Happy Birthday To Our Littlest Princess

I can't believe that it's been a month since I posted. There is no real excuse except that I've been very busy, working a lot more than I like, and this spring's allergy season almost killed me. It took several trips to the Nurse Practitioner and the minor emergency clinic along with numerous changes in my allergy medicine to finally find something that works.

In the last month Our Littlest Princess had her second birthday. We celebrated twice. Once at dinner last time Katy and the Princesses were in Corpus Christi, which was actually the day after her birthday. Our Friday night dinner group went to dinner at Johnny Careno's. At the end of the meal, both Princesses were treated to a bowl of ice cream with whipped cream and a cherry on top. We all sang Happy Birthday and she just loved it.

The next weekend, we went to San Antonio to celebrate with a small family party at The Purple Garlic. It was the first time that most of the grandparents could make it at the same time. (We missed you Nonnie Carla.) We had dinner on the patio and the girls played in the giant sandbox while the adults enjoyed some adult beverages and sat and talked.

After dinner we gathered around the table and sang Happy Birthday as Princess J beamed and basked in the attention. Just as she stepped up to blow out the candle, a gust of wind blew it out. Four-year-old Princess E immediately said "She just used the force." We all laughed hilariously. Yes, we are all nerds!

Here are a few more photos from our little party. The red bouncy toy was one of her gifts from her Omi and Pa-Pa who are Travis' dad and step-mom. It was a huge hit. Several other kids tried to take it with them from the sandbox. The next day, Princess J carried it around like a stuffed animal.

It's hard to believe that Our Little Princesses are 2 and 4 now. Princess E is already able to print her name (and her sister's name) and is beginning to read. Princess J is trying potty training on her own. She wants to wear big girl undies instead of a diaper. She will put them on over her diaper. If you're not paying attention, she will take her own diaper off. Their personalities are vastly different. It is a lot of fun watching them grow up together.

I have several posts that will be coming out soon. I will be working four days this week and one day next week. After that ... summer vacation! I should have done this teacher thing 30 years ago.

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

One of my favorite songs is Maurice Chevalier's rendition of Thank Heaven for Little Girls from the movie Gigi. I think of it often when I think about Our Little Princess and Her Highness. It is especially fresh in my mind today. Our Little Princess is three years old today and she is growing up in the most delightful way.

We spent the weekend in San Antonio celebrating with her.

Saturday was a cool, misty, and at times rainy day. Her birthday party was held at the Kiddie Park on Broadway near Breckenridge Park in San Antonio. The Kiddie Park has been there since 1925. The carousel has been there since 1918. The best thing about the Kiddie Park is that it's only for little kids. There are no scary rides or roller coasters, just a few rides geared for small children. I remember going there as a child. It has not changed substantially in the past 50 years.

We watched the weather and were hopeful that the rain would clear in time for the party at noon. There was a slight break, but it misted off an on most of the time we were there and it rained for short periods of time.

All three grandmothers were there. I was so busy taking pictures that I didn't get a photo of myself with the birthday girl. Katy did manage to snap this picture of me.

I know you're waiting for an update on the birthday cake. As it turned out, Omi made the cake. It was a Rapunzel doll cake from the movie Tangled. It was beautiful and, since Omi actually lives in San Antonio, it was great for me that she volunteered to take care of it. She also brought some beautiful cupcakes which made serving the little ones quick and easy. The quick and easy part turned out to be a very good thing.

 The rain/mist stopped for short periods and the kids did get to ride the rides.

Then more clouds rolled in and we decided to eat the pizza, blow out the candles, and serve the cake as quickly as possible. We almost made it too ... almost. But everybody pitched in and held the umbrellas over the kids while they ate.

Then the rain started in earnest and we grabbed the presents and headed to the cars. She had to open her gifts at home, but it was like extending the party ... and it was warm and dry.

Sunday dawned with blue skies and bright sunshine. Wouldn't you know it!

