Happy New Year!

Tonight we drank sparkling grape juice and watched the ball drop in NYC (live on CNN so we didn't have to wait). We do live a glamorous life!

Here's wishing you a happy and healthy 2010.

Zoo Lights

On Christmas Night, we went to the Zoo to see the light display. Despite the cold weather, Marina had a great time. She enjoyed eating the food and drinking hot chocolate. She loved seeing the lights and animals. Most of all, she got spoiled by Miss Judy and Bethany. That on top of a ton of Christmas presents. Does it get any better than this?

Merry Christmas!

The OZ

This evening, Marina was in the Dance Core's production of The OZ, a variation of The Wizard of Oz. She was a Munchkin, the Lullaby League in particular.

She had two dress rehearsals this week. I noticed at both of them that she knew the steps very well. She even took the time to wave at me during both the dress rehearsal and performance.

The battery ran out midway through the performance, so the video is in two parts.

Part 1



Part 2

Go Mammoth!

My sister invited Marina and I along with my brothers to the Colorado Mammoth preseason game this evening. Most of us had never seen a lacrosse game before. We all had a great time. Aunt Ann gave Marina an orange cowbell top ring during the game, which she did often. When the crowd cheered, Marina did too. She even joined the chorus chanting "De-fense!" While I was off getting popcorn, she and Cameron even ended up on the Jumbo-Tron screen!

The Princess and the Frog ... Finally

Marina has been dying to see the new Disney Princess movie, The Princess and the Frog, for quite a while. We had planned to see it the day after Thanksgiving, but apparently Disney changed the nationwide release date until today.

We met her friend Lily at the theater. The girls hugged each other as soon as they saw each other. They were so excited they were silly. They both loved the movie and are completely taken with Princess Tiana. They were a few scary parts, but overall they both highly recommend it to their princess friends.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

St. Nicholas came by our church today to celebrate his feast day. Marina wa very excited to see him. She even got a nice bag of goodies to celebrate.

Princess Party

Marina was invited to her "best friend" Lily's birthday party today. She has been so excited. Every day this week she has asked me if it was the day for the party yet. She wore her Cinderella costume. The party was at a salon and each girl got her hair and makeup done. Marina and Lily were the first to have their hair done.

Just like at Disneyland, Marina was very patient when her hair was brushed and styled. Fortunately, the process didn't take as long this time.

Advent

We were asked to light the first candle of the Advent wreath at church this morning. I read a prayer, the Father Jim helped her to light the candle. She was did a great job but was disappointed that we lit one of the blue candles and not the pink one.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Christmas Pictures

Okay, so I know it's too early to be discussing Christmas, but since I am ever the planner, I had her Christmas pictures taken today. We had three outfits: her Christmas dress, her Christmas day outfit (which is reminiscent of her family's Scottish tartan) and her Halloween costume. So here are the highlights:

Boo!

We went to the annual Boo at the Zoo today. It was a little strange that it fell after Halloween, but we were all still in a festive mood. Marina decided to be a snow princess this year. And as luck would have it, an identical snow queen costume was also available. When Marina asked me what I would be for Halloween (I haven't dressed up in years!) she decided we should match.

As per tradition, we went to the zoo with Cameron and Aunt Ann. Cam was dressed in a Special Forces costume. How cure they looked with him in black and Marina in white! It was a beautiful day, although it was a bit muddy after last week's snow and subsequent melt down.

Today's focus wasn't about the animals (Marina did insist on seeing the zebras and giraffes), it was about the candy. Since it was the last day of Boo at the Zoo festivities, many of the vendors were obviously wanting to rid themselves of as much candy as possible. Some of them put huge handfuls into the kids' bags. The result was Marina had a bag of candy she could barely lift!

Princess Profile

Last year I carved our pumpkins to look like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Marina just loved them!This year Marina wanted to help carve the pumpkins. She mostly helped clean out the insides. Just like last year, we decided to pick two more Disney Princesses to put on the pumpkins. We each chose our favorites: I chose Belle and she picked Jasmine.

Snow Day

We had a snow day today - sort of.

Marina's school is on Fall Break this week. (Where was Fall break when I was in school?) So when we got the snowstorm this week, she was already out of school. I had decided in advance to take today off to spend with her. We had more than 8 inches where I live. Today the great melt down began. So it was warm outside and the gutters were filled with rivers of melted snow. Marina had a ball!


While we were outside, I snapped a few pictures of her in her Halloween costume. After all, she is going to be a snow princess. What better backdrop could I ask for?

THANK YOU!

I am so overwhelmed by the support Marina got during the "Fairest of Them All" contest. Marina's Snow White picture ended up with 78 votes. That was enough to put her in the top 200 out of over 6,000 entries! That's an amazing result.

The pictures are still visible, but you can no longer vote. The highest vote getter had over 5,000. I have no idea how that is possible, but I don't think it was anywhere as cute as Marina's pictures. :-)

The winner of the Disney World trip will be chosen by the lovely folks at Disney. So we could still get a prize.

But I think we're already winners - thanks to our wonderful friends!

Picture This!

Since we had the matching Giselle dresses, I decided Marina and I should have our pictures taken together. So, here we are:

Of course, the best pictures were of her:

One more to vote for

Thank you to all of you who have voted for Marina's pictures. It's so fun for me to see the count grow!

I added one more picture to the site. I wanted at least one to have her full "Princess Story" attached. Unfortunately, I can't add the story after upload is complete. :-(

Tea for Two
http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/tea-for-two-17428/

Vote for Princess Marina!

Aunt Ann forwarded me an email saying Disney is having a contest: "Who is the Fairest of them All?"

Well, Marina, of course!

The hardest part was picking which pictures to send in. I submitted and had six pictures accepted. Please vote for Princess Marina! (You are able to cast a vote for each picture every day. Feel free to vote often!)

The Fairest of Them All
http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/the-fairest-of-all-15288/

Sleeping Beauty
http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/sleeping-beauty-15285/

Belle's Book
http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/belle-s-book-15287/

Castle Bound
http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/castle-bound-15274/

Off to the Ball!
http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/off-to-the-ball--15273/

Ariel Sighting
http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/ariel-sighting-15264/

Thanks for your support!