Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend is such a nice little preview for what summer will bring! This year we had a four day weekend since the school district backed up a bad weather day to the front side of it. We didn't use it, hence four days off! The girls went to school as usual on Friday so that I could have a little much-needed mommy time. When Memorial Day rolled around, we were ready to enjoy the pool!

This is about how well pictures go these days!

The girls wanted to take a try at their bikes, which went surprisingly better than I thought it would. Nora is getting better at riding with her training wheels {it has been quite the struggle}. Her coordination must be improving because we definitely have not been practicing enough for her to get that much better. Janie could still use some practice, even at the tricycle!!

Nora riding her bike.

Janie riding her tricycle... and getting frustrated!

We ended up going over to Michael's parents house to swim & have a nice dinner. This was our first experience in the pool since taking swim lessons and I learned a lot about what the kids are more comfortable with while in the water. Overall, it was a fun afternoon spent with family!

Wearing our red, white, and blue... of course!

Playing around in the pool!

Hanging out with Mimi!

We remember on this day and are thankful for all the men and women who have given their lives to protect our freedoms. It is not taken for granted and it does not go forgotten. God Bless America!

May the Good Times Roll

May is by far one of our busiest months out of the year, as with most families. The school year is coming to an end along with many extra curricular activities. When you are a teacher and a mother, you find that you are trying to be in two places at once, in this month especially, in order to take care of everything that needs to be done.

For our family, we had some good times in May. The girls took swim lessons. This is Nora's third year for swim lessons and also her third different place to take lessons! We have stuck with the local recreation centers for lessons since they tend to be way more affordable than private lessons or swim schools. Janie has always been too young to take lessons on her own, but this summer she was able to take a "preschool" aged lesson! She was pretty excited about it...

Being that our lessons were in May, I took them to about 1/8 of their classes. Daddy stepped up and took the girls just about every time, with an occasional assist from Mimi & Pops. It was convenient since they fall into the same class grouping and could take class at the same time, but it was also quite inconvenient for their teacher who had to battle with them to listen rather than play with each other the whole time! They got a little better after both mommy and daddy had some discussions with them. Neither child is able to swim independently, but they are both a lot more comfortable in the water and putting their face in and all of that after their lessons in Keller this year. That is a huge win!

Looks like trouble if you ask me!

We celebrated Grandma's birthday, but it was still a little cold to swim in our pool at home.

We celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week! I took advantage of some free & discounted food after school one day and the girls helped to spoil their teachers, too. I thought their interpretations of the questions were pretty cute. And LOOK - Janie can write her name!!

I officially purchased my dress for Krista's wedding so that's a big check! Can't wait to get things rolling for that in a few months! We tried these green Bloody Mary drinks beforehand... Interesting. But that IS a fried green tomato on top!

Justin and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary! Cheers!

I took the girls to see Pinkalicious the Musical with Mimi. It was the local high school's production and was super cute! The girls loved it and got to take a picture with the cast afterwards. Janie was a little star struck!

We ventured out to watch the community band play selections from Disney movies! The kids had a blast dancing with their friends for the music, especially Frozen!

We finished up the month of May with a friend's wedding. Beautiful venue and of course, we had a blast! Mimi & Pops kept the girls overnight and look how sweet they were after church when we came back...

This tired, teaching mama is ready for SUMMER! Come on, June!

Main Street Days

I love taking the girls to festivals! They love going on all the tiny rides and eating things they hardly ever get to. Usually, it's super warm at festivals in Texas as they are hardly ever planned when the weather is mild and are also typically put onto lots of hot pavement. This year for Main Street Days, though, the weather was cooler than it could have been which led to a pretty fun evening with family out on the town!

Unfortunately, we don't live as close to the fun as we used to so it was a little bit of a drive and Janie happened to fall asleep in the car. That worked out in Nora's favor since she got to have a little solo time with mommy, Mimi & Pops once we got there while Justin waited in the car with Janie until she woke up.

We started with rides and even ventured out a little bit and all rode the big ferris wheel together.

About when Janie was up and through the gates we stopped riding rides so that everyone could eat something. With toddlers, you have to stay on top of the madness that is hungry children!

Of course, there were requests for snow cones, as they were pictured on the outside of the food stand. If you ever order a snow cone from the stand at a festival, they do not look like the beautiful rainbow snow cone that is on the front of the stand. They are one color or at best - three colors mixed together to make a bluish-blackish color. Luckily, the three mixed color snow cone appeased Janie enough so we took that, a pretzel, and a corn dog away from the stand and ate it all up!

"Rainbow" snow cone and overpriced corn dog.

After we ate there were more rides, of course! Until the tickets ran out...

The girls actually really liked the miniature roller coaster that they rode on. Once it took off, I wasn't sure how they would handle the speed of the ride, but they loved it! It was a great evening at Main Street Days!

Mothers Day

Happy Mother's Day out there to all the women who take on the role of mom in any way!

The weekend started off with a "Muffins for Mom" breakfast at the girls' daycare. I went and hastily ate a little breakfast with the girls before having to head off to work.

We were able to find a decent brunch reservation a few weeks prior to Mother's Day so we enjoyed eating out with my parents and Krista & Michael on the actual holiday.

And of course we had our traditional shoe shopping for mommy after nap time!

After shopping we decided to go out to dinner at Gloria's, which the girls loved due to the light fixture that changed colors. Afterwards, the girls had had about as much as they could handle for one day and we headed home!

It was a sweet day filled with lots of family time.

Sweet gift from Nora.

Dance Recital

Last year, Nora's dance recital did not go over very smoothly. Her nerves got the best of her and she was only on the stage for a few seconds of her first routine before she walked off in tears.

Beautiful girl, ready to dance on the big stage!

When it was time to sign up for the recital this year, we started talking to Nora about whether or not she wanted to participate. We told her that we would either be going to watch the other girls or we would go so she could perform. She thought about it for at least a week or two before she decided that she would perform. She also added she wanted everyone to be there!

Picture Day a few weeks ago...

Here's her tap costume!

We committed to the recital and Nora seemed to be happy to participate but until the time came to actually be in the recital, I still didn't know how it would all go down! I took her to the back and she was definitely hesitant to stay without mommy there, but she didn't cry and I left her reading books from her dance bag to sit in the audience.

As it turns out, she came on the stage and did a GREAT job performing! She did her tap dance first and by the time I got back to change her for ballet, she had moved past hesitant to confident and excited and she basically pushed me out the door. She continued to do well for her ballet routine and the daddy-daughter dance.

Nora is 5th from the right, facing straight at the camera with her hands above her head.

Tap Dance: "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid

Nora is 4th from the right, though two girls are overlapping a bit. On her toes and arms extended!

She did such a good job following the leader & performing her