I love this look.  She can rock it with me anytime.

After hours of searching we were on our way out when (I kid you not) I saw a glimmer of the most beautiful wings through the crowd and knew we had found our fairy.

Sophia was ecstatic to find her and I have to say I can see why.  While she was concerned about why a fairy would want to be named twig, when we met her, those worries vanished.  This fairy is so cute and all one with nature.  Her fairy garb and crown are to die for.  And the wings…oh the wings…where oh where can I get us some of those?  I swear I would wear them to parties.  They are just so fabulous and fancy!

The only problem…Twig seems to only speak fairy unless on Facebook or Twitter so I will have to ask her there all of Sophia’s questions.  Does he have a special talent?  Is she friends with Tinkerbell?  Where does she live?  Has she ever met Silvermist?  The list goes on.  The fairy beautiful Twig did give us a mischievous gaze and dig into her bag and bestow some fairy dust and  a jewel upon us.  This seriously made Sophia’s day.  I should carry these around because Sophia was mesmerized.

I was too because I totally forgot that Miles did not get one.  Oops. 

He tried to find his own and seriously – the non fairy rocks just weren’t cutting it for my knight.

Finally, my own fairy felt bad for her little brother and shared her fairy stone.

Finally, our day was complete.  And we were all happy and ready to make our way towards home.

Phew, we found our Fairy Tale ending.

p.s. On Twig’s Facebook page you can get your fairy name.  Yes…I so did it!  You can now address me as Brittany or as Lark Widget Bloom Notchwood.  I love it!  (You all see how funny it is that Lark is just awesome and then widget and wood are in it and being all handy and stuff well, it just suits me!

p.p.s. Sophia’s is Pithia Spryly Bloom Notchwood.  Love that it matches at the end but hmmm… not so sure what she will think of Pithia…even when I tell her that Pythia was the priestess at Temple of Apollo at Delphi.  Won’t fly with a 4 year old huh?

p.p.p.s Miles’ fairy name is Violet Thorn.  How wierd is that.  He got his baby sister’s name as his fairy name!

More often than not, they both select a dazzling gown and parade around the house as princesses dripping with jewels and balancing in the fanciest shoes.  Sophia taught Miles how to walk in heels before he was 2, so now they are both pros.

I think they both looked fabulous, so we caught the moment with a terrible blackberry photo.  My son Cinderella is ready for the ball with Snow White.  I think he rocks.  They both do.

Just hours after the show I stumbled upon this post on Nerdy Apple Bottom.  Her son dressed as Daphne from Scooby Doo for Halloween and was judged by PARENTS at his pre-school.  It touched something in me when I thought of how much Miles loves to dress up.   I could picture the comments and the judgement and it made me nauseous.  Kids are kids and dress up is dress up and it is supposed to be fun to be something you are not.   I don’t care what he dresses up as so long as he is happy and being creative…with one exception.  We don’t allow private parts to show after one unfortunate fashion show choice.  Other than that…he can be a princess ’till the cows come home.

Since I read that post millions of others have read it and seen it on television and commented more than 35,000 times.  This momma hit a nerve because she posted about the incident at school and made it clear that a costume is a costume and does not say if your child is gay or straight and that if he or she is gay – it’s totally cool.  The only uncool thing is PARENTS looking down on children and judging them and making them uncomfortable and perpetuating homophobia to begin with. We are supposed to support children and their choices and for heaven’s sake people – this was a Halloween costume!

So I thought I would just post how cute my own Princesses are and let it be known to the world (why it should have to be told I have no idea) that it’s okay for kids to dress up as something that they are not in real life.  That’s the whole point, actually. 

Truth be told – this is a much better costume than the construction worker anyway.  As much as I love tools more than heels (you know this is true) I totally think the Princess costume is SO much cooler.

When she was just 5 weeks old Sophia was a happy Pea in a Pod.  No I did not put her under a mattress to see if I could feel her.  I’m not that kind of ruler.

When she was 1 she was a Rose Colored Fairy.

When she was 2 she picked a Kitty Cat…but in the end she was not very happy with that choice.

She knew what she wanted by 3 and chose to be Princess Rapunzel.  I think she thought it would make her hair grow.

