The Princess Brigade

If you were to drive down our street on any given day there is a 98% chance there are three little girls in dress-ups riding scooters and doing chalk. Simply, it's what we do. 

Anna especially enjoys playing dress-up, as I've mentioned before. She will bring me something every morning and I'm never surprised to see something pink and fluffy. Ev, on the other hand, rarely chooses anything but her Spiderman costume. Clarissa is a princess girl. I prefer the 90's lesbian look (flannel shirt, fake birks, no makeup and the greasiest pony tail you've ever seen). I think my princesses need to make me over! Or maybe let me shower so I can make myself over?

With the weather warming up, the princesses are always on parade.

Some princesses are more elegant than others...

Thank you Dollar Store for the best fairy wings of all time. They are such a big hit that Anna often tries to keep them on when we go places. Except she can't fit in her carseat with fairy wings, which is NOT okay for this little diva. Fairy wings are a MUST.

I wish I wasn't such a pushover with the costumes. I let my kids wear them everywhere except church. I'm strict with bedtimes and baths and manners, but I need some serious help reining in the dress-ups. The people at the grocery store know exactly who we are when I roll in with all three princesses just to get some graham crackers. 

It's so cute though. And I totally get the obsession with dressing up. That was my favorite thing as a chubby, awkward child. We had a closet full of Goodwill clothes and ancient bridesmaids dresses - it entertained us for hours! I used to love dressing up my Barbies and doing a fashion show, then changing their outfits and repeating ALL DAY LONG. As a kid I changed my clothes at least three times a day. In college I worked at Banana Republic. With my birthday money I almost always buy clothes (it's usually a coat - my obsession!). Shopping is my cardio. 

So carry on, princess brigade!

I hate her pacifiers, but dare I say it completes her look quite nicely in this photo.

Life is good when you're a princess/ballerina/fluffy pink something.

They don't have princess dresses on in this picture, but they still look like royalty. This is after I survived TWO hours of stake conference by myself with both kiddos. (I think I had a stick of butter for lunch) Anyway, I had to document that we all survived in one piece and looked pretty cute to boot.

I was ready to strangle them during church, but then we get outside and the fresh air hits their lungs and its like LIFE-FORCE. WE CAN BE NORMAL HUMANS.

Not just normal, but amazingly cute and cooperative.

"Mom! We don't try to make you crazy. It just comes so easily to us. Does this picture make you feel better?"

Answer: Yes.

We took the girls to Cinderella all dressed-up.

Sometimes being a princess is hard, but a true princess knows how to carry on.

Cole and Grandpa went to Paddington while we enjoyed Cinderella. Even baby Elle loved the movie.

Anna had to stay home and nap because she's 18 months and I'm not THAT crazy. She seemed pretty unhappy about it at first, but I let her wear her gloves and tutu to sleep in which is a perfectly fair compromise. 

Life is pretty great when you get to wear a see-through tutu everyday. 

Nick's Surgery

The fearless leader of our wolf pack hurt himself skiing recently. The Beta wolf (me) has done her darnedest to pick up the slack and lead our little wolves by her lonesome, but it's been tough. So tough in fact, that I was actually angry at Nick for injuring himself. Which I realize is crazy, since it is certainly not his fault - accidents happen. But our Alpha usually returns from his escapades unscathed. 

For the curious, Nick was skiing and his knee just gave out after a normal landing. Nothing exciting or dangerous to report. He kept insisting that he'd be back on his feet in no time, but his knee cap was clearly not in the right place.

This is where it comes in handy to know some friends in the medical field. Nick went in on Tuesday and his surgery was scheduled for Thursday. The diagnosis: a ruptured patella tendon.

He basically ripped his knee cap off the tendon that holds it in place. He also had some bone fragments floating around and some insane swelling.

