Disney Day #1

Yeah, I know.... it's been a long time. Well, we've been busy! First we went on a fabulous spring break vacation to Disney World with Grandma and Grandpa L! (And then, I have spent the last week recuperating from said vacation. No joke, I have been in bed before ten every day for a week!). So, I have finally gotten around to blogging about Disney.

We flew down on Sunday, which would have been uneventful except for the very last landing where, due to high winds, we had to abort the landing and try again. Unfortunately that was more than Jr. Princess's little stomach could handle. Lucky for us, she mostly hit the airsick bag. (Unlucky for the boy further up the plane who didn't!) And here I made sure to pack Dramamine for M&M Dad...

Bright and early we were off to the Magic Kingdom on Monday. The girls loved EVERYTHING.

Here they are posing on "It's a Small World," the ride Auntie and I remember riding several times for Grandma L!

Here you can seee the place was quite empty when it opened. We started each day when it opened, because let me tell you, it was a ZOO by afternoon.

To start the day, Grandma L gave each of the girls $20 to pick out their own souvenir. Well, you know little miss instant gratification (aka Jr. Princess) was in every single store trying to buy anything she saw. She finally picked these ears, and we're glad she did because she wore them constantly the rest of the trip.

Jr. Princess was a ride demon. She even liked Space Mountain, which Starshine and Grandma L elected to pass on. She pretty much got off every ride to say, "that was the best ride ever!"

A laugh around every corner

When Auntie and Uncle were visiting last weekend, Starshine and Jr. Princess spent some mischievous time coloring under the table and then sneaking around the house. Since my kids normally make good choices, I let them sneak about, and boy am I glad I did.

I walked in my room to find this in my closet.... EEEEEEEK a mouse! (notice the cheese)

Clearly she was playing up my disgust/fear of mice.

Well, as we walked about the house we kept finding more. Here are a few that fit through the scanner:

And my personal favorite on the treadmill:

There were several other good ones (vampire, bats, etc.). In fact, I have left the witch hanging in the linen closet because it makes me smile every time I get a clean towel.

This was such an unexpected joy.

Fun with Auntie and Uncle

Today's pictures and videos are courtesy of Auntie (thanks!)

The girls were very excited to have there Auntie and Uncle visit this weekend. Jr. Princess has been counting down the days...

Luckily, they had seen the blog post of our awesome luge track, so they had packed appropriate winter gear.
Uncle wanted in on the luge track action, too, and after a short while it was determined that track #2 was needed! After a lot of shoveling, and a few errant test runs...

There was success!

I cannot even count the number of times those little troopers walked up the hill by themselves! We were all sweaty and exhausted. But here's why it's so fun - look at those happy faces...

More pictures later when I get around to downloading from my own camera...

Geek Mom Moment

This morning Jr. Princess decided to take her beach ball to school for Show & Share. I think it was about 5F this morning, so when she got in the car this was our conversation:

Jr. Princess: Mo-oooooooom, my ball is losing air!"
Me: No Sweetie, it's just cold out. It will be fine once we get to school.
Starshine: No Mom, it's leaking you HAVE to fix it!
Me: It will be fine. Please stop screaming, I'm trying to drive.
Starshine: HOW DO YOU KNOW IT'S GOING TO BE FINE!!!!

(preparing for geeky moment)

Me: Well, let me explain a basic law of Chemistry.... (blah, blah, blah...) the volume gets smaller when it gets cold, and when the air warms up it will get big again... (blah, blah, blah...)
Starshine: Really? How do you know?
Me: I'm super smart, remember? (This is a standing phrase at our house whenever I can find something that they can't)

There was obvious doubting coming from the back seat, but when the ball firmed up when we got into daycare they looked at me like I was the coolest mom ever!

Yeah - science rocks!

Pillow Thief Strikes Again!

Well, M&M Dad is traveling this week, so we're enjoying kid dinners and sleepovers in Mom's room...

Last night was Jr. Princess's turn. Well, she apparently remembered the last time when she stole all of my pillows (http://shoreviewstories.blogspot.com/2009/12/like-father-like-daughters.html) and thought she would try again... (she has three under her head and even has one under her feet!)

Well, I'm no dummy... I had a pillow hiding in the closet!

They also enjoyed opening the package from Grandma L and trying on these awesome socks! Thanks Grandma!

2022 Olympics here we come

Clearly M&M Dad and I are past our prime for Olympic glory, but the kids have just begun their training. Here they are preparing for the 2022 luge event:

Starshine had her friend over for the afternoon, so in order to make sure the big kids got some little sister-free time, Jr. Princess and I worked on a super secret surprise dessert. We made our own parfaits with leftover whipping cream, fruits, and graham crackers. (It's pretty remarkable what we came up with from random ingredients around the kitchen.) Look at those happy faces!

