Letters To Elsa

So, I found this posted online a few days back:

well all right then? 

I debated over whether or not to try this with Sydni; she has an incredible memory, and if this didn't work, I'd be left feeding her some story about how it got lost in the mail or something to that effect. I dug a little into Google and found several user-submitted photos of people who've taken advantage of this, and decided we'd go ahead and shoot for it. If it doesn't work, well.. we'll cross that bridge when it gets here.

love. love love love her. 

There ya have it folks. We've written Queen Elsa, and I'll let you know if/when we hear anything back. Fortunately, Sydni's caught up with the Wii and hasn't asked anything else about the letter, so my best guess [and small hope] is that she'll put this on the back burner until something comes back in the mail for her.

I'll keep ya posted, parents! In the meantime, I'm going to go reflect on the fact that I just stamped an envelope addressed to Queen Elsa of Arendelle. Yeah. That happened. #parenthood.

G'Nite!

xo | cmd

Disney Princesses On Ice!

Today was the day we've been planning for nearly the past month: Surprising Sydni with a trip to see Disney's Princesses on Ice. I have no idea how I managed to go for weeks without spoiling the surpise; I'm absolutely the worst when it comes to harboring secrets like that. I pulled it off though, and we were dressed and on our way to The Nutter Center in Dayton.

she was trying to guess where she was headed

OH. Before I forget, I must take a moment to recognize the absolutely incredible talent of Allison, owner, baker and master magic-maker of Tu-Tu Sweet. [<< That's the Facebook link for you to go like her page, look at her pictures and ORDER. COOKIES. You're welcome.]

cookies, galore! 

^ Those volleyballs on the right were a special order for our team a few weeks back, and the Disney Frozen-themed crowns and snowflakes on the right were made especially for Sydni's big surprise today. This girl is good. I'll say it again: Friends & family, if you love cookies, call this gal. She's awesome. Thank you, Allison!!!

Anyway, we made it to Dayton and found our seats. There wasn't much happening yet, but with the giant, empty ice rink in front of us, we told Sydni what was about to commence. This, just before the squealing and tripping over all the names of princesses, was her reaction:

this is definitely an "icanteven" moment. ♥

So we settled in for the show!

the official "emcees"

beloved disney characters!
genie. lumiere. olaf. the fairy godmothers.

snow white's seven dwarves

lumiere & the dinnerware, in the
"be our guest" number 

fire-breathing dragon from sleeping beauty

Princesses!

the princes with the lovely ladies:
jasmine. belle. rapunzel. anna. 

more princesses!
tiana. aurora. snow white. cinderella. 

cinderella arriving in her chariot

A brief intermission... Did it look like she was having any fun? ;)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!!!

And of course, the story - and sisters - that 90% of the audience came to see today:

anna & elsa! 

prince hans. olaf. kristoff. anna.
disney's frozen! :) 

finale number: all the princesses! 

WHEW.
A very special tribute to the man in our house, for driving us all there, but more importantly for driving our zonked-out tails back home. Just another reason in the book that he is the best.

sleepy candids... 

We're home now and ready to finally relax, after Disney and an incredible weekend all the way around.

What a happy little Sunday!

xo | cmd

"Yeah, But What IF....?"

I'd be willing to gamble that anyone with children has at one point heard,

"Yeah, but what iiiiiiiiiiif

      [fill in the blank with just about anything here]     ???"

It's part of the daily questioning here at our house, usually the promptings of silly wanderings in Sydni's imagination. Since she's a 4-year-old little girl, the Disney princesses are also a very frequent topic of conversation.

Today we found a what if that involved some of the classic Disney gals.

.... Perfect.

Disclaimer: Because someone out there is bound to run across this and declare that I've opted to take credit for everything below, know this: These are NOT my original ideas, drawings or finished products. There. These are from the creative genius of Tumblr gal lettherebedoodles; we just found them fun enough to share. #lettherebedoodles, in case you're into all that hashtaggish stuff, too. ;)

Anywho, here's the fun that is the re-imagined version of the Disney royalty: 

snow white

cinderella

jasmine

aurora

ariel

pocahontas

belle

I thought those were fun! Of course there was the slew of feedback bashing the ethnic translations of each one for whatever supposedly racist innuendo, but frankly, I'm choosing to believe that this gal perhaps just wanted to play around with her creative side, rather than wage some sort of anti-[insert culture here] war. I visited her page, and nowhere in this post did she claim that the re-created versions are the better of the two, or that hers are the way they should've been, etc. I've decided not to read into this on a political or racial level; I think the artist here is talented and just had some fun with this!

