Exploring Downtown

Since my husband's cousin will be moving into her own apartment soon we decided to spend the day together exploring our downtown area. First we went to the cutest little store full of princess things. It was closed for lunch so the girls had some sweet tarts while we waited for it to open.
Later we found a cupcake shoppe. I knew there was one downtown but I never knew where it was. We stopped in and picked out some cupcakes.
Princess A picked the chocolate cupcake with mint butter cream frosting. Princess G wanted "Vanilla, Vanilla!!" The frosting is almost taller than the cupcake!
Princess A finished everything but a small bite of frosting (she wanted to bring it home!). Princess G made a good dent in the frosting and had a small nibble of cupcake when she informed me she was full. We brought it home and they shared the cupcake, with the extra mint frosting on top, for dessert.

County Fair

At the fair they had a section full of toddler ride-on toys, Princess A and G both picked the tractors.
Princess G loved the helicopter ride.
The long line for the roller coaster.
Together on the roller coaster. Princess A told Princess G "I'll hold your hand if you get scared."
As we were leaving they got balloons and clown nose stickers from the fire department. Fun day but next year we might skip the rides, the lines were really long.

Slumber party

Daddy is at a game so he will be getting home rather late tonight. I told the girls they could have a real slumber party and both sleep in Princess A's bed. They have been playing for quite awhile. I think I will have to put them to bed in their own rooms if they don't go to sleep soon.
They came into my room asking me to open their lotions as "We just remembered we can't go to sleep until we put lotion on, Mommy!" Of course they still are not going to bed. I think I hear some jumping!!

Cruising in a Pink Car

Princess A's friend has this cool car. We have been over to their house a few time and the friend has driven Princess A around. This time Princess A asked if she could drive. She was so excited when they said "Yes!"
Princess G wanted a ride too, so off they went. Princess A did quite well except when she tried to turn the pretend radio on. She would lean over to turn the radio on, run into the sidewalk, and forget to take her foot off the gas. Of course they both want one for Christmas but I told her it is to big to fit in Santa's sack.
Eleven years from now this scene will be repeated but with a real car, not a pink one!! My DH husband will be a nervous wreck the whole time. I just hope they are still the best of friends.

Princess G's First Haircut!

Yes she is three years old and is getting her first haircut!! Her hair is curly and never need one before!
Daddy was in charge of Princess G's haircut and left it a little longer than I would have. He loves long hair on her girls, I do too, but just a little shorter. I am the one that has to brush it and perform which ever hairstyle they request.
Here is Princess A with her haircut, I think it looks great. This is her 3rd haircut. What can I say I don't like going to get haircuts. Princess A loves the idea of getting her haircut but can not seem to keep her head straight or at the right angle and HATES the hairspray. The first time we went they used hairspray on her and a little got on her forehead. She did not like that, so every time we go she has to make sure they promise not to use hairspray or she won't get her haircut!

Here they are together posing. Don't you just love the smile Princess G does for pictures now!! They both look so beautiful!!

Moving Out of the Crib

We are still waiting for Princess G's big girl's bed. We have been waiting since a week before Easter. If you want the whole saga check here and here. I decided today to set up the mattress (it has been in our closet for months!!) The Princesses were so excited they jumped on it, help me make it, and then messed it playing slumber party with all of their stuffed animals. I think Princess A was almost more excited. They want to have a slumber party in Princess G's room. I told them they can have a mini-slumber party on Friday if they are good. I can't believe my baby in no longer in her crib!! I left the crib set-up in case she changed her mind and wanted to sleep in it in the middle of the night. So far so good! I wonder if I will wake up with her climbing into my bed in the morning or if she will wait in her bed for me to get her up? I am betting on her getting up on her own!!

My Two Little Chefs

The girls wanted to make Egg Bread in the bread machine. Princess A posed like this and Princess G wanted to be just like her big sister.

Princess A had a small scratch on her face and even though it was not bleeding at all she required a large bandage. This is why we go through bandages so fast, surprisingly Princess G did not need one too! Normally if one of them gets hurts and needs a bandage the other needs one in the same spot! Too cute!!

Princess G is about to add the last ingredient. Don't you just love the chef hat?

Here they are watching the dough mix. Princess G got bored first but Princess A was up there for over 15 minutes before I enticed her down.

My husband is loving GreenWorks cleaners

I was sent Green Works Dishwashing Liquid to try. We already have the Green Works Natural Glass & Surface Cleaner and loved it. I should say my husband uses it. He is really the one who does most of the cleaning. I have not used it to clean much so I can not really say how well it cleans (my husband swears it cleans great, maybe even better than his old cleaning products.) I can say this the smell is so much better. I always get a headache when my husband cleans, especially the bathroom. He usually cleans with the vent on and the fumes are still overwhelming. With the Green Works I can actually be in the bathroom and the smell is nice. I am not sure how to describe it but it smells green, definitely not a chemical smell. Since we all love the Green Works cleaners we already have, (even the Princesses say it smell nice when Daddy cleans now) I was very excited to try the Dishwashing liquid. My expectation were more than met, they were exceeded (I do the majority of the dish washing in our home.) The smell is the same, light and green, and my dishes get squeaky clean. I have been asking my husband to try more natural cleaners for a long time but as he was doing the actual cleaning he got to pick the products. He just believed that you need all of those strong chemical to get things clean. Now he knows that these more natural cleaners can do the job just as well with out causing you to pass out from the fumes. He likes the Green Works so much that it is the only kind he wants to use now.