Oh, and here is the Youtube video they are currently enjoying...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJKythlXAIY

I think this should be the new routine for Brigade!

Happy Valentine's Day

Jr. Princess woke up this morning requesting pancakes for breakfast. She was pretty excited to find that I made pink heart shaped pancakes, which she topped with strawberry yogurt and strawberry syrup for a fabulous pink themed breakfast for Valentine's Day.

Then it was off to Target to spend some Valentine's money from Grandma M. Jr. Princess picked out an awesome helicopter, and Starshine got some more Chixos accessories. M&M Dad was pretty excited for this non-girly toy...
Later, Jr. Princess and Dad went out to craft their own Olympic-inspired luge track in the backyard while Starshine napped (she's a little under the weather) and I assembled our new desk chair. Jr. Princess was very excited to find out there was a new box to play with...

And we ended they day with our Valentine's Day tradition - fondue! Now, we've had to modify the recipe since we've had kids (no alcohol, milder cheeses, etc.) but it is a lot of fun. We also had a chocolate dessert fondue. It may be a small stick that easily fits in her mouth, but Jr. Princess can always find a way to get it all over her face :).

I sure do love their cute little smiles!

Super Bowl Fun

We were planning on having a family evening watching the Super Bowl, but I had very low expectations for watching because I figured the girls would lose interest early. Well, M&M Dad had the best idea. He made a super bowl pool.

The best part was he had everybody donate a "prize" so we could have a winner each quarter. Here are the prizes donated:

• M&M Dad: The winner could leave their dirty clothes whether they changed, and he would put them in the dirty laundry. He would also make their bed (I REALLY wanted to win this one just because M&M Dad has NEVER made our bed on his own accord- EVER!)
• Starshine: Will carry in the winner's stuff from the car for a week
• Jr. Princess: Will clear the winner's dishes for a week
• Pink Mom: Will Put away the winner's shoes/hats/mittens/etc. in the front hall for a week

Well, it worked like a charm. The girls were totally into the game (or the first half anyway, because they went to bed at halftime). I won Starshine and Jr. Princess's prizes in the first two quarters, and Jr. Princess was soooo cute springing off the couch to clear my dessert dish for me.

Then, this morning, they ran upstairs to check out the chart and figure out who won the remaining prizes (M&M Dad and Jr. Princess). Jr. Princess reveled in leaving her clothes in the middle of the kitchen floor while getting ready for school today. Even Starshine, who didn't win anything, was super gracious and carried in all of my stuff from the car this afternoon with a big smile on her face.

This was such a success we'll definitely do it again!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Friday was my birthday, but we decided to celebrate on Saturday because the girls are usually too tired on Friday night for much activity.

First I got to sleep in, and was quite surprised when that turned out to be 9 o'clock. I cannot remember the last time I slept until 9. I hope that doesn't mean I'm getting sick...

Then, Jr. Princess came in to see what I wanted for breakfast in bed, which was her big plan for me all week. I enjoyed a lovely breakfast of yogurt with strawberries. We then had fun trying out some of the new games on my Wii Fit Plus game. I think the Snow Ball Fight is going to be a favorite.

Then, for our afternoon activity I wanted to go ice skating. Jr. Princess had a bit of a meltdown because she wanted to go sledding (umm, it's not YOUR birthday). She and Dad started out in boots playing hockey ( the boots are to make sure we don't repeat the great head injury of '09), which she LOVED.

Starshine is definitely getting a lot better at her skating. No one has to help her at all, now...

And Jr. Princess, well I had to insist she finally put her skates on so everybody could see how well she skates (especially considering last year she was completely against the idea and only put her skates on once!)

We finished the evening with a nice dinner at Red Robin. Unfortunately, do to a lying punishment for both girls (sigh) earlier in the day we couldn't watch a movie together as planned. But Starshine, bless her little heart, left me the most adorable note under my pillow apologizing for ruining my birthday evening by lying.

All-in-all, it was a nice day.

There's a new smart girl in town!

Well, after two long weeks of waiting, Starshine's new glasses are finally ready! Here she is showing off her fabulous new self in a pair of dolphin-blue glasses she picked out herself...

She marveled the whole way home about how many signs she could read, but so far, hands-down, her favorite part is that now she can read the DVR menu from the kitchen counter while eating her snack! She looked like super adorable brainiac this evening looking up her spelling words in the dictionary.

I love having glasses it is like a new world! P.S. Glasses make you look smart.

Oh, and "you know who" definitely did not want to be left out of this photo shoot!

She looks adorable, too, but hopefully she will get my good eyesight genes!