Princess Palooza

It may seem that all we ever do is dress up like princesses and take pictures, but I can assure that is not the case. Its just the only time I take out my camera lately - which is something that needs to change - until I get back to regular blogging again you just have to trust me that there is plenty of car racing and superhero action as well.

Last weekend I took a ton of pictures at the ultimate of princess tea parties for Athena's best best friend, Amelia's 6th birthday.

We got there early to get ready with the birthday girl. Amelia's Mom and Grandma, did the girls' hair (with tons of glitter hairspray) then make up and I helped paint the nails (pink with glitter was the most popular choice)

...and then they were bejeweled and bedecked in dollar store rings, fluffy boas and sparkly tiaras.

I think my minis look so much alike in their matching hair and crowns.

Athena was regal

and Zoe lovely.

And then we did what all bedecked and bejeweled princesses do, we painted figurines.

Then, the main event, the tea party, and the little princesses were all given loads of sugar and little bells to ring.

The pinkalicious spread.

It was both over the top and darling at the same time.

And the birthday girl just loved it.

A Princess Palooza!!
Now, what the heck are we going to do for Athena's birthday!!

Doctors and Horses

This was the plan for our Saturday- wake up early, pile Athena and Zoe into the car, leave Chris with the Dude and head over the mountains to L.A. Athena would be dropped off with Mimi for a fun day of special almost-birthday activities and Zoe and I would spend the day at the Children's Hospital discussing her treatment plan with the cranio-facial team there. The last time we went to CHLA we took a total of four and a half hours to be seen by all the specialists, so we were preparing for a day.

As luck would have it, we were only scheduled to see her plastic surgeon. We waited 30 minutes in the waiting room and 15 in the treatment room. He performed his evaluation, we went over our options with him in just a few minutes (he recommends lip reconstruction surgery either next month or this summer - more on that later) and we were outta there in less than an hour.

It was 70 degrees, the day was young and we had all of L.A. to explore, so we texted Mimi and tagged along on their day of fun, meeting them at the Disney store for some prebrithday presents and then lunch.

Next on the agenda, horseback riding in Griffith Park. And not the ponies that go around in a circle tethered together. Mimi, who is a true horsewoman at heart, knew about a real equestrian club that had 25 minute trainer led rides for little ones on real horses.

At first it looked like we were going to have to give back the riding fee we paid for Zoe. She was wide-eyed and nervous at the sheer size of the beasts and fearful of the strangers who wanted to help her mount them. I actually had to walk away from her at the critical moment she was decided to push ahead or run - she is usually much braver when I am not in sight. But she really manned up and had a blast.

Athena got that "floating on clouds" look in her eye that she gets when she is living a dream. She absolutely loved it.

I think we may have another cowgirl wannabe in the family

...but a cowgirl that wears pearls.

Princesses and horses do go together quite well.

Superbowl Sunday

For Superbowl Sunday, Chris organized a Superbowl party at our church. David drove up for the event, Mimi was there and Athena was bored, so she took my new phone and entertained herself by documenting the event. This is not for the faint of heart, wobbly and in need of serious editing, but I think she captured the day pretty well.

Princess For a Day Too

You may remember this day, which next to her trip to Disneyland is probably Athena's favorite day ever. It was the day Athena's best friend had the pinkest girlyest party at the Fantasy Tea Party place in town.

Well, today was Zoe's turn. Zoe's best friend Aubrie turned four and had her party there. We've been counting the days. The party starts with the girls choosing a "princess" dress from a massive walk in closet, we quickly scanned the inventory for the purplest dress we could find, then the girls choose jewlry, a tiara and wait patiently to have their hair, nails and makeup done.

I just want to point out that Zoe never sits this still when I do her hair.

The finishing touch is glitter everywhere!

Zoe and her two best buddies Aubrie and Kendall all dolled up.

When everyone was done, they got a few pointers for the Fashion Show
(seriously, how girly can you get)

And then sat down to have tea. Real tea with sugar cubes (I think Zoe ate one) and tiny tea sandwiches.

All lady-like demeanor left when the pink birthday cake came out. Then they just shoveled it in.

