Sunday morning princess dreams

Disney on Ice's Princess Classics made its way through the Queen City over the weekend and our little Cinderella and Snow White had great seats for the skating extravaganza. Sunday morning at 11:30, we found ourselves sitting in row A of a lower section of U.S. Bank Arena. A spot perfect for two princess seekers.

Choosing to wear their best princess garb, Cinderella (Alena) and Snow White (Alivia) fit right in with a great many other little girls dressed in royal wear. Putting on the princess costumes was half the fun for them, I think. Alena proved fit for a ball, making the trek to and from the venue wearing her diamond-studded, slightly-heeled Cinderella slingbacks (yep, she's going to be trouble once she hits the teen years).

As soon as the lights went down, the girls sat mesmerized by the princess fantasies, costumed characters and stories (most of which) they are familiar with. There was a huge elephant featured in the "Aladdin" segment of the show that I thought would make Alivia's eyes pop out of her head.

Dwarfs danced, magic carpets flew and fairy godmothers waved magic wands. And Alena and Alivia sat taking in every minute. The princess costumes were a dream come true for any little girl. The character costumes made even a mom think the dwarfs and mice had come to life.

While Alena was bound and determined she would dance with Belle or Cinderella, even when the show came to a close and she hadn't gotten her dance, she left completely satisfied with having watched the pageantry. Alivia sat surprising still throughout the performance, which managed to hold her attention up until the last ten minutes or so when she conked out on my lap.

Our trip was full of Disney magic, fit for our special princesses. A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep ... only this time we were wide awake.

Family fun at Barn-N-Bunk

Alena's preschool class took a field trip to Barn-N-Bunk Farm Market last Tuesday. Dubbed a "family fun day," families were invited to join in the adventure, allowing mom, dad and siblings to share the experience. Given the cool, but perfect weather, our entire family participated, and we truly had a day of family fun.

The outing was a great chance for Alivia to spend some time with kids close in age, and get to be a part of the "big kid" action. Alena was a great hostess for Alivia, letting her take part in all the fun with her school friends and offering to introduce her little sis to classmates.

The day started with a hayride around the farm. The girls were thrilled when jumping aboard. Two mazes later, one straw and one corn, the preschool class helped stuff a scarecrow that later appeared outside their classroom door for autumn decoration. The trip concluded with each child choosing their own pumpkin and an apple and cider snack.

Family fun was definitely in abundance. The girls had a fantastic time and it was nice for all of us to get out and do something together ... something that's not happened a great deal since Trace and Alysse joined the family. It was a chance for us all to experience a new place with the people we love the most.

The perfect puzzle pixie

The pixie has finally gotten her own time to be the boss of the house. With Alena at preschool two mornings each week, Alivia has gotten a taste of what it's like to rule the roost. Preschool starts at 9:15 a.m., Trace and Alysse typically go down for morning naps at 10 a.m. That leaves the little pixie at least one hour when the world's all about her.

Given this free reign, I ask each day what she'd like to do. Nine times out of ten, her response is "puzzles" as she's mid run to the spot where they are all kept. Then, for the next hour I watch (and sometimes provide some very limited coaching) as she completes puzzle after puzzle after puzzle.

As much fun as she has solving these "problems," I have more just watching her fit each piece together ... turning, thinking and maybe turning once more. In the puzzle arena she excels and really, she's quite amazing to watch. With each piece she picks up, you can just hear her thoughts considering where it might fit and which way it needs to be turned.

We started out about a year ago doing very simple put-piece-in-hole puzzles. Those became so rudimentary, that she graduated up to Alena's 12-piece simple jigsaw puzzles this spring. Now the little pixie can put together 28-piece jigsaws that I'd be willing to bet most four- and five-year-olds would think about while working.

What makes her so talented with puzzles, I can't quite put my finger on. While I'd never say it out loud, I think she could out puzzle Alena most any day. She just has some gift. Until I piece it together, I'll keep watching my puzzle pixie and savoring our time alone.

Preschooler tattoo time

This is what you do when you're too young to enter a real tattoo parlor. It's more convenient since your sister can give you the look you want. It's not as permanent, as you can stick and restick those babies as many times as you'd like. And the pain factor ... well, the loss of a little leg hair beats the real deal.

What a mess, times two

In no way am I complaining. Actually, most days I have to look in wonder at the mess two little people can make in a matter of 20 or 25 minutes. Baby, plus finger food equals big mess. Big mess times two equals, well, sometimes I'm not sure how to describe it. "Mess" just doesn't do it justice.

God bless them, we're down to each Trace and Alysse drinking one bottle during the day. It gets served about 6:00 p.m. as Alysse starts her "I've got to have it" grunt. Trace then gets his since once he spies a bottle he too thinks he must partake. Other than the formula served a la nipple in the evening, all other bottle drinking is reserved for nighttime hours. Yep, given our track record we've still got months of that ahead.

However, in place of all those bottles, we now serve pureed baby food, finger foods (Cheerios, puffs, biter biscuits, squished goldfish crackers) and table food broken into baby-sized morsels (they love black beans and any bread product). I'm ecstatic. During the height of our bottle drinking days we'd wash, dry, fill and serve between 16 and 18 bottles per day. Our inventory of 30 bottles kept us a day ahead, accounting for dirty; filled and waiting; and filled and being used bottles.

As we've advanced up the food chain, we now throw away eight empty baby food containers each day. And that's not taking into account the empty cereal bowls they practical lick clean each morning. They are lean (well, sort of), mean (not really), eating machines (yes, that part is definitely accurate).

The messes are impressive, and their patience always limited when it comes time to clean up. To date they've mastered losing Gerber biter biscuits by somehow getting them stuck to their shoulders, storing nearly half a dozen puffs under their chins and managing to pack an ear practically full of Gerber chicken noodle dinner. Delicious.