First Day of School - 2011!!

Last Tuesday was the First Day of School up here! And after a long (yet wonderful) summer of playdates and picnics, I'm not gonna lie when I say that I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief in the early morning hours of September 6th. I think the kids did, too!!


So there are my babies...all ready for school. The Big One is having a blast in 2nd grade. Smelliott is absolutely loving 1st grade. And The Banana is in UPK-heaven. While I love not having them home (and no, I am NOT a bad mother for saying that), what I love even more is that they are still growing up to be independent little thinkers. They love school, they love learning...and I love them.

3616

That's how many minutes my kids read this summer!!! We once again signed up for our local library's Summer Reading Program. And we once again set a goal of 600 minutes per kid for the summer. And my kids blew through those 600 minutes in no time at all!!! Especially Elliott!

The final tally looks like this:

Elliott - 1619 minutes
Gabriel - 1137 minutes
Janna - 860 minutes

I couldn't be prouder of my little readers!!

Tangled Party = Epic SUCCESS!!

The Banana is in love with Rapunzel. She LOVES the movie "Tangled," and wants to marry Flynn Rider when she grows up. When it came time to plan a birthday party, she knew exactly what she wanted. And I complied...in my own way.

She chose a pink and purple cake. I chose this:



Yeah, that's a doughnut tower. I RULE! It was super-easy, and Janna and her guests (especially the Mommies) loved it!! I also used frying pans for the snacks (pardon the pitiful lack of cast-iron pans - all I have are my beloved blue T-Fal)! The snacks were tiny sammies, braided pretzels and crackers, grapes, and apples (just in case Maximus stopped by).

She chose a bunch of silly Rapunzel-themed loot for the bags. I complied, but the girls also got these:

Bows (handmade by me, of course) inspired by each girls' favorite Princess (a missing guest chose Ariel) and Rapunzel, herself...


Pascal party blowers (I think these are just so freaking cool - and also very easy to make)...


And Rapunzel braids (again, crazy easy to make)...

It was a party fit for a princess...especially a Princess of Pink Bananas and her BFFs!!

The Banana is 4!!

Yep...she's 4. Which is ridiculous. And so is her cuteness. Janna is ridiculously cute!! And attitudinal, and sweet, and smart, and funny, and accident-prone, and everything wonderfully aggravating and amazing that a 4 year-old girl should be.

[And just in case you want to see how The Princess of Pink, aka The Banana, has changed since July of 2007, click here, here, and here!!]

Here's 2010-2011 in review...

37 months: The Banana LOVES flowers! She picks any and all that she sees - including Grammie's carnations and marigolds.

38 months: Ready for school!!

39 months: The cutest little Halloweenie EVER!

40 months: Enjoying the muffins Daddy helped make at preschool for her Thanksgiving Feast.

41 months: Merry Christmas!!

42 months: Senorita Snaggletooth!

43 months: The Dancing Queen! Janna started dance lessons - and after 6 she decided she was all done. All she really wanted was the outfit!

44 months: Meet Agnes, Janna's unicorn. She is now completely obsessed with them.

45 months: Hamming it up in Florida!!

46 months: The Princess of Pink Bananas is all done with her first year of school!! She LOVED it!

47 months: My little rocker knows what she likes to listen to - she is in love with ROCK! And 60s pop. No country, no rap, and very little "children's" music.

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY, JANNA ELLEN!
You make every day just a little brighter, and I love you to pieces!!

Awesomeness and Princesses

I've said it before, and I will say it again...I'm awesome. I'm a lot of other things, too, but right now? Awesome is the word I use to describe myself.

The reasons for my awesomeness are many, but right now I attribute that trait to the following Princesses and Fairies:



Those? Are made completely out of ribbon and glue. And some blood, sweat, and tears on my part (well, no blood, but I did burn the hell out of my fingers trying to make some of the smaller pieces of the sculptures, and I teared up like the pansy I am, in my hot kitchen).

The Banana (who will be 4 in 10 days!!!) is a girly-girl, and she loves hair accessories. Her sister does, too, but not to the same extent. Janna asked for some new Princess hair stuff, and I complied. She also asked for Tinkerbell and Pinkalicious stuff. Again, I complied. Because I'm awesome. Go ahead...try to deny it!!