Slaps' Boo-Boo

"Slaps" is what The Barefoot Princess calls him, his real name is Flaps, and he is our 7 year old Basset Hound. He had surgery this week on his rear end. To discuss the surgery in any detail is far too disgusting, so we will just leave it at that. BP was very upset about leaving him at the vet's offfice and talked about "Slaps' boo-boo" the entire day that he was there. She even showed people just where his "boo-boo" would be. Our vet said he must wear this collar to prevent him from licking the area and Flaps thinks we are out of our mind! He thinks he is far too old for this torture. We all got a good laugh watching him bump into the walls and furniture. I caught him staring at himself in the stainless steel garbage can, as if saying "this is ridiculous!" Now BP is telling everyone "Slaps, boo-boo, hat." She thinks the collar is a hat!!

Party Preparations...

We are having a family Birthday Party for The Barefoot Princess this Saturday and the theme is Barnyard Animals and such. BP's Daddy and I have been busy getting ready for the party and BP keeps telling everyone "party" and "I two." Everywhere we went today running errands she told random people about her party. Needless to say, she is very excited!! and has a couple more days to wait... Above is a picture of the cake I am going to attempt to bake and decorate tomorrow. Wish me luck!! I will take pictures on Saturday to post next week. Until then, "Baa, Moo, and a Cock-a-Doodle-Doo!"

The Barefoot Musical Munchkin

Today was The Barefoot Princess' first music class for this semester! We haven't seen her teacher Miss Andrea in a little over a month, since the summer session ended, and BP really missed her and the fun of Musical Munchkins! I personally love the uninterupted 45 minutes I get to spend singing and dancing with my little BP. This is definitely one of the perks of being a stay-at-home-mom! And yes, Miss Andrea requires that all the moms sing too! I also love the way BP watches and listens to her teacher play the guitar with such bright-eyed amazement. There is nothing like live music for little ears to hear. The Barefoot Princess enjoys shaking the maracas, dancing, singing, jumping and clapping to the music. She was excited to see two of her friends, Gavin and Grace, in the class, and ran to the door to greet them with a big "Hi!" when she saw them enter the classroom. At the end of the class, BP gave Miss Andrea a big hug and said "Bye!" We promise to take some pictures next week of all the fun at Musical Munchkins!

Why So Blue???

The Barefoot Princess is ecstatic about the new color of her room. She thinks Daddy is the ultimate now, as if he wasn't her hero before, because he painted her room "blue!!!", her favorite color. She keeps walking into her room and saying "Wow" "Daddy" "Blue" at least five times a day! The color of the room reminds me of my favorite flower, the blue hydrangea, it is beautiful!!! So a special thanks goes to BP's Daddy for this color transformation and his late nights of painting and to Benjamin Moore for this beautiful shade of blue.

Happy Birthday to Our Five Little Monkeys!!!

Allison's crafty invitations

The Barefoot Princess and four of her friends all have birthdays within a month of each other. They are all pictured above, about to blow out their candles, from left to right, Grace, Lillian, Gavin, BP, and Shaelin. We celebrated with a joint party and a monkey theme. The five little monkeys all had so much fun!!! All the moms and dads pitched in and our brave and extremely kind friends Allison and Jon hosted the party at their house. Thank you so much for making this party so memorable!!!The Barefoot Princess and Family is very lucky to have such great friends!!!

More Monkey Business...

Banana Cookies

Each Daddy had a monkey puppet

and flag designed for them!!

The Mojito Table

The Monkey Cupcakes

Banana Cream Pie

The Monkey Trike Race

Another highlight of The Monkey Party was the trike race. I honestly cannot say who enjoyed this more, the Dads or the little monkeys, but it was hilarious to watch them running around the yard yelling and screaming and being very competitive. They were cutting people off and attempting shortcuts all to be at the head of the pack!! The giggles we heard from the little monkeys and the smiles on their faces were priceless!!!

Thank You, Nana!!!

