Christmas Princesses

The princesses are ready for Christmas. These beautiful dresses were an early Christmas present from Gran.

T-1 and T-2 sang with Queen Mommy at a music devotional. They were so cute. I was very proud of them. T-3 exercised her vocals outside the chapel with a friend in a less beautiful way. She wasn't thrilled to be left behind for even those 3 minutes. Next year maybe she can sing too. What a ham!

T-2 and T-1 saw Santa while Mommy snapped some pictures. T-3 says, "Santa! Santa!" until she gets close to him, then she says, "I don yike Santa!" Not so loud little one, or it's coal for you this year. It's funny how we tell them not to talk to strangers, but then expect them to love some big huge guy in a crazy red suit. A little stranger danger is ok with me.

T-1 Perfomance Artist

T-1 has been busy entertaining us. Last week was her 3rd Grade program honoring Vets. She was front row and singing her little heart out. Doesn't she look like one of the little christmas angels with the perfect little 'O' mouth? She was so serious through the whole thing and didn't look up much because I kept trying to make her smile by making faces at her.
This week was her piano recital. She played 4 pieces (one I got to play with her!) and she was marvelous. She even introduced her songs - this was a first. The recital is held at a Retirement home/care center, so not only were students and parents there, but many of the residents came to enjoy the children's music. T-1 played all her pieces from memory and we were so proud of her. What a special girl she is!

Fun with T-3

Attention Grandmas! T-3 loves this ladybug! It is at Chesi-Jo's and everytime we go in, she gets it out and rides it. Here, she has picked a hole in her tights so they ripped off. I was in the process of buying some new ones when this face happened. How could I not stop and photograph?

The Jammie shots are after the big sisters went to bed. A little cuddle and singing time with Mommy and Daddy. Look at those curls. Words fail to express how much I love this girl. Her little smile and all her big words brighten my life.

I think her Daddy likes her a bit too, what do you think?

Boo!

Halloween is always a blast with the Princesses. They attended the church party (which was wonderful, thanks Marcee!) , had parties at school and of course, went trick-or-treating with Mommy and some other little friends. T-2 was Glinda the Good Witch of the North and T-3 was Barbie as the Island Princess. Her name is "Ro" (short for Rosella), but T-3 says "I be Wo!"

T-1 is the good witch of the south. She chose the costume herself. Originally, it was supposed to be a light-up witch, but TRAUMA! Queen Mommy waited too long. Still she looked fabulous in her purple and black.

They got a lot of candy, but only kept 10 pieces each, leaving the rest on the porch for the Good Witch of Halloween to pick up. In its place, she left the new Tinkerbell movie. Everyone was quite please with the arrangement.

Princesses on Ice

We took the princesses to Disney on Ice in Oakland. They had such a great time. Gran met us there and provided the swag. Our only regret: Where was Aurora? The whole show, T-3 said, "Ont Awawa." (That's "I want Aurora" for those non-toddler speakers out there.) All the other Disney Princesses and their princes showed up, but no Sleeping Beauty. Is Pocahontas a princess?

Punkin Princesses

The Princesses picked Pumpkins proudly! We visited the pumpkin patch this weekend and everyone picked one out. The Queen picked that cool white one. I'm calling it the albino pumpkin - appropriate, don't you think?

The girls love going to this farm where they can ride the ponies, go through the maze and feed the goats. We got a cart and wheeled that little T-3 around with the pumpkins. It was very fun. Afterward, we all shared a bag of Candy Corn!

Go Cavemen!

The Princesses cheered for the Cavemen on Friday night with the other Junior Cheerleaders at half time. They are so cute and had such a fun time, even if it was really cold. They did a dance to the "Camp Rock" theme song and did two cheers. Thanks to their enthusiasm, the Cavemen beat Sheldon in triple overtime. (needless to say, the Junior cheerleaders left early and were already asleep when the Cavemen pulled it off!

N-Y-C! What is it about you?

So the big 3-5 girl weekend in the big apple was last week. It was fabulous. Yummy food, lots of shopping and three Broadway shows in 3 days. Legally Blonde, A Tale of Two Cities, and Mary Poppins - how do you like my diverse interests? Queen Mommy and her friend Lady Shell visited all the B's - Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys, Bloomingdales... Seeing the park and the temple were really special. We spent some time (and money of course) in the American Girl Store too(I can't believe they are retiring Samantha!) Love you Shell! Thanks for a lovely b-day trip!

