Sugar Plum Fairies

We wish you a very sweet Christmas and a New Year filled with many Happily Ever Afters.

Love,

Fair Maiden, Charming,

and the Precious Princesses

Painting with Peach

 It was an adventure.

 Art with my 3 year old is never as easy and magical as I think it should be.

 I think, and hope, it's more magical for her.

 I have to remind myself that it's my daughter & not the beauty of the house,

 or the cleanliness of the paint set,

,

 or her hands and clothes

that I'm trying to encourage and develop. 

Mixing the colors together might be magical to her, even if it does absolutely nothing for me. 

Precious Princess Pear

Presenting Princess Pear! She is sweet and smilie, she is almost 2 month old, and she looks lovely in peach. We love her!!!! She belongs with us and we are ecstatic about the fact that now she also belongs to us.

And while you're admiring my baby, also admire that lovely dress. It is made by Sharon at Cherry Groove Crafts. You will love all of her other dresses too. They are beautiful. Hurry over and look right now.

Magic Words

Today, I asked Peach what Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother says and she answered, “Please.”

“No,” I said, “What is her magic word?”

She got a big knowing grin on her face and said, “Thank you!”

Well, at least some of my more important lessons are getting through.

Marrying Her Prince

Peach is at that age where Charming is her true love. I don't have the heart to tell her that Charming is MY true love, and that she will have to keep searching. I figure she'll figure all this out soon enough.

Today, Charming took Peach and Plum on a special trip to see a special place.

 

This is the Brigham City Temple, and to learn more about it you can go to: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-brigham-city-utah-temple-open-house-dedication-dates

Peach knows that temples are the place to go if you want to be married to your charming prince forever. She was very excited to go see this pretty building. Charming was excited to take them. I, sadly, had to stay home and do boring, everyday things like go shopping and get a hair cut. The castle doctors were pretty firm about a 38 week prego princess not taking any all day road trips. Can you believe that?!?

Princess Books

Do you know what this color means?

In my 3 year old Peach's very refined opinion, PINK is a sure sign that something is going to be fabulous. And how can I argue. She has picked out some fabulous pink things lately. My favorite pink items usually come from the dollar store and the library and usually have something to do with princesses or fairies. Here is an example:

Rapunzel retold by Sarah Gibb. It's the same lovely story, but the pictures are divine. In fact, Peach had a hard time listening to the story because she just wanted me to turn to page to the next fabulous picture, most of which are pink, by the way.

And here is a less than pink story but an enchanting one. Maybe it's just me, but I choked up at the end. It's simple, it's lovely, and again, the pictures are very beautiful.

The Apple-Pip Princess by Jane Ray. You should definitely patronize your local library and let them find this one for you.

That's So Charming

Do you know what this weekend is? Of course you do . . . it's Labor Day Weekend. Or at least to most people that's all it is. For Charming it's so so much more. And this year it's turned out to be so so much more. You could say that some of his smaller dreams have come true.

Charming is not a big spender, so I was pretty surprised when he called on his lunch break Thursday to tell me he saw an ad for a TV we couldn't pass up. 42" of flat screen viewing pleasure for $350.00.

We had thought it over for a while and we knew what our options were. There is only one time of year that we watch a lot of TV, so there were very few features we really needed. The real question was this:
 
Watch football on this...

. . . or this ???

Other perks included the PC hookup and getting rid of that annoying digital converter box.

Dream #1 came true when we hooked it up and watch our first football game Thursday night.

Dream #2 came true when that first game was won by our favorite team.

 Go Cougars!!!

Dream #3 came true when Charming casually turned on the TV this morning and found the early broadcast of the Navy vs ND game in Ireland.

This will be a good weekend.

Now we'll see of my Labor Day Weekend dream comes true . . .

That the dish fairy will take pity on me and do the dishes after last night's delicious fried chicken dinner.

Our Own Enchanted Forest

Last weekend we got out the wheelbarrow and the shovel and dug some holes.  

There were quite a few rocks to dig out. Peach did quality control.