Happy Birthday, Princess! You are growing up in the most delightful way. Grams and Pop-Pop love you more than you can even imagine!

On a whole different subject, I just got a message from Katy that Her Highness took her first steps today. She's 10 months old. Look out world -- here she comes! You can tell in this photo that she was just about ready to walk this weekend.

And, by the way, doesn't my hair look terrific. My next-door neighbor's granddaughter, Kandyce, cut it for the first time. She's finishing up at the Aveda Institute in Corpus Christi. I still think of her as a little girl, but I think she has a very bright future. She's really good at cutting hair.

My Funny Valentines

When we were in Houston a couple of weeks ago we ran across an old style photo booth. We had the brilliant idea of squeezing in with the girls. It took the first three shots to get all four of us in frame. It was fun and funny! I love the eye contact between the two girls in the bottom photo. They are definitely my funny valentines.

Happy Valentine's Day! As we say in our family ... Happy Valenta's Day!

Butterflies and Baby Girls

We made an impromptu trip to Houston this weekend for a little family time. The kids had decided to get together at Nick's house and invited us so they could go out on Saturday night and we could watch the kids. Never one to pass up time with our kids or our grands, we packed up and drove up on Friday afternoon. Nick gave us a hard time because we made it a leisurely trip. We left Corpus Christi around 4 p.m. and didn't get to his house until almost 9 o'clock. We stopped for coffee at Starbucks in Victoria and we stopped for snacks at Buc-ees in Wharton.

After we got to his house we went out for dinner. He took us to Iguana Joe's, which is a Tex-Mex restaurant, in Atascocita. I had stuffed avocado which was enormous and delicious. It's an avocado stuffed with shredded chicken, battered and fried. It was served with refried beans and rice. There was enough left over that Grandad and I had the leftovers for dinner the next night.

Saturday was rainy and cool so we had to do something indoors. We chose to go the the Cockrell Butterfly Center. This butterfly pavilion is one of my favorite places on earth. It is located at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, but admission to the butterfly center is separate. It was crowded on Saturday, but not uncomfortably so.

The entrance to the butterfly center is the Brown Hall of Entomology which has a lot of interactive exhibits designed for kids. The photo on the bottom left in the collage above is picture of pink katydids which are part of that exhibit. They look like flowers. They are behind glass and the glass was damp and foggy so it's not a very good picture. They were so beautiful. You can also watch butterflies emerging from chrysalis and flapping their wings to dry ... very interesting for the little ones.

Right inside the door is a photo op with a giant caterpillar where you can pose for a picture. The lighting in this hall makes it look like everyone has red hair. Some of us do actually have red hair, but not all of us.

The butterfly center is a three-story glass pavilion built around a central waterfall. If you go, dress in layers. It's very warm and humid inside which made me happy since I'm always cold. But everyone didn't agree with me.

It was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon. As you can see, Our Little Princess was able to get a very close look at the butterflies. Even Grandad got in on the fun when a butterfly hitched a ride on his cap. You have to look closely at the button on top of the cap. Once he landed there, he stayed the entire time. We had to shoo him away before we could leave the exhibit.

Next stop was Katz's Deli and Bar on Westheimer, one of our favorite places to eat in Houston and only a short distance from the museum district. Katz's is a New York style deli with delicious food and beverages. Several of us enjoyed their Holy Mary which is a large Bloody Mary made with Absolut Peppar Vodka. Delicious!

After our late lunch, we headed back to Nick's house where Katy, Travis, and Nick headed out for a night at the movies and Grams and Grandad settled in for an evening with the grands.

It's hard to believe how much the girls have grown since we last saw them New Year's Day. Her Highness has three teeth now and she smiles all the time. Our Little Princess is getting taller and taller. They both enjoyed playing with Uncle Nick's dogs, Baily and Ralphie. Her Highness and Baily are very good friends. We had to watch them constantly or they were licking and kissing each other all the time. It's a good thing Baily is such a little mama dog. She is completely tolerant of the baby pulling her ears or leaning on her or whatever. She would even stand still and let Her Highness grab hold of her fur and pull herself to a standing position.

