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.