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

Halloween Pre-Game

It is September 18th. 

This girl reminded me that she does a 6-week pregame for Halloween, which I will totally entertain, every single day until it gets here.

♥♥♥

And I love every second of it.

In tonight's version of Princess Sydni, Snow White doesn't live in a cottage, but rather a castle. Made of blankets and pillows. It is clearly a fortress to be envied. ;)

Back to the royal castle I go!

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

Happy BIRTHDAY, Sophie!!

We call each other's children our "nieces," when in reality we're what, 2nd cousins?

.. Yeah, nieces is way easier.

So, TODAY is my niece Sophie's 2nd birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, sweet girl!!!

She's. So. Adorable.... It Hurts. 

happy birthday, sweet sophie!!

Anyway, rewind to the road trip up to Columbus - a short little jaunt, complete with pony talk and princess music. We really were there in no time at all (:

syd & her mlp's

In a few short hours, we were rounding the last corner in Easton and headed for Target, to pick up a couple last minute things. Maricor met us there, and we followed her back to the house to find Chris with the girls. The cousins are finally back together, after what has seemed like forever!

three little dresses for three little girls ♥ 

literally, princesses everywhere .. haha

Maricor and I had every intention on catching up on our own after the girls had gone to bed [Chris, you lucked out this time, haha], but that didn't quite happen as planned. Plus, the weather here in Ohio has again decided that it's not done with its winter crap, so after a spout of rain, this happened for a few hours and completely derailed any desire to venture anywhere:


seriously?
.... enough!!!

So instead of dinner & a movie out, we saved ourselves some of the hassle and added some awesome to the mix with homemade Adobo and multiple rounds of Frozen.

mission: convert adobo into an air freshener.

^^ It's been way too long since I've had adobo. Especially straight from the pot. This, my friends, is called a Filipino problem, if there ever was one. I was drooling from the second the house started smelling like sabaw (broth) to the second we were eating it as though we hadn't actually downed Chipotle less than four hours prior to that. Whatev'. (:

Anyway, we're here curled up on the couch perusing NoMoreRack, with our girls dancing and singing to Anna and Elsa a few feet away. This is just about perfect, if I must say so.

Tomorrow's a birthday party for the birthday baby.. and I can't wait!

xo | cmd

And We DRIVE (:

HOOOOME.

We spent a lot of time driving and sleeping today. 

glittering along the way... haha

Sydni is such a little trooper.. even after sustaining some scrapes from running too fast across the driveway... 


my little road trip buddy!

And late into the evening.. she's still there to keep me sane.. and sing to me ;)

love her. my little car queen!

hello kitty

To unwind the day, we watched this.

I love the time we get to spend snuggling late in the evening to this.. but for the movie itself, I will not complain if I never have to watch this again. Ever. Haha. Thank you, 1990's Hello Kitty...

We also read a couple of books, sang a couple of songs.. played some hide & seek in the house, and snuggled up together to wind down the night to HK's Princess series.

Aaaaand.. I noted to myself that I will need to go through my phone more often, especially now that Sydni has figured out how to access the camera. She took this picture of Rob's truck that is actually.. a really good picture. Haha. It doesn't look like she'll need too many lessons on object focus when it comes time for her to start learning with a real camera! ;) 

gorgeous photo, actually!

^ Wow.. way to go, Syd! Hah.. Looks like that girl's gonna give me a run for my money as a photographer! And I.. am okay with that. ♥

So anyway, not too much excitement for today.. but a good day all around.
Here's to the rest of the week (:

xo | cmd

Madison's Birthday Party!

Today, just like I figured, was a fuuull experience, from start to finish.

Maricor and I were up early and out to run last minute errands: balloons, cake, miscellaneous party supplies... breakfast [duh]. From there it was back to the house to wrap up the pre-party prep and load everyone up to head to the park.

Photo time [find the FULL collection HERE!]:

friendship park

pretty presents all around

birthday girl

baby sister

my girl

madison. sydni. lilly. sophie. | the little girl cousins, acting oh-so-ladylike! ;)

my cousin & her beautiful family

♥ you, cousin!!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY, BEAUTIFUL MADISON! WE LOVE YOU!!

 

We finally got on the road back to Cincinnati and are now settled in. I have one super tuckered-out girl already in bed and I am unwinding just a bit before I try to get some sleep. What an amazing weekend!

 

Oh, and before I go, I didn't forget my darlin' girl Whitney & her older sister Meg, who happen to share the same date for their birthday! (: Happy BIRTHDAY W&M!!! Hope to see you SOON!

whit & meg | me & whit

Gosh, birthdays are awesome.
Friends are awesome.
& my family is awesome.
... Does that mean life is awesome?
.... DUH.

AWESOME.

xo | cmd



Things Of A Random Husband

First off, I got home this evening to find this in my mailbox:


towerfest??! what's that?! ;)

The only reason that's funny is because these fliers [on behalf of Towerview Baptist Church] were intended for distribution during local neighborhood canvassing, and were designed to attract the local community...

... by me.

Haha. I found out that Mr. John had done some rounds earlier today, and clearly didn't realize this was our house. I admit I reacted like I'd never seen it; I opened up the mailbox and got really excited, too, because I hadn't yet seen this thing on print - only on the computer. Ladies and gentlement, hang on to that thing; it took four drafts to look that way ;) haha.


presenting: princess monster sydni!



ANYWAY,

It's no secret that I'm a little bit out there when it comes to having a spirit of random spontenaeity; naturally I should have married someone of a like-minded nature. Well, folks, I did. Joe whisked Sydni off tonight after dinner to the store, and came back with a couple things:

1. When we asked her if we could call her Princess Sydni, her response was, "No. I am Princessss MONSTER." *Sigh. I suppose we should start exercising a tactic to delineate between a real name and a real status. I joke, I joke.   

Either way, she was absolutely stinkin' adorable, and wore this thing around all night until I finally coerced her into PJ's based solely on the idea that if she slept in her dress, she would get it "aaaaaall wrinkly... and we don't want wrinkles, do we?" [a totally convinced Sydni: "nooooo, no wrink-a-lees"] Ah, the power of parental persuasion ;).

I said a couple of things, didn't I. 

princess and her castle



Well.. as I sat upstairs wrapping up a few last-minute craft things I seem to never finish, Sydni, in her Rapunzel dress, bolted into the living room and demanded I go see her 'Rapunzel castle' in the basement. Of course I obliged, expecting to find the futon with some added chairs draped with every spare blanket in the house.

2. Nope. This is what I found instead. Hahaha. Now, let's give the hubs some credit here; for someone who doesn't typically jump at the chance to assemble anything, he's quite skilled at popping a TENT.. in the BASEMENT. Hahaha. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw what is probably a 9-person? tent standing squarely in the middle of the playroom. So very random, but so totally awesome.

No, I did not opt to sleep in it for the night like they will, but once that thing is outside, I'm all game.

... And friends, that is the latest and greatest from the Dills' residence.

See. You. In the mornin' :)

xo | cmd