We met Nana and Pop-Pop at a Harvest Festival this weekend and Nana came bearing gifts for The Barefoot Princess. She brought two homemade hats, one pumpkin for BP, and one strawberry for BP's little sister when she arrives. The Barefoot Princess looked at herself in the mirror with this hat on and started to giggle. She put the little strawberry hat on Bitty Baby and has not taken it off since!!! Thank you!!! Thank You!!! Thank You!!!

Barefoot Mom Favorite

I am loving this necklace that I found on chasing-fireflies.com!!! It is totally me and I love the idea of putting the names of my soon to be two little girls on a necklace. Chasing Fireflies has all different options for this necklace. You can get pearl droplets on gold or silver or no pearls at all. Very cute and fun!!!

Thank You Aunt MiMi!!!

The Barefoot Princess received a package in the mail the other day and was very excited! Her

Aunt MiMi sent a horse printed turtleneck, which she cannot wait to wear, and does not understand

that since it is 80 degrees still we have to wait until the Fall weather comes. Also in the package

was a little Nantucket basket. Pictured above, it is adorable, and the perfect size for The Barefoot

Princess. I can see her carrying it now as a little summer purse!!! Thank you for thinking of BP and

her upcoming 2nd Birthday!!!

Thomas and Friends

DVD and all toys from Toys R Us

We have been playing "Choo-Choo" for the last few days here. The Barefoot Princess has been into trains all summer and we finally broke down and bought a few of these wooden Thomas and Friends trains and tracks. These little buggers are costly!!! They are well made and I guess could be considered collectibles though. Anyway, The Barefoot Princess has never seen the Thomas show, so we also bought the DVD, Steamies vs. Diesels to go with the toys. I watched it with her the other morning and I have to admit I learned some things about trains that I never knew. (I was never into trains as a child) I am sure both of her Grandfathers would be proud of this interest. Papa G "plays" with the real life-size trains and Pop-Pop L, a steam engine collector, loves anything that runs off steam. I guess it is in BP's genes to be a "Choo-Choo" lover!!!

Who Knew???

Who knew finding, deciding, and eventually buying a double stroller would be such a feat? We sure didn't!!! So many decisions. Side-by-side? Front-and-back? Big wheels? Little Wheels? Jogger? Car seat attchment? And then there are the storage options... You would think we were buying another car! Here is one that I spotted on TravelingTikes.com yesterday that I like, but now I have to find one to test drive and see if The Barefoot Princess and her Daddy like it too!

The Bops

CD, DeeDee Costume, and Book

All from Amazon

The Barefoot Princess calls them "The Bops" and she loves them!!! The Doodlebops are a band of three, Deedee, Rooney and Moe, and they have a show on the Disney channel. They are full of energy and sing songs that are very catchy. I often find myself singing them around the house and still listening to the CD after BP has long fallen asleep in the car. I have even heard BP's Daddy singing some of their songs. The Barefoot Princess asks for them whenever we are in the car. She thinks they should always be on TV and when they are not she is disappointed. She even pretends to talk to them on the phone. Our favorite song to sing and dance to in the car is "Get On the Bus". I have to admit that I welcomed The Doodlebops because it gave us a little break form Barney!!!

Hop on the Move

Here is The Barefoot Princess' new nightly ritual. Acutally anytime she goes outside she wants to put Hop in her John Deere and give him a ride. Recently she learned how to maneuver her tractor, so she is very independent now and very proud of herself. (She used to just push the gas and we would chase her around the yard to turn the wheel.) Flaps, or "Slaps" as she calls him, follows behind to make sure they are behaving. Hop is a very good sport about the whole adventure.

Beach Pics

The Barefoot Princess and Logan

Not too sure about his hand on her leg!!!

BP and Dylan or "Dyl" as she calls him

Dylan, Logan and BP

She sat burried in the sand for about 30 minutes.

She was ok with her legs being covered, but did not want her hands to get sandy!!!

