Memories for a Lifetime

We traveled to Disney with two other families that we met through our adoption. I have to say that the three four year olds got along famously despite the complete lack of schedule, sleep, or normalcy. It was so much fun to watch them try to process all the excitement. Two of my favorite memories revolve around our meeting of Lady Tremaine and her daughters...you know...the EVIL Stepmother and Stepsisters to Cinderella. I expected Lia to love all things Princess...but soon discovered these three lovelies really rock her boat. When I pointed out that they are mean...she told me they are FUNNY. When we met them at dinner with Cinderella, the three girls ganged up to convince Anastasia that the mice and NOT Cinderella had stolen her sash and that the ripping of Cinderella's gown was unnecessary. (you've all seen the movie right??). We met the same three actresses two days later at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and the girls were first in line at the meet and greet for the Family Tremaine. This time they sang, "Sing Sweet Nightingale" for them...also from the movie. Lia was just thrilled beyond words...and I was overcome with pride. You know...because Lia sang for the EVIL STEPMOTHER and all. Always a surprise with my girl...but she never fails to make me laugh. (and for the record, I am working hard to drive home the importance of kindness and putting others first... :-))





Another highlight was a little group photoshoot we attempted after our dinner with Cinderella. Disney has professional photographers stationed around the park. Once you get a card, you can stop and have photos taken that they just scan onto your card. As a group, we were able to all have our own cards, and then combine them at the end of the trip. We all loved doing this and are now enjoying going through the over 1000 pictures we have between us to put together our albums. We spotted a photographer at the Floridian and thought since the girls were dressed up like princesses, we would try to get them all together. They gave the poor guy a real run for his money. I enjoyed documenting him trying to wrangle them all. I will share the photos he got once I get the cd, but needless to say, they are hilarious. This one was early in the session...they were still relatively tame and ladylike...so cute!!



I still have tons of photos to go through and edit. Lia is sick...and Daddy is in Houston. Despite the magic of our trip, we landed squarely back in REAL LIFE pretty quickly. I hope to catch up this weekend and organize our trip by day...now doesn't THAT sound interesting???

Disney Teaser...for the Grandparents :-)

Update: I was in such a hurry to get this post up, I forgot to mention that the over the top cute outfits were made by her and her...I have not sewn a stitch since 8th Grade Home Ec...and heaven help us if I ever try...

The outfits were quite a hit, but wait until you see the matching tote bags they made for the moms...fabulousity!!!

We arrived home late last night from 8 fabulous days at Disney. We had tons of fun...and not so much rest and relaxation. It truly was the trip of a lifetime and I have tons of photos to go through and edit. We flew off the grid for the week as I was unable to get an Internet connection...so despite the bone crushing exhaustion I am feeling (it's true I may have picked up a bit of a dramatic flair from those fabulous princesses), I wanted to post a few highlight photos for the grandparents, who have been waiting none too patiently...much more to come!!

Sunshine in a Plaid Hat

She was not happy when I bought this hat. She even glared at me...and I swear I heard someone whisper something about such a pretty girl to have such a scary stink-eye.

Yeah...she really gave it to me, but I bought it anyway. And not surprisingly she has refused to don it all summer. My visions of a "Michael Jackson Tribute" photo shoot fell by the wayside. C'est la vie, you know??

So you can imagine my hand clapping glee when she came downstairs wearing "the hat" the other afternoon and asked me to take some pictures. Maybe she knew her Mama needed a pick me up...or maybe she just realized how incredibly cool that hat really is...but I didn't wait to find out. I just grabbed the camera and started shooting!

Summer in Fast Forward

Gosh it's been fun. Summer, that is. I look forward all year to the three blissful months I have off to spend with Lia...and just be. We have made the most of the dog days...and there has been nothing lazy about them. We have been on vacation for four weeks this summer...more than we have spent at home. In the 7 weeks we have been off, Lia has attended three week long camps, one week of intensive swimming lessons (which she loved!), and completed an introductory gymnastics course (which she also loved!). We came home yesterday from another week with grandparents and beloved cousins where she swam, attended campfires complete with s'mores and mountain pies, had makeovers galore (another fave!)...and just generally lived the good life.









