Ren Faire

Fun day at the Rennaissance Faire! Of course Muffin had to get the full beauty treatment, with face painting and hair braiding! Plus she got to meet Maid Marian, Robin Hood and all the Merry Men.

NYC visit

We went to New York City to see the Harry Potter exhibit, and to visit Times Square. We got to ride on the Ferris Wheel inside the Toys R Us store, and we had dinner at Ellen's Stardust Diner where the waitstaff sang as they served. We all had a blast!

At the Ren Faire!

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Originally uploaded by photodaddi

We spent a wonderful day at the local Ren Faire. Muffin's friend C came along, which made the day even more fun. Definitely we'll repeat this next year!

Birthday!

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Originally uploaded by photodaddi

We celebrated Muffin's FIFTH birthday at a local dance school where the kids had a BLAST!! She's getting so big... *cry*

Mad Hatter

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Originally uploaded by photodaddi

We had a lovely breakfast with the Mad Hatter, Alice, Mary Poppins and Pooh & Co. at Disney's 1900 Park Fare restaurant our 1st day. I love how the Mad Hatter crossed his eyes!

Fabulous

So Saturday before going to the park we stopped at the library to return some books and take out a few new ones. As I'm walking to the librarian's desk to check out some children's books, Muffin ran up to me and asked if we could take out 2 music CD's that she handed me over. Oh lord. One of them was for High School Musical 2. So what could I say? We brought it home, and she's already memorized most of the songs. That would be helped by the fact that, at her request, we've been playing that CD almost nonstop since Saturday. And of course, any good singing is accompanied by good dancing!

Poor Daddymuffin has been hearing this CD like 15 times a day… I'm surprised he's still sane ;)

Hippy Girl

We took Muffin to a birthday party last Saturday, where they did crafts and other fun things. At the end of the party all the kids that wanted them could get tattoos. So what tattoo did my daughter pick and, most important, WHERE did she have it placed? (see picture for the answer).

Sigh. We're in for a world of trouble once she gets to be a teenager!!

Thanks everyone!

Thanks to everyone that donated to the Children's Specialized Hospital for Muffin's birthday party! We took the checks over and they thanked her by giving her a sparkly new teddy bear. We collected a total of $330 in donations !!

It was such a gorgeous summer day, that we decided to follow up our good deed by having a nice little picnic lunch. Yum! As you can see she was hamming it up to the camera.

Wisconsin

What a weekend! The whole family went to Wisconsin this past weekend for the wedding of MamiMuffin's goddaughter. It was a wonderful time, we got to see old friends and meet new ones. We partied all weekend, literally! Muffin did wonderfully the whole time, though she was extremely bored by the wedding ceremony (which I can understand from her point of view). Muffin got to meet her godmother for the first time since her Christening, and it was love at first sight for both :) Her godmother was quite busy being the Mother of the Bride, but she always made a point of listening to Muffin. It was so sweet to see them both together!

A few tidbits from the trip...

• While at the airport restroom, Muffin informed me (in a very loud surprised voice) that this bathroom had "magical toilets" and "magical faucets" because they worked by themselves. Thereafter, every public toilet was inspected to see if it was a magical toilet or not. LOL!

• While driving into Wisconsin from the Minneapolis airport, we stopped at a convenience store for a drink and snack. Here's what Muffin had to say when we walked into the store: "I didn't know they had food in Wisconsin!" She said it so sincerely too!

• While getting ready for the wedding, MamiMuffin went to get my nails done at a local salon and Muffin came along to get her fingernails done too! She spent the rest of the weekend showing EVERYONE her beautiful nails, especially the thumbs which had a flower painted on them.

• After the ceremony she requested to go for a nap (!!) and promptly fell asleep when we got back to our hotel room. We did make it down in time for the end of the cocktail hour, and she had a wonderful time making new friends and dancing with everyone from kids to the bride (see picture!). She missed out on quite a few naps and she did wonderful (no temper tantrums, meltdowns, etc) though she was tired. Today she is determined to get her nap in, now that she's home.

• One of the couples at our table turned out to be neighbors of Muffin's godmother, and they were generously offered to do a playdate with Muffin and their 4 yr old daughter. This was a much needed playdate for Muffin, I think she was missing playing with kids her own age and really enjoyed this playdate. Thanks Dawn!

• The music for the wedding was fantastic (it was a salsa band - and they were smokin'!) but it was quite loud. Muffin asked me (on her own!) for a pair of earplugs to wear while dancing (note the yellow plugs in her ears). Smart girl!

• Special thanks to Titi Ali for the beautiful necklace she made Muffin to match Muffin's dress. Muffin loved it!

All in all, a fun trip, but it was nice to be back in our cozy beds last night.

Birthday!

Muffin is now officially FOUR years old! Time sure flies fast.

She had a wonderful birthday weekend. On Saturday she had a 'children's Princess and Pirate party with a special guest, 'Giselle' from the movie 'Enchanted'. All the children looked like they had a blast. Muffin dressed like Cinderella and truly felt like she was a Princess.