It was Logan's 1st beach experience. He loved it!!!

Snuggled for an evening stroll

We hope she is this good with her own sister!!!

BP and Dylan at the Zoo

The Barefoot Family on the Train at the Zoo

BP and Dylan racing on the beach

BP and Baby Brynnie

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

Tomorrow is The Barefoot Princess' Grandma's Brithday. I will not mention her age here, but I can assure you that I would confidently bet anyone $100 that they would never guess her age correctly. She looks at least 15 years younger than she is. (And to my father-in-law, No, I am not kissing up!!)

BP's Grandma wears many hats...She is a Wife, Mother, Mom-in-law, Grandma, Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Teacher, and Friend. Here are a few words that describe Grandma...

Dedicated
She is very dedicated to her family. Family is always first to her.
She is very dedicated to her profession. She has taught physical education to grades K-3 for the past thirty-three years. Bless her!!! Need I say more???

Patient
She is extremely patient and even keeled. She was the only woman in a house of three men for over twenty years and put up with a lot from all of them.

Kind
She is very kind. She looks for the good in every situation and everyone. I have never heard her utter an unkind word or judgment about anyone in the ten years I have known her.

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!
Love,
The Barefoot Family

Off to the Beach...

We are off to the beach for one more weekend before Fall really settles in. I love the beach in September! I am all about flip-flops, jeans, sweatshirts and playing on the beach at sunset. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can also get to the beach during the day beacuse I am sure the water is still pretty warm. This weekend we are meeting friends of ours from high school and college for some fun in the sun. There will be six adults and four children so it will be non-stop action and laughs I am sure. The Barefoot Princess is very excited to see her friend Dylan and also Baby Brynn and Baby Logan. Here's to holding onto summer for one more weekend!!!

Automoblox

I saw the Automoblox C9 Sports Coupe in the Chasing Fireflies catalog for $35 and I also found it on Amazon.com where they are $79. (Apparently it is a Limited Edition) Major difference in price! I love the idea of a toy car that can be taken apart and put back together for girls. I think The Barefoot Princess would love this toy. It is kind of lego-like and good for little girls to develop this part of their brain. They have other colors and types and each car has a unique shape and color system so that the parts cannot be confused.

Morning at the Park

(click to see Bitty Baby)

We woke up this morning to the most beautiful day and decided it was a perfect morning for the park!! Off we went for some fun on the swings, slides, and other equipment. Of course Bitty Baby came along also. The Barefoot Princess insisted on bringing the stroller too. She even put her in the swing!!

Red, White and Blue, We All Love You!!!

(Artwork by The Barefoot Princess)

Like today, it was also a Tuesday six years ago that I learned the true meaning of the word tragedy and until that day I realized that I lived in a very safe and secure world. I am sure that like so many others I took it for granted. Unfortunately, The Barefoot Princess will never know what our world was like pre 9/11 and it is very sad when you really stop to think about it. However, I think it is important to teach her about the wonderful nation we call home and to love the colors red, white, and blue and all that they symbolize. Since she is almost two I had to think of a simple way to do this and this is what we came up with today. As BP went crazy with the Elmer's and smushing the paper, I kept singing the Red, White and Blue, We all Love You!!! poem over and over to her. Simple, I know, but hopefully meaningful!

Chasing Fireflies

Someone thought of The Barefoot Princess when they saw the Chasing Fireflies catalog and sent it home with BP's Daddy for us to peruse. I immediately fell in love with the Blue Bouquet Coat, $220, pictured above which was on the front of the catalog. It would match BP's "blueberry eyes" perfectly, but the price is a little steep for a growing toddler who may only get one season out of it. Then I saw this adorable Heartfelt Messenger Bag, $98, and I immediately wondered if BP will need a bag when she starts school two mornings a week in January? Chasing Fireflies is a great find for unique children's clothing, toys, gifts and more. If you are in the market for a special gift check out http://www.chasing-fireflies.com/