And this year my first baby girl was Silvermist, a magical water fairy.  As I watched her walk on the same street she had years before as a fairy I got a little weepy.

Then I wondered if her Halloween’s would be stuck in Fairy Tales forever….

Will she ever want to do a funny costume with me? 

Probably not. 

So next year if she asks me again, I will be the Queen and make her proud of her fairy tale mom.

I was reading Jill’s blog where she describes how to get a good shot of the kids on Halloween.  Well, her youngest is like 2 years older than Violet and despite a hundred pics of the whole brood where I embarrassed myself and jumped around and offered candy it was all for naught.  Violet is only 9 months old so neither candy or bribes or funny potty words make her smile.  She is into clapping these days so either her arms are in front of her face or she gets everybody clapping or her clapping is so vigorous that she falls over or she distracts her siblings so…no picture of them all smiling together. 

This is it.  I kid you not the others were worse.

We had a fabulous time with smiles galore - just none at the same time facing forward caught on camera.  Here’s the best of the rest, which I will cherish forever.

My Baby Fairy Tinkerbell.  Not Clapping.  Caught before she crawled into my lap.

My Growing Up Way to Fast Fairy Silvermist, who had to explain to every dad who Silvermist was and why water fairies are the best and what she does to bring spring.  I kid you not – most dads do not watch Tinkerbell and Sophia was not happy that they did not know she was one of THE MOST IMPORTANT FAIRIES.

My Big Boy Peter Pan who is both Gentle and Rough and makes every day magical for me…and messy.

As the night wore on and vampire teeth were passed out Peter Pan showed me what he was made of.  Watch out ladies!  This is Miles’ favorite thing from Halloween hands down.  He told Violet he was sad her mouth was too small to be a vampire…but when she was bigger he would make her one.  Ha!  (No, he has no idea what that means…but we can laugh.) 

Sophia danced as she does everyday in front of the one car blaring freakish opera like Halloween music.  This is the same opera like music she blares in her room while spinning dramatically.  I will always love this about her, because guess what – I rock that way too.  This is her mid flapping her arms as wings.  I guess he forgot she had wings for realz this time.

Finally, Miles grooved his way through trick or treating in his new shades.  He loved them.

Needless to say he tripped a lot.  I’m just not sure how well he could actually see in those things.  He kept ‘em on the whole night though and being a few drinks in (me and the whole neighborhood) he provided entertainment for us all.  How.Cool.Is.He.

We had a full and very fun today and even if I did not get my perfect picture, I think I captured all of my kids and their practically perfect little personalities this Halloween.

How did you fare with your photos?  ‘Cause with all that candy – it’s a little hard to focus.

Sophia turned 4 and wanted a Peter Pan Party but she wanted to be Silvermist, her favorite Disney Fairy. Thus was born the Peter Pan and Pixie Hollow party.

I like having parties at home because she can invite her whole class and not make anyone feel left out.  It’s fine for families to bring siblings and we can all have a relaxing afternoon.  It’s also a lot cheaper than paying for a kids venue and all the grown-ups get to have some wine or beer…which is nice.

For the invitations I used leftover sparkling gold paper from our wedding programs and printed them out at home.  We added our own pixie dust!  This was super simple and basically free!

I always like to have something big and fun for the kids to play in.  Last year I built Sophia a Princess Castle but this year we went with a giant pirate ship fit for Hook, Pan and the Fairies!  It is built out of 7 cardboard refrigerator boxes using Mr. McGroovy’s plans for a pirate ship ($4.99) and a combination of his box widgets and a lot of machine screws and furring strips to sturdy the ship for 40 little scalawags.   His plans are awesome but I will post a how-to so you can see the steps.

You can’t have a pirate ship without a pirate and my neighbor was nice enough to let us borrow his!  The blackguard talks and waves his sword.  He is awesome!  The kids loved using the microphone to talk through the pirate and watch his mouth move!  It was hilarious.

Of course, Sophia needed a Pixie Hollow scene fit for Silvermist so I picked up this 8×12 foot mural from Party City for $19.99.  Usually I hate to spend money on this kind of stuff but I was beat after the pirate ship and I could not have painted anything like this! 

