Arrgh, Matey.

Elena had dress like a pirate day at preschool last week and it was too cute not to share a couple pics. At first she told me that she didn't want to dress up (so not like her) so after a couple more questions I realized the only reason she didn't want to was because a little girl in her class didn't want to. This led to a long talk about how we don't do (or not do) things just because of others. I knew she loved to dress up and had to convince her it didn't matter what the other girl was doing. Peer pressure at 3.5 already?? Yikes! Needless to say my little pirate ended up dressing up that day. ;)

 

 She was most excited about the tattoo (part of my negotiations) on her arm. A princess of course - hey, whatever works!

She had so much fun being dressed up at school and I am so glad that I made reasoned with her to dress up! Hopefully I made a small impact on her future decisions but I know this is just the tip of the iceberg on wanting to and not wanting to do things because of other people! Can someone please slow her down from growing up?! 

Wild for a Cure.

Last Saturday we headed out to Tanganyika to attend a fundraiser for a friend for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and Elena had a blast!

My friend Sabrina was also there with her boys and Elena was so excited to see her buddy Lunden. It has been way to long since we had a chance to hang out with them!

Taking a break from the animals to play on the playground.

Giraffe feeding time! Check out that tongue!

Lunden's brothers watching him feed the giraffe.

Sabrina and her 3 adorable little men.

Love how the giraffe is looking at Elena in this pic!

Elena and Lunden were so stinking cute together. They ran ahead of us towards the giraffe here and they were holding hands!! Obviously we need to let them hang out and play together more often! :)

We decided to hit up Lemur Island before we called it a day. Elena did so good not reaching out to touch them and letting them come take the food out of her hand!

My Mom went on this adventure with us too but I didn't get any pictures of her! I think she was hiding from my camera! ;) We decided it was time for a treat after we left and went to Braum's for some ice cream. Mom and I shared our favorite - double dip hot fudge sundae!!

While Elena tried something new, lime sherbet! She was definitely a fan!

What a fun day and what a great cause to be raising money for!

Straight Hair.

 Elena constantly tells me that she loves straight hair, so I finally broke down and straightened her hair for the 2nd time ever. Yes, she actually held still for about 10 minutes while I used my straightener on her. :) She was pretty thrilled with the results (I think mainly because her hair looks so much longer when its straight)

 It amazes me how much older she looks when her hair is straight! She is growing way too fast!

Easter 2012.

When Easter Sunday rolled around Elena was so excited to show off her Easter dress! (This girl LOVES dresses!) She does look pretty stinking cute though!

My parents came over for lunch, dying eggs and hunting them over and over again in the backyard. They brought E an Easter basket that she was thrilled with!

 We also put one together for her too - not spoiled. at all. :) Each time she would pull something out she would say "Oh my favorite! I've been wanting this!!" It was pretty adorable.

 Then we let her get to dying eggs. (Her hands ended up more dyed than the eggs though!) 

 Hunting, hunting, hunting...

My Mom had a few turns hunting for eggs too; Robert cooked some amazing fajitas; a quick family pic; somehow every year my Dad ends up carrying Elena's Easter basket for her. :)

Happy Easter - from Elena (guess we need to work on those S's a little more!)

My favorite picture from the day~

 Happy Easter from our family to yours.

Easter Fun!

I was a little late on decorating for Easter this year but I finally drug out Elena's Easter princess decals and our Easiest Easter Garland Ever! :)

Then I decided to give this Easter Peep cake a try with Elena -

A peep for the cake...a peep for me! :)

It came out really cute! But it was definitely sugar-overload, a little to sweet if you ask me! (I'm thinking I might have to try this one next year!)

 On Saturday we headed over to our good friends Clyde and Twila's house for some Easter egg fun with the kiddos. They are getting so big!!

 Just like last year there was lots of egg hunting including Cascarones - which led to a lot of confetti fun!

Poor Sofia wasn't even safe in her stroller!

Neither were Mom and Dad!

After all the eggs were cracked we enjoyed watching the kiddos run around and play together.

What a fun, fun day!

Preschool Easter Party.

This year I was the room mom for the Easter party in Elena's class. Which means I was in charge of the activity for the kiddos. I searched and searched on the Internet (mainly Pinterest - lol) and decided on a shaving cream egg painting activity. I found the idea on this blog. I decided to give it a test run with E a couple days before to make sure I knew what I was getting into! ;)

Step 1: Cover a tray with shaving cream

Step 2: drop paint onto shaving cream

Step 3: Swirl until your kiddo is happy (I ended up using plastic forks with her class)

 Note - if you swirl too much it doesn't look as good. Looks like one color instead of many.

Step 4: Push down a piece of card stock onto the swirls and then lift up.

Step 5: Let dry briefly

 Step 6: Squeegee away the shaving cream and the paint is left behind

 Then you are left with a pretty decorated egg, for cards, decorations or whatever! Elena loved it so I knew her class would too!

Here they are in action. Good thing I had Robert and some other Moms there to help me out!

 Ta-da! Pretty cute if I do say so!

The kids LOVED them! Here they are all looking and comparing their eggs - too funny! I think we may have to do this again with different shapes for other holidays!

Then it was down to the gym for some egg hunting!

 Back to the room for a snack and story!

 It was a blast being with her at school for this party! I am so glad that Robert and I were able to make it!!