After a year Sears Optical problem is still not Resolved

I am upset with Sears Optical. I went to Sears Optical July 28, 2007. Yes, over a year ago and the problems I am having with them are still not resolved. My insurance only allows me to go to Target or Sears. I have always gone to Target but after we moved Sears was much closer. It was great in the beginning, I actually liked the eye doctor. Then I had to pick out glasses. Now my eyesight is relatively bad. I am near sighted and without my glasses I can read a book if it is less than 3 inches from my face. I really did say 3 inches! Needless to say that makes picking out glasses a little more difficult since I can't see what they look like on. I also have a small face so I usually have to order adult glasses is a smaller size. Well Sears does not do special orders so I had to pick from the kids section. I was only grudging helped when I asked for it but eventually I picked out a pair. When I got the glasses something was wrong. The center point was off so after wearing them a few hours I was sick (think motion sickness that creeps up on you and as soon as my DH got home I slept the rest of the day away.) It has happen before so I knew what the problem was. Sears did not believe me but after a while they agreed to check the glasses. They were made incorrectly and said they make a new pair. I told them I thought that the glasses were too small and that I should just get a new frame. They wanted to fix this pair first before changing the frames. They ordered new lenses and after they came in sent me home with them. They did not work (not as sick but still nauseous). They made me an appointment with the Doctor to check the prescription. It was fine so at that point they checked the date I first bought the glasses and said that it was within the time frame that I could change the frames with out additional charges.
I was a little mad as I just spent almost a month trying to get different frames. I think they were delaying me so that I would be past the time period of the no questions asked 100% satisfaction guarantee. I picked a new frame and surprisingly the glasses were great. The center point was correct and they fit. No feeling ill with these at all. One problem, the clip on sunglasses that came with it had a scratch on the lens. They told me no problem, we will order a new one and to just hold on to the scratched ones for now. Lots of phone calls, visits to the location, a few deliveries of wrong clips and it is spring 2008. Yes, about 8 months later and they tell me that these clips are no longer made. They offer me prescription sunglasses. A nightmare couple of visits and they won't fit me (they tell me my prescription is too strong.) I just tell them I want the cost of the clip refunded to me. They agree and stop returning my calls (employees on vacations, put on hold and hung up on or left on hold over 10 minutes, and messages never returned.) I gave it over a month and contacted headquarters. I just called them again to let them know that the regional manager has not contacted me yet (I was promised a call by last Wednesday.) They said they would send the info to the regional office again (standard procedure) but if I was not contacted by Wednesday I should call back and that the problem would be referred to the Vice President. I am hopefully optimistic it will be resolved by Christmas!! Thank you for listening to my rant, I feel a little better. For now I think I will wait for the new Target to open in October and hope they have an optical section. If not I will have to drive 45 minutes to the nearest Target optical since I will never go to Sears ever again!!

Butterfly Ice Cream Cake

Princess G wanted an ice cream butterfly shaped cake for her mini-birthday party and here it is!

First I lined my round cake pan with plastic wrap and filled it with vanilla ice cream, covered it with more plastic wrap and put it in the freezer overnight. I also made another ice cream layer in a rectangle shape (about the size of a Twinkie but half of the height.)


Once they were frozen solid I removed the plastic wrapped ice cream from the cake pan and put it in the freezer again.


Then using two cake pans (the same one used for the ice cream) I baked a two yellow with sprinkles cake layers and a small square cake about the size of two Twinkies. I let them cool for a few hours and cut the square in half to use for the body.


I cut the cake layers and the ice cream layer in half and a notch out of each side. Below is a diagram from Betty Crocker.com


I followed the diagram above creating three layers: cake, ice cream and lastly cake.

I then whipped some more vanilla ice cream in the mixer. I frosted the cake with the whipped ice cream very fast, covered it with more plastic wrap and froze again.

Princess G loved her cake as did all of her friends and their Moms. It was harder than a normal ice cream cake I have made but that is what she wanted!

Backyard Princesses

Here is Princess G as her favorite princes, Princess Aurora!

They are playing Ring-Around-the-Rosie!

(Princess A played this with the real Princesses Belle and Jasmine in Disneyland on her 3rd birthday. She like to tell that story all of the time!)

Princess A as her favorite princess, Cinderella!