Tennis Princess

T-3's skinny little arms are getting stronger. She's even ready for a new racquet. We love her coach, Jeffrey. She is having a great time.

Soccer Princess

T-2's first soccer game of the season. Our Home Teacher is her coach and she is one of 3 girls and 3 boys on her team - the Orange Crush. (That's her front and center at the ball. The boy with the ball happens to be in our ward too.)
She was so amazing. This is her third soccer season and she touched the ball more in this game than in the other seasons combined. She stole the ball from a boy down by her goal and dribbled it all the way up the field, passed the other kids and scored a goal. I wish I had my video camera. Maybe next Saturday. It was fabulous.

1st Day of School!

Last week was the first day of 3rd Grade for T-1. She loves her new teachers and has a lot of her friends in her class.
T-2 started Kindergarden this morning (sob!) After this crazy summer, I thought I'd be thrilled to kick her out the door to school, but she looked so cute in her new 1st day of school jumper and is so excited, it made me think my baby is big now! Her Kindergarden teacher is wonderful (T-1 had her too!). I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful school for my girls and that they love to learn so much. It is a bitter sweet adventure, this raising girls!

The Princesses Rule at Harris Beach

The girls had a fun weekend camping at Harris Beach. (Yes, the Princesses can camp! In a tent, no less!) They spent the days by the water and the evenings by the fire roasting marshmallows and getting very dirty.

The weather was foggy in the mornings, but warmed up in the afternoons to a perfect sunny day!

The Princesses like to climb the rocks that line the Oregon Coast.

Check out the lovely sand castle. If there is one thing princesses know about, it's castles!

The Princesses Visit San Francisco

We went down to the Bay Area to visit their Gran and Granddad. We had such a great time. I didn't pack for a visit to the city, but the call of Sourdough and fun was too strong. So we piled in the car and drove into San Francisco - the traffic was so light! We went straight to the Palace of Fine Arts - my favorite spot in the city. Of course the beauty of the place was slightly marred by the scaffolding that surrounded the palace, but we didn't let the "improvements" ruin our nice little picnic.

That same stop included the Exploratorium - a hands on science museum. Here is T1 drinking from a....it was and experiment in how our perceptions effect us. The water is clean - what would you do? The girls loved playing with all the exhibits.

Next stop - the cable cars. The princesses had never been on them, and it had been so long since my husband and I had, that we thought, why not? It was a bit of a wait, but T2 and T3 had a nice time posing for pics in front of the bay and watching them turn the cable cars around.

It was a little chilly on the cable cars, but a nice lady gave the girls her scarf. The little ones kept shouting, "weeeeeeee!" Those are some steep hills! But when we caught sight of the end of the Powell Street line at Market Street and could see San Francisco Centre and Nordstrom, we were filled with joy! A friend of mine who works down on market came to meet us and rode the cable car back down to the wharf with us and we all had dinner and Nonna Rose's - a little restaurant down on the wharf where Clam Chowder in bread bowls hit the spot. T1 is truly a city girl - she didn't want to leave. In fact she kept saying, " I wish we lived here!"
It was T2's 5th birthday and Grand and Granddad got her a Highschool Musical sing-a-long game for wii. The girls rocked out for the rest of the night.

The princesses curl up in bed at Gran's.
Ready for story time.

A good time was had by all!

Swimming Lessons

For the past two weeks, the Pitzak Princesses have been busy with swimming lessons. Miss Myrna has been teaching for a billion years and is amazing. They learn to dive, to side breath, and most important, how to save their lives if they were ever in an emergency.

Three different lessons every day for two weeks.

All three are little fishes in the water.

The girls are taught to get on their backs if they fall in the water. Doesn't T-3 do a great back float?
On "Life Saving Day" they get in the water in their clothes to know what it feels like if you fall into the water when your are dressed. They also practice with life jackets and holding hands for a rescue.
At the end of the two weeks, they graduate with "Swimming Star" Medals and lots of hugs.