I never cease to be amazed by the imaginations these two kids have! The past few weeks their creativity has been in over-drive — the pictures on my camera don’t even capture half of it.

The stuffed animals around here never have a dull day, especially “Cocoa” the dog — bows on both ears, a sequined gown, bracelets, earrings, this dog has it all!

On the 20th, Raine decided to be a kitty. I was in the bathroom getting ready for the day when she came in and announced her plan. She asked me to draw whiskers on her face and then went off to make some kitty ears, which she subsequently taped to her forehead.

The 25th was crown day. She whipped up these two beauties in a matter of minutes and they wore them on their adventures as the Princess and Prince of Deweydom!

The inspiration for these crowns came from Cousin Alexa, who we visited on our whirlwind trip down to Houston the 18th and 19th.

Raine’s favorite color has changed from pink to purple recently and she has been desiring a new crown to match her new favorite color. Fortunately for her, this summer she has the coolest nanny in the world! Savannah brought her a sparkly purple crown for their craft one day and it has been on her head ever since!

Not to be outdone, Carter has a new passion in life as well . . . swim goggles! This was the scene at dinner the other night: Raine with her sparkly purple princess crown on one side of the table (above) and Carter with his swim goggles on another side.

We went to the water park on the 27th where Carter tried out his goggles (which were really Daddy’s goggles and so didn’t fit hardly at all) and he was IN HEAVEN!! I took a shower after we got home and this is the scene I was greeted with as I exited the bathroom; apparently he didn’t get enough “splashing” at the pool!

Yes, these are definitely going into the “First-date Scrapbook”!!

Of course, this is how it ended! It was so ridiculously hilarious to watch that I couldn’t bring myself to stop the insanity before he got hurt, all I could do was take pictures. Fortunately, the injury wasn’t serious and he was back to his crazy self in no time.

I can’t image where the kids get their crazy climbing/jumping ideas from . . . certainly not from their parents!

Allow me to rant here for a moment before this next photo: I am not a fan of the princess movement. I have been avoiding and discouraging it for Raine’s entire life. But, the inevitable has finally caught up with us and Raine is embracing it whole-heartedly. I want her to be able to express herself however she sees fit, but I have decided to only allow princesses into my home that meet my standards. For example, everything from dress-up and dolls to toothpaste and band-aids come in a princess variety, but I refuse to buy anything that features an immodest princess. Raine is quite proficient at spotting anything immodest and agreeing that we don’t want it.

One thing that I’m having a hard time with are the dress-up gowns. Raine loves to dress-up and I firmly believe that it fosters her growth and development to do it . . . but none of the princess dress-up clothes are modest by themselves. Obviously, Raine would have clothes on under them, making them modest, but I still would rather not even go there. For now, Raine is using one of the dance outfits that Savannah gave her. It is equally (if not more) immodest than the commercial princess gowns, but since we already have it in the box I haven’t bothered fighting it.

Raine insisted on wearing her “Princess Rapunzel” dress to the restaurant the other night. Daddy tried to tell her no, but he obviously didn’t succeed. The jury is still out on whether or not this is a battle worth fighting!

When Raine gets a creative idea in her head, she will not stop until she has given it life. Today, she came home from church and insisted on making a wagon. There was no putting her off or talking her into doing something else. She had an idea and wasn’t going to stop, or let you do anything else, until that idea was a tangible reality. I was pretty impressed with her end result, which she loaded with stuffed animals, hitched behind her, and pulled around the house!

Both of these kids’ creativity amazes me. There is no doubt that they inherited it from Grandma Dewey’s side of the family — I believe Grandma Gabbott is the most creative person I know — so all I can do is sit back and be amazed. I provide the tools for them but they supply all the ideas, it is a fun experience for me to be a part of!