The main point of the weekend was for Katy and Travis to get some rest. Unfortunately, Her Highness didn't sleep well away from home. Katy was up until three o'clock with her both nights. Next time, Grams and Grandad will go to their house to stay with the girls so they can go away for a weekend and get some sleep.

I'm enjoying a day off today. I've put a pork butt in the crock pot, using the Pioneer Woman's recipe for Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork. I'll let you know how it is later. I've also cleaned my oven, by which I mean that I turned on the self-cleaning feature and ignored it all morning ... so much better than the old way with the stinky foam. I'll be spending the remainder of the day sewing for my Etsy shop. After today, I'm working the rest of the week.

Surrounded by Books

I have a very busy day today. I'm hosting The Book Snobs for dinner and discussion tonight. That means I'm cooking dinner for twelve, so I don't have time to write a proper post. Therefore, I'm taking the easy way out.

Last week Katy and Travis were unwilling participants in the large amount of rainfall that fell on parts of Texas. In spite of their new retaining wall, there was just too much rain in too short of a time period for the drains to work properly. They had water in their living room, not for the first time. This led to a decision to remove the carpet.

You may remember that Travis is an English teacher and has an impressive library which normally resides in that room. So, in order to remove the carpet, they had to move the library. While usually beautifully displayed in a very organized and lighted set of bookshelves, it has now taken up temporary residence in Her Highness' room.

I feel bad for them. They have already done a lot of work to clean up the mess and move the books. Now they're planning to stain the concrete floor and then they'll have to replace all the books and shelves. It's a big job. Ultimately they hope to put in wood floors, but first they've got to figure out how to stop the flooding in the future.

The bright side of this story is this beautiful photo of Our Little Princess that is a result of the temporary relocation of the books. Katy took this photo with her cell phone. I think it's gorgeous. I hope she'll always love being surrounded by books.

Have a great week!

She Thinks I Can Do Anything

Grams reads a lot of blogs ... probably way too many. I have more than 100 blogs in my reader. There are about 15 of them that I always read and I have come to consider many of the bloggers friends, even though I've never met them in real life. The rest of them I scan and read if I'm interested.

One that I read every day is Cake Wrecks. It doesn't require a lot of reading, it's mostly pictures. It caught my interest because it features cakes by professional decorators that have gone horribly wrong.  They include misspelled words, misunderstood instructions, baby shower cakes that require cutting into a baby (think Steel Magnolias and the red-velvet armadillo groom's cake), and strips of bacon that look like poop. (Just to mention a few.)

Photo credit

Six days a week their posts feature a hilarious assortment of god-awful cakes which make me laugh. But on Sundays the feature is called "Sunday Sweets." Every Sunday they have the most beautiful collection of cakes. They are amazing, cute, beautiful, fancy, plain, and some of them are actually feats of engineering. I adore them. It's what keeps me coming back for more.

At this point I should mention that I am a Wilton certified cake decorator. I've never worked professionally, but I have taken the classes. When my kids were little I often baked and sold decorated cakes for friends and friends of friends. I took the classes when I was on maternity leave with our first baby, realizing that I would spend the next 20 or so years making birthday cakes. I've never regretted taking the classes. Being able to decorate cakes and cookies has saved me a lot of money over the past 30 years. I'm a pretty good decorator, but not anywhere near the level of the decorators featured on Sunday Sweets.

Last time we were in San Antonio, I was perusing my Google reader on Sunday morning, when Our Little Princess noticed the cakes I was looking at. She climbed up on my lap and we spent quite a while looking at beautiful cakes. She was quite entertained and it held her attention for a long time considering that she's not yet three years old. I thought it was a fun way to spend some time with her and didn't really think very much more about it.

