Dylan's Dollhouse

The day after Dylan's ice cream birthday party we had our family come over to celebrate with us. We were leaving for California the following day and wouldn't be home on her actual birthday so we celebrated before we left. We had an ice cream bar to make sundaes and I think everyone had a great time.


Todd's brother had built a huge bookshelf for his own daughter a few years ago that was shaped like a house. You know, those huge ones Pottery Barn Kids was selling for a small fortune? Well, he had built one and his girls had loved it. A few months ago he sent Todd an e-mail asking if we were interested in taking it off their hands. I quickly jumped at the chance as I knew I wanted to get Dylan a dollhouse for her birthday this year. This was going to be perfect. It was huge, it was well built and it was free!!! Dylan had seen this bookshelf in our garage for months, and it was always called a bookshelf. Never a dollhouse. She took it at that and never thought twice about it.

I started on a search for the perfect doll furniture and was having a tough time. Because this thing was almost 6ft tall at the peak, I knew the furniture needed to be large. Finally I was able to find what I was looking for and spread the word to family and a few friends to offer ideas for the perfect gift. I couldn't have planned it all any better.


Todd and my brother-in-law brought in the dollhouse and set it behind Dylan as she opened her presents. As she opened a new set of furniture, we had her put the box on one of the shelves behind her. When she was done, I had her come stand next to me so she could see all the furniture in each "room" of the house. It took her awhile, and some help, but eventually she realized that this bookshelf was really a huge dollhouse. And she loved it. The furniture was opened immediately and she and Isaac set out to create the perfect rooms. Not only that though, she also got her very first Barbie doll and it was the perfect size doll for the house and the furniture. She loved it!

I Scream, You Scream

Let's make some Ice Cream!!!

Dylan turned four last weekend while we were out of town (more on our vacation later) so before we left, we celebrated her birthday with a few of her friends.

The theme? Ice cream of course.

We started out with some adorable invitations that my mom and her friend made for me, I mean us (Dylan and I). We added the wording to the invites, and handed them out to three of her friends. Four little girls for a four year old sounded just about right. These girls get together once a week to play, so we just made the party their get together for the week.


I'd spent some time getting things organized for the party and when party day arrived, we were ready. Pink balloons on all the chairs, pink table cloths and pink party dishes. It was a lot of pink!


My mom came over to help me out, and the watch the scene as it all unfolded. Dylan's friends started to arrive and they sat at the table with a new box of crayons and a dot-to-dot ice cream cone and coloring sheet. It was an easy first activity.


Afterward I gave the girls some stickers (ice creams of course) and let them decorate some empty baby formula cans. Once the cans were decorated to their liking, we put some flavored milk (chocolate and strawberry) into separate ziploc baggies and added them to another bag filled with ice and rock salt. We stuffed these bags into the cans and the fun began.

The girls paired up and got to shakin'. They jumped up and down with those cans, danced, rolled and did everything they could think of to get those cans moving. When they got tired, they rolled it to their partner, or just handed it off so they could take a break and the next girl went crazy. By the end, the girls were all jumping together whether they had a can or not, and they were tired.


BUT, they had made their ice cream. We took the bags of ice cream and put them in the freezer for a few minutes while the girls moved on to their next activity.

Pin the Cherry on the Ice Cream Cone!

I took a piece of posterboard, drew an ice cream cone (in pink) and cut some foam circles in red. The girls wore a pink beauty mask to hide their eyes, told me how many times they wanted to spin around, and did their best to place the cherry on top of the ice cream cone. I think they had a good time, and did a pretty good job too.


Finally the ice cream was ready. The girls went back to the table, and received a large dish full of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla ice cream. On the table was an array of toppings for the girls to choose from. Sprinkles, M&M's, nuts, cherries, Oreo cookies, chocolate chips, hot fudge, caramel sauce and whipped cream. It was a free for all.


At least it was supposed to be. I don't know who these girls are, but the topping choices were minimal. They did eat all of the cherries, and each had whipped cream, but for the most part, there were only little bits of this or that taken. It didn't matter though, they loved it. They also each got an ice cream cone cupcake. I baked cupcakes inside of store bought ice cream cones and added pink frosting to make them look like a cone. They turned out really cute. I would totally make them again. Each girl added a cherry and a few sprinkles before eating.


There was some outdoor play here and there in the back yard in between activities and even some chocolate or strawberry milk. Then it was time for presents.

Dylan got some cute gifts from her friends and I think all in all they had a good time. When it was time to leave Dylan handed out her buckets of fun.

The buckets were just large tin cans covered in scrapbook paper with each girls name on it. We nailed a few holes into the sides, added some ribbon and it was an easy gift for the girls to carry home with them. Inside, the ice cream theme was carried out...

ice cream cone bubbles
cake batter ice cream flavored lip balm
an ice cream cone notebook
their pink ice cream dish and spoon with an individual serving of ice cream tucked inside
ice cream flavored hard candies
a magnet of their initial to put on their buckets
and a candy bar with ice creams on the front that read Dylan's Candy Bar



I think it was a great success, and Dylan told me it was her best day ever, but looking back, it was a lot of work and I'm thrilled I don't have to host another birthday party like this for at least another year.*


* Isaac won't have a party with his friends until he turns four. There will be a post in another couple of months talking about his family celebration though.