BugaLug Baby Hair Accessories Review

BugaLug sent the cutest little pair of barrettes, Jelly Bean Polka Dot, which Princess G claimed as her own. She has been wearing them almost everyday for weeks. Every morning she asks for her "pretty clips" and she is a little sad that I won't let her sleep in them. The barrettes have never fallen out or even slipped out of place. Princess G has very fine hair and barrettes never stay in her hair. I never worried about them falling off when we are out and about as I do with other barrettes I have tried. BugaLug also sent a headband, Flower Power Flowers. I don't have any pictures of Princess A wearing it since I have been wearing it for her. I really like the headband and the colors are so pretty. They have this cool toogle (their word, not mine) that you use to tighten the headband for a perfect fit without using elastic. The headband adjusts for each persons head so Princess A and I can use the same headband without it being too tight or too loose for one of us. I must say I am very impressed, the barrettes really, really do stay put (they have a silicone strip) and the headband adjust perfectly to different size heads.

Parfait is French for Sundaes

I might have mentioned before that my two little Princesses just adore Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly. We checked out the original book, Fancy Nancy, from the library. Now we have Parfaits, that is french for Sundaes according to Fancy Nancy, for dessert all of the time. We can't just have ice cream we have to have it with sprinkles (that makes it fancy) and preferably with chocolate syrup and whipped cream too!

Princess G's Mini Birthday Party

Everyone had so much fun. We had everyone come as their favorite butterfly (yes we read Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly all of the time.) All of the girls came with butterfly wings on. They decorated butterflies I had cut out by hand the day before. I made enough that they each made two butterflies. Once they were decorated with felt pens I put a dowel through the middle. I taped it on and off they went with flapping butterflies. We put on some music and the paper butterflies and butterflies kids had fun flying all over. They then made a big mega block tower together, which the promptly knock over together. They all laughed really hard and did it again. Once they were done with the tower destroying they made antennas to wear. Here is a picture I took just as the party was ending. I never did get a picture without any flying butterflies flapping their wings.
One funny thing was Princess G never wants to wear pants but that morning she insisted on wearing this Capri outfit. When I asked her why she said "I want to wear what I wear with Prince Philip!" She remembered that she was wearing the same thing when she meant Prince Philip in Disneyland back in early March.

Airshow

The day before my in laws left we went to a airshow. The girls just loved it. Getting to the show was great but as soon as the show was over my FIL and SIL wandered off for 20 minutes. By the time they got back we were at the tail end of the huge crowd, it took over three and a half hours to get home (it should only take 30 minutes).


Princess G got a little scared when a jet went right over us, it was so loud.

Here they are inside a huge transport plane.

They are both wearing their Hannah Montana T-shirts. They are really shirts my DH picked up in Montana a few months ago on business. Princess A has never seen Hannah Montana but her cousin has talked about her so when my DH took a trip to Montana she kept calling it Hannah Montana. She kept asking her Dad, "How is Hannah Montana?" Now when I tell that story she tells me in a slightly exasperated voice "I know it called Montana, Mom!"
Princess G is watching all of the "loopy-loops!"

It was a great show and I would go again. My DH does not care for crowds or getting stuck in traffic so I think it will be a few years before we try this again. It didn't help that we waited 45 minutes for the shuttle back to car and later figuring out we were a ten minute walk (the shuttle drove a meandering path so we thought it was much further.)

Crazy Busy Week

It has been crazy busy here for over a week. Princess G had a wonderful Butterfly Birthday Party. Once I upload some pictures I will show you the ice cream butterfly cake I made and the butterfly crafts we did at the party. After the party we were very busy the rest of the weekend and then we had Bible Camp all last week. Princess A just loved it. Princess G is too little for the camp but since I volunteered she was able to go to the nursery. I ended up in the nursery so Princess G still has never been watched by anyone else without her sister with her. It was an interesting week (an older lady who worked in the nursery does not seem to like kids very much or understand what they are capable of.) Then we sold our puppy Chloe (it was not working and we found the perfect home for her) and painted our fence on Saturday. Sunday my DH's cousin moved in for the month of August. I am tired just typing it!! Hopefully things will slow down.

Lilly P Badilly, a wonderful story

We got Lilly P Badilly in the mail a few weeks ago and Princess A has been enjoying the story and CD over and over again. She likes to sit at her table, open the book and turn on the CD. She listens to the story and turns the pages. It is a wonderful story, the music is just right as are the pictures. From the website:

Lilly P. Badilly is a little millipede with a brilliant mind and an exceptional talent for playing the piano. She lives in a teeny, tiny hole in the wall in the Miami International Airport with her grandparents, Nellie O. Badilly and Willie Z. Badilly. Together they embark on a most unique, and sometimes hilarious, travel adventure deep into the fertile rain forest of Costa Rica.

My only dislike is that they use the word "fart" in the story. We do not use that word (growing up that was a bad word, we used passed gas instead), my girls say "tooted." I was a little worried that they would start using that word or at least ask me about it, neither has happen so Princess A has continued to listen to the story. If that word does not bother you then I would whole heartily recommend this book and CD. The listed ages are 5 and up and I would follow that as Princess G has no interest in the book and she is 3 years old

Now if you would like to win your own autographed copy and $25 cash they are having a writing contest on their website for kids ages 5 to 10, in three age groups. Please go to their website for the rules and more information.