The Princess Gets Her Castle

Last Christmas Santa brought Princess a play house. Considering that she is 9 now, it's long past due. She'll soon grow out of it. Maybe she can get two good summers of make believe families, play school house and pretend grocery store out of it. However, this Mom is wishing Santa had brought it 5 years ago so she could have had more time to enjoy it. As they say, better late than never!
So last weekend while Grandpa and Grandma visited for an early Father's Day barbecue, Mr. Studmuffin pulled out the tools and Grandpa and he started assembling her pretty little palace.

Grandpa sorting out the various pieces. Trying to make heads and tails out of it all.

And they're off!

Grandpa working on the porch.

Putting the roof on. From the looks of the pictures, Grandpa is doing it all. LOL But don't be fooled! Dad is running around like a chicken with his head cut off.

The happy Princess with her Knights in shining armor.

Now she spends her days sneaking the house phone out to her palace to call the exterminator (her Dads cell) to kill bugs, the landscaper (her Dads cell) to mow her lawn and the repair man (her Dads cell) to fix anything that doesn't work. Dad is loving it and has a different accent for each worker. He also hands her fake bills and she exchanges them for fake money.

Soon we'll probably end up turning this pretty little palace into a glorious dog house or fire wood or maybe Princess will find some other deserving little girl to enjoy a sacred place of her own.

A day at the zoo...

Every time we go to the zoo there are certain spots we like to pose for pictures. This big tin elephant is one of them.


Another one of those traditional poses on the rhino.

My kids are gorgeous!

I love animals and I'm grateful for a place like the zoo to see animals we may never see otherwise. The only thing is, I find myself wondering what they're thinking with all of us staring at them.
Another posed picture on the tiger.The kids are trying to find an animal in it's habitat. This is an old bike on display at the zoo. I want it for my yard!

I told Savanna that giraffes won't go anywhere without putting on mascara. She believed me :o)

The kids get a break to ride the new carousel.

Birds!!

Kids play area where mom and dad got a rest and the kids had some fun.


We get to the last "traditional pose" area with the gorilla! We love that guy!


Zoo admittance $7.00, train ride $0.75 not having to listen to the kids beg to go on the train anymore... PRICELESS!And we end our day at the magical giant marble floating on water. Let's see how fast we can get it to spin!

The "Bunny" takes a bow...

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. Not because of the treats or gifts. But because it marks that sweet time of year when summer is just about to embark upon us.

And when plain white eggs + food coloring = A work of art!

The Book Worm, The Princess and The WOW Addict showing off their Easter loot.

A Spittin Image..

The other day the Stud and I took the the kids over to my mom's house for a fantastic dinner. If there's one thing I know for sure, it would be that my mom is the best cook in the universe! I really look forward to these dinners and not just because I don't have to cook them.
So as we are waiting for the roast to arrive at the perfect place when it starts to fall apart, the fam and I began looking through some old picture albums from my childhood. Oh yeah, the bare bottoms, toothless grins and compromising situations kids get in all exposed to my own children. My mother warned me the day would come.
I carefully selected a handful of photos to bring home so I could scan them and add them to my own collection of memories. My mother, of course, reminding me that I didn't need to do this because I could have them when she dies. Side Note: Why do our parents have to remind us of their impending deaths? Seriously, if I do that after I turn 50 just shoot me!
So, after a delicious dinner and a rush to get home so the kids can get to bed early enough that they will still wake up for school in the morning, I begin to scan my treasures. I sit here looking into the face of my younger self. That familiar innocent face once draped across my own head. I realize the familiarity is not only from those years of staring into a mirror as I brush my teeth or as I practiced my academy award acceptance speech (Don't pretend you never practiced your own acceptance speech!) But it is also a face that today I still look into. A face I love more than my own most days. A face that I look forward to kissing every single night at bedtime. It is the face of my Princess! A spitting image of me (God bless her!)

This is me during that "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" stage of life. Yes, I was a cutie. No wonder why I turned out so freakin HOT! LOL

Here is a picture of Princess during the same stage. What a resemblance! Until I put these pictures side by side, I didn't see it for what it really is. We look like twins!