A Video Christmas Card

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Halloween Part II

First up, in case you don't feel like browsing through the ten million pictures from Eliza's birthday party in the last blog post, Eliza's Gramps created this great collage. Click on it to enlarge.So, for Halloween proper, Eliza went out to her Mimi & Papi's house in the suburbs to trick-or-treat properly (i.e. at houses, not stores, like we have to do here in the city). She opted for a more casual princess look, with her hair down this time:

Late afternoon spooky shadows!
Getting the bag ready for treats!
She loved all the Halloween decorations that people had put out.
Trick-or-treating with Daddy and Papi:
And as a final added bonus, she got to jump in the huge leaf piles along the curb. She also helped hand out candy inside and got to eat a hot dog for dinner. So, overall, I'd say she had a great Halloween!

Halloween Parade!

Today was the Halloween Parade at Eliza's school. Fortunately, the rain stopped for almost the duration of the parade, starting just as we got back into the school. Eliza is Princess Presto this year, from her current favorite show, Super Why (although Angelina Ballerina is creeping up the ranks). We paraded around the block and it was VERY windy, as you can see from her hair.





Back inside, she posed for a quick pic with good bud and fellow princess, Chloe. Just a hunch, but I think she was getting hungry.
Back inside the classroom for group shots, which is, as Kerri said aptly so long ago, like herding cats. Eliza decided she had had enough. She said she wanted to twirl instead, but I think what she really needed was some food. Huge stacks of cupcakes were at the ready.
Definitely click on this one below to enlarge. Her face is priceless.
I need a tissue!
Are we done yet?Stay tuned for more pics after she goes trick-or-treating at Mimi & Papi's house on Halloween!

Also, I haven't posted anything about Eliza's birthday, but she had a grand ol' time and fortunately Aunt Mary took about a million pictures, which you can see here.

All Hail the Big Girl Bed!

We have arrived! A day long talked about and long anticipated....Eliza has her big girl bed! The agreement was that she could get one (with Dora sheets, of course) when she could poop in the potty (that being the hurdle in the potty training process). She delivered, so to speak, and got her reward.

First up, a quick video of her first look at the bed.

And now a few stills of what one can do with a big girl bed:

Be a cheese dog.
Lie back and relax with one's wand.
Get comfy with a book.
Find one's favorite part in said book.
And, of course, snuggle in.

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday, Daddy! (for those who don't know, Daddy is traveling to NYC during the week, so can't be with us on his actual birthday)

She's not getting a cupcake on Daddy's birthday. But if she did, it would probably look something like this:

Diamonds and Trikes

Just a few quick pics...

Since returning home from Florida and her triumphant turn as Princess Penelope, Eliza has been clamoring for a crown and wand of her own. I finally obliged, but the only non-Disney Princess (ugh) crown I could find also came with earrings and a beautiful necklace. So Eliza likes to channel her inner Zsa Zsa, especially first thing in the morning. B/c what goes better with footie pajamas than sparkly jewelry?

Her other big news is that she got a tricycle! After only three times out, she is actually really good at pedaling and even likes to "go fast like an airplane." Here she is working hard...
And loving life!!!
Hope everyone had a happy Mother's Day. Ours was lovely.

Nobody puts Baby in a corner

We weren't in the Catskills and she didn't dance with Patrick Swayze in the finale, but Eliza definitely had the time of her life in Club Med this year.
Our journey down was smooth and uneventful, which was a huge improvement from last year and everything only got better each day. Lots of sun and fun and relaxation. And here are a few (well, more than a few) highlights.

Our first full day there was Easter Sunday and look who was at breakfast! We had to go back a few times before Eliza was comfortable enough to actually take the picture.

Next up, we took her over to the Petit Club where they suited up for the Easter Parade. Her group was the Tigers - obviously. She was fine with this as long as we were around...

...but not so thrilled when she realized we weren't in the parade too.

Back at Petit Club, though, she seemed to have a good ol' time.

Later, she donned her Easter dress and posed with her gifts from the Easter Bunny.
After dinner, she took to the stage (the first time) and made friends with several of the older girls. They had so much fun dancing and jumping that Eliza kept asking for them all week. Unfortunately, this was never repeated. Ah well.


For the "off" day (when there is no Petit Club), we went to an oceanographic institute of sorts where Eliza and Mac touched a stingray,

did some very serious sitting on a tree stump,

and played with shells.
And now the moment you've all been waiting for....the big show! Again, see last year for a refresher on Eliza's stage presence and then be impressed that she was the STAR of this year's show. We're not really sure what the plot was, other than she was Princess Penelope,
wooed by her prince, Justin Time. To the tune of "Your Cheatin' Heart," he regaled her with gifts that she kept rejecting, including his heart...
Until she finally relented and it was true love (Justin, for the record, was played by a charming young man named Paul, who lives in France, and was quite smitten with Eliza. Look out, Connor!)
Then for reasons no one could understand, she was suddenly separated from Justin and living on a farm where she was being pursued by Bad Billy (or something), said pursuit consisting of little boys on hobby horses and Eliza waving her wand and twirling. Eventually Justin found her and they were reunited. Awwwww...
The rest of the trip was the usual fun - rocking chairs,
music playing,
frolicking in the play area with cool play houses,
jumping in the pool with Daddy,
who is still her number one guy.
And as always, lots of slushies and pretzels to make vacation complete!

Can a Girl Be Too Fancy?

We're going to go with "no."

Tonight Eliza announced that she needed to "wear something special" and went trotting off to her room. This is what she came back with:

Here's the back...b/c if you're going to wear the ears, you MUST wear the tail too. For the record, she also has the bow tie that came with the cat costume around her wrist. Along with three purses and a change purse.Work it, baby!

Eliza hearts President Obama

Aunt Mary sent Eliza an awesome gift to commemorate this historic day. She is very proud to wear it (click on the pics to enlarge if you can't read the shirt):

And she's a little cheesy as well...this is what you get when you ask her to smile:

Green Dinosaur Cookies

As anyone with access to any kind of news source probably knows, it is frickin' COLD in Chicago right now. Our high today is zero. That's right, zero. So, as you can guess, our desire to go anywhere is slim to none. Hence, baking as an afternoon activity!

For Christmas, Eliza got a green dinosaur cookie kit from Aunt Mary. Yesterday we made the dough and today we rolled them out and baked them. The raw dough tastes a bit like Play-Doh and honestly, the cooked version isn't much different. I won't lie to you - they're not good. But I am not the intended audience, so here is the true judge of taste.
She likes them!