Princess Book Party

Speaking of Halloween costumes, Greta got to test drive her Queen Elsa costume over the weekend at the Friends of the Burbank Library's very cool Princess Book Party. Held at the Burbank Library's central branch on Glenoaks, the event featured Princess trivia, bingo, crafts, cookies, gift bags and even a visit from everyone's favorite Disney Princess/Queen du jour, Queen Elsa from Frozen! Hooray!

As you can see, Greta had an awesome time. And despite the fact that there are already piles of library books scattered all over her bedroom, we came home with another big old batch of new ones as well. Now if I could just remember when they're all due back at the library, all would be right with the world. Either way, enjoy the pics!

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Beating The Heat: Play-Doh Style!

Don’t know what the weather’s like where you’re at, but, it’s been a swampy mess down here and Greta and I have been literally melting in the heat. Proclaiming she was too hot to walk the other day, Greta actually crumpled to her knees and made me carry her to the car before ballet class.

The next day, she crawled to the back door to put her shoes on because “her feet stopped working.” and then yesterday it was so hot that it actually rained. Today too. And when I say rain, I’m not talking about deep, cleansing rain that makes the L.A. skyline all super blue. Nope. This was just enough rain to increase the swamp factor in the air and make your car looks like shit. Good times.

So, when the rain started today we decided to stay inside and color until it cooled down. And once it did, we hurried to the store to pick up something new and fun (and most importantly, cheap!) to play with. We only ventured as far as CVS, so, our options were kinda limited, but, today, luck was on our side. And somewhere between the kids crafts and fake Barbie dolls on the toy aisle, I found the perfect inside toy…the Play-Doh Fun Factory!

Longtime Play-Doh aficionados will remember the Fun Factory as the little hand pump machine with the plastic strips with different shaped holes in them. I don’t know if my brother and I ever actually owned one, but, man, did we love that thing when we were kids. Anyway, one of Greta’s friends has a vintage Fun Factory and we’ve been on the hunt for one for for weeks now.

Our only disappointment was that the 2013 edition of the Fun Factory doesn’t come with those cool little plastic scissors, but instead comes with a tiny knife. Weird huh? Other than that, the little pump still cranks out star-shaped snakes and long, curly Play-Doh hair with the best of em. So, hooray for indoor summer fun!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Greta’s feet did start working again the other day. All I had to do was promise her a Hello Kitty popsicle and she was cured. Strange how that works, huh?

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Location:Burbank, CA

Ch-ch-changes…

Spent the entire day cleaning out our closets and watching the Olympics. We are actually totally up to date on most events and we have been taping non-stop since the games began, so, that’s kinda scary. In fact, we’ve been so obsessed with the games that when she was acting up earlier today, I told Greta (jokingly) to go to her room and that I’d play with her in two weeks when they were over.

She didn’t get my joke and she didn’t leave the living room either. So, we got out the coloring books and colored while Mommy cleaned the hall closet and some Kazakh dude won the gold in the men’s road race. Don’t know if you caught it, but, man, that was some serious bike racing. Exciting stuff!

Of course, the biggest news around here today was that we finally removed the changing pad topper from Greta’s dresser. Yay! Honestly, we haven’t used it in weeks, and the covers are kinda nasty, so, it’s just been this weird old cracked-plastic eyesore for a while now. Yep, the plastic is all cracked too. You couldn’t pay someone to take this thing off our hands.

Anyway, I was totally fine with removing it (in theory) but, once Christine got out the screwdriver, I wigged out. I know it sounds crazy, but, something about taking it off and suddenly transforming the changing table into a big-girl dresser just about killed me. Seriously, I almost started crying. In fact, had Greta not been so excited about the look of her new “desk” (that’s what she calls it) I probably would have found some reason to keep it on there. Urgh, what a sap…

I mean, it looks great as a “desk” with a few of Greta’s favorite things on it — she has been talking about how she was gonna “decorate” it all week — but, I had some great memories with that thing. Changing diapers always sucked, but, I loved leaning close and cuddling up with her after she was all jammied up, watching her touch her toes for the first time, or hell, even just drying her off up there after a bath. I know it’s just a piece of furniture, or, you know, the top of a piece of furniture, but, I loved that little thing to death and now…it’s gone.

Well, actually, it’s in the kitchen. We didn’t finish cleaning all the closets yet, so, we’ll take it to the garage with the rest of the junk in the morning. But, you know what I mean, it’s good as gone. And quicker than you can make a David Bowie face and sing “Ch-ch-changes…”, Greta will be good as gone too. I know we still have a while to go on that front, but, the last three years have flown by, what’s to stop the next three, or ten, or twenty from doing the same thing?

Man, where does the time go? Goodbye changing table topper…you will be missed.