She is strong in the force

She said she wanted to do it, then she cried and said she was scared, then she changed her mind and wanted to try it, then she was chosen (quite selective!) and looked a little nervous about it. Of course, that made me nervous too...

But right away she got the hang of it and learned her moves.

April moved to be closer to the stage. I think she was nervous too, but by that time I knew Annabelle was committed and I was enjoying the show. When she sets her mind to something, nothing can stop her.

When it was her turn the Jedi Master tried to direct her by cueing the moves they practiced. Instead, Annabelle just went to town and fully attacked Darth Vader as earnestly as she could.

She whacked him over and over again with her plastic light saber.

After a minute of watching Annabelle abuse Darth Vader and trying to guide her attack towards the script, he just shrugged his shoulders and smiled, "You go on and do your own thing! You seem to be doing just fine!" Eventually he had to physically turn her around to go off the stage because it was clear she had no plans to stop. Dave and I could not contain ourselves, we were laughing hysterically.

Mission accomplished, little padawan.

The master conveyed his admiration for defeating the dark side. Annabelle wore her hood up throughout the entire training.

A little play acting for the show.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Tom Sawyer's Island is full of climbing structures and fun caves to explore.

Annabelle and I went across the ferry together while April and Dave checked out the haunted house.

Inside a cave Annabelle saw this beam of light and said, "Watch me catch it!"

"I'm only doing this for my niece."

The canoe "ride" was the funnest time, our guide was hilarious and full of scripted one liners.

Annabelle sat in front of me and my paddle kept catching hers and accidentally back splashing the people in front of us. I kept saying I was sorry, but I couldn't stop laughing.

Santa's Reindeer!

Looked like a pretty engaging conversation. She gave him a kiss on the cheek afterward.

She voluntarily ran to Pluto for a picture. A far cry from this day!

Pictures inside of Small World are impossible. Annabelle yelled out when we were inside, "This ride is SUPER CUTE!"

Christmas parade

A very happy day.

Thanksgiving :: Family

We drove south for two days packed full of activity. We don't travel without games, and thankfully my dad is always up for learning a new one!

Minnie just had to be in the picture too! (Stay tuned for the post of our Disney adventure!)

My mom and sister. (Sorry for the fuzzy shot! My battery needed to be charged up!)

Dad always enjoys a good laugh.

See that look of surprise? That's because Annabelle doesn't ask Santa for presents, she demands them. See her enthusiasm? She is very happy to explain to Santa, "On Christmas you will bring me a girl doll and then a boy doll and also lots of clothes. Also, you will give me a horse and a gate for my farm and I want the tree too."

Life doesn't get any better than this

As the Sunday night anxieties began to creep in, Dave turned on a comedy and we laughed them out the door. Francis came in from the rain to warm up a little bit.

Late night crafting for a Sunday morning suprise

She has been begging me to sew a teepee for her dolls...

The red cloth is the fire.

Just in time for a rainy Sunday!

branching out and trying something new

Saint Martins Summer

Legend has it that when Saint Martin, one of the oldest living Saints on record, died in November and was taken by boat along the River Loire to his burial, the trees spontaneously bloomed as the boat passed by... So an exceptionally warm November is known as a Saint Martin's Summer.

In the second grade Saints figure large in story, art, and writing. Next week we celebrate Martinmas with a lantern walk and a feast!

With the extended warm weather I especially love being in sandals and short sleeves and skirts this close to Thanksgiving!

Making new the usual

Annabelle has a tendency to paint pretty quickly. That's fine, but I have been pondering how to give her a painting project that would take more time. She seemed ready for something more involved, so I decided to try painting with tissue paper. She uses the brush to glue pieces of tissue paper on to a piece of paper. 

She loved getting a mommy-sized piece of paper! 

It is especially nice that she can have a project to work on over several days. Today we looked at her painting, noticing certain parts. She has already asked to work on it some more...

Aside from some initial instruction how to use the glue and the brush, she works totally independently.

Wait a minute. What are those in the back corner looking unplugged and covered up? It was almost sad to remove them from their prized ready-to-go-any-split-second position on the table. But given that I only thought about them for five minutes, I suppose all is well.

An experiment: Maybe the tissue paper will help me like it. It's fun to feel like you can really play and not risk too much!

Cinderella and Sergeant Pepper

Mom doesn't dress up. She just takes pictures.

"Trick or Treat! Go Giants!"

I know the chances of them actually following through with going to college together and getting married are very slim. But this boy is adorable and I already asked his mom if we could all just move in together...

She doesn't yet realize that Cinderella spends her afternoons picking peas out of the ashes on the hearth, otherwise she might have simply called herself a princess. Doing chores is not Annabelle's desire.

But wearing a bunch of trailing ribbons certainly is!

I'm not sure who loves him more: Annabelle or me.