My Little Purple Princess

We have been in the "princess" stage at our house for way too long. Why doesn't someone tell little girls that princesses aren't even real?!! A few years ago, while we were at DisneyWorld in an auditorium packed with people, the spotlight suddenly settled on four-year-old Emma and Mickey Mouse asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. She announced that she would be a princess, and everyone giggled. (Just for the record, our next family vacation is scheduled for Williamsburg.)

Now, Madeline is completely obsessed with anything purple, frilly, or sparkly. I want to tell her to forget the princesses; that someday she will be a nuclear biologist, but then I see how her eyes light up when her dress twirls out when she spins, and how happy she is in her "purple princess dress" and I can't bare to spoil her fun. This is how she spends almost the entire day...Keeping a princess schedule can be absolutely exhausting...

A few days ago, I found Ms. sparkles tuckered out on the hard floor with her blankie sound asleep.

A Little Home Improvement

Doug was kind enough to come out last month and help us do some home construction. The master bedroom and the girls' bedroom in our house share a wall. The girls bedroom didn't have a closet, and Shan had a large one on that wall, so we took half of his space to give the girls a closet. (Not sure if that makes sense, but it's the best description I can give.) It seemed pretty simple to do, but it turned into a bit more work than I imagined. Thankfully, Doug guided us through the finishwork after he left, and Shan stuck with it, learning some new skills along the way, and the closets both turned out great! Here are some pictures:

First, Doug cut a hole in the girls' wall for the door (creating a hole between our rooms... not good), then he framed it out and put up the drywall. Shan taped and plastered the drywall seams, primed and painted (this is where I contributed a little, tiny bit!), put trim on, hung doors, put up shelves and fixed the floor. Phew.... we are so glad THAT is done. Here are the finished products.

How did I get so lucky?

We always sing "Sweet Madeline" to Maddie, to the tune of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline." Because she is.

We all have to laugh at ourselves sometimes...

The other morning Emma was getting dressed and I heard her mutter, "These pants are tooooo small!" And I went in to peek at just what she was wearing. To my surprise, she had on Madeline's size 3T jeans! Who knew? We had a good laugh.

Emma's Artwork

Emma is a prolific artist. I cannot possibly count the number of pages she creates each day. The trick for me is trying to get rid of the excess, without her knowing, since every picture is her "favorite" one. She has a board in her room where she displays her favorites, our refrigerator is covered, and I keep the best ones in an art file for her. The neatest thing about her pictures is that she almost always gives them away as a special present for a sibling, teacher, or friend. This week, she gave me three such gifts and I cherish every one.

For this masterpiece, she asked me to put my hand on the paper so she could trace it, and then she traced her hand on the paper and added the people and decorations.

A rainbow, flowers, grass, and a river running by a tree with a butterfly, a blue sky, and shining sun. All the elements of a perfect 6 year-old's day.

Now this is my favorite of the week. Not only did she put two quarters on, but she also sacrificed her beloved Sacagawea coin for me too. And how about the words? "Mom is like a swete smeling flower and is like a sumr." Looooooooooooove it.