Dropout

No "beauty school dropouts" in our family, but we do have a dance school dropout. Saturday mornings have gotten progressively more painful as I've tried get Lily to go to dance...and one we arrived she's been participating less and less. Of course, my energy levels have dropped in direct proportion to my growing girth, and after this past Saturday's dance drama I decided not to fight Lily on it any more.

Perhaps she'd do better in a class without parents (she does tend to behave MUCH better when I'm not around, although I'm not going to read the tea leaves on that one and try to interpret it....ignorance is bliss). Perhaps the tap shoes really do pinch her toes and give her a headache (I wouldn't blame her on that front...10 girls = 20 tap shoes = WAY too much noise!). Perhaps she's just too much of a free spirit to for such a structured activity.

Regardless, she's only three. It was supposed to be fun. When it turned in to a battle, we decided to let her hang up her leotard.

So no need to clear your calendar in early June for the recital. Perhaps next year. In the mean time, the NYC Ballet will have to wait!

Disney

Since pictures are worth one thousand words, I'll spare you mine and simply share a few photos from the Disney trip. Enjoy!

A Big Cinderella Hug

Lily with Belle

Some Sleeping Beauty Cuddles

The Highlight of the Trip -- A Peter Pan Encounter!

Lily with Annie and Leo from The Little Einsteins (remember -- she's pregnant, off and on, with the entire cast of this show)

And if you're dying for a more in-depth peek at our trip, click here: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IbMWLluzas_8&emid=sharview&linkid=link2

MAGIC

To say that our trip to Disney was magical is a serious understatement. It was magical and then some (it was also exhausting beyond belief).

Noah had a special moment to genius last Wednesday night when we broke the trip news to Lily, telling her that Goldilocks had asked us (through my belly button) to take Lily to meet Cinderella.

Lily's eyes have never been so wide. She looked at both of us, looked at my belly, got a HUGE smile on her face and exclaimed, "Now that's ONE NICE BABY!"

Phew....phase one of "operation family expansion" has gone perfectly according to our plans!

There were so many wonderful moments of pure toddler/princess bliss during our 2 1/2 days in Orlando (excuse me, Lake Buena Vista). Things we will never forget....

1. Lily inviting each and every one of the five princesses we met at the Princess Storybook Character Dining Experience -- Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Sleeping Beauty, and , of course, Cinderella -- to sit down and eat with us. (She was rather disappointed when they declined)

2. Lily doing a small victory dance, with a big "I TOLD YOU SO MOMMY," when we saw Cinderella's mice in the Dreams Do Come True parade (I told her that I didn't think that mice lived in Florida and we might not see them).

3. Lily asking us, on the plane ride home, how Captain Hook can live in both Neverland and Florida.

4. Lily repeatedly calling Noah "three-sippie-ooh." It was days later that we figured out it was a Star Wars reference (how in the world she knows about Star Wars is something we haven't yet figured out!) to "C-3PO."

Photos to follow as soon as we are live again at home (Comcast woes already....don't ask).

Princess Power!

Have you ever heard a three year old remark, "now that was one FANTASTIC party" as she headed out the door once the festivities had died down? While Lily has been to more than her fair share of fantastic parties, her friend Callie's Build-A-Bear Princess party seems to have taken the cake. Not only did the girls come decked in their favorite princess dresses, but each bear left dressed as one of the Disney princesses (the birthday girl's mother is a lobbyist for The Walt Disney Company). It was, indeed, a fantastic party!

Speaking of princesses, "Princess Lily" is in for the surprise of her life. Noah and I are taking her, this Thursday night, down to Orlando for her last hurrah trip before she becomes a big sister. We haven't told her about the trip, or our destination, for fear that a pregnancy complication might force us to cancel.

72 hours out, though, I'm complication-free (knocking on some very thick wood right now!) and the suitcases have been brought down from the attic. We have a different princess dress for her to wear each of the three days in the park; she gets to have lunch with the princesses on Saturday; and Saturday night we're going to a pirates and princess treasure hunt in the Magic Kingdom.

Our three days in Orlando might cost us as much as a week in Paris. Who cares. Talk about making dreams come true...Noah and I are having so much fun planning/anticipating this one because it really will fulfill a few of Lily's wildest dreams. Yahoo!!