Finally, the princesses "helped" the #1 princess open all her gifts.

Maybe I'm partial, but I thought that my little princess was the belle of the ball.
(Both Uncle David and Aunt Mimi thinks she looks like the elfin princess, Arwen (aka Liv Tyler) from Lord of the Rings)
Yea?

The Unbelievable Uncle Stu

Uncle Stu has been staying with us for the last six weeks, using our home as a base of operations as he situates himself in his new home. Six weeks is a long time, but only for poor Stu stuck in suburbia, for us it was easy to have him around. Uncle Stu, you are awesome in so many ways...

You're always up for a park picnic playdate.

You make an excellent morning resting place (and Zoe loves you above all others)


You make excellent (homemade, not Bisquik) pancake people.


You'll even give up watching Kentucky basketball for an afternoon of black light indoor miniature golf.

You trust this little girl with your iPhone,

...are excellent at fixing little girls' hair

and download princess games on your iPhone making it even more desirable.

And you spent hour upon hour designing the next edition of the blog book

a creative effort that we will have for years and years,
cementing our family memories in a beautiful hardback book.

Not to mention all the times you got up with the baby (when you had to share the same room with Jack over Christmas) and rocked him back to sleep (without waking me), and told me to "go shopping, have fun!" while you took the girls to the bounce house, and borrowed my car to run an errand and had it cleaned before bringing it back, and cooked dinner and washed the breakfast dishes and everything else!

Baby brother it was awesome to have you around, we'll miss you but are so excited that you and Jen are relocating to San Francisco (just a four hour drive away) now that your European adventure has come to an end. We'll get to see you so much more!!!

Back to Bloggin'

I don't know what it is about this month...but every January there is a bloggy lull. Maybe it's the difficulty of getting back into routine after such a busy and delicious holiday, or the sickness that always plagues our home around this time, or the massive NEA deadline that haunts the third week of the month. Maybe I'm just embracing the simplicity and blankness of the winter days and enjoying having nothing to say. I'm not sure the reason, but this blog is too quiet and I need to get it started again. Getting started again is the hardest part and we've got alot to catch up on before we can move forward.

At the beginning of the month, Yiayia and Poppop traveled around the Central Coast looking for places to retire. They are not sure where exactly they would like to settle down, after they sell their homes in snowy New York, but plan on living and renting in Bakersfield while taking weekend excursions to the Coast.

Which means we'll see alot more of these faces next year!

With just a a day or two in between to refresh the guest bedroom, MorMor flew in for a post-holiday visit. First stop was Fun Friday at Athena's school.

I informed Athena's teacher that MorMor was an artist so she was given the complicated project which involved painting little hands gold and cutting out heart shapes...whereas I was given the sticker activity.
Back at home even more art projects were enjoyed. MorMor has found a kindred spirit in Athena. Athena is not the type of child to sit still or really focus on something for a long period of time, unless it is art, then she can sit for hours.

Also in January we spent a day with very special friends from Kentucky who are on an amazing journey with their three little girls. I love this family and am so in awe of their remarkable adventure. Jill captured some great moments from our day. And totally understood how it was possible to bring one of your children to the park without shoes, and still be okay with it because two out of three of your children were fully clothed. It was beyond great to spend time with people who just get you...I hope their travels will find them back in this area again sometime!

Immediately after our shoeless park incident, and hopefully not related, little Dude was diagnosed with a double ear infection and bronchitis. His lungs were so funky and congested that he wasn't getting enough oxygen to his blood. His pediatrician prescribed an immediate nebulizer treatment in the office, which frankly was really scary, and then sent us home with our own nebulizer, requiring four treatments a day for a week. There will be no pictures of our little dude with his tiny oxygen emitting vapor because it would break his grandmothers heart. It was a rough week, we were concerned that it might be asthma related to the new kitty in our family, but thankfully it cleared up and his lungs are perfect again.

I took 312 pictures in January. This is one of them.

And here's another. 312 is nothing compare to the 1,200+ from the month before.

Still the chaos continues and the days tick by. Time is slipping away and I will get back to blogging if only to staple a few moments onto a virtual wall before they are lost forever.

Be back soon!