Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Proud to be an American...

While in Virginia we were able to take a few hours and walk around the capitol. I had not been since I was a child and, of course, this was the first time for the Princesses to visit. I know they won't understand the importance of these sites and neither did I at their age... however, I do remember visiting them as a child and wanted them to have that experience as well. At some point in their lifetime, I think everyone American should visit the capitol.

One of the most emotional sites we visited was the Vietnam War Memorial. It's not quite as tall as I had always pictured, but it is so powerful. The silence as we walked among the people was deafening. I'm not sure if it was like that because it was Memorial Day weekend or if it is always that way. I tried to explain to Princess TomGirl and Princess Belle the significance of this site and couldn't do it without tears streaming down. As I told them, we owe our servicemen and women a great deal for their willingness to sacrifice their lives. Even if we don't agree with the politics of a war, we ALWAYS support those who serve so that we can have the freedoms that we enjoy. While there, we also saw a few protest banners. While this elicits some rage within me, I am so glad that they have the freedom to express themselves as they do. Despite its imperfections (and what country doesn't have any?) - it is an honor and a privilege for me to call the United States of America my home and I am Proud to be an American!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Princess Boo is 4... well, actually she turned back in January :)

I'm going back to the beginning of the year to do this page for Princess Boo. At this rate I'll be doing 2008 pictures for the next few years... I just keep taking more. How in the world do people stay caught up with this????


Saturday, May 24, 2008

Free 2b Me!


We've been visiting Williamsburg, Virginia, and it hasn't quite been what we were hoping for. Princess TomGirl spent the entire school year studying early American history so we really expected her to just soak it all in... instead, all of the girls constantly asked when they could go back to the beach area of the James River. At one point, we looked around and found that there were a lot of grandparents... without their children or grandchildren... We figured out why after that first day. The adults loved it and wanted to spend time doing everything and learning about it all, and the kids were happy just playing in the water. This is Princess Boo at the James River. She was the only one brave enough to pick up this little crab!

The ribbons are from the Shabby Princess Sweet Sprinkles Collection.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Surprise!



We are *officially* done with school - hooray! As a special treat for the princesses, I surprised them and took them to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas. They had absolutely no idea what was happening. They were watching a movie in the van when Princess Belle looked up and said "oh look, there's Great Wolf Lodge." Just at that moment, I turned into the parking lot and said, "yes, that's where we're going. We're not actually picking Dad up at the airport... instead we're going to Great Wolf Lodge!" As you can see in the pictures, they were so excited, but they still didn't get that we would be spending the night and playing for two days! They were also thrilled to find out that their friend was going to be there as well. She had been with us during the day, but just before going to the hotel we met her mom and switched off kiddos. She had Princess Boo and we had her oldest daughter. They were told they were going to check out this hotel for a convention and had no clue either. We had been planning this since January and it was so hard to keep the secret, but so much fun when we could see the kids expressions!

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Frisco Horse Park




Princess TomGirl has a love for animals that I wasn't aware of... at least I wasn't aware of the degree of it. She was able to tag along with her sister to a birthday party and had a blast. She looked so happy being up on the horse and being around the animals in the petting zoo. Princess Boo, on the other hand, was not a happy camper and ended up getting to leave early with her dad. I can't even imagine what her reaction would have been had she been up close and personal with the horses. To be fair, her introduction to the horse park was a goat climbing up onto the table trying to taste the potato chips that she was wanting to eat. Only able to get one layout completed today. My learning PSE6 is going a little slower than I had planned :)

Friday, May 2, 2008

Enter the Tween Years

Well... it's hard to believe when you look at her stature, but Princess TomGirl is officially entering the elite group of Tweens. I just set her up with an email address yesterday and she's already hooked (hmmm... could it be that His and Her Royal Highness have made it look so enticing with the amount of time they are on-line?). Anyway, she's been emailing us, her Grandma and a friend. She's called everyone else to see if they have an account too (no need to thank us parents of her friends :) She sent me an email with the title "Humiliation Nation"... totally cracked me up. In it she proceeded to tell me that she didn't want me to humiliate her by having people sing Happy Birthday to her at a restaurant like they did last year... oh - and to not say "did it just get up and walk away?" when referring to missing items. I tried to explain to her that our family tends to be a little sarcastic, but she didn't want to hear any of that. So now I'll walk on egg shells as I figure out how to relate to my Tween.

On another note. I had been encouraging her to go to a Christian camp this summer and she just did not want to be that far away from us. There was a part of me that was thinking she really needs the time to explore and be with other Christian friends (under the watchful eye of someone I trust, of course!). However, there was another part of me that was like "yay!" as she really loves being with her family and that is so precious to me. We've always looked at other families where the teen and older kids LOVE spending time with their families and wanted to emulate that. So here I was thinking we were doing a great job. A week or two passes and after talking with a friend one or two days she changes her mind and is now gung-ho about going. The power of peer pressure is unreal.