Just in case you're wondering next time you see me how it is I have become so much more graceful and agile, this is how. My Mommy signed me up for ballet and gymnastics classes because she must have known what a natural athlete I am, and thought I should be given an outlet to showcase my abilities. (Either that, or she just needed safe places for me to go to burn off some of my excess energy, and has decided she would even be willing to pay someone to help get that accomplished.)
Ride em' cowgirl! This post is a special shout-out to my Mommy's good friend Rhonda, who was nice enough to let me and my cousin Anna come out and ride her horses one day. She let us brush them, and feed them, and give them treats, and she didn't even get mad when I told her I wanted to ride, and then I didn't want to ride. And then I wanted to ride, and then I didn't want to ride. And then oh! I really wanted to ride, but then you know what? Not so much anymore. She finally convinced me to climb aboard one of those ginormous creatures, and it was then and there that I decided that I was going to move in with her, her ponies, and her talking bird. Thanks again, Miss Rhonda! (And tell that upside-down, giggling, chatterbox, parrot friend of yours that I'm not through with him yet either!)
So I often hear my Mommy wondering aloud about her day seemingly disappearing, and pondering why it is she just can't seem to get anything done around the house. Well, Mommy, I think I've found your answer. Her name is Eliza, she's a little short for a tornado but she can definitely leave some devastation in her wake, and (I hate to break it to you) I don't think she's going anywhere anytime soon. (Unless it's back to your closet to reorganize some more of your shoes...)
How long is too long??? This is the question of the day over at the Alberda household. That mean Mommy of mine has been hinting around at cutting my hair off, saying that she's sick of trying to keep the spaghetti, milk, dog slobber, and (most recently) pinecone sap out of it, but I keep telling her that I love my "long princess hair". What's a girl to do? Keep the tresses and deal with a cranky, comb-and-peanut-butter wielding Mommy, or cut them off and perhaps miss out on my prince because he doesn't recognize a princess when he sees one? What would you do? (Keep in mind that I do have my very own personal hair brusher in the form of my little sister, so this is one less chore my Mommy has to perform.)
I love my slightly OCD, collection-collecting Nana! As soon as she saw that McDonald's was putting out a Wizard of Oz collection, she geared up, emptied her change purse, and didn't stop pestering those cashiers at the local Mickey-D's until she had bought me, Eliza, and all of my six other girl cousins the entire set. She is so silly, and generous, and quirky, you just gotta love her!!! (Not to mention she also has an insatiable appetite for cinnamon rolls on Saturday mornings, that she absolutely cannot eat without one, two, or twelve of her grandkids accompanying her.) Thank you, Nana, you carry around such a big part of my heart. :)
Who needs to go trick-or-treating when you can just hit up the Zeeland Pumpkinfest parade once a year? (And this picture is what's left after me and my cousin Roxy inhaled as much as we could sitting street-side, while our Mommies were preoccupied with our sisters.) Thanks for a great time, Aunt Krista! You live in the coolest place ever, how did you get to special order parades to come through your front yard? All I get are people whizzing by at thirty miles over the speed limit and a crazy, yelling Mommy trying to chase them down and tell them that they need to slow down.
So apparantly Chuck-E-Cheese is where you end up when you get rained out of an outing to a pumpkin patch, and your Mommy and Daddy don't want to deal with a very, very devastated three year old. And to top it off, I've also found my new calling in life... Game Tester! We happened to be there when they were testing all the machines, and not only did we get to watch them, but I got to keep all the free tickets! So now, instead of coming home with one plastic frog, I got to come home with about forty. I wonder how much school you have to go to in order to learn how to drive an arcade car....
Wow, it's been a long time! I'll let you know right off the bat that's it's my Mommy's fault that it's been so long since I've posted. She got this new iPod thing, and has been spending all my waking moments uploading her music onto it. And can you believe it? Not one Veggie Tales disc in sight. She said something about her needing to have just one thing to call her own. Whatever, she should know by now that she gave up all rights to being an individual the moment I was born, right? But while she's letting me get ahold of the computer, I thought I'd quick fill you in a just a couple things we've been up to lately. It's been a busy last few weeks!We've been going to the dog park hoping to tire our tireless puppy out, going to Chuck-E-Cheese for birthday parties, expensive tokens, and cheap toys, catching bugs and worms (or trapping them under the bottom and then having Mommy catch them), and the biggest news of all is that Eliza got her driver's license, and the keys to Daddy's MGA. Watch out pedestrians, baby on the loose! I'll update again soon, but I'm getting the stink-eye over here from Mommy. She's got a bunch of CD's in her hands and looks rarin' to go.... Any suggestions how I can disguise my favorite "Bible Songs" CD as the latest Coldplay album?
This is what Eliza and I look like when my Daddy dresses us for the day. My Mommy always gets a big kick of coming home and seeing what we have on. She would like you to take special notice of the four different prints between the two of us, and the necessary splash of camouflage in the form of my hair bow. I personally think he is a fashion genius who is just well before his time, and am waiting for the head honchos at Project Runway to discover him. See the next photos below to get a glimpse of his very own built-in supermodel. 
