Christmas Eve

When Marina woke up this morning, she stretched out a bit, then her eyes flew open and she said, “Christmas Eve!” I had told her she could open one gift on Christmas Eve and she took that literally. Before she was dressed, she wanted to open a gift. The one she chose was from me, a cat that purrs and walks. She named it Sparkle.


We went to the family service at church. Marina wore her green velvet Christmas dress with her pink princess Santa hat. She went up to the alter for the children’s sermon and even offered answers to a few questions. But her favorite part was the Christmas carols. She especially loved when we lit candles to sing Silent Night. She does appreciate that we are celebrating Jesus’ birthday as well as Santa making a visit to our house.


-->

Picture Perfect Princess

Marina had her Christmas pictures taken today. We were fortunate to get a photographer who was not only creative, but believes in taking lots of pictures. So we got a lot to choose from. Marina was very cooperative and I was very pleased with what we got.

St. Nicholas

We celebrated St. Nicholas Day at church this morning. We heard some stories about St. Nicholas and then we were asked to act some out. In our scene, Marina played St. Nicholas and Sara was a sailor. They did so well. After that, each child got a goodie bag from him which had a jingle bell attached. Marina was quite happy with that.

Winter Wonderland

Marina's school had a craft fair and concert today. They called it "Winter Wonderland." Each class also had a scheduled time to perform. Marina's was one of the first. They sang three songs.

They started off with "We Are Thankful."



Then they sang "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel."



They finished with "Frosty the Snowman."



Once Marina's class was done, she wanted to go shopping at the craft fair. So we didn't get to see the other classes perform.

Giving Thanks

We spent Thanksgiving at my mother's house. Marina has been learning about the Pilgrims and Indians at school and she wanted to wear her Pocahontas costume in honor of them. Everyone thought that was appropriate.

Marina spent most of the day playing with her uncles. Uncle Mike and Uncle Brian like to lift her up off the ground and roughhouse with her. She also convinced Uncle Andrew to play with the Barbies she brought with us.

When it came time for dinner, she mostly ate turkey and rolls with a little stuffing. She did love the turkey though. She also polished off most of a piece of pumpkin pie.

Marina has a fun day. In fact she didn't want to go home.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well.

Tangled

Ever since we saw a gallery dedicated to the new Disney movie Tangled at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Disney World, Marina has been waiting to see it. It opened today and since she had the day off from school, I took the day off so we could go.

Marina specifically requested we see the 3D version. We caught a showing after lunch. Marina wore her Rapunzel hair piece and brought her Rapunzel Barbie for the occasion.

We both really liked the film. And despite some intense action scenes, Marina was not scared at all. (It just shows how much she is growing up!) I have a feeling we'll be seeing it again!

Shrek on Stage

We had tickets to see Shrek The Musical this evening. Marina seemed pleased about that. We got all dressed up –Marina even wore pink crystal earrings and a matching necklace. Once we arrived at the theater, Marina got really excited. She was jumping up and down. Many people looked at her and smiled. I’m so glad she loves theater as much as I do. Shortly after we arrived, we ran into Cameron and Aunt Ann. Marina and Cameron had some fun messing around for a few minutes. Then we had to leave to get into our seats.

Once we sat down, Marina started asking when the show was going to start. She was pretty restless. Once the music started, she gave it her full attention (Except for the little boy who was sitting in front of us. He and Marina kept looking at each other and doing some communication.) After each song was over, she clapped. There were a few where she even cheered. We both really enjoyed the show. It was over pretty late and Marina fell asleep in the car on the way home.

New Discoveries

We'd hadn't been to the Museum of Nature and Science for a while and Marina was anxious to go for another visit. So we went today. We started at our usual exhibits, health and dinosaurs.

Marina wasn't too excited when I suggested we check out the new Amazon exhibit, but I insisted. It was a great exhibit, filled with information about the many species that live near the Amazon river. Marina was particularly fascinated by the details about pirahanas. There were many interactive exhibits including a giant snake and a stage where kids could dress up and do a "fish dance." Marina had great fun with all of it.

We checked out an IMAX 3D show, "Under the Sea." It was fun and I could see Marina reaching out to grab the fish that seemed to be right in front of us.

After the show, we went back into the Amazon exhibit. Then we went to Marina's favorite parts of the Museum, the animal dioramas and the Native American exhibits. It was a fun day!

Trick or Treat!

This year for Halloween I got to take Marina trick or treating. We met up with Madi and Noah. We all had dinner at their house, then the kids all got into their costumes. Noah was a pirate and Madi was dressed as Giselle from Enchanted. Marina was happy to show off her Rapunzel costume. I also put make up on her which made her very happy.

We went to a nearby neighborhood to start. There were plenty of kids out even though the sun hadn't set yet, but many of them were well decorated. A woman dressed as a witch was in front of her house, Marina was a bit hesitant to approach her but was happy with the candy she got. At another house, there were sound effects and spider webs. The kids tripped a motion activated fog machine and came running back. Jenn had to walk them to the door. As we walked around, we met many other kids. Marina met her newest "best friend," a girl dressed as an angel. Marina nearly filled her pumpkin, including a few full size candy bars. She was especially pleased with a large bag of Skittles. She spent a while talking about her costume to them people who gave it to her.