The girls and boys posed for pictures in front of the pirate ship and pixie hollow and I will include those pictures in their thank you cards.  Here’s my clan!  I love their costumes! 

Silvermist posed in front of her ship after the festivities were over.

I got a few pictures of me for a change too!

Miles is a huge fan of the pirate!  He looks like he could take him down!  Actually, he spent a lot of the time feeding the pirate goldfish.

All of our little people loved playing in the ship too.  It will be around for a month or so and we’ll host a neighborhood playdate again so everyone can enjoy it.

We had a search for gold coins in the back yard that was a bug hit as well as a coloring table where the kids could color pictures from Peter Pan that I printed at home.  The kids danced and played to the music from Peter Pan, which I downloaded from itunes.

Usually I bake a cake but this year I just picked one up from the grocery store and decorated it with tiny Disney fairies I found at target.  She loved it and gets to keep the figures!

Overall the party was a huge success and my little fairy Silvermist was so excited to have all of her friends come to her Pixie Hollow party.

She got to see her grandparents and her cousins and I got to see my mom, which made me so happy!

I was just so excited to give my daughter such a special 4th birthday party.  I hope she will never forget it…but just in case, I took almost 300 pictures to remind her.

This is not the best but it’s my favorite…my beautiful firstborn fairy.

The Castle Before a Show

Many people looked at me like I was a looney bin when I told them we were taking our kids to Disney World for 4 days and 3 parks.  Sophia is 3.  Miles celebrated his 2nd birthday at Disney.  Violet was just 13 weeks old.  I am here to say that each and every day was magic.  I saw more smiles in that time than in the last year as my kids enjoyed rides, met characters, saw amazing shows and explored the different lands of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot and the Animal Kingdom.

There is a whole side of Disney that is made for little ones, perfect for encouraging imagination, getting their first thrill of a ride, learning about different places around our country and our world and yes, practicing patience.  Disney has a whole program called Magical Beginnings for their smallest friends and they treat every little girl and boy like the prince or princess we all know they are.  Disney made my kids feel like their dreams came true! 

There was a lot of planning that went into this trip to make sure we got the most out of every day.  I am going to write a series of posts on planning your trip with small children and I will give you my super successful itinerary for each of the parks we visited.  If you can, put Disney World on your list.   You will be tired at the end, but you will never forget the magic.

Why?  Because kids this young BELIEVE the magic.  The kids think that Mickey and his friends live in Toon Town.  They think Cinderella and her friends live in Cinderella’s Castle at the Magic Kingdom or Akershus at Epcot.  They believe that each and every day all of their favorite Disney friends have a huge dance party and that they were invited.  Sophia was astounded that Minnie invited her to the dance party by the castle and that Belle invited her to breakfast.  Miles gave priceless bear hugs to giant fuzzy characters that he knows are his friends.  He loves them.   

Sophia was a Princess and met Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Mulan, Cinderella, Pohahontas and Sleeping Beauty.  Hello?  Could anything be better for a 3 year old?

Sophia and Belle at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

Miles finally rode Dumbo (which he has been watching of YouTube for months) and got to see Dumbo in front of the castle.   You cannot see Miles in the picture.  Kids must sit on the inside.  Still, Ross is having a blast!

Ross Enjoys Dumbo with Sophia and Miles

Miles is 2 – so even the little Iron Dumbo was awesome for him! 

Miles and Dumbo the Elephant

Lest you think we forgot our littlest princess Violet – nope!  She had a great time snuggling with Mommy, riding rides (yes, there are tons of family rides) and meeting the princesses and fairies like her.  Actually, Violet was a huge hit with all the characters.  Mommy LOVES the pictures!

Violet Meets Tinkerbell's Friend Fawn

We loved our Disney vacation and I am trying to plan another trip as soon as possible!  I will be posting all my juicy travel tidbits, reviews of rides and attractions, tutorials on making your own rockin’ character autograph book and of course, my itineraries so stay tuned!

Should you take pre-schoolers to Disney?  My answer is a resounding yes!