We planted some apple trees, some pear trees,

some apple and pear trees, and a couple peach trees.

 And then we took some wheelbarrow rides.

Laundry Day

At our place every day is laundry day. Sometimes I do one load. Sometimes I feel like I've done 100 loads. My least favorite part about doing laundry is spot cleaning. And Bananas, Plum's favorite, create the dragon of all stains. They make everything look brown and ugly, and if you forget that your baby spred Banana on herself and wash her cloths without doing something about it the outfit is brown forever-after ~ NOT happily!

Until Now!

I was complaining about my lack luster laundry at a baby shower and one of the more experienced maidens suggested I use some ammonia. As unappetizing as that sounds, as soon as I got home I sprayed everything Bananaed with a bottle of cheap glass spray with ammonia I had lying around. Then I washed them.

The results were not as instantly brilliant as I would have hoped, so I did something else I've never tried before. All the just washed Banana cloths went into a gallon of water with one scoop of OxyClean. I added a few other clothing items as well, that had not been pre-ammonia treated. I wanted to know if it made a difference. After a good long soak everything went back into the wash.

Oh My Giant Pumpkin Coach, all of my pre-treated cloths came out looking sparkling new. The others came out looking lighter and I assume they just need a little "windex" treatment. I'm excited about my new discovery!!! It's like magic! Happy laundry day.

*** I would like to make an extra effort to point out that I ran the cloths through a full wash and spin cycle before I moved to a new spot removing chemical. Please be careful not to mix unknown chemicals together.We all know that ammonia and bleach don't mix. Don't take any chances with cleaning products that might contain these two chemical agents. ***

From a Cottage to a Castle

We Won!!!!

By some amazing twist of fate Charming and I won the From a Cottage to a Castle sweepstakes. The officials called us just before Christmas to say we could move into our castle mid-January. Everything else went on hold as we packed, cleaned, and made the necessary arrangement to move our Happily Ever After to a new location.

What an experience. What an adventure! First off, I had no idea how much stuff you could stuff into a cottage. Ours was obviously packed to the rafters. But then, I never realized how much stuff you need to fill a castle.

Other odd inclinations that have come over me post-move are:

~ When it's really yours you have a greater desire to clean it, or at least I do.

~ Having a nice castle kitchen and dinning room inspires me to cook more lovely meals for Charming, and actually set the table before he arrives for dinner.

~ I find myself actually doing my hair and makeup in the  morning. I think that has a lot to do with having a separate bathroom from the princesses or the opposite side of our home. More time and energy when I'm not worried about waking them from their beauty sleep.

I hope the spell lasts a bit longer. At least until we get everything out of boxes and all the pictures hung. Wish us luck.

Beans for a Ball

Do you sometimes wish your Fairy Godmother would come down and do a little number on week-night family dinner. We had 40 jars of magical beans in the pantry this year, and boy do those things get ordinary after a while. When the magic has run out on your favorite side dish, try this little trick.

Sauteed Almond Beans

1/4 cup raw almond slivers

1 med onion, sliced

1 Tab olive oil

1 quart, or two cans green beans, drained

Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium sauce pan, brown almonds over high heat.

When almonds are golden brown, add oil and onions. (If you decide to take pictures, try not to burn your almonds like I did.) Saute until onions are soft and translucent, about 2 minutes.

Now, add your drained beans and cook until beans are heated through. Add salt and pepper if you'd like.

And all of the sudden your beans are all dressed up and ready for the ball. They look really good next to a heart shaped stake. I'm just saying, in case you're looking for a fabulously easy side dish for the upcoming holiday.

Ruby Slippers

For reasons I'll explain in another post the Holidays were a flurry of excitement for us in a different way than you might expect. We did stop our non-Christmas halabaloo long enough to attend a Christmas Eve party.

At which, Peach snatched these darking little slippers.

Three clicks later, she was asleep and we magically made our way home.
Thank you for the fun Ray and Debbie.
And Hillie, thank you for the loan of your magic ruby slippers.