Public Announcement

I interrupt this blog to make the following public announcement:

Holland has officially declared she is NOT into princess dress up anymore!

She and I spent the day, yesterday, cleaning out her room and rearranging her furniture. As we were deciding what to leave upstairs and what to shuffle downstairs, she made the big announcement.

It went something like this:

"Mommy, I want to tell you something".

"Okay, what is it darling?"

"I'm not really into my princess dress-up anymore. I think we should donate some of my dresses for other little girls".

"That's a great idea Holland. I was thinking though that we might save them for Dylan because I bet that when she turns three, she is going to go nuts about dressing up- just like you did, and most of these dresses are from Grandma and that makes them special. So why don't we save them and then when Dylan isn't into them anymore, we can donate them."

"Okay, mommy". "Let's just move them to the basement and save them for my sister."

A few minutes later, she was telling me that we could move "this" and we could move "that" to the basement because she wasn't really "that into them either".

And then she stopped dead in her tracks and got a puzzled and very concerned look on her face.

"I was *just* into them at Christmas, Mommy." And she paused....

"What is happening to me?"

(this made my heart sink a bit because my baby is growing up and this was her first realization that she was changing. she had such a worried look on her face as she was trying to process that she didn't really like something much anymore after it had been such a huge part of her life)

I told her that this was normal and that she was growing up and her tastes were changing and also that she was going to have lots of different interests over the years. I also pointed out to her that all of her friends that had gone onto Kindergarten weren't really into dress-up anymore either.

"Like, Lindsey?"

"Yep, like Lindsey. And probably Sylvia, and Elise, and Annika....."

I then followed it up the discussion with this question:

"So, Holland, what are you into these days?"

In which she replied,

"I am into littlest pet shop, webkinz and beanie babies. That's about it."

Mother's Day 2009

Another year, another photo shoot

Lilac Garden at Manito Park

Click here to see more about our tradtion

There was only one lilac tree that was partially blooming this year so we didn't get all the color that we usually get. They weren't in bloom last year either on Mother's Day, and I made the mistake of trying to wait for them to bloom before we had out photo shoot. Well, what ended up happening is that we were waiting and waiting and then we forgot all about it so as a result, we don't have what would have been Dylan's first year of joining our tradition. So I decided that from here on out, we will have the photo shoot no matter what, and it will be fun to look back and see just how differnent each Spring can be. Hopefully, we won't have too many without the blooms because this means we have had a long, drawn out dreadful winter!

Happy Belated Mother's Day to you all!

Snail "Ho-tail"

We have a new pet at our house, and Holland has designed quite a snazzy place of residence for it.

It's a snail, and it's living in a "ho-tail".

have any of you ever heard Holland pronounce the word "hotel"? for some reason she has the most southern draw on that word that you can possibly imagine, and that's the way it comes out "ho - tail").

Anyway, she was quite delighted to fill the little fairy swing up with dirt so the snail could play, then she filled the fairy bathtub up with water so it could bathe, and of course a "ho-tail" just wouldn't be complete without a cozy bed to sleep in after a long, hard day of playing!

So here you have it....

THE SNAIL HO-TAIL

New Summer Doo

One of my least favorite every day activities is brushing and fixing Holland's hair. It is always on ordeal - she screams, she whimpers, she protests with every stroke of the brush. Somedays she screams, whimpers, and protests louder than other days, but no matter what, she screams, whimpers, and protests - making it an unpleasant experience for both of us. There are so many mornings that we are in such a hurry that I can barely get it brushed before I am rushing her out the door, so I decided I wanted to try a cute cut with little maintenance. A cut that has layers and body and will for the most part not require much attention. We both want her to grow her hair back out again, but it has been requiring too much daily pain --so for now, we have settled on a cute summer doo, and we'll re-visit growing it out in a few months! I must say, it is pretty stinkin' cute and the best part is that so far we have had less screaming, whimpering, and protesting. We aren't quite
scream-whimper-protest free, but there is definitely less, and that's all that matters for now! : )

A Few New Masterpieces

Check out some of Holland's latest art here.

Playing Catch Up

Hello out there!

Anyone there?

It has been entirely too, too long since I have posted on this here blog, so I am attempting to play catch up over the course of the next couple of days.

Wish me luck! And, thanks for continuing to check in from time to time....

Ashley

Double No-No!

The other morning, I was giving Dylan some directions to do something, and she looked straight at me, pointed her little finger directly towards me (in its cute, little upside down position), and said,

"No, No Mommy"

"Double No-No"

As opposed to Holland at that age who would get told something was a "no-no", and she would reply, "That's not a no-no, Mommy - it's a yes-yes!"