Another Sign of Spring...

The Jeep is out and the top is down!

We took the Jeep to the park the other night and then for ice cream after. It was Friday and the weather was beautiful. The Barefoot Princess is cool with the wind blowing through her hair this year. The Barefoot Baby was a little unsure about the whole thing, but happily fell asleep on the way home.

Sweet Peas and Pumpkins...

Sweat Peas and Pumpkins are two of the many plants you will find growing in our garden this summer. They are also two nicknames for my girls. I often call The Barefoot Princess... Sweet Pea and The Barefoot Baby... Pumpkin.

More to come on the garden. In true Barefoot Family style... what started as a simple project is getting more and more complex. We'll see what the end product is???

(images from flickr)

A-Day and The Gator

The Barefoot Princess loves her Papa's Gator. So when we were at our college's Agricultural Day this past weekend she was excited to see the Gators there too. She and her buddy Logan had fun on the Gator and climbing all over the other farm equipment too. It had been 6 years since BP's Daddy and I had been back to our alma mater and it was fun to see the campus and some familiar faces. We met our good friends Amanda and Ryan (Logan's mommy and daddy) there. All four of us attended the school, Delaware Valley College in Buck's County PA, and yes, we are all Aggies, with good memories of our days there!

Stopping the Clock...

Can I stop the clock and freeze them at this age, please? They are the sweetest little girls and not just when they are sound asleep.

Thinking Green...

Since Earth Day passed and I was so busy outside with BP and BB enjoying the beautiful weather, I wanted to post about this house that I am in love with. I saw it on TV this past weekend and I was immediately captivated. I admit to being house obsessed. I love design, both architectural and interior. I am always studying homes while walking or driving, on the internet, and in magazines. I think BP has a little of this in her too. Lately she has been commenting on houses as we drive around. She says things like, "oh mommy that house is cute!" or "look at that yellow house."

This home above is located in Westport CT and is a "green" home. It is built by Barry Katz Homebuilders. Mr. Katz specializes in "green" homebuilding or high performance homebuilding. He claims his homes are built to a higher standard from the ground up. He says they are more comfortable, more durable, require less maintenance, and incredibly energy efficient, saving thousands of dollars a year in energy bills. He also says a green-built home can protect your family's health, conserve scarce resources, and help reduce environemntal problems like global warming. All this and they are beautiful too! I would love to learn more about this type of building. I think this is a wave of the future. It may be beneficial to build a home with "green" technology because they would have greater resale value than homes with outdated technology. Something to think about and research in my spare time. Someday we may all be living in "green" homes and driving Prius'. It is definitely worth a thought!

Day 2 Magic Kingdom / Epcot

Sorry, I am a little behind in my Disney posts. My only excuse is the beautiful weather.

Day 2 began at The Magic Kingdom and The Barefoot Princess immediately spotted Alice and The Mad Hatter on the teacups, one of her favorite rides. We beelined for the teacups and BP yelled and waved to Alice while we rode the teacups. Then we headed toward Pooh's Hundred Acre Woods where BP saw Darby and wanted to wait in line to meet her and get her to sign her book. The line was rather long, but BP never complained and patiently waited about 40 minutes to meet Darby. I suggested more than once that we come back later because it ws so hot, but she would not have it. She definitely has more patience than me. After a full day at The Magic Kingdom, and a brief break at the hotel, we headed to Epcot for dinner and more fun. We found delicious sushi in Japan and avoided the fireworks by opting for an indoor table. BP thinks they are pretty, but "too loud". (Note: In Disney the fireworks are hard to avoid and by the end of our trip she was becoming more comfortable with them.) After dinner BP and Daddy went on the Nemo ride, while I waited with a sleeping BB. And as we were leaving at about 11 o'clock, we spotted a Meet and Greet with Mickey and Minnie and could not pass up the extremely short line. BP told Mickey that she was at his house earlier that day (it is in The Magic Kingdom) and he was not there. She wanted to know where he was? Then she told Minnie that she was at her house too and it was closed. (There was a sign on Minnie's house in The Magic Kingdom that is was closed for Spring cleaning.) After saying goodnight to Mickey and Minnie we rode the monorail (BP thinks this is another ride) home and fell into bed exhausted at 12:30 am. Way late... that is what happens when you get caught up in The Magic. Thank goodness for the double stroller because both our girls were sound asleep.

Day 1 Magic Kingdom

My amateur shot of Cinderella's Castle. It is almost impossible to get a picture of this without people in it.

We started the day with a character breakfast at The Crystal Palace.

Then BP and her Daddy rode the Dumbo ride. We took turns riding the other rides with her after Dumbo. We were even able to ride some with BB too. It was nice that all four of us could enjoy the fun.