During an early summer visit we went with Lia's older cousin while she got her ears pierced. As I suspected, Lia was VERY interested in that! I really hadn't planned to get her ears pierced until she was six (a completely arbitrary number that just sounded about right to me)...but after giving it careful consideration...and near constant discussion time for two weeks, Lia convinced me she was ready to take the plunge. The day of the big event we were at the mall before the doors opened. She was beside herself with excitement...until she was up in the chair. We had two false starts...and then she decided she could do it if her dad was there. We waited at the mall FOR THREE HOURS until Jim could come over for lunch and moral support. We had them do both ears at the same time...and I am not even sure Lia cried any real tears. She was thrilled once she saw the earrings...and has told me at least once a day how happy she is that she has earrings. She also has been very good about reminding me to clean them three times a day. I wasn't sure I was ready for earrings...but they do look awfully cute...and she is so happy with them.



So now we are home for the rest of the summer...registering for fall activities, getting organized for the school year...and of course getting ready for our next big adventure...our trip to Disney World in September. Plans have been underway for several months, and we can hardly believe it is almost time. It promises to be the second best trip I have ever taken (behind China, of course! :-)). More to come on that later!







That about sums up our summer...pretty simple everyday stuff to most...but exactly the stuff my dreams are made of.

I heart my girl...

So sorry for abandoning my beloved blog...we all are well and very busy squeezing every last drop of summer fun we can into our days...we will be back...

Beach Reflections 2009 (and a little more!)

Our week at the shore ended all too quickly...but the golden memories shall live on forever. We packed a lot into the week...lots of beach time (where Lia mastered her boogie board for the first time...and consequently asked for a snowboard for winter!), good seafood, a quick trip to the R*ainforest C*afe in Atlantic City and a day trip to a local children's amusement park. Lia was thrilled when her friend Hannah came for their very first sleepover. The girls were great...if not slightly overly excited! They closed down the beach (when high tide nearly swept away my beach bag!), munched on pizza for dinner, enjoyed an evening movie and went right to sleep. Almost. :-) We have blocked out the 10 pm call to Hannah's mom and the retrieval that almost occurred. I finally won Hannah over with a promise that she could help me crack the eggs for breakfast. She told me she was a "good cracker"...and frankly...she may be a better cracker than I am! We all survived (and kudos to Hannah's mom, who fielded such a teary call...and still trusted us enough to keep her girl through the night!)...and I think it was the highlight of Lia's trip!

We returned to a busy week here. Lia is taking Science and Art Fusion Camp this week and also started gymnastics for the first time. She has been asking me for awhile to take gymnastics so we enrolled her in a summer class to see how she likes it. She was awake and dressed in her leotard at 6:30 this morning. She was just one hoppy, happy little girl...and I think it's safe to say that we will be adding gymnastics to the fall schedule for Lia...and some anti-anxiety classes for me most likely. :-) Gosh they look so little climbing on that large, dangerous looking equipment!

We will be heading out at the end of the week for another week away with our parents. After ringing in the 4th, Lia is so excited to be attending Nature Camp with her cousins. It promises be a fun-filled, busy week...just the sort of dreamy days we fantasize about all winter long.

These are some random photos from the beach. If you click on any of them, it will take you to my flickr stream (my new obsession!), where you can see more photos.

Happy summer to you all!!! I hope you are having a good one!!

Summertime...and the livin's easy...

I know, I know...two posts in one day...and all after months of sporadic updates...but we're at the beach and I finally have time to breathe. It was too cold for Lia to swim...but she couldn't wait to get her tootsies in the sand...so off we went...





It's hard to complain about 40 when the day ends as perfectly as this one. It's going to be a good year indeed! :-)