I ♥ Faces: Excited

It's time to post a picture for I ♥ Faces. This week's theme is EXCITED.

As we were walking through the park from the playground we came upon a photographer taking pictures of a bride. It was the first time my daughter actually saw a real bride and she was mesmerized. We had to stay there and watch the whole session. Grace dressed up as a bride for weeks afterwards.

I ♥ Faces in blue

This is the first time I'm hooking up with I ♥ Faces. This week's challenge is to find a photo that features the color blue. I chose this one. It's one of my favorite photos of my son fishing crabs down by the pier. Some of you might have seen this picture in black and white on my right sidebar. He is smart, kind, funny, wise, bold, handsome, cool and thoughtful. He's just the greatest kid EVER and I am so proud of him!

Cakespiration

My daughter's 6th Birthday Party is coming up and I need some inspiration. Every year I try to make her a cake that she'll love. She's such a girly-girl and loves anything pink.

For her 2nd Birthday

For her 3rd Birthday

For her 4th Birthday

For her 5th Birthday

For her 6th Birthday?

This year I am wrecking my brain and cannot come up with any ideas. The party is on Saturday so I need your help. Give me some cakespiration!

Thank Heaven for Little Pink Girls!

Thank heaven for little girls

for little girls get bigger every day!

Thank heaven for little girls

they grow up in the most delightful way!

Those little eyes so helpless and appealing

one day will flash and send you crashin' thru the ceilin'

Thank heaven for little girls

thank heaven for them all,

no matter where no matter who

for without them, what would little boys do?

Thank heaven... thank heaven...

Thank heaven for little girls!

(Maurice Chevalier in the movie Gigi)

If you want this look for your little girl, go to Oopsy Daisy, Baby Chacha or Kaiya Eve.

You can also make a tutu yourself. Last year I made a simple one for my little princess without ANY sewing. It involved an elastic band that I made just the right size and lots of strips (about 3 inces wide and twice as long as you want the tutu) of pink tulle. Fold a strip double and hoop it around the elastic band. Just keep doing that until the tutu is as full as you like. I also glued little pink flowers all over the skirt. Very cute and cheap!

For more Pink Saturday posts visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Fashion for girls fall 2009

The kids are back in school. Fall is almost here and it's time to renew the kids' wardrobe. Oh, how I love the fall/winter collections this year. I want to buy it all! I just have to remind myself of all the drawers full of clothes that I bought last year that are already too small... *sigh*

But there is no harm in just looking.

It's time for a fashion show for our little girls!

Catimini

Pampolina

Cakewalk

Room Seven

Micha Lulu

Mim Pi

Deux par Deux

H&M

Jottum

Lemon Loves Lime

I know it's over the top. But if your girl is a little diva she'll love clothes by Kayia Eve.

Happy news: Oilily is coming back with a new collection for 2010!

Letting go

I look down at her golden hair

tied neatly back with a pink bow

She cried when I put it in this morning

now all the tears are gone

Her little warm hand in mine

the softness of her palm

I can just hear her faint whisper:

Don't leave me alone here, mom!

Biting her lip she stares at the others,

her deep green eyes darting around

That slight wrinkling of her brow that she

gets when she is worried

A shiver of anticipation and excitement,

her new shoes shuffling gravel on the ground

I bend down and caress her face

drinking in the sweet aroma of my girl

Toothpaste and shampoo

peanut butter and jelly

Closing my eyes I exhale and cradle her

deep into my soul, not wanting to let go

Wait! I'm not ready

Give me another chance to do it again

But she pulls away from my safe arms

and runs toward the stairs

I see her pink backpack bouncing

and my heart leaps

just as she turns and waves

and smiles

and then she is gone...

The little princess with the rose colored glasses

My daughter never ceases to amaze me.

Of course she is wonderful simply because she is my little girl, but there is one quality that I envy. You know that expression: "to see the world through rose colored glasses"?