 

Sydni had fun checking these out, too, which I enjoyed. A childlike approach to the smallest things, without a 50-page dissertation on why they are or are not correct, is refreshing. (:

 

Also.... the weekend's HERE!

Enjoy!

 

xo | cmd

Backseat Sessions with Sydni : The FROZEN Edition

All right, Disney. This one is definitely stuck. I thought perhaps we wouldn't ever see the end of Tangled, but Sydni's fascination with that one faded a lot faster than I expected. Frozen, on the other hand, is still on loop at our house, and the soundtrack has basically replaced any other form of sound in the car.

I will be singing "Let it Gooooooooo," for the rest of my life, I'm pretty sure. Sydni will be singing it until you, Disney, come out with the next big hit (:

That being said, here's what the car rides home typically contain. And yes, before anyone says anything, I realize she looks like she has a mullet. For the girls out there, if you can tell me about that childhood of yours in which you didn't attempt to cut your own hair, well, I'll be impressed. In her credit, at least they're still on her forehead; when I did that, they were barely even sprigs. One centimeter is not an acceptable length for bangs. Hers are manageable. ;)




^ I love my car rides with her. This, folks, is how they have been nearly every single time since she saw the movie. If you can't appreciate a little girl singing her heart out, well, it's beautiful (:

With love from us on this NON-rainy Tuesday!! ♥

xo | cmd

Movie Night with Sydni

We ran into some last-minute scheduling yesterday that postponed our movie date to tonight, but it actually worked out just as well. I'm not sure who was more excited, me or Sydni, to go see the newest Disney release, Frozen.

I snagged Sydni after work and we headed home to pick up Rob & Becky before landing ourselves in an otherwise completely vacant theater for the movie. I may be an undying fan of the classic Disney flicks, but I do have to admit that the satirical humor and creativity of the newer releases are still adorable.

While Syd's favorite character was one of the humans [I'm trying to omit as much spoiler stuff as I can!], I think mine was definitely the snowman, Olaf. I found this clip online that is more of a trailer introduction than a spoiler... so enjoy ;)

I very much appreciated the fact that we had free reign over the seats in the theater tonight; Sydni did such an awesome job of staying put during the movie that I couldn't resist letting her have some self-expression time during the closing credit reel. I give you a regrettably grainy rendition of Sydni's interpretation of the closing credits ("Let it Go" by Demi Lovato):

It also included a grappling match in efforts to get her shoes back on.. haha.

[sorry about the quality!]
miss becky, syd & mama - wrestling match!

From the theater, it was on to Graeter's for some ice cream to round off the night. Yumm!!

goofin' around with my loves... & a free sundae! [yiiie!]

ice cream monsterrrrr ♥

fun times with miss becky!

.. And now we're home, safe and sound. Sydni's tuckered out and I'm sure it's going to be a quick, painless request for bedtime ;)

G'Nite!

xo | cmd

VIDEO POST

So it's the middle of the week, and in typical form, it was a wild day at the office. I don't know what it was about the day, but I was determined to make it a good one. It really was, too; I am especially thankful today for the friends I have, for the boyfriend I have, and above all for my incredible daughter, who each day reminds me what it really means to love something more than I ever thought I could.

[[ //end sentimental rant... haha]]

Ali & Marianne came over for dinner tonight; combined with Stella, that made for a house full of female energy. Rob stopped through for a little while and quickly made the choice to leave the estrogen party and find his inner dude out with Kyle. Haha. We didn't mind; that just meant more pasta for us! :P

Ali and I ended up on a YouTube attack, finding all sorts of videos to entertain us for the evening. [We went this route to avoid doing anymore actual thinking; we do enough of that during the day, and so] here are a few of the gems I watched tonight. Fine, I'm a YT junkie sometimes.


ENJOY!


PAINT | "After Ever After: A Disney Parody explaining the truth behind princess life after the movie ends. Hilarious. Political, but hilarious.


Pentatonix | Who loves acapella? I DO. I happen to love these guys, and to add to it, Lindsey Stirling is an aaaaamazing addition to this lineup.


Lindsey Stirling | I just said she's amazing. She's super talented; I especially appreciate artistic cross-overs by people who can walk and chew gum simultaneously. In Lindsey's case, it's dancing while playing violin. Yeah,... I'm jealous.


Cirque du Soleil contortionists from Kooza [Natasha, Julia & Dasha] | Always one of my favorites. I love Cirque productions [which reminds me, I need to drag Rob with me to one], and whenever I get into a Cirque video mode, it might as well just be a marathon. I'm addicted.

*Sigh. The girls just left and I am calling this one a night. Yay for a mindless videolog (:

See. You. Blogbots. TOMORROW!

xo | cmd