Oh, no! Princess Drama

Lily is playing with her princesses. The Barbie sized ones and the mommies and the smaller ones the little girls. The most recent conversation went something like this...

Little Belle comes over exclaiming, "Oh, Mommy! Mommy!"
Big Belle embraced little Belle saying, "Oh Sweet Pea, I'm so glad you are here. I've been waiting for this and now you are here!"
There was quite a bit of hugging and then little Belle leaned to big Belle's ear and said in a very dramatic, low voice, "There is a problem!"
Big Belle replied, "Oh, no! What is the problem?"
Little Belle in a very sad voice said, "Someone in our family...can't dance!"
"Who can't dance?," asked big Belle.
Lily hangs her head and little Belle almost seemed to do the same as she admitted sadly, "Me. I can't dance."
Then big Belle happily replied, "You can't dance, I can't dance, Let's learn!"

All's well that ends well I guess;-)

It's Starting to Feel Like Fall

School started two weeks ago, but this is the first full week. The mornings at the bus stop have been pretty chilly lately. I've started to put summer clothes in transition areas- aka-laundry baskets ready to get put into boxes when I believe it's really not going to be hot anymore. This week my fall schedule really starts in force. I've got a MOPS meeting, the start of my new Bible study and a photography workshop this weekend. I've been teaching Sunday school for a few weeks now and am pretty much continuously planning for an event that I'm helping to plan. The only thing left to add into the mix is Lily's gymnastics which starts next week. Somehow we missed soccer sign ups, so we're thinking Ryan can do indoor this year. The freedom in his schedule also allows for him to try a new sport. He's chosen wrestling. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Something about watching my child rolling all over a mat with another kid who may or may not hurt him badly makes me hate the idea. I think Jay secretly glows with pride that Ryan would choose the sport he competed in most during high school.
This year I'm lucky to still be able to look forward to a vacation. Usually this is the time when I just hunker down and get ready for a long period of work and schedules with little time away. In a few weeks summer will be just a distant memory and Christmas break will seem like a long way off (no matter what you over prepared I-need-to-have-my-shopping-done-by-October people think). I think this fall mini-vacation with Jay's family will be a nice refreshing break.

Pirates

Lily's version of the pirate song...

"Yo ho! Yo ho, the pirate's after me." After we rode the Pirates of the Caribean Lily rode around Disney World on Jay's shoulders happily singing her little diddy. He tried to correct her, but she wasn't having any of that. She was singing it again this afternoon. I love when kids trigger great memories.

Disney

We took the kids to Disney World for the first time last week. It was awesome, HOT, but awesome. I researched quite a bit before we went and learned even more while I was there about what I want to do next time. It was a great trip though. The kids had a blast, I had a blast, even Jay had fun;-) Lily's favorite thing was Cinderella's Golden Carousel. Before we went she talked about it all the time and I guess it lived up to her expectations because we rode it several times. The character breakfasts were a huge hit- even if they were early. None of us liked waking up for them after being up late the night before, but we did and the kids loved meeting the princesses, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Daisy, Pluto, Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore. I loved that it was FREE (well, except for the tip) because we got the dining plan free and I also loved that we didn't have to wait in line to meet our beloved characters. We spent a grand total of about $15 on food the entire trip...given Disney prices for food this was a huge savings. We could have done it completely free, but Jay really wanted a Margarita and we got a refillable mug at one point that ended up not being worth it. Thank God for free dining!



Ryan just made the 44" cut off for the big rides. There were still 2 he couldn't ride, but he got in some good thrill rides and LOVED it. His favorite was Expedition Everest in the Animal Kingdom. His favorite show was the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular in MGM Hollywood Studios; that's my boy! I'm thinking he should see the Indiana Jones movies now. Toy Story Mania was fun. I can see why the fast passes were out by noon. Lily liked getting dressed up in the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and the boys enjoyed being initiated into Jack Sparrow's crew, but it was so hot their costumes were done by 2:oo. Lily looked like a punk rock princess and Ryan looked like he just stepped out of a coal mine. We went back to the hotel to get refreshed. I took Lily to the pool which she loved; It has fountains and sprayers, it's almost like a mini water park right at the hotel. Jay took the boys to Blizzard beach and they had a blast. We went back to get in some night riding and fudge.

I wrote this post last week and thought I would add to it, but I haven't yet. So, I'm going to post it as is and if I get a chance to write more I will just do another post. There is so much I could write. It was a great trip with so much fun stuff packed in to it.

To give you an idea what I deal with each day...

Lily doesn't want to do what I tell her to. She tilts her head down, gives me a very stern look and says, "I do what I do and I do what I want to do!" hmph!



When I go in the garage to get a broom for the back porch Lily asks to go on a bike ride. I told her not right now. I start to go back into the house and she says, "I'm staying right here if I can't go on a bike ride! I'm not going inside." I start counting and she comes to the door, but not inside. I tell her if I get to three she loses a princess, she steps in the door with her back against it and says,"I'm not going any further in! This is it!"

This morning when it was time to get dressed I pulled an outfit out and told Lily it's time to get dressed. She fussed and threw herself on the floor, so I left the outfit and went downstairs. She came down about 5 minutes later with a different shirt and a pair of shorts. A shirt with purple flowers and a pair of shorts with flowers on a different color purple background. It did not look good, but I chose not to fight that battle. It's what she wore today. She'll probably hate to see pictures of herself in these outfits when she's a teen, but at least I can tell her she picked them out.