7th Heaven for a 3-yr-old

Last week Drew and I witnessed first-hand what "little girl bliss" looks like in the form of Disney on Ice: Princess Wishes. We took Makenna on a special Daddy/Mommy/Daughter date to see it at the Verizon Center downtown. After spilling the good news at dinner a few nights before, she informed us, "Well, I'm going to wear my Snow White dress because Snow White is my favorite princess and I like her the best. Okay?" Well what kind of princess-doting parents would we be if we didn't acquiesce right then and there?

So it's the night of. I drop Addison off at a friend's house and Makenna and I are off to meet Daddy at work downtown. The entire way there she keeps telling me in what order the princesses will perform. "First Minnie and Mickey, then Ariel, then Snow White, then Sleeping Beauty, then Jasmine." At this point, she doesn't quite know what's in store, other than princesses will be involved and something called ice skating. She's stoked, though, because we are.

We find a parking garage, get out and take the elevator up to ground level. On the elevator, a nice-looking business woman takes one look at Makenna and states, "It must be Disney on Ice tonight." "Right you are," I say. "Well you make a lovely princess," she says fondly to Makenna.

We make our way out onto the street. We're a few blocks away, but our little girl is clearly the only one in princess garb on the bustling streets of D.C. A quick shadow of a doubt crosses my mind, "Uh-oh. What if she's the only kid dressed up?" I shoo the thought away as quick as it came. We're getting really close now, entering Chinatown. We can see the Verizon Center in front of us. Still no little girls dressed up to the nines in princess attire. I look at Drew. He's oblivious. Only a mother would worry about something so silly as having their child the only one dressed-up at such a function. Reminded me of when I was in 5th grade and I dressed up as the "Ultimate Nerd" (sign on my back and everything) on Halloween for school. After getting to the bus stop and seeing I was the ONLY one dressed up, then realizing I wouldn't have enough time to run home and change, I suffer through the whole humiliating day in silence. I didn't even need to dress up like a nerd, it was written all over my face.

Anyway, it's not until we're directly in front of the Verizon Center and we're approaching the line to get in, that we see a whole slew of little princesses: Cinderella, Tiana, Aurora, Tinkerbell, Belle, the works. RELIEF!!! From there, it was a blur of getting to our seats, bypassing the $15 snowcones in character cups, holding my little girl's hand in pure excitement as the lights went down and her beloved Minnie glided out onto the ice. She would not take her little eyes off the ice the ENTIRE time. She wouldn't go to the bathroom, she wouldn't get up and stretch during intermission, she was totally and utterly drawn in to the enchanting world of princesses for the full two hours!

Too bad the pictures are a little fuzzy. I was using my telephoto lens, but we were pretty far up (date night on a budget).


All the princesses out on the ice at once? I'll be the first to admit, even I was in heaven.






And the act that stole the show? At least for my girl...


And the act that stole the show for me? Check out those abs. Oh man.


7th heaven, I tell you. 7th heaven.

Lost and Not Found

So Addison and I were at the international supermarket, El Grande, this week while Makenna was at preschool. After shopping for an hour, perusing through the papaya, pickled chicken feet, frozen naan bread, Thai cucumbers, and slaughtered fish laying out on a wooden slab atop a thin layer of ice, we make our way to the check-out counter. A very friendly Asian woman checks me out, totaling my bill to about $20. An even nicer bagger emphatically pushes me to the customer service counter to pick out a balloon for "that little boy" (my baby is sporting a darling purple outfit with an oversized purple flower). Receipts in hand (I was buying for a Mutual activity as well), we go grab a pink balloon, then walk out to the sidewalk to park my cart. (Footnote: grocery stores out here don't like you to walk your cart to your car and then unload. They have big obtrusive blockades so you have to park your cart on the sidewalk, go get your car, and then drive over and load your bags there.)

