It was a Ball to Remember

N is a man who is laid-back.  His personality just goes with the flow of my Type-A personality.  He used to not be social or really like to leave the house.  Then I started planning all these things for us to do and now he enjoys the busy. 

A few weeks ago we got a newsletter in the mail from Zoe's school.  In it was an invitation for all dads and daughters to a social on Friday the 13th.  It was a princess themed party, so you could dress up as your favorite princess. 

Because we are crafty people, my mom decided to make Zoe a princess dress.  Zoe had her heart set on being Cinderella.  Fortunately it's prom season, so all special fabric was 50% off.  We worked on making a dress that matched Cinderella.  By we, I mean my mom, I just cut out a couple pieces of the pattern.

Zoe was beside herself counting down the days to the ball.  What's even more awesome, so was N.  He asked Zoe what he should wear if he was to be her prince.  She said, "your Easter shirt with all the designs, jeans, boots and a hat."  Basically her prince is daddy and she'll take him just as he is.  Those two melt my heart.

On the night of the big dance, Zoe got into her dress and daddy got into his princely attire and we headed outside for pictures.

To make the night more special, N gave Zoe a necklace.  It was Cinderella's carriage with a blue sea stone inside to match her dress.  The look on her face when daddy gave her the finishing touch to her outfit brought a tear to my eye.  She couldn't stop hugging him and saying thank you.  In that moment, Zoe transformed into a princess.

She was truly the belle of the ball that night.  She made a crown, got her face painted and learned to waltz with daddy.  They spent the entire evening dancing.

It's such a blessing to have the daddy that makes our girls feel like the princesses they are.  He truly is our prince.

Easter

I'm finally getting around to post some Easter pictures. 

At the after-Christmas sales, I found a playhouse.  It's big enough to fit someone of Zoe's size and yet small enough to fit into our limited space.  Plus it was Lalaloopsy, which is a kid's toy collection that is all about sewing and crafting.  It's like they made it for our family.  The dolls have fun names like Spot Splatter Splash and Jewel Sparkles.  We can't ever remember those names so they turn into Orangy Orange and Princess Sparkles, respectively.

N and Zoe put it together on Saturday night.  Zoe is actually still in the playhouse, almost two weeks later.  It's safe to say that Spot Splatter Splash and her magical playhouse were a HUGE hit.

On Easter it's always a bit of a challenge because N plays on the worship team, has to be at church at, well early, and we don't really have family time until after church.  This year was a little different because Zoe and I had a baby sitting job.  We got to love on our new nephew/cousin, Austin, while N and his sister Bev did worship team. 

You have never seen a more attentive babysitter in all your life.  Zoe sang him songs, showed him how to dance, then how to freeze dance and then how to hold hands.  She's been asking every day since when our next "babysitting gig" is. 

When we got home from church and our babysitting gig, the Easter bunny had come to our house.  There were at least 3 dozen eggs for her to find and a new kite.  Hello awesome!

What Easter wouldn't be complete without a new dress.  It's fun to see all the sides of Zoe come out and she's a Grandma Kathy girl too.  They share a deep love of all things Wizard of Oz.  I found a light blue and white gingham dress that we call her Dorothy dress.  She paired it with her sparkly pink shoes for the whole effect.

The sassy pose is all Zoe and not so much Dorothy.

After the 1 minute it took for Zoe to find all 36 eggs, examine her kite and get into comfy clothes, we had some breakfast.  My mom's new thing is hashbrowns from scratch.  We all left the table counting down the days until the next Easter.

Who knows, maybe we'll have to find a Spot Splatter Splash (aka Orangy Orange) type dress.

March, March Glide

I'm a bit behind in updating and there has been much going on.  I'm going to do my best to get caught up on all the happenings. 

My nephews are hockey players.  Since my oldest nephew, MJ, was 2, we've been at the ice rink for either skating lessons, hockey lessons or hockey games.  My oldest nephews now play out of town more than in town, so we don't get to watch as much as we used to.  That didn't diminish Zoe's desire to ice skate.  She saw her cousin T-Dog do a couples figure skating program a year ago and it's been in her head ever since to get on the ice and skate like he did.

