

The show ended with a spectacular finale. They even had fireworks!!! Then we came home, had lunch, and took a long nap before I got up and cooked some dinner! We're very excited now about our upcoming Disney World Vacation!!!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Disney: The Short Sets

Well, here they are!! The short sets I had blogged about last week (?). I haven't blogged much since then (if at all) because I've been busy sewing and will have to catch up. I've decided to make some pillowcase short sets for our days at the other parks besides Magic Kingdom. We plan to have 3 days at the Magic Kingdom so I'm pretty sure the girls won't want to wear the outfits all the time. Then again, I have been known to be wrong.

Okay, well, before I go chasing a rabbit....here are the outfits. Oh, and I made matching hairbows too. Well, except for the Cinderella one....I bought the wrong shade of blue for that one. I really have been on a roll.

P.S. It is NOT wise to iron Organza!!! :D

Disney: One down, Four to go!

I spent a couple of hours putting together the first outfit last night. I put the finishing touches on it this morning before heading out for The Teen's History assignment. Here's Kangaroo granting me a Princess pose (check out those royal hands!!!) while wearing the outfit created for Sleeping Beauty.

I'm thinking of making a couple of changes. Maybe putting a Princess Aurora iron on transfer in a lower corner of the tank top. Or even adding a light pink "skirt" to the tank top since it looks kind of short. Then iron on the fairies on the little skirt part.

So what do you think?

Birthdays and Friends and Treasure, Oh My!

We got up early this morning to head out to a birthday party that my beautiful little girls were invited to. The theme to the party was Pirates and Princesses. The invitees were supposed to be decked out in princess (or pirate) costumes. Kangaroo seems to have misplaced her Tinkerbell costume from last year. So on our way to the party, I made a detour to the local Wally World, spending about 20 minutes walking around in search of a birthday gift and another Tinkerbell costume. Finally finding what I was looking for, I made my exit and we were on our way.

When we arrived at the party, the girls were so excited they just unbuckled themselves and hopped right out of the truck to join their friends in the celebration. I joined them a minute later and approached a friend of mine. She turned and greeted me and about 2 seconds later put her hand on my shoulder, saying, "Do you know that you have your top on inside out?".

I immediately looked around for a hole to hide in. Not finding one, I decided to make my way to the nearest restroom to correct the situation. That done, I rejoined the festivities and began taking pics of my girls.

Here they are enjoying a hot dog and chips.

Little Bird and the birthday girl have a deep discussion.

Kangaroo is making the rounds.

Near the end of the party, one of the Pirates found a treasure map. If you can't read it, it says,

"Congratulations! Ye have found the map of Pirate Jean LaFite's treasure. Pirate Jean Lafite was mean as a snake. He swore a curse on anyone who dare touch his treasure, but if a princess or piratess pulls the treasure out of the ground, the curse will be broken. But woe to the young pirate who removes Pirate Jean Lafite's treasure from its resting place. That pirate shall suffer the kisses of ten princesses (on the lips)."

The pirates shuddered and issued an "eewwwww" at that last sentence.

The pirates and princesses embark on the treasure hunt.

Arrrgh! A treasure we have found, me hearties!!!

Little Bird shows off her bounty!

As does Kangaroo!

Twas a good day for birthdays and treasure hunting! Kudos to my friend for her creative party planning!!!

Disney: Dressing my Princesses

We're going on our FIRST EVER Disney Vacation in 44 days!!!!!! We are soooo excited!!! I have really struggled with how to dress my family for our time in the parks. I finally decided to make my girls some princess short sets and have the rest of us in matching tee shirts with iron on transfers of our favorite Disney characters. Here's some photos of what I'm planning to do in the next 3 weeks. I'm taking a bit of this and a bit of that to come up with some cute short sets similar to what you see in these pictures. By the way, the following pics came from Tinkerella Creations on Etsy.com.

Aren't they just adorable outfits? So, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some patterns, fabric, and ribbons. I figured I'd make some of these for my girls. Again.....I'm not making EXACTLY what you see in the pictures. If you want THAT, go to the link and purchase it from Tinkerella Creations.



Here are the patterns I'll be using and modifying.




Oh, I'm also making our own autograph books and Epcot passports. I'll upload some pics of those later on. There's just nothing like the creativity on Disboards.com!!!!

Do you like to sew? I'd love to see some of your creations!!!

My Princesses

The girls and I got up early this morning to hit the local Disney Store which is closing it's doors next week. I had promised my munchkins that we would go check it out and see what we can find. So, off we go. I had been warned that the merchandise was pretty much picked over but was pleasantly surprised to find a few short sleeved Tshirts for me and some plush critters for the girls. I also got some shell shaped Ariel and crown shaped Cinderella cereal bowls as a surprise for the girls when we embark on our journey.

We enjoyed a lunch at the food court and then headed home. On the way, I stopped at two Dollar Tree stores to look for any kind of Disney stickers to make our own autograph book (or index card decorations) for our trip. Surprisingly, there wasn't much to choose from! At the second Dollar Tree, I asked the manager if they were expecting a shipment soon. She told me that they were discontinuing the sticker rack!!! **sob** Soooo, I'll have to find my stickers elsewhere OR make my own with the multitude of free clip art available on the net.

Our final stop today was at Blockbuster where I picked up some Disney princess movies and a Dora movie. Man, it's a shame Dora isn't a Disney character!!! I have the biggest Dora fan in my household!!! Anyway, we got home, ate dinner, took baths, and sat in daddy's recliner (me with the girls on my lap...they're almost too big to do that!) to watch Sleeping Beauty. Then, the girls brushed their teeth, climbed into bed, said their prayers, and gave me sweet sugar kisses. I just love my Little Bird and Kangaroo princesses!