Our Little Princess will be celebrating her third birthday in February. She and her mom have been working on plans for her birthday party. She absolutely adores the movie Tangled and all things related to Rapunzel. They have decided to use Tangled as the theme for her birthday party. As part of the discussion Katy asked her if she wanted a Tangled birthday cake. She replied that she did indeed want a Tangled cake and she wanted Grams to make it for her because she wants one exactly like the one Grams has in her computer.

These are the cakes she wants. Aren't they beautiful. I don't even have any idea how one would start to make Rapunzel's tower, as featured in the photo on the right. I know how the Rapunzel doll is made, but I do not have that kind of artistic ability.

Photos from Cake Wrecks

These cakes are so far beyond my limited decorating abilities that it's not even funny. What is funny is that she actually thinks I can do anything. I hope that lasts a while. Even if I can't live up to her expectations, it feels good that she thinks I've got skills.

2011

As 2011 dwindles down to mere hours, I thought I would take a minute and look back over the year that was. I'm going try to just hit the high spots.

Grandad had yet another cardiac ablation last January. It has taken all year, but the good news is that finally, after so many procedures I've just about lost count, his heart has healed. He's feeling tons better. Now we just have to work on his stamina and endurance. Our kids got us new bicycles for Christmas, so we'll start with those and move on to walking.

Grandad assembling the new wagon while OLP strikes a pose. He would not have been able to do this a year ago.

In April we welcomed the newest member of our growing family, June Frances. Named after two of her great grandmothers, she came into the world on Monday, April 11, while I ate lunch. Seriously, I left the labor unit and went downstairs to get a sandwich for me and for Travis. While I was gone, Katy delivered her without the benefit of an epidural. It seems the doctor "missed" when he injected the medication.

Katy with June Frances ... Her Highness ... Kid Destructo ... can't really settle on the nickname

In June our daughter-in-law, Marie, received the sacrament of confirmation. We spent the weekend in Houston to witness to this beautiful ceremony. It was held in a beautiful new church in the Diocese of Houston where the ministers dressed in traditional Philippine vestments. We were delighted to see Marie finish this step in her faith formation.

Nick & Marie at her confirmation

At the end of June, we traveled to North Carolina for the wedding of my niece, Andrea in Charlotte. We went a couple of days early and visited the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. I had long wanted to visit the Biltmore Estate and it did not disappoint. I was amazed at its size and grandeur. The gardens were spectacular! Well worth the trip.

Andrea & Louis

Grandad and I have made a concerted effort to enjoy living in Corpus Christi. We saw the 4th of July fireworks over Corpus Christi Bay, we attended the annual free performance of Handel's Messiah, Katy, Travis and I walked across the Harbor Bridge, we've attended several local theater performances, and we took Our Little Princess to the Texas State Aquarium. Corpus Christi really is a great place to live so we've decided to embrace living here.

Our Little Princess at the Texas State Aquarium

Late summer was a time for reunions. In August we gathered with members of the Morgan Avenue Baptist Church Youth Group from the 1970s. It was great to reconnect with old friends ... so much better than a high school reunion. In September we gathered with the Skelton Family for our second annual reunion. Getting to know these cousins has really been a blessing. It's kind of funny how alike we are even though we haven't seen each other for years.

Around the first of October I launched my Etsy shop. It's been more successful than I expected. I've sold all but one of the dresses I started with and I have an order for quite a few more. Stock is very low right now, but I expect to have more dresses for sale soon.

I've been working hard to de-clutter and reorganize my house. It's a much bigger job than I expected, but we had a fairly successful garage sale earlier this month and hope to have another one in the next couple of months. We also packed up quite of few boxes of "stuff" that our kids left here when they moved out and delivered them to their houses. I reclaimed both of their closets and am in the process of organizing my sewing and crafts utilizing the newly reclaimed space.

