I love photos of swinging! It is such a fun activity, kids love it, and when the weather is pretty there is nothing better.

Emily has been very captivated with the idea that she is a princess. Lately, she has taken to being Cinderella. The other night, while playing dress up with her princess dress and her ‘glass’ slippers, she asked me to dance. After we danced in a circle for a bit, she informed me that it was midnight. Then, she ran off removed one of her shoes, and told me, “Prince, you have to find my glass slipper and put it on me.” She was delighted when I picked up her shoe and first tried putting it on Mommy’s foot and then on Julia’s foot, while declaring that it was too small for Mommy and too big for her sister. Then, I asked her if I could try it on her foot. Her joy was complete when I put her slipper on her foot, and announced it a perfect fit. Needless to say, we played this game several times that evening.

By far, “Mary Poppins” is the girls favorite movie right now. Emily asks for it by name and they both get excited when they hear the music. The movie is pretty long, but the amount of the movie that holds their attention is amazing.

Several things from the movie have been big influences on the girls. Emily has added “cheeky” to her vocabulary. I asked her where she heard that word and she informed me that, “Mary Poppins said it”. Emily likes to dance like a penguin and has been known to try to ‘adjust’ her pants so that she looks like Dick Van Dyke when he dances like a penguin. Julia runs to get shoes on so that she can dance properly with the chimney sweeps. Both girls dance during the movie, but mostly with the chimney sweeps and trying to imitate the kicks. Today, Emily’s favorite song was “Spoonful of Sugar”. Julia managed the whole word “movie” tonight. For Julia, that is a big deal.

(23 Months) Julia loves blankets. I have tried several times without success to get a photo of her carring her blanket around like Linus from the Peanuts carton. She knew I had the camera out. Today, she humored me with photos of her on her new Mommy made blanket. She loves to touch the fabric and it makes for a fun blanket to sit on and play.

Julia’s blanket is the same pattern as Emily’s blanket with a color shift so that they wouldn’t be identical. I also bound the edge of Julia’s quilt which was a successful first for me. It is a soft and cozy blanket and will be nice for winter to bundle under or just soft to play on like we are today.

We had a double baby shower in Orlando for Sabah & Doug and Jennifer & Gary over the Labor Day holiday. It was a short visit, but a good time just to catch up. We don’t all get together that often, so it is great when it does happen. The new parents got lots of fun and useful things. So, for the next two months this is the official photo of the Edward’s family. After the new baby comes we will have to find another excuse to get together for an updated one.

The girls enjoyed a princess cupcake party. We celebrated the joy of eating cupcakes and dressing up as princesses. The girls were really excited to play and eat their cupcakes. What could be better than cupcakes with pink icing. Our current lesson is that playing princess is fun, but what makes a princess is someone who is kind and good.

Thanks Ashley for the idea!