The clown who painted Edie’s face said she would make her look like a “butterfly princess”…I know, again with the princess thing.  But I was actually pretty impressed with the level of face painting talent that was exhibited.  These butterflies are a far cry from the crooked sunshine we used to get painted on our cheeks during the May Day celebration at school.

Edie has never had her face painted before, and therefore it was a BIG deal to her.  I took her to Wal-Mart afterwards, and as we were walking in she said, “I think everyone is going to like looking at my face.”  She was right.  She did turn a lot of heads.

She came in contact with a face painting clown while I ran a 5K race this weekend.  I was training for the 8K, but after having fever for several days before the race, I chickened out and signed up for the lesser one instead.  In all honesty, if it wasn’t for my friend, Joy, who was running with me, I probably would have slept in altogether.  I guess that’s why it is good to do these things with a partner. 

And I use the term “running with me” loosely.  It was more like blasting past me.  Of course, she has run several half-marathons and is in way better shape than I am.  Even though my mom keeps pointing out that Joy has much longer legs…yea Mom, that’s why she finished the race in 26 minutes and I followed behind six minutes later…because of her long legs.  Anyway, I did finish, and considering the month I had and how much of that time I’d spent lying in bed and wishing I was dead, I was pleased. 

Here’s another picture of the butterfly princess:

I should note that I didn’t post any race pictures this time because they came out blurry.  I like to think it’s because I was running so fast the camera couldn’t keep up.  But in all honesty, it probably has more to do with the fact that we had just bought the camera that week, and there is still a learning curve on how to operate it.  Sorry, Joy!

“I want to be a princess when I get big,” Edie says with her mind made up.

“A princess?  Really?”  I’ve never liked how little girls (particularly mine) are inundated with all the princess stuff these days, but it’s pretty much impossible to escape.  “Why a princess?”

“Because they get to wear pretty dresses.”

“You’re right they do, but I’m not sure princess is a good goal for you.”  Even though I’ve always told her that she can be anything she wants to be, I’m really thinking we’ve got to nip this princess thing in the bud, and now is as good a time as any to start.

“Are princesses real or pretend?”

“Well, there are real princesses in the world, but American little girls don’t really grow up to be real princesses.  That’s really in other countries.”

“But I could be one, right?”

“Not really, honey, and besides wouldn’t you rather grow up to be maybe a teacher, or a mommy, or a doctor?  Those are all good things to be.”

“Nah, they have too work to hard.”

Well, she got’s me there.

So the next morning, after I’d just pulled myself out of the bed and shuffled into the kitchen, barely awake, Edie stands in the doorway bright eyed. “Mommy, I was thinking about it last night, and I’ve decided that I don’t want to be a princess when I grow up…instead, I want to be an artist.”

I thought to myself, “Well, that’s a little better than princess.”

“What made you decide that?”

“I was thinking about princesses, and well…princesses have to clean up  after everybody ALOT.”

I thought, “Well, then mark being a mommy off your list as well.”

I am so far behind on my posting that there are still topics from our Stone Mountain getaway that I haven’t written about, including our enchanted evening spent at the Medieval Times dinner show.   This was not on our original agenda of things to do, but when it began pouring down rain we had to improvise.

Medieval Times was Ken’s brilliant idea, and I mean that in the most unsarcastic way possible.  It was a little pricey, but he was able to find a coupon code on the internet which made it more affordable.  When it comes to finding coupon codes, Ken’s skills can’t be beat.  It’s like years of “hunting & gathering” instincts have laid dormant…until a coupon code needs to be found.  Then watch out!

He really hit it out of the park with this one.  It was a dream come true for Edie.  Eating supper with a real live princess, watching knights joust on real horses, and getting to eat with your fingers!  She didn’t really understand the plot, but instead watched my reactions for her cue to cheer and boo.   I really got into this part because she just ate it up.   We clapped and waved for the Red Knight (as per our instructions) and really let the Blue Knight know we were NOT a fan.

Ken happened to sit next to a fellow camera geek.  So he spent a lot of the evening comparing pictures with his new friend and talking about focal lengths and bouncing light.  Here are some of his pics from our enchanted evening:

If you want more info on the Medieval Times dinner show, I have posted the link below.  If you have young kids, I really recommend it!

http://www.medievaltimes.com/