Well, my little girl sees herself through pink glasses. And in her own eyes she is absolutely a princess. When passing a mirror she catches a glimpse of herself, and she'll stop and admire what she sees. No matter what she is wearing she'll be twirling and looking at herself from every angle with a content smile.

*

This summer we went to a street fair in Spain. Late at night there was a concert with hundreds of people watching a man play his guitar. Without any fear or intimidation my little girl stepped out in front of the crowd and DANCED! She dance and twirled with her eyes fixed on the stars and her hands lifted in the air. I watched with amazement.

But my favorite part was when the guitarist ended his song and the whole crowd started clapping and shouting. My daughter looked at the crowd with pride and smiled graciously as she gave a bow. To her she was the star of the show!

*

She is the center of her own universe and there is no doubt in her mind that she is beautiful.

Was I like her?

Did I use to feel like a princess?

Did I smile happily at my own reflection knowing that I was perfect?

Was I star in my own world?

*

A couple of weeks ago I found this old (and I do mean OLD!) picture and it hit me.

Yes, I used to feel like a princess too....

What happened?

When do little princesses stop feeling beautiful and start feeling inadequate?

Why do little princesses wake up one morning and look in the mirror with disgust?

Why does admiration turn to criticism?

Was it something somebody said?

Was it something somebody did?

Or was growing up the same thing as loosing those pink glasses?

*

I wish every little girl could grow up and know that she is perfect just the way she is. That she is beautiful and gifted and that she is the center of her universe.

*

So to all you princesses out there - let's put those pink glasses back on!

Let's dance with our eyes fixed on the stars.

Let's be proud of our achievements and receive the applause with a gracious bow.

Let's celebrate our beauty.

Let's take a look in the mirror - and smile!

A long day

It has been a long day - a very, very long day! My mind is empty and my heart is very quiet. So right now there is nothing I want to say to you all. Instead I have decided to share with you one of my favorite pictures. It is of my daughter and it was taken last May in the garden at Røed gård (farm) at Jeløya. (I know, Norwegian is a strange language...)

Trash or treasure?

In my garden under a tall tree you will find an old, worn bench that is not very pretty at all. Many people ask me why I bother to keep something so unattractive. "There are so many beautiful garden furniture you can buy now. Have you seen those white painted benches?" People mean well, but they don't realize that what they look upon as trash can be someone's treasure. And this bench is my treasure.

I grew up in a very large old house with a beautiful big garden. It could have been a paradise for kids, but since I was an only child I always felt very lonely. I would spend my days playing by myself. When I turned four my parents hired a nanny that was going to take care of me while they worked. She was old - really, really old. She was heavyset, had a bad hip and thin yellowish white hair that she would wear in a roll at the back of her head. Her name was Dadda (of course this wasn't her real name, but it was the only one I ever knew). I thought she was terrible at first. But after a while we became friends. Every day she would make us a picnic-basket and we would walk hand in hand down to an old bench that was placed in between some large trees. There we would sit and she would tell me wonderful stories that brought my imagination to places I had never been. She would make my favorite sandwiches and always bring a treat. She taught me the names of different flowers and sometimes she would read to me. I learned to love those hours spent with her on the bench. As I grew older less time was spent on the bench and one day Dadda was gone. And the bench was left there, all by itself down by the old trees. I didn't have time for fairytales anymore, and I forgot all about the bench.

The day came when my dad had sold the house. Everything was packed into boxes and as I walked up the driveway I saw someone about to throw an old grey bench into a large container. Suddenly I realized that it was MY bench, the one I spent countless hours on as a child. I wanted that bench! For me it symbolized my childhood memories, fairytales and an unlikely frienship that made a lonely little girl just a little bit less lonely.

The bench is now placed under a large birch tree in my garden. It is tattered and worn, very little stylish and most people would throw it away. But for me it is a treasure and I tell my kids the story.

Maybe you have a similar treasure?