Birthday girl
Mariel is officially 5!  We celebrated with two parties this week. 

On Sunday- with Aunt Kate, Uncle John, Grandma and Papa, and many miniature princesses, we had a princess tea party:

We decorated crowns for "pin the crown on the princess"

Played princess bingo

And of course, had princess presents

And a pink princess castle cake

She may be five going on 16...

On Thursday (the actual big day) we had a pizza dinner party with more friends.

This time we had princess cupcakes.  Mariel was very practiced at blowing out all five candles!

And of course, Noella has been cooking away all week to get ready for the parties!

Household updates...

From around the house: new bookshelves from downstairs (trim has now been added).  They are gorgeous and have tons of storage.

If anyone wonders why I don't want more "stuff"- this is what newly created storage space looks like in my  house.

We also have a new closet, which is sort of hard to take pictures of.  We now have multiple hanging levels, built in storage, shelves and drawers for clothes and odds and ends...

And shelves for shoes!  Hooray for shoes!

Out of the mouths of babes
When I was pregnant with Noella, I took Mariel shopping with me in pursuit of a reasonably professional looking maternity suit (a difficult task).  I also discovered on that trip to the mall that size small was really not going to work anymore.  After some unsuccessful try ons, Mariel, age 2, ran out of the dressing room yelling "Mommy needs bigger pants!"  Fabulous.
Today, Noella carried on the tradition, although (thankfully) in a private setting.  After I got her dressed we went into my room so that I could get dressed.  As I stood there in my underwear holding up clothes she looked at me and my belly sadly, shook her head, and said "Mommy, that no fit."  Thanks kid.  And it did fit.

The list that never ends...
Our household projects have taken over our lives.  More of Patrick's life than mine, actually, but when he is devoted to tearing down closet walls and using power tools, I get the task of weekends and evenings unassisted with our girls.  So we are both TIRED.  And the weekends are busier than the weekdays.  Of, course, we are hindered by the fact that my body is just worn out by getting through the day.  On days when I teach I generally can do nothing else that requires physical effort- washing dishes is an accomplishment. 
The good news: Downstairs bookshelves, done.  Master bedroom closet, done.  (well, both still need trim, but in the grand scheme of things, I consider them done).  Guest bedroom to be, half painted.  Guest bedroom closet and girls' room closet- pits of despair, clutter, and disorganization.  Girls' room to be, definately not painted.  So were are at least halfway there.  And it seems like these projects are easier.  We are also looking forward to some visitors and may be pressing some of those visitors into service!

In Mariel's preschool classroom they routinely work on identifying emotions and discussing how to deal with them. This is a very good exercise for our passionate child, although she sometimes comes up with some odd examples of what makes her feel "sad" or "happy" or "excited."  Not as odd as some other children, such as a classmate who said that feeling "peace" was like a "refrigerator," however.
Today I saw the list of things that make them feel "embarassed" and had to laugh.  On the board:
"I feel embarassed when:
Mariel: My dress is not long enough."
I guess she does actually pay attention when we tell her to put something on under her dress because we can see her underwear!  Patrick hopes that this feeling of embarassment over too short clothes lasts through her teenage years...