Portrait of a Princess

Naomi, like about 99.873% of 3 to 4 year old girls (and I'm sure there are statistics to back this up) loves all things princess.  She loves princess movies, princess music, princess clothing, princess dolls....if it has to do with princesses she's bound to enjoy it.  (She still loves lizards, bugs and dinosaurs, but for now they've taken the back seat to her princess fixation.  I will forever remember Naomi treating Ian's model T-Rex to a makeover one day with her Lipsmackers.)  So, when we celebrated her 4th birthday in January, OF COURSE we had to have a princess party.  I think the girls (and boy) that came had nearly as much fun at the party as I had putting it together.  We decorated crowns.  We played princess bingo.  We played pin the horn on the unicorn.  (Pin the tail on the donkey is such a versatile game!)  We had a treasure hunt.  And we did it all within the confines of our 1100 square foot apartment.  (I consider that the greatest achievement of the day!) 

Here are the princesses (and prince) that attended our grand festival...

(I have to insert here that Ian just wandered into the living room blinking and bleary-eyed and muttered "Guten Morgen."  It's 10:16 p.m.  While his timing is off, it's nice to know that he's learning something in his German immersion program.  How long is it going to be until he can be my personal translator?!)

Okay, back to Princess Naomi.  I really think she had a good time at her party.  It was so gratifying to me to see her enjoy herself so much.  Here she is opening presents:

                                    

Here is the princess castle cake I made her:

                                    

And here she is about to blow out the candles:

                                   

I must insert that I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my cousin Holly for her help in figuring out how do do this cake.  I saw a picture of her infinitely better version and begged her for help which she most generously bestowed.  Thanks Holly!  I think next time I will try using bigger cake pans.  The center rounds were just not quite large enough to support the weight of the towers.  (You may have noticed that the center tower has a decided tilt.  I think it gives the cake a distinctly Italian flair.)  If Naomi is anything like me, I'm pretty sure there will be a next time.  My mom must have made me a heart shaped cake every year from the time I was 8 until the time I was 18 (thanks Mom!).  I'm actually looking forward to trying again.  It was a fun experiment.

Here are some recent pictures of our beautiful, smart, kind, compassionate, sweet, determined, feisty, adventurous, obstinate, loving, expressive, silly, precocious, dramatic little girl. 

Ballet class with Miss Arianna...

             

Balancing exercises during warm-ups...

                                      

Naomi's first snow angel...

                          

Ian was off sledding with the boys from the building and their dads (Ben was in Chicago taking the boards) so Naomi and I had our own little snow day.  We built a really, really cute snowman which I was unable to photograph because my battery died right after I took these two pictures.  Unfortunately, by the time my battery was charged, some really nice neighbor kids had knocked it down.  Gosh I love living on post. 

Anyway, Naomi - Happy Birthday!  We love you.  We are so glad you are a part of our family.  You are a very special little girl!