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Presenting Princess Sophia

Sophia realized she was a princess right out of the womb at a very early age.  Since the time she could speak her royalty has been a main topic of conversation.  She has had dress up clothes since shortly after her first birthday and yes, she loved them then and is obsessed with them now.  Between gifts and donations she now could clothe a small court in fancy dresses, heels and jewels and is taking applications for ladies maids.  The only pay is the pleasure of her slightly bossy company.  I have already been told that I can wait on her because I am pretty and good at working (Gee, thanks).  I tried to explain that I was the Queen and she just laughed and told me I was funny.  Other applicants will have to try out for the privilege to serve her.  Ross is not good enough.  Miles is not pretty enough, but he can be a handsome prince. 

As an aside – I think Sophia and my husband are in cahoots to keep me working for her and him playing guitar for her on the couch.   I also think if I asked him why he married me he would say something along the lines of pretty, funny (or maybe just pretty funny) and a good worker.  Where’s the romance huh?

Besides creating her royal court, she has been concerned about the fact that she has not had a princess party since her birthday in September.  We have discussed the annual nature of birthdays and parties but with Hanukkah already here and Christmas just weeks away she has been constantly begging for another princess party – not a holiday party.  I am considered quite the cheeky lady in waiting for actually denying the princess’ requests on such a regular basis.  According to Princess Sophia “It’s going to take such a long time until I am 4 and I really need a party!”  Don’t we all?  She is disappointed.

Then, this weekend, I convinced Sophia that I am, in fact, a kick ass mother and wonderful Queen.  While walking through Nordstrom for some tights we ran smack dab into a giant Princess Party.  With Make-Up.  And Crowns.  And Crafts.  And cookies.  And other princesses.  She thinks I did it.  She thinks it was a big surprise!  She screamed “Oh, Thank You Mom!”  I made her say thanks to all the nice ladies who threw the party but I took the credit.  I myself cannot thank Nordstrom enough.  They threw a little girl princess party that rocked!  

First, there was a long table with a white tablecloth and on this table was a giant tower of juice boxes and gourmet white cookies with pink and white icing.  They were in little clear bags with sparkling ribbons.  They were delicious!  The girls hosting the party gave some to Miles and Ross too before we went them on their way to Get Our Princess On!   At the other end of the table was a glitter picture frame project where we decked out our frame in preparation for our Princess Photo Shoot!  We had a blast meeting other little royals and socializing over our apple juice, cookies and glitter!

Glitter Crafts - Perfect!

Then, as if the cookies and crafts were not enough excitement, the little girls got to have their full glitter make-up done in one of the grown-up chairs by a real make-up artist.  The pink glitter was included in everything from the lip gloss to the blush to the eyeshadow.  I don’t think Sophia has ever had so much fun!  Her whole face was sparkling and her smile was ear to ear.  When they gave her a sparkling crown and wand her “Oh my goodness they are beautiful!” scream rang through the girls department.  I don’t know if I wanted to laugh or cry at her overwhelming enthusiasm.  While it was all very funny, Sophia and all the other girls were just beautiful and the moments spent with their moms and dads were priceless. 

Following the application of gobs of makeup we were sent on to our Princess Photo Shoot in front of a dazzling Christmas tree on a red velvet chair.  Sophia said it was perfect for her!  So, fully decked out in her crown and wand we proceeded to the picture station and smiled for our royal portrait.

She Graces Us with a Smile!

All of this partying was completely FREE!  Sophia hugged all the Nordstrom girls ( I wanted to give them mushy kisses for giving my daugther so much joy)  and then we got another beautifully wrapped bag of cookies, for the baby of course, and went to meet Daddy and Miles.  They actually asked me if we would be back for the Tutu and Tiaras party next month.  UM….YES!  I COULD BE IN LABOR AND WE WOULD NOT MISS IT!  Sophia agreed with a hearty “Of Course we will be here!  I am a ballerina too!”

So thank you Nordstrom.  Usually having fun in your store costs a lot more money.  And causes marital distress.  This was awesome.  We Got Our Princess On and We LOVED it!

I would love to hear of any randonly wonderful things you have discovered with your kids.  When you thank God that some marketing genius thought of this activity to get you in the store…or whatever…you get it.  Share!

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Miles has taken many bumps and bruises on his journey.  She told him to keep it up.  She screams “Go Miles!  You can do it!”  She is a good teacher.  Firm but supportive and always honest.

