A Princess Reprieve

Thank God for J.M. Barrie!

After 14 months of nothing but Disney Princesses, Ava has moved on. I'm not just talking about the tried and true Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid. I'm talking about the barely watchable, intellect defying, straight to DVD train wrecks that are The Little Mermaid II and III, Cinderella II and III and so on. They were pushing me to my limit.

I had heard that little girls move on from the princesses just as quickly as they latched on to them, but I didn't believe it to be true. There is no way that Ava would ever turn her back on her best friends and seemingly no way for me to avoid them at every car ride. It just didn't seem possible.

But, as we all learn, anything is possible with faith, trust, and a little pixie dust. At my begged request, Ava agreed to watch Peter Pan on the way to school last week. That's was all it took. Peter, Tinkerbell, Hook, and especially Wendy have shown her a new adventure that captivated her in a far deeper way than any of the princess stories (and a new way to avoid talking to me in the car).

So with heavy heart, our complete collection of princess dresses have been moved to the back of the closet, replaced so easily by a light blue nightgown with a matching light blue bow and slippers.

Now to keep Mae Mae out of the back of the closet...

How To: Build an Igloo

We finally had a snowfall and a weekend happen concurrently. We took this opportunity to build an igloo. I use the term "we" loosely, as Ava and Mae lost interest after about 5 minutes. Luckily, the neighbor and his son stepped up to help out. Between you and me, they were much better at digging.

After several failed attempts whereby the "roof" collapsed, we stumbled upon an incredibly easy solution. We simply laid a garbage can on its side, covered in with snow, packed it down and then removed the can. Removing the can actually requires more twisting than pulling.

The unpredictable Chicago weather inspired us to take a couple of precautionary steps to ensure that our igloo was solid. We put the can back in the opening and doused the entire structure with water. A few hours later the igloo was covered in ice and solid. If I had to make a guess, I would say it will last until April.