Pampering Our Princess

Eliza passed another milestone this week. She celebrated with plenty of pampering, as befitting the princess she is. In addition, she and Landon both had Valentine’s Day celebrations at school. Plus we spent time at the beach. Ah, California in February: There’s nothing like it!

Celebrations of Eliza’s birthday continued this week with gifts in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa D: A gymnastics warm-up suit and “Canadian car candy” (hard mints).

The kids had school off on Monday, and it was spent mostly around the house until the typical scheduled things started in. We walked the dog and went to gymnastics and university meetings. The best part was free yogurt at Yogurtland for dinner.

Eliza went to school on Tuesday dressed in her princess Merida gown and a tiara. At school she shared Queen Elsa Frozen cupcakes.

She received the Elsa’s Sparkling Ice Castle LEGO Set from Grandma and Grandpa O. Elsa is her new favorite Disney princess. Hallie is bummed because she loved that Eliza used to like Cinderella. Oh, well.

After school, she and Mom went to have a girls’ afternoon of pedicures. Eliza loved her afternoon out, and she has not even picked off the polish, which is what usually happens after Hallie paints her nails.

Her toes turned out so cute! The ladies who ran the shop were so kind and treated Eliza like a princess.

On Thursday, Eliza’s class had its school party, and she dressed the part.

Landon had his party on Friday. Hallie and the family were once again in charge of the class festivities. Folks from church helped Hallie collect 25 milk containers so the kids could decorate them and then collect their valentines in them after they were handed out. The kids did a great job and had a lot of fun.

For pizza and a movie night, we stopped by Pizza Man Dan’s, where we got the kids a heart shaped pizza, and then watched Return of the Jedi, a true sci-fi romance if there ever was one.

On Saturday, Mike tutored in the morning, and while there Hallie and the kids picked up caramel apples for their Valentine treats. In the afternoon Hallie went to Ventura to get her nails done. We all came along, and while Hallie was being pampered, the rest of us spent some time at the beach. While the weather could have been sunnier and warmer, the rough surf revealed a treasure trove of smooth polished stones.

In the early evening Hallie and Eliza spent time running errands in Oxnard. Eliza was a big help at Lane Bryant and Whole Foods.

On Sunday, we participated in the multi-regional conference broadcast at church. We appreciated the council we received from leaders about member missionary work, self-reliance, and sharing our values in a spirit of love.

After the conference, we went up to Grandma and Grandpa O.’s for lunch and Valentine/birthday visits. The kids sure do love playing with their cousins and going swinging in the backyard! Eliza was so tuckered out that she fell asleep soon after we got in the car for the ride home.