My Shopping List

Today as I walked into the kitchen, I found Dylan sitting at the table, pen in hand writing on a pad of paper. I asked her what she was doing and she told me she was making me a shopping list.

I asked her what was on my list and she told me the one and only thing she'd written: Cheetos. Yum!

She asked me what else we needed from the grocery store, and I asked her to let me know what she thought we needed. Together we started my shopping list. As we came up with each item she asked me how to spell the word and wrote them very carefully.

Here is our short list:



If you can't read it (which, in my opinion, each of you should be able to) here is what our list consists of:

Cheetos
yogurt
tortillas
milk
vitamins
ice cream

Considering the girl has only learned to write the first three letters of the alphabet at school (and her name) it's not bad for a soon to be 4 year old.

White men can't jump.

We already knew he had no dance skills but the kid also has about a half inch vertical.

If you listen carefully you can hear the back of the ring hit the edge from where he is jumping from.

Brown Shoes

Funny conversation that happened today.

Daddy standing in kitchen on Sunday morning hears little foot steps running down the hallway.

D: Look daddy, these are my church shoes!

Dad: (Looking at little brown shoes) Nice.

D: They are also my jumping shoes.

This is immediately followed by two "JUMP! JUMPS!" and my daughter showing me her 2 inch vertical. Then she runs off back down the hall. This is quickly followed by a loud thump and crying.

Dad: Are you ok?

D: No I fell down.

Dad: Well are those your running shoes or your church shoes?

D: (now smiling) These are my church shoes AND my jumping shoes.

Dad: But not your running shoes? Are they your walking shoes?

D: Huh?

Dad: Are they your walking shoes?

D: Yep.

Dad: How can that be? Are they your church shoes, your jumping shoes or your walking shoes?

D: Huh?

Dad: Are they your brown shoes?

D: Yep.

Dad: So they are your church shoes, your jumping shoes, your walking shoes AND your brown shoes?

D: Yep.

Dad: That is a lot of shoes.

D: Yep...but not my running shoes! (as she runs off).

Back to School

Yesterday was Dylan's first day of school. Man is she growing up! She's going to the same school she went to last year and she was really looking forward to starting again.

She got up early, got dressed early, ate breakfast early and was ready to go early. I, on the other hand, was running late. We got a few "First Day of School" pictures taken and were heading out the door when I remembered I hadn't packed a water bottle for her. I turned around headed for the kitchen mentioning I needed to get Dylan some water, when she informed me (with quite a matter of fact attitude, I might add) that she had already gotten her water bottle, filled it up and put it in her backpack.

As we drove to school she asked me if I was coming in with her, and I told her that yes, in fact, I was. She was not so happy about that. In fact, she asked me specifically not to. I told her I would walk her in, snap a few pictures and leave just as quickly as I came. She finally agreed that it would be okay as long as I left quickly.

We got to school, and instead of holding my hand up the walk to her class, she ran ahead of me, swung open the door, put her backpack and homework where they belonged and sat down at her table and got to work. Obviously she remembered the routine and was ready to get back to it.


As promised, I took a few pictures said goodbye and left. And she didn't even turn around to say goodbye. And truth be told, I'm not even sure she actually said goodbye. I didn't exactly hear it.

Two hours later I picked her up and she was all smiles. It was a great first day and she was thrilled to hear she would be going back again only two days later.

It's going to be a good year.

The End of Summer

I think I still have a few more years before my kids really understand the difference between the school "year" and summer vacation, but today I was compelled to celebrate our last day of summer. I wanted to take the kids to the water park, but I also wanted us to have a nice lunch with grandma and do a little bit of back to school shopping. Unfortunately, because of the hours of the water park, we only got to do lunch and shopping. Dylan may not appreciate it now, but I'm sure that in about 10 years, she'll choose shopping over a water park every day of the week.

We drove over to Kohl's hoping to find that special something for the first day of school. In my mind, we never found the "it" outfit perfect for the first day, but in Dylan's mind, we found plenty of perfectly pink choices. How could I resist when each item was less than $2.50?

After that we headed down the street to Ross and shopped a little more. Again, the pickings were slim, but we found a cute pink and white striped shirt that would be perfect with a pair of shorts she already had at home. We met Grandma at Ross and headed over to lunch.

If anyone asks Dylan where she likes to eat, she gives two answers: Sonic and Paradise Bakery. Lucky for me, we had decided on Paradise Bakery the night before. We had a fun lunch with Grandma and ate cookies too. It was a great way to end our summer.


The rest of the day was spent preparing for the first day of school. Dylan and I decorated her All About Me poster and she went around the house collecting a few items for Show 'n Tell. I spent the better part of the afternoon trying to make them my vision of perfect before I realized that this is all about Dylan. Not all about who I think Dylan is.

If she wanted to use random colors on her poster that didn't coordinate with the paper she had chosen, it's her artistic prerogative. After directing her to choose a few toys that I thought were perfect choices to showcase who she is, she surprised me and found the most perfect choice of all to add to her bag. And more than that, she also decided that she only needed to take these perfect three items, and not the five she was allowed to take. My little girl knows who she is, knows what she likes and isn't afraid of it. I sure hope she stays that way.

Coming up tomorrow: her second "First Day of School."