These are Cute - Not Easy!

He has learned from Sophia that his feet are too fat for her smallest heels.  These barbie ones are just right.  Wide at the top with a rubber bottom.  She taught him that wearing socks with heels was dangerous because it was slippery.  Thanks Sophie – now he takes off his socks as soon as he comes in the house looking for his dress up shoes.  She told him the yellow ones were ugly with his outfit – and she was right.

He has had to come to her for help putting on a lost heel many a time.  He tries to run with one shoe off and one on moaning about his “sh”.  She never runs out of patience helping him put on the shoes.  I can’t help thinking this is so funny and so cute!

Can you Help Me with my Sh?

Well today, Miles finally walked the Catwalk without falling once.  The catwalk around here is our downstairs hallway.  You put the music on the cd player in the playroom and then you walk from the playroom to the living room while everyone watches and applauds.  Everyone includes all grownups and children not in the show.  Miles being able to walk the whole walk is so important because Sophia does not like people in her regular fashion shows who cannot make it down the hallway in the outfits she picks.   This is Miles – almost finished with the hallway.  He made it to the end.  H even had a little model attitude!

You don't like the shoes or the drool?

Sophia was so excited by her pupil’s success that I was unable to capture the final moment with my camera.  They hugged and kissed like he just won Miss Universe and then they fell over together.  She told him she was proud.  Then she got all serious on his ass and said he could be in the show as soon as he learned to wear a crown.  He must have been devastated. 

Rule #2 in Sophia’s book includes wearing a crown whenever possible with hairbows.  He will rock the hairbows if she puts them in but come on now – he is a little man – he draws the line at a princess crown!

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Sophia's Retro Play Kitchen

Monday is DIY day in bloggy land and this might be my proudest achievement to date.  It is certainly the one that has brought the most joy!

My daughter has always loved play kitchens.  She finds hours of fun in making dinners, having tea parties and washing dishes.  I think it is just precious.  Now my son plays too.  My heart melts.

When we go to the mall and “play” at Pottery Barn Kids, we spend at least 30 minutes with the play kitchen (and another 30 with a vanity – next project!) every time.  I think all of their little kitchens are to die for.  Having said that, my husband would actually die if I was ever to purchase one of these kitchen sets.  Currently the cost for a 3 piece kitchen starts at $450 and runs up to a whopping $879!  This does not include a 10% delivery and processing fee!

Here was the look I was going for from Pottery Barn.

PB Retro Kitchen

So, I searched the web, found some wood and decided to build her a large kitchen of her dreams!  I happened to have had an old closet that had tile in it from before we moved the laundry area so she also has a white tile floor and a WORKING SINK!  We love this kitchen and we build it for a total cost of less than $150!  Pretty good wouldn’t you say?

Here is where I started.  I found a set of plans for a wood play kitchen at Lowe’s.com and then modified them to be closer to the retro look I wanted.   The plans were cute and I followed the dimensions but rather than fake on the sink parts and stove knobs I found the real thing for this kitchen.   I also built a drawer for below the stove to store pots and pans!  The shelves in all of the pieces are closet shelving.  The handles were a bit expensive at $20 all together but they were scratched or they would have been a lot more.  I think they really add something cute and retro feeling!  I also installed a little white shelf in the extra space to hold silverware and pantry items.  The paint was a can of red oops! for $5.  It is a little brighter than the perfect red but man is it close!

We have so much fun with this!  I found bins at Target to store dress up and other toys in cute khaki and red above the kitchen so that all the imagination fun mess would be contained in the closet and the kids would need to ask before we play with this!

Here is where I started after I cut my furniture grade plywood found on clearance!

A Long Way to Go

Here is the basic box assembly of the sink.  All of the pieces follow the same simple assembly pattern.  After I did one with hammer and nails I got out the nail gun but it is possible with just a hammer!

The Basic Box

Little Oven

Working Little Sink

Working Plumbing

The Fridge fits everything!  I love that I can keep all the food in the bins it came in.  It’s easy to clean up and easy to transport to the table for “parties” or cooking school!

Little Fridge

Old Laundry Closet

Little Kitchen in the Closet

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