Once Addison's buckled in her carseat, I check the time and see I have just enough time to hurry on over to pick up Makenna at preschool, with no minutes to spare. I drive to the sidewalk and an elderly man looks at me, looks at the only cart parked on the sidewalk and proceeds to load them into my car. I thank him, drive off and no sooner have I exited the premises, a bag falls off the front seat and some apples fall to the floor. You should know that I BOUGHT NO APPLES. After frantically looking in the rest of the bags, I realize they are clearly not mine. I further realize that the seemingly nice elderly gentleman must have loaded my groceries into another car. ANOTHER CAR, PEOPLE. I turn around, pull up to the man, and tell him in English what had happened. Well, clearly that was my first problem. I should have used my fluent Japanese to inform him of his mistake. I also should have learned some sign language while I was at it, because he indicates he's hard of hearing as well as lacking the fundamental skills to communicate in my mother tongue.
I start to get worked up. I'm late. I have no groceries. I'm out $20. I look around and more than a handful of "International" Market shoppers are staring in confusion. So we all have one thing in common at this point- WE'RE ALL CONFUSED. He tells me that maybe I grabbed the wrong cart at the counter and took someone else's groceries. I tell him I had a baby attached to my cart which helped me NOT GET THE WRONG ONE.

In a quick second, I decide to leave my baby with her pink balloon on a string in my car, doors locked, and run in to find a manager.

In an attempt to make this long story not go on any longer, here's what I got out of the whole fiasco:
1. A refund on all my groceries.
2. FREE groceries the next time I came in

So some lessons learned...
1)Do everything in your power to carry your groceries to your car, even if you have a 25 pound baby on one hip.
2)Don't assume anyone speaks English at an International Market in Virginia.
3)A helium balloon on a string goes a LONG way with an 11-month old.
4)Remember: "There's a pony in here somewhere."

A Little Valentine's Math

1 Monday night
+
2 little girls 3 and under
+
shoe-string budget
=
Valentine's candle-lit dinner at home.

Ideal? Not really. Romantic? For sure. Delicious? Hands down.
We put the girls down by 7 and indulged in a private dinner-for-two, serenaded by a crackling fire.
Can I brag about this dinner for a minute please? I think I will, but only because my normal week-day dinners consist of taco salad, grilled cheese & tomato soup, spaghetti, or some other trusty stand-by. But this, my friends, was a menu a lady can be proud of.

*Marinated salmon fillets
*Creamy risotto
*Fresh green salad
and to finish it off...
*Marbled Cheesecake Hearts.

I so humbly declare the entire dinner "out of this world."



(Here's the super easy, delicious recipe, out of The Essential Mormon Cookbook- one of my favorites.)

Ingredients
* 2 cups finely crushed Oreos
* 3 tablespoons butter or 3 tablespoons margarine, melted
* 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
* 1 (14 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
* 3 eggs
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 (1 ounce) unsweetened chocolate squares, melted

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300°F
2. Line 13x9-inch baking pan with heavy foil; set aside.
3. Combine cookie crumbs and butter; press firmly on bottom of foil-lined pan.
4. With mixer, beat cream cheese in large bowl until fluffy.
5. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth.
6. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.
7. Pour 3/4 of the batter evenly over prepared crust.
8. Stir melted chocolate into remaining batter; spoon over vanilla batter.
9. With table knife or metal spatula, gently swirl chocolate batter through vanilla batter to marble.
10. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until set.
11. Cool completely.
12. Chill at least 1 hour.
13. Use foil to lift out of pan.
14. For hearts, cut with heart-shaped cookie cutter.
15. These can also be cut into bars.


Besides the obvious one, my other two little Valentine's:



(It was absolutely so nice yesterday we went outside for the first time in months to play. Don't worry, it was back down to 40 today.)

Perfection

This winter has been a little lame in the snow department here. Just north of us, New England has been perpetually dumped on. As we speak, a third of the United States is suffering through a crazy ice/snow storm. However, we've been the butt of Mother Nature's joke, promising us these fantastic storms and beautiful snowfalls, only to leave a smattering of snowflakes here and there. Definitely a bummer because I adore the snow. But...

Last week we finally got our storm! And we took the girls sledding. And Addison tasted her first snow. And it was the perfect day.


It started snowing the evening before. Too cold to go out, but I stood in my doorway and shot my neighborhood and tried out my fun new flash.




We woke up the next morning, tried to build a snowman (failed)...



...then moved onto sledding down the most perfect little hill next to our house.









(Addison didn't care too much for sledding, but I had to get a shot of her relishing in this glorious snow day right along with her sister. Note the pink boots on my babe. Remember them?)

Afterward we brought Chipotle back to our house (if it's going to be my perfect day, then going to get lunch has to be included, and I'm a sucker for a burrito bowl) and ate in the comfort of our cozy after-snow clothes (wool socks/sweatshirts/sweatpants).

Then we finished it off with a cozy fire and naps for everyone on the couch. Ahhhhh...


PURE PERFECTION.