Then she had a second party for Daddy & Mami Muffin's friends and family. Not as many kids but this time she got to dress like Alice in Wonderland.

For her actual birthday, Sunday, we went to a playgroup friend's birthday party at a local gym. Three parties in one weekend, not a bad deal!

Raspberry Pies

Muffin loves to play in the kitchen, when I can I try and invite her in to "do something". Usually she gets bored fairly quickly but she still has fun.

On July 4th, I woke up early to bake a couple of pies to bring to a party, and I knew I'd have some leftover dough, so I asked her if she'd like to make her own "little" pie with it. Rather than opting for blueberries, she said she'd like to make a Raspberry pie. We took out her bake set that she got for Xmas, and she "rolled" her dough and "mixed" her raspberries. But rather than baking her pie in the kiddie sized pans, she wanted them in ramekins. And they tasted so yummy I think we need to do a big sized one next year for Raspberry season. They came out quite cute, don't you think?

Girls Night In

DaddyMuffin had plans last night (Friday), so I told Muffin that we would have a "Girls Night In". She LOVED the idea! She even informed DaddyMuffin he needed to be out of the house because we had to have our Girls Night In. Gotta love the power of words!

So after dinner, we sat down to watch a movie, 101 Dalmatians. It lasted about 1 hr before she got too restless to watch anymore. But it was fun to watch together. She loved munching on frozen blueberries while watching the movie.

Pirates!

Yesterday was Father's Day, and of course Muffin and I did our best to make Daddy Muffin feel special. First we let him sleep in, the we gave him some fun trinkets he had to find via a fun scavenger hunt througout the house. And then Muffin and I went out for the afternoon so Daddy Muffin could take care of some stuff at home without any "Muffin" distractions.

So Mufin and I went to a Pirate Faire held at the NJ Kingdom. She enjoyed seeing pirates and watching a few shows - we watched a re-enactment of Jack and the Beanstalk, a puppet show telling the Little Riding Hood story, went to the craft table, and watched a fairy tale mime (they mixed up a bunch of children's stories into one). She did so well here, I think she's ready for the NY Renfair ! Muffin had so much fun she even wore her pirate bandana when we went out food shopping at night. AARGH!

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Oh - I forgot to add - of course she got her own card and her own gift for Father's day! While shopping for Daddy Muffin's gift at Target she spied a movie that she saw clips of in Youtube, The Swan Princess, and she sweetly asked for it. How could I say "no"?

Dance!

Muffin is officially a dancing star! She had her very first recital yesterday, and she of course stole the show. About a dozen little girls danced to "Lollipop Lollipop", all lined up. They had to pickup a lollipop prop at the beginning of the dance routine, and Muffin accidentally grabbed the wrong one. She immediately realized this and exchanged it for the one that she should have picked. Of course this is all live in front of everyone, and she stole the show by switching her lollipop. Too cute!

Afterwards, her Nana & Grandad gave her a lovely bouquet of roses, and took all of us out for a lovely Italian dinner. Muffin being true to her "hard to feed" nature, asked for rice and black beans, sigh. It took a little explaining for her to understand she could have pasta but not rice at this restaurant. And as a treat she had ice cream for dessert (a rare treat indeed given her acid reflux issues). We told her to only eat half her cup, but next thing we knew, she'd eaten it all and was drinking the melted ice cream from the cup! She's a quick one, what can I say?

Florida

Well, we're back from a long and wonderful trip to Florida. We had a great time visiting Abuela, Abuelo, and other local family & friends in Miami. We also enjoyed a visit to Walt Disney World. But for now we're all recovering from the trip (and the ensuing reality shock). Will try and post stories & pictures soon...

Jokes and the Potato Head Family

Its interesting to see how Muffin's sense of humor is developing. What she thinks is a joke is weird, she'll say something like " A dog and… a rock". Then she'll laugh. I guess she thinks putting together things that don't seem to go together looks funny to her. We just play along and laugh heartily and she loves it. Lately she's taken to just piling on the words, and will keep going on and on.

She's rediscovered Mr & Mrs. Potato Head. First she had to take down Mrs. Potato Head's phone number in her phone book, then she had to get them married using her magic wand. I hear there's a store in Magic Kingdom (Disney) where they sell more parts for Mr Potato Head, we may have to hunt this place down!

Grandma the Clown

Yesterday we went to see a little reading & show given locally by Grandma the Clown , from the Big Apple Circus. Sofia got to sit with all the children on the gym floor of a local school, while the parents got to sit on the bleachers. We were a little nervous leaving Muffin alone even if only a few feet away, but she did great. And Grandma the Clown was fantastic! Grandma is actually a guy, he showed us how he puts his makeup on, then stepped out to put his costume back. He's VERY funny and if he's a preview for our visit to the circus this Friday, we're in for a treat. At the end of his little 'show', Muffin wanted to go see him, and Daddy snapped a wonderful picture of her.