As you can see, his left knee (if you're looking at the picture, it's his right) looks like my knee normally. Fat and swollen. (FIST BUMP FOR ALL YOU FAT-KNEED GIRLS. ALSO, THANK YOU REGINA GEORGE FOR POINTING OUT THAT MAN SHOULDERS AND SUCKY NAIL BEDS ARE ONLY THE BEGINNING OF A WOMAN'S PROBLEMS)

Surprisingly, Nick was a little nervous, but they gave him some juice (READ: DRUGS) for that. They used a human cadaver in his surgery which is pretty legit if you ask me. I was so grateful my mom volunteered to watch the kids so I could look away when they drew Nick's blood and not get near him when they inserted his IV. Basically, I'm the worst wife ever. You're talking to a woman who gave birth naturally to avoid a 12-inch epidural needle in my spine. Hospitals give me the creeps and they smell horrible. But beggars can't be choosers and we were thankful for such an exciting date! Who knew we'd have to meet in pre-op to have a romantic rendezvous. JK, we mostly watched youtube videos and I took awkward pictures of my patient. 

Nick's nervous face.

On second thought, that hairnet makes me wish we could have skipped the youtube videos.

Also, Nick's drugged face.

The surgery went swimmingly and I felt so reassured since we knew half the people in the operating room. (THANK YOU SMALL TOWN) We're a little over a month post-op and Nick's barreling away at recovering better than Chuck Norris. He has ditched his crutches and hardly walks with a limp (still has the brace on). He won't be going to Bolivia to climb this July like he'd hoped, but I signed him up for some senior citizen water aerobics, so he will probably be doing backflips around Joan and Charles in the pool. I'm still trying to forgive him for messing up my hiking schedule this summer! I had so much planned and now ... I've got a crip for a hub.

Its a good thing he can rock a hairnet.

Oh, and some of you requested more videos since I posted that short one on Instagram.

You're welcome.

So Many Good Things and One Bad Thing

The girls and I snuck down to Eugene to squeeze and love on these little people.

While there is so much to do in Eugene, I usually end up talking with my friends and enjoying how beautiful it is there. Nick kept asking for details of my trip and I kept saying, "We went to the park, then we talked, then we went to the park again for some more talking..."

We miss our friends dearly!

After Eugene, the girls and I drove up to meet Nick and the rest of the fam bam for Elle's blessing.

Even G-Phyl was there! Whoop whoop!

We took the girls to the BYU Princess Ballet. I tried to convince Ev to dress up like a Princess, but she wanted to be a ballerina, which worked tremendously well. Thank goodness I forgot her Spiderman costume because she asked me to wear it several times before deciding on the ballerina.

Master chiseled jaw and his busted knee.

(this is the one bad thing in case you were wondering)

Ev and Ally had such a fun time meeting the ballerinas and receiving candy. 

Candy is the highlight of Evelyn's life.

"Mom, when I grow up I want to be a candy ballerina with lots of candy."

She enjoyed reading the program.

And the girls both loved dancing on stage.

And the girl of the hour - Elle!

Brent gave her such a beautiful blessing and of course she looked so posh.

Darel has so many hands in this picture.

A lot of crazy people.

An awkward family pic.

Sisters! Never were there such devoted sisters.

We totally missed Shea though.

Oh. My. Heck.

The squeeziest ballerina in town.

That belly though!

This kid is nuts.

And I'll end on the sweetest note of all.

Blarney

 One day at Jo-Anns:

Ev: "Mom! Look at this crazy leprechaun hat!"

Me: "Wow! That is pretty cool."

Ev: "Can I get it Mom?"

Me: "No."

Ev: "Can I wear it for just a little bit?"

...

At the check-out twenty minutes later.

Ev: "Please Mom can I get this?"

Me: (Looking at the price tag) $14.99! No way. Its way too expensive."

Cashier: Actually, all St. Patrick's Day decorations are 60%.

Ev: "Mom, can I wear my hat home?"

Me: "Blarney."

Ev: "What?"

Ev insisted on wearing her leprechaun hat to preschool on St. Patricks Day.

She even picked out a green shirt to match! 

(I swear she's not colorblind) 

"Mom, take a picture with me and my pot of gold."

Gold = Goldfish

Pesky lil' leprechaun.

Nailed that smile!

We also had preschool snack that week. I always ask Ev what she wants to bring and I try to incorporate her ideas. Currently, everything is "rainbow," so when she requested rainbow leprechaun bread, I had to follow through!

So much work! But I made Ev help me and it actually turned out really fun.

Also, if you need to do a six-braid challah, call me.

I'm an expert now.

The kids at school loved it!

She wore this hat for two straight weeks.

Also, remember that one time I said I wasn't good at doing hair?

Turns out I'm pretty decent at it now.

Boo yah!