We are fortunate that our main ice rink has a preschool skate lesson 4 days a week.  The kids can skate with a bar to get a feel for the ice.  They also teach them how to skate, how to fall down, how to get up and basically just get comfortable on the ice.

Zoe, like her cousins, took to the ice.  She LOVES it.  We count the sleeps between skating classes and Grandma even bought her pink and white skates for Easter.  She's totally Pinkalicious now!

Here she is practicing the move - march, march...glide.

She is not fearful of the ice or skating and frequently ditches her bar to skate "all by herself."  We are so proud of how well she's doing and how she doesn't let fear rule! 

Looks like I'm going to have to dust off the hockey skates and get to practicing!  N is already trying to get some used skates.  Looks like we'll be spending more time on the ice.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: A Girl and Her Dog

They are the unstoppable crime fighting duo on every walk we take. 

The Vocabulary of an Adult

Zoe has a large vocabulary.  Something doesn't taste good, it's delicious.  Something isn't pretty, it's glamorous.  She talks as though she's an adult with a flair for description. 

She and N have been invited to a Daddy Daughter Social this month.  It isn't just any social, it's a princess social.  That means she can dress up as a princess.  Because she's also a director, she's planning on N dressing up as a prince.  He's being quite a good sport about it.  I think he's planning on wearing his suit and Fedora.  Zoe's planning he look exactly like Prince Charming from Cinderella. 

Nonetheless, they are STOKED!

My mom and I have a plan to make Zoe a Cinderella dress rather than just have her wear her store-bought one.  Not that there is anything wrong with it, but a homemade one will give her that extra bit of glamor that she's looking for.  Plus, there's a costume contest and how awesome would it be that she would win.

Since it's getting to be prom season, there was a huge sale on special occasion fabric.  Zoe and I went to the store last night.  I found some light blue satin fabric and a matching shimmer overlay.  It will make it look like the dress is sparkling.  I was excited!

Zoe was about 3/4 of the row in front of me, found some light blue fabric with jewels sewn on it, and yelled, "mom, this fabric is so much more me, don't ya think?" She held it up to her cheek and batted her eyes. 

Sometimes I cannot keep a straight face with this one.

A Different Easter

This week at AWANA, Zoe's verse is about Easter.  It was Matthew 28:6, "He's not here...he is risen!"

When I quizzed Zoe on her verse of this week, she said:

He's not here, He's in prison

Wouldn't that totally change the whole celebration of Easter? 

Go, Dog. Go!

We have an amazing Children's Theater in our area.  I remember going to productions when I was a little girl.  Afterward, you could take your program and have the characters sign it.  They would sign it "Snow White" or "Dopey."  I remember getting Snow White's signature and thinking that I had really  made the big time.  Some of my favorite memories of my childhood are from going to these plays.

Now that Zoe is a bit older and quite into drama herself, we decided it would be a perfect time to introduce her to the Children's Theater.  She had gone to see a production of The Wizard of Oz that a school put on and LOVED it.  She was totally geared up for Go, Dog.  Go!

We bought the book and read it. 

I had no clue how they were going to turn this book into a play.  It's things like, "Red Dog on a blue tree.  Blue Dog on a red tree."  That's not really exciting or time consuming.  Then we found out that a lady named Kathie Doyle-Lipe was going to be in the production.  She is fantastic.  I worked with her during some of my drama years in high school.  She has a stage presence that is amazing and her heart is absolutely sweet.  I love her!  I knew with her in the play, this was going to be so fun. 

I was totally unprepared for how adorable this play was.  Lots of music, lots of laughing and a pink "poodle" that Zoe fell in love with.  This is her excited face during intermission.

Their finale included a tap line.  Since Zoe and I both tap, this was something she thought was so cool.  She's got about 1,978,576 plans for her next dance recital. 

Sharing these moments with her took me back to my childhood.  I only hope I can to 1/2 of the job my mom did for me.