Princess Party

Our Princess Party day dawned dreary and cold, a night of rain dampening the lovely, prepped backyard.  Sigh.

After hemming and hawing and hoping for a warm up, I embraced the idea of a indoor party and after the application of crepe paper, bunting and a few pink table cloths, it was pretty festive in here.  Nat brought out our big mirror and turned our stairway hall into a dress up room fit for a princess.  Our tyranasauris-turned-dragon greeted guests at the door.  Snacks were stacked on platters and candy dishes and stands and soon, little ones were filling up all the spaces in between...

We had 21 children and their attending adults and thank  heavens it was dry enough outside to send the sword fighters out into the yard.  The perfect pergola-turned-castle was danced in and hidden in and served it's purpose well.  Children played and adults talked, food was eaten and our playroom destroyed.  It was, by all measures, a grand party indeed.

oh yeah, and I wore my wedding dress for the party.  If you can't wear your wedding dress to your daughter's princess party, when can you wear it?  

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

Three

 

 This little girl will be three tomorrow.

 These three years have flown, busy and full as they have been with laundry and toys, travel and trips to museums, diapers and school and so much love.

 So much love for this little girl.

Three year old Ivy has a heart of sunshine and a temper like a summer storm, quick and fierce and over soon. She is a story teller and a pretender, making up narratives with any toys at hand, most recently including a package of fruit snacks. She loves to sing and can do a good rendition of the abc song, twinkle twinkle, and itsy bitsy spider, her current favorites. All of her songs end on rising notes. She has the most expressive face.

Three year old Ivy still loves to nurse (though it might be time to wean when your child tells you, clear as day, "momma, I'm all done with this side, time for the other side now...") She hugs fast and strong and plants the sweetest kisses on whatever part of us she can reach. She loves her dog and imitates our endearments for her... "Oh, Cor, you're such a GOOD dog..." She loves all dogs, actually. All animals, really. She's been known to plant kisses on many of them, too.

She is funny and decisive and verbal and shockingly girly, loving nail polish and lip gloss and all things pink and princess. But she can handle herself with the boys, and loves dragons and hot wheels and sword fights and running and jumping off of things. When she gets hurt, she rarely wants a kiss... She wants to get back to the game, even as she cries.

This girl loves school and circle time and ballet class. She confidently joins groups and says hi to everyone. Ivy does not sit quietly by during movies and stories. She's got questions and comments for every page. She loves Little Mermaid, with "any other movie about princesses" following close behind and Power Rangers coming in after that. Her favorite books have babies in them, or animals, or girls, or soccer, or pink, or rhymes. I guess she really just likes books...

She also loves, in no particular order: ice cream, her friends Lillian and Naomi, cleaning up spills, strawberries, broccoli, and pepperoni.

She is assertive and opinionated and won't hesitate to scream at Jack, or threaten to bite him, at the least provocation. She loves wrestling and tickling and the general manhandling that playing with a brother entails... Until she doesn't and then it is OVER. She does not take kindly to being told no. When she gets into a crying fit, she'll march right off to her room, wailing all the way. And she'll be back a moment later, the sunshine back out from behind the clouds. Most days, she is easy going, flexible with change and ready to enjoy whatever comes her way. Unless she is not....

Three year old Ivy is trying to give up her nap, and is not sure she wants a big girl room upstairs just yet. This girl loves to be near us at night, to come padding in a few times a night and say, "I come in your bed now, momma?" Three year old Ivy snuggles in close and loves to be held... And flings her sleeping hands in your face and kicks and squirms and goes diagonal in the bed.... Last night I asked her why she doesn't just sleep all night. Se said, "because I TWO!" Here's hoping three year old Ivy figures it out... I am hardly ever angry with her, but I am very tired...

Three year old Ivy is still our little tow-head, starting conversations everywhere we go. She can charm the world with her smile. Her laugh is a song. She is still my tiny, this big, big girl. I love her voice, her silly face where she shows her bottom teeth, the way she doesn't say her "s" sounds, her drawings, her imagination, her questions.

I love my three year old girl.

Firsts and flowers

We had the best Saturday. Seriously. The kind of Saturday where you just don't come inside, where you get a little too much sun, even in April, where you fill the day so full it is still brimming over and you don't get tot the blog until 10:45 on Sunday night... Before I tell you about it, though, lets back up a bit. These past weeks have been as full of firsts for our children as they have been of flowers. Did I tell you about Jacks little concert? How those kindergartner a stood up there so straight and yelled out the words to their springtime songs? I think I may have, but here's another picture for good measure.

