Wrong on so many levels - but oh so funny!

Is it wrong that I think these are funny (and that I secretly want one) ?

According to the email I got, these are all the rage in Japan and will be heading to the US soon... whatever. They aren't see-through skirts, those are images painted on the material. Shocking. Clever. Funny. Just LOVE the last one - how dreadfully perfect: seeing it between the sides of the apron. Kind of like any experience with a paper hospital gown.

It may not be wrong to think they're funny, but I'm pretty certain that it is wrong to want to wear one to an old, southside, dutch CRC church on Sunday morning. I'm just saying, I don't think the old dutchies would appreciate the humor of these skirts.

Happy Birthday Princess Olivia!

Nora's BFF turns 5 on Tuesday and to celebrate her mom, PD, threw her a Princess Party at Our Party Palace on Saturday morning. For 2 whole hours Olivia* and 7 of her friends were magically turned into the most beautiful princesses ever. One in particular was especially beautiful:)


After arriving, each girl walked into a huge closet full of princess dresses and was able to find the absolute perfect dress for the party - the dress was just the beginning of the transformation:

Along with a dress, every princess needs the perfect pair of shoes to wear:

When the perfect dress and shoes have been chosen, every princess needs to choose a tiara and have her hair done:

and her makeup done:



Transformation complete:

On the agenda for the day... a Tea Party


And some real princess dancing:





In addition to the tea party and dance lessons, the princesses made a picture fram and were taught some princess manners and how to curtsey. They had pizza for lunch and cake for dessert. Birthday Princess Olivia opened gifts and then all of the lucky, beautiful princesses got their very own purses and a few small items to put in them (Nora chose a watch, a pen, a keychain, a bracelet and some chapstick - I successfully steered her away from all of the fun makeup that was available:)



Nora had a grand time at the princess party. She told me she had a lot of fun, but she was a little shy because she didn't know that place very well (she kind of stood off to the side for a few things. We kept asking her if she was having fun and she said she was - I think she was just being a little shy that morning).



And while her true Prince Charming (Nolan) was not available, she did agree to have her photo taken with the one that was available:

*I did not include pictures of the birthday princess because I did not get permission from her mom:)

Halloween 2006

I do not remember Halloween being so fun when I was a kid. I remember dressing up and going trick or treating, but wow is it so much MORE fun as a parent:)

We had a busy day yesterday... Nora had a party at school so we got her dressed up before she went. I have to tell you - her costume turned out MUCH cuter than I anticipated it would. She was a 50's girl and she was the only 50's girl at school (there were at least 4 princesses - so glad I chose not to do that this year). She was adorable and came home with a ton of candy from her friends.

Dave came home a little early to be a part of the trick or treating. After he changed his clothes he took the girls out "just around the house", which ended up being around the block with our next door neighbors. John and Michelle have two boys, Nolan 5 and Nate 2 1/2. Nora is going to marry Nolan, and Nolan loves Nora so I'm sure there was much excitement when they saw they were leaving to trick or treat at the same time. I could see them down the block from our house and they were holding hands:) Oh my, they are so cute together.

I joined them after a little while and we finished trick or treating around the entire block. At that point Georgia was pretty happy:because it was 40 degrees and dinner time and she wanted a bottle. So we got her a bottle and loaded the three of them into the car to trick or treat at the Fulmer's. Some parents bring their kids to the grandparents houses on Halloween - this was our version of that except that Doug and Jenny aren't as old (okay, they're almost as old, but not quite as old as our parents). We love us some Fulmers:
After making Doug and Jenny's night really happy by leaving our Bunny with them, we made our way to the party at PD's house. We got there and it was a mass of costumed children who had surely had a lot of sugar, parents who were kind of just hanging out and as much food and goodies as you would expect at a christmas party. We all had a great time and Nora was very brave while Mr. Shivers was hanging around (Mr. Shivers is a 6 foot mad scientist that speaks when you talk into a microphone. Nora has been terrified of him for the last month - so much so that up until yesterday morning she did not want to go to Olivia's halloween party.)

We love halloween. Our girls had such a good time. Ryann loved it even though her pumpkin was just waaaayyy too heavy to carry. And she loved all of the candy and the fact that she could basically eat however much she wanted to eat for one night without getting into trouble. Nora loved dressing up and spending time with Nolan and Olivia and Georgia loved being snuggled by Jenny for the whole night.

Good times. Good times.

Our bunny Bug making everyone happy:

Doug got in the frame right as the camera was taking the picture, so no, I'm not as good of a photographer as Gram;)

Isn't she so pretty?

Ryann was our 50's clown (because she has to do everything Nora does). Its a good thing I colored that smile on her face because she refused to smile for the camera - I think she was ticked because getting her picture taken was taking serious time away from eating candy!