I was so excited to see Mary Poppins and Bert, then I realized that BP did not know who they were. It must be a generational thing. I made a mental note to introduce this classic to her soon.

After lunch at Tony's we caught Snow White right outside on the porch. BP could not have been happier!

Then we sat on the porch and caught the three o'clock parade which featured all of BP's favorites, like Mickey and Cinderella to name a couple.

Then we headed back to our hotel for some swimming and down time before coming back to The Magic Kingdom that night for more fun.

Something to Ponder...

(Elephant artwork from Etsy)
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth. She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.



One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school?



Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends becasue she spent all her time studying.



Her father listened and then asked, 'How is your friend Audrey doing?'



The daughter replied, ' Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she is too hung over.'



Her wise father asked his daughter, 'Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0? That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.'



The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, 'That's a crazy idea, how would that be fair? I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!'



The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, 'Welcome to the Republican party sweetie!'


NOTE: This article caught my husband's attention and we laughed so hard when we read it. The Barefoot family is very in tune with the current political situation. It is something we often discuss and debate and honestly I am unsure where I stand right now, but this little story really made me think.

The Dress

We bought this dress for The Barefoot Princess before we left for Disney. I recommend this to anyone traveling to Disney with a little girl. This Snow White dress we purchased from Target for $20 and they were selling them for $65 in The Magic Kingdom. We also bought BP a bunch of new summer clothes for the trip, but we did not see her new clothes at all during the entire vacation. All we saw was the Snow White dress! It was the first thing she asked for in the morning (and still is). She wore it everywhere (over her new clothes) even in the 90 degree heat! Almost every picture I took of BP she was wearing the dress. Oh, except in the pool or the bathtub, then she took it off. She is still wearing it everywhere we go now too!

Who Knew?

We never thought The Berfoot Baby would be the one who really LOVED the characters at Dinsey! We were surprised when BP became clingy when the characters were around and BB laughed, giggled and grabbed for them.

Who knew? BB will never remember this trip, but we have some pretty cute pictures to show her when she is older.

We're Back!!!

We are back from our Disney vacation or should I say Disney whirlwind. We seriously crammed a lot into four days! We had an amazing time with many "Magical Moments" and only one or two "Magical Meltdowns". The Barefoot Princess, who by the way REALLY thinks she is Snow White now (more on that later), could not get enough and we were surprised how The Barefoot Baby, at only five months old, enjoyed herself too. The real "Magic" for us was watching the girls take it all in and seeing the smiles on their faces. We have many more pictures and posts to come, but for now I am exhausted and my bed awaits. By the way, I am hoping to not see Mickey ears in my sleep!

Spring is Here!!!

I know it is Spring when I hear The Barefoot Princess' tractor zooming around outside. It was finally nice enough to spend some time outside and BP has been asking for her JD tractor, which we store in the basement for the winter. It has been about six months since she has ridden her tractor and I have to say, first, her driving skills have improved immensely and second, she is much more brazen on it this year. She jumps on and takes off, announcing that she is going to the nursery. Yesterday, as she drove off she told me, "I am spraying cow poopies, mommy." (We see the local farmer doing this sometimes and I explained it to her once.) She cracks me up!

While BP drove all over, The Barefoot Baby played in her Baby Einstein and got some fresh air too. Check out those thighs... I find them so adorable, but hey, if mine looked like that, it would not be so cute! What is up with the double standards in our society?

One Week...

One week from today we will be flying the friendly skies on our way to see this magnificent castle in Disney! The Barefoot Princess knows we are going, but we just don't think she understands the whole notion of the most magical place in the world!!! basically, she has no idea what is in store for her! Personally, I am soooo... excited! (I may not be able to sleep for the next week.)

BP has been wearing her princess dress all day everyday. It is the first thing she asks for when she wakes in the morning and we have to pry it off her for bathtime at night. She really thinks she is Cinderella. I cannot wait until she sees the castle for the first time. I promise to capture her reaction with my camera.

A Few of My Favorite Things...

I love fresh flowers. I could have some in every room of our house. These are from Easter and I think they were sent to us from Papa???

I also love my antique little cupboard. We bought it at The Amish Mud Sales many years ago and we have moved it three or four times. It will always be one of my favorites.

Baby's Daddy...

Jack-Jack is my cousin and BP's second cousin. She tells everyone that he is her "baby's daddy". They play so well togther and the other day posed for some picutres at a playdate. Yes, Jack holds Bitty Baby and cares for her too. I think he just does whatever BP tells him to do. He is so sweet! BP talks about him everyday. She says things like, "baby's daddy is sick today" or "baby's daddy is at work right now". Sometimes as we drive up our dirveway she says, "baby's daddy is here!" I know the day will come when Jack will not want to play babies anymore. I just hope BP understands!