And how about Ivy's brush with fame? Here she is, gracing the front page of the Plain Dealer Metro section. We've been receiving copies of the picture from people far and wide, as they recognize our girl. What fun!

This week also brought Jack's first week of soccer, with a practice on Tuesday and a game on Saturday. Yes, college-Amanda, you DO have a minivan AND a kid in soccer. Gasp. Not exactly sure how this happened to me. Luckily, not-in-college-anymore-Amanda is remarkably ok with it all. Jack is excited, particularly as he and Greg are on the same team. We've been blessed with good weather so far, which has only helped.

Oh, and today he attended his first bowling party. He wanted to just stay and keep bowling after the party ended, he enjoyed it so much. Jack will never find himself lacking in interests, with the way h seems to throw himself wholeheartedly into each new pursuit...

So.. Saturday. Seventy degree sunshine. Blue blue blue sky. Botanical Gardens in the morning. Never mind that we'd just been there the night before. It's the last weekend for the Big Spring attractions and there were so many lilies yet to smell. So many ribbons and butterfly wings and brilliant colors, rainbow arcs of tulips in full splendor. It was heaven. We could have stayed all day but for Jack's first soccer game... We were forced, poor us, to stand around in the sunshine watching little children run and play on the green gras...
It went pretty well for being our boys econd time on a soccer field. He contacted the ball a few times, even moved it down the field a bit, one time. During his first stint as goalie, he stopped the ball... With his nose. Actually, he dealt with it pretty well, and even got back into the goal box, meeting the fear head on. I was pretty darn proud. I don't care if he ever scores a goal.
Evening found us grilling out at a friends house, walking the kids around their lovely neighborhood, passing the time chatting and drinking beer as the kids played. Not a bad way to end the day. A delicious day, indeed.

Daffodils

Spring has burst into being this week.

 Ok. Yes. So today it snowed.

But I'm going to put that to the side and instead focus on the spring green whispers of newly budded trees, the sensual splendor of the magnolias in full bloom, the brush-tip white of dogwoods making front yards into art.

 This week brought warmth and a few surprising days of sun. And, daffodils. Nat did well hustling the kids to Lakeview after school on Thursday to squeeze in our annual photo shoot on Daffodil Hill. While they were there, the kids were also photographed by the Plain Dealer and Ivy's picture graced the front of the metro section on Friday. That's our girl...!

 Here are a few shots of lovely new life emerging in the spring. And the daffodils, too.

Mini makers

Saturday was a windy, wet, generally awful sort of day. So, we went to the library.  Cleveland Public, that is.  The library was hosting a "maker faire" which is apparently a showcase for inventors and new ideas in general.  It was billed as a family friendly, free event, so off we went.

It was huge.  And overwhelming.  Next time, we'll research it a bit beforehand.  Make a game plan.  Map it out.  As it was, we were a bit shell shocked and had a tough time finding the hands on stuff.  But, it turns out, it really doesn't take much to make happy kids.  We found one table where would make flubbed, glue patterns, and butterflies.  We watched robotic Legos and submitted art to a local zine. My favorite was the selection of 3D printers, in action. Could've watched those all day.  The kids were pretty crazy about the lazier pointer graffiti wall.  The day even cleared up enough for a quick  snack outside.  

We live in a pretty cool city.

Tiny dancer

Ivy had her it ballet class on Thursday. There is just something about taking your little girl to her first ballet class... I mean, it's not that I harbor any great ambitions for Ivy to become a serous dancer.  In fact, I am pretty sure I don't want her to be serious about this-- can you imagine the work?? But I  sure did get into the procurement of the little pink leotard, the dancing shoes; putting in the high pony tail, complete with a bow...  It was all surprisingly magical, considering the great event took place in the aerobics room adjacent to the fitness machines at the Rec Center.  Mr. Victor, the instructor, is a wiry older man, who provided a delightful juxtaposition to the gaggle of 3-5 year old,  leotard clad little girls prancing joyfully around the room.  So much pink!  So much spinning!

Ivy was thrilled when her best friends arrived,  throwing her arms around Lillian and happily comparing footwear. These three.  Could they be any cuter?  They were very clearly some of the youngest girls in the class, but they did fine. Eagerly joining the group, they waved to us without a care as we left. Melinda and I had a lovely time walking/talking the track and since none of our girls came out of the room before class ended, we assumed all went well.  Ivy reported that they "gallopded" and was sad to leave.   Shall we do it again next week, little ballerina?