We have been blessed with good health for our children and grandchildren. It's been a tough year for some of our dear friends. We have two friends who have children who have serious illness. My good friend Sandy's 6-year-old grandson Liam is now in hospice care. And my friend and neighbor Deanna's 16-year-old grandson Jack has had relapse of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He's already beat it once and is now fighting it for the second time. Both of these families are on our hearts and minds daily.

Christmas was wonderful and we're ending the year with Grams and Pop-Pop's Rockin' Toddler New Year's Eve. It's the first year and will hopefully become a family tradition. We're keeping the kids this weekend while their parents enjoy a weekend without kids, culminating in New Year's Eve celebrations. We've had a lot of fun so far. The weather has been perfect. We've toured the neighborhood in the new wagon we got the girls for Christmas. Today we went to the park for playtime. And we finished up tonight with a trip over the Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge. Our Little Princess has named it "the rainbow bridge." We'll take them to church and breakfast tomorrow morning. Sometime tomorrow afternoon, we'll meet Katy and Travis in Three Rivers and make the exchange.

New Year's Eve with Our Little Princess and Her Highness

I mentioned "the rainbow bridge" above. It is Our Little Princess' favorite Christmas thing in Corpus Christi. It was lit with a partnership between the Texas Department of Transportation, the City of Corpus Christi, the Port of Corpus Christi Authority and American Bank. It is spectacular. Every night Our Little Princess asks Grandad if we can drive across the rainbow bridge. I took a few photos with my cell phone. They don't do it justice, but you'll get the idea.The entire show takes about 15 minutes to watch.

Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge - Our Little Princess' Rainbow Bridge

It's about 11:10 p.m. and both girls are finally sleeping, almost time to pop the cork on the bubbly and toast the new year. There are fireworks going off very nearby even though there is a burn ban in almost every county in Texas. Burn ban or not, if they wake up our babies I'm going out to kick some serious butt.

Here's wishing you a Happy New Year, a safe and fun celebration tonight, and a prosperous, healthy, and happy 2012.

Things To Do and Fruit Loops

Grams is feeling the pressure of my Christmas to-do list. I am determined to finish my gift shopping today. That leaves tomorrow for finishing Our Little Princess' Christmas dress and buying groceries. Then on Wednesday, I'll wrap gifts in a marathon session. I'm turning the cleaning over to Grandad for the next few days. I'm lucky that way. He's ready and willing to help. I simply have to direct him.

Now that you know that I really don't have time to blog, I just thought I'd show you my little Fruit Loops.

I can't wait for them to arrive on Friday. Christmas is going to be so much fun!

A Sweater Dress for Our Little Princess

A few weeks ago Grams was doing what Grams does almost every evening. While Grandad watches television, I keep one eye on the television while I surf the web. On this particular evening, I ran across this tutorial, from Make It and Love It, for upcycling an adult sweater into a child's sweater dress. When I saw this dress, I knew I had to make one for Our Little Princess.

As luck would have it, I had exactly the same sweater in the stack of stuff I had set aside for my garage sale. So I went out to the garage, dug the sweater out, followed the directions, and produced the cutest little sweater dress. The tutorial calls for beautiful little satin flowers. That was the only thing I changed. Instead, I made rolled felt roses which are pinned on and can be removed for washing. Our Little Princess insisted on wearing all three roses at the same time.

The roses are super simple to make and will be for sale soon in my Etsy shop.

If I make another upcycled sweater dress, I'll make it a little wider through the hips. She wasn't nearby for measuring so I had to eyeball it. I think it'll be okay once she gives up her pull-ups for panties, which will hopefully be soon.

While we're on the subject of pull-ups and panties, Katy is looking for any constructive advice you might have about potty training. Our Little Princess will be three years old in February and is not in the least bit interested in using the potty. Please share any advice you might have in the comment section and I'll pass it on.

What I Want To Be

Grams and Grandad enjoyed a short visit from Our Little Princess and Her Highness this weekend. Their parents celebrated Travis' birthday by spending a weekend sans children. Bonus for us! We loved having the girls. We make the exchange in Three Rivers. It's only a little more than a one hour drive for all of us. We got them on Saturday morning and returned them on Sunday afternoon.

Our Little Princess will be 3 years old in February. She's beginning to go through that shy stage where it takes her a while to warm up to anyone that she hasn't seen in a while or meets for the first time. But after a few minutes she definitely comes out of her shell. Her Highness is seven months old and is now crawling and pulling herself up into a standing position. I think she will be walking in very short order and when she does, big sister better look out. There will be no stopping her.

A couple of hours after they returned home on Sunday evening, we received an email with this video. It was so cute that I had to share it. Our Little Princess is wearing parts of the Tinkerbell costume that I made her for Halloween.

If you listen all the way to the end, you'll hear her tell her dad "I'm on TV."

Eating Soup With Chopsticks

Last time the entire family was together we were in Houston at Nick & Marie's house. They have a lovely home that has plenty of room for everyone. We usually cook in their fabulous gourmet kitchen. On this particular day, the guys had been golfing and the girls had been shopping all day. No one felt like cooking, so we went out to dinner. The kids chose an Asian restaurant that specializes in sushi. We were all tired, but Our Little Princess and Her Highness were exhausted. Not a problem for HH, she just took a nap in her car seat. OLP was almost falling asleep at the table, but she was determined to eat. Needless to say, the sushi didn't appeal to her. I don't really eat sushi either, so I ordered a meal which came with miso soup. She wanted the soup which was fine with me.

If I had to eat all my meals using chopsticks, I would undoubtedly be much thinner. In fact, I might starve to death. But both of my children and their spouses eat with them quite skillfully. OLP was determined to use them too AND she was tired and grumpy so we just let her do what she wanted in order to avoid a meltdown. Did you know that you can eat soup with chopsticks? Well, more specifically, with one chopstick. It also helps to have a spoon. Please allow Our Little Princess to demonstrate.

First, wear your new dress that Grams made for you, especially if it fits in with the Asian theme of the restaurant. Then you'll need one bowl of Miso soup, one chopstick, and a spoon.

Second, dip your spoon in and fill it with soup. Use your chopstick to push the soup onto your spoon. Be sure to concentrate!

Third, keep one eye on Mommy. She'll sneak her fork in and try to eat your mushrooms while you're not looking. If you're alert, you can block her with your chopstick while still eating with your spoon.

Fourth, be sure to use the proper technique. Bring both the spoon and the chopstick to your mouth for each bite. Be careful not to stick the chopstick into your nose.

Try not to fall asleep until after you've eaten all your soup.

A Day At The Zoo

Last weekend, Grams and Grandad joined Our Little Princess and Her Highness, along with their parents, for a day at the San Antonio Zoo. We started early, before it got too hot and only stayed until early afternoon. Our Little Princess enjoyed showing Grandad all the animals.

I especially like the butterfly pavilion. The butterflies are so colorful and delicate and sometimes if you stand very still, a butterfly will land right in the palm of your hand. We tried, but didn't have any luck this time.

There are so many interactive exhibits and things to do. Our Little Princess fed the birds, went fishing, played in a babbling brook, got a close up look at a snake, played with other kids, and climbed on the lion sculpture.

It may be fall on the calendar, but in South Texas it's still the season of blooms. The beautiful flora was everywhere around the zoo.

Her Highness was along for the ride and she really seemed to enjoy it. We hardly heard a peep out of her. She seems to love being outdoors in the fresh air. The children's area even had a frog waterbed where she could roll around and stretch out for a while. Of course, her big sister had to get in on that fun too.

And no outing is complete without a little snack, so we stopped for popsicle and to cool off a little bit before finishing up.

I highly recommend spending a day with your grandchildren at your local zoo. There is little to compare to a wild family adventure at the zoo.