Pigtails

As I was brushing Juliana's hair this morning, I realized how long it is now.  We keep it shorter for a number of reasons - it doesn't get in her face (especially while eating), there are less tangles to carefully remove each morning, and because she won't let me do anything with it.  So this morning I asked her if she wanted pigatils and she said yes!  I moved quickly before she could change her mind and after I was done she told me she was keeping them in her hair all day.

These pictures reminded me of the first time she wore pigtails, just past her 2nd birthday.  For a few months, I have lots of pictures of her in pigtails, but not any since.

I have a scrapbook page with these photos that says: "Pigtails - just one of the many little reasons I wanted to have a girl.  Some of the others - tea parties, dress-up, sparkle shoes, dance, princesses, dolls, shopping..."

My wishes came true with this little girl because she loves all of those things.

Princess at Rest

Usually the Princess of the moment at our house is running wild, but she took a few minutes to be true to Sleeping Beauty and rest.  I like that she took the time to arrange the skirt of her dress and clasp her hands at her chest.

The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

Getting back to the final Disney posts (because if I don't post them here, I won't remember the details).

On Monday afternoon Juliana had her appointment at The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Cinderella's Castle.  The package was a gift from Nonni and included a Belle dress with shoes, crown and wand, the hairstyle of her choice, makeup, nails and a photo session.

We arrived at the Boutique and waited for Princess Juliana to be called back.  She went back to the dressing room and her dress and accessories were waiting for her.  The "salon" area was filled with stations designed for little girls.  Chairs like little thrones and fancy mirrors on the wals.  Juliana climbed right up in the chair and selected her hairstyle.

During the entire process, no matter how tight her hair was pulled, she never complained.  This is the child who runs from the hair brush at home and never wants even a ponytail. After her hair was pulled to the top of her head, the tiara was slipped into place and a huge amount of glitter hairspray was used to hold her hair just right.

Then is was time for nails and makeup - I told her we should not tell her Daddy about the eye shadow and that is of course the first thing she told him when we got home.

After the wave of the magic wand and the magic words - Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo - the transformation was complete.

Then it was off to the photo studio for her photo shoot.  This was such a fun experience - I highly recommed it!

Disney Day #4

Monday was another Magic Kingdom day.  We arrived at the gate prior to the Park open time so we could make it to our breakfast reservation .  We were dining at the castle and Juliana wasn't the only one looking forward this meal (I might have been a little excited to go to the castle as well).  First we had Juliana's picture taken with Cinderella and then we sat at our table upstairs.

While the price was certainly no bargain, the food was very good.  During breakfast, the princesses were announced and walked around to each of the tables: Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine and Snow White were all there.

Keeping the princess theme going, Juliana insisted that we go straight to see Arial after leaving the castle.  Arial and Belle were her favorites while we were there.

Then we went on rides in Fantasyland and did some shopping before our lunch reservation at Liberty Tavern - one of my favorite restuarants at Disney.  After lunch we got fast passes for Splash Mountain.  There is a small playgound near the ride and we let Juliana run around while we waited for our time slot.  Juliana was in tears as we walked up to the ride - she wasn't happy about getting wet or going down the big hill.  But she calmed down and walked along the line.  She liked the inside of the mountain with the music and characters but every little hill got her upset.  She was quite happy when the last hill was over.

We exited the ride just in time to watch the parade.  After days of rain and cooler temps, this is the point when it drastically warmed up...as I was holding her up to watch the parade and the sun was beating down.  That was a long 20 minutes.  We had to waeve our way through the past-parade crowd back to the castle for Juliana's appointment at the Boutique - I am going to add that to a separate post since there are so many pictures to include.

After her appointment and photo shoot, we browsed through some stores.  In the candy store Juliana was given a free bag of cotton candy since it was National Cotton Candy day. Then we waited at the end of Main Street for my mom.  It was getting dark and they were getting ready for the parade.  They have stations set-up with activites for kids as they wait along the parade route and they had hula hoops near us.  So we had a crazy hula-hooping princess for a little while.

We got back to the hotel and Juliana changed out of her dress and ate some of her cotton candy.  A little bit later my friend Sarah arrived.  Sarah lives in Chicago and came to Dinsey to spend some time with us for her birthday.  Disney is running a Celebration promotion (might have been 2009 only) and she got free admission to one Park on her birthday.  Since we were already planning to be there, it was a perfect fit to get to spend some time together and celebrate her birthday.  We had dinner at the hotel and then we carefully removed Juliana's tiara in the hopes that her hair would stay mostly in place for the next day.

Juliana's Birthday - Part 1

Our day was far too busy to fit into one blog post...way to many pictures to tell the story.

Scott and I woke Juliana up together.  As she sleepily opened her eyes, she realized it was her birthday and smiled.  When asked how old she was she was happy to display 4 fingers.

While she was getting dressed Scott was at the other end of the hallway with the camera.  As she tried to hide behind the door (apparently tired of pictures by 8:00 am), I would open it and Scott would snap a picture - she thought this game was amazingly funny.

A quick picture in front of the house before school.

Scott and I went to her classroom at 10:30 for snack time with her cake.  It was a cake of cupcakes - perfect for splitting up with the class, yet it could have standard cake decorations.  They sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed cupcakes.  And then Juliana lounged for a few minutes before we left.

Juliana came home with us and then we went out to lunch with Nonni and G.  Juliana loves cooking shows, she is just as happy to watch the Food Network on Saturday mornings and she is to watch Playhouse Disney.  So I thought she might enjoy a Japanese Hibachi lunch.  She was very excited that we were going to have lunch at a place where they cook right on our table.  However the fire right in front of her was a bit too much and she jumped on my lap and later hid on the floor.  But she did enjoy the flashing lights and music for her birthday.

Easter 2009

Apparently I can only blog once a month now, and that's ok. I am still working full time, dealing with kitchen construction, not sleeping, spring allergies... I am still keeping up with Project 365 (a picture for everyday) which is being printed and added to the album for the year - so the documentation exists, just not the blogging - and I'm fine with that.


Juliana was quite pleased with her Easter bucket (I refuse to buy baskets, when buckets are so useful and much cheaper). She received a book, craft projects, bubble machine and bubbles, littlest pet shop toys, glitter pencils, a little bit of chocolate, and chap stick. Upon finding the chap stick at the bottom of the bucket, she annouced - this is just what I wanted for Easter :)























She looked adorable in her dress and white sweater and we managed to survive Easter this year without a winter coat! She even left the bow in her hair for several hours - usually she is not a fan of hair accessories. And her dress came with a matching dress for her doll Missy Missy Rose (yes, that's 2 Missys). I dropped her off at church with Nonni for the morning.