the new do

Tricia's haircutter gave me some bangs and a little bit of a change.

remember the sabbath day--to keep it holy

Brianna likes to listen to music when she goes to bed. Most nights when Doug and I follow some hours later and check in on her, we end up turning off the music...But I didn't realize until yesterday that it doesn't happen on Saturday night. Because on Saturday night she doesn't listen to music because it is not "Sunday music" and she said that even if she was asleep, she wanted to be doing the right thing and it might turn out so that it was playing on the Sabbath. I thought that was just the sweetest thing.

back to reality

We are going to miss this sweet little face.
And the beautiful messages that she leaves me around the house in the most random ways and places.At least we are taking her back to North Carolina, so we will get to spend the next week, not only with her, but with her brothers and sister and mom and dad and Chezzie and Tanner and their boys, as well! Happy days with the family on the lazy river ahead. But we have loved every minute of this week with our Princess Courtney Ann and feel so very blessed to have had this special time with her.

the cookie castle

MIXING

DESIGNING

BAKING

DECORATING

"IT TURNED OUT EVEN BETTER THAN I IMAGINED!"

the princess goes to sea world

It is so amazing that we can reach out and almost touch the dolphins!


Can you believe she talked me into another cupcake because she absolutely promised to eat the cake, but in the end...she only ate the dolphin and loved every bite I might add!













Natalie and Brianna joined us for our adventures today.


I just love Sea World. The dolphin show is fabulous and Shamu is amazing, but this was what I enjoyed most today:

lunch with prince charming

Our first adventure today was off to visit the pedicurist. Courtney seemed a little worried and said that her mom didn't paint her nails like that.















But she was delighted with her cute sparkly toes when they finished the job.
















We changed our clothes and then picked up Papa for lunch at the Garden Gate Tearoom in Mt. Dora.



Many patrons, or rather, subjects, admired and commented about our beautiful princess.

princess training

Lesson #1
Oh...just kidding, she already knows how to do this without lessons.

Yesterday, I asked Courtney to draw a picture of a princess dress. Here is her picture.











This morning, we went to the fabric store. Within a minute, she had found this fabric that she just loved. She humored me and walked through the store and looked at all the possibilities and then went right back to her first choice.

Courtney had Whoppers for breakfast, a cupcake for lunch and an ice cream sandwich for dinner. She also ate a big bowl of rice krispies, bagel, cream cheese, strawberries, blueberries, a hamburger, pickles, lemonade and two big glasses of milk today. Papa came home for lunch and lost 25 to 14 in Wii boxing.

She was a great helper with our sewing project: pinning, cutting, and she ran the foot pedal on the machine. After a couple of hours when we needed a break, we went over to the Shipley Resort.

After dinner, Cork and Papa cleaned up while I finished THE DRESS.











Courtney thinks that the dress looks just like the picture she drew, and I just love making dreams come true!

princess camp

Courtney took an airplane by her very own self today. When Doug asked her if she felt big and special, she said, "No. I felt scared."





















Our first stop had to be the mall, so that she could choose a crown for herself and one for Caroline. Tomorrow we will work on a dress, but today, it is first things first and first on Courtney's agenda was jumping off the dock





and then making a sandcastle






















Tonight she requested dinner at Sonic and then she beat her Papa in wii boxing, tennis and baseball. He has now opted for golf and I think he is winning that at the moment.

indy 500

Doug's family starting choosing drivers to follow when he was about 12. So for the last 40 years or so they have enjoyed the lead up time to the Indy 500 as much as the race. As the family has grown, we've made some adaptations. The new trophy arrived yesterday. It is beautiful. And, it looks like we are good to go for at least another 35 years!Doug's driver, Scott Dixon, won this year.