We wanted to go to another neighborhood where she knew someone. So we went there. We ended up walking quite a ways but we saw some neat houses. One had lots of decorations and a shark handing out tubs of cotton candy. Marina was thrilled! Another house had a large spider web with lots of little spiders all over it and a ghost that lowered after the kids were on the porch. All three of them just stared at it, afraid to try and walk past it. We also went to a house with talking witch lights along the stairs up to the door. There Marina got a large bag of Teddy Grahams. By the time we were finished she had more candy than would fit in her pumpkin.

At home we had pumpkin pie (she had asked for it for Halloween) and she had a little candy. It took a bit to get her into bed. It had been an exciting night!

Pumpkin Princesses

Marina went to the Pumpkin Patch today with her school. She brought a lovely one home along with some potatoes, onions and carrots that she picked herself. It was the perfect time to carve the pumpkins I bought at the store.

Marina really wanted to help, until she found out how messy it can be! She did try to scrape out the insides but gave up when she realized how much strength it took. SO she was happy to watch me do everything.

We decided to carve a Jasmine pumpkin and a Tinkerbell pumpkin. I had patterns for them so it allowed me to be more artistic than I usually am. I think they turned out pretty well.

Egyptian Princess

For over a year now, Marina has been obsessed with Ancient Egypt. I have no clue on how that started. We watch The Ten Commandments together, the closest I could get to a movie about Egypt that she could watch. And she's been bugging me to take her to Egypt on vacation. (It will be at least 10 years before that happens!)

So today, we went to see a special exhibition at the art museum. I thought she'd really like seeing artifacts from Egypt. Before we went in, we went to a kids' area where she could color a collar and try on Egyptian costumes. Naturally that was a big hit.

Then we toured the exhibit. I was surprised Marina wasn't interested in it much. A few items caught her attention: jewelry, furniture and videos. Otherwise, she spent most of the time asking me when we could leave. Sigh, not what I had in mind.

After lunch, we looked around at other art. She seemed interested in art from China and India. But she was very impatient when I was looking at the European Renaissance. She was happy when we found another kids' area with activities for her. Ultimately, it wasn't easy for me to get her home. I was exhausted and she wanted to play for a while longer. She did fall asleep in the car on the way home. I would have liked to do that!

Fall Break

I'm not sure when Fall Break was invented, but I never got one. I took a few days off to spend with Marina. We took it easy today, hanging around the house until lunchtime. Then we went out for lunch. Marina has wanted to go to Re Robin, so we went there.

After lunch, we went to our local library. They have a nice kids' area where she always makes friends and has fun. Right away she found two books she wanted to check out. Then she found activities to keep her busy for a while.

Marina reminded me that I'd planned for us to get our flu shots today. I was surprised she remembered and I didn't. She was very brave even if she was scared. She got a Barbie band aid for her bravery.

On the way home, we stopped by the grocery store to buy pumpkins. Marina wanted to go home and carve them right away. But I told her we should wait until closer to Halloween. She wasn't happy about that.

Marina had dance class this evening. She complained her arm hurt too badly to go. But her teacher promised to take it easy on her. After ballet, she tried Poms for the first time. I peaked in and saw her having a great time with a set of hot pink pom pons. So, it looks like she'll be taking that class again.

Halloween Dress Rehearsal

With Halloween just over a week away, there were plenty of activities in the area for us this weekend. We started off by going to a Halloween party at the Disney Store. It was the same store where we bought her costume. When we arrived, the cast members made a fuss over her costume. They told me they ran out of the Rapunzel hairpieces last month and they get calls daily of people trying to find one. So we were very lucky! We saw a wonderful collection of princesses at the party. They had a few games and a parade. At one point they were promoting the new movie Tangled and the cast member said, "If you want to see what Rapunzel looks like, just look here," and she pointed to Marina. She seemed pleased with that.

From there, we went to a local health care center which was having trick or treating today. We hadn't been to their event before, but it was fun. We got to go into different medical offices for candy and crafts. Outside they had ambulances to explore and other activities, including a bubble machine which really got her excited. It was a fun preparation for Halloween next week.

Princess at the Zoo

It was a cool and sunny day. Marina and I decided to go to the zoo. She wanted to wear a costume, I agreed as long as it had long sleeves and covered her legs. She picked Mulan. She was happy until we got there and saw no other costumes. She wanted to change, but I didn’t have any other clothes for her.

Marina wanted to see the sea lions first, so we headed that direction. We did stop to see the lions, zebras feline house and giraffes on the way. Once we saw the sea lions, we went into the tropical discovery exhibit where she got her fill of snakes. She even watched one eat a mouse. I averted my eyes for that one. While we were there, we met a couple of girls dressed up. One was a dinosaur and the other was Violet from The Incredibles. Marina was so excited to see other kids in costume that she wanted to stay with them.

We stopped for a snack and then looked at the camels and deer. Marina wanted ice cream (which surprised me since it was cool outside) but she happily ate it. After that, we took a ride on the Carousel and saw the elephants and penguins. I was completely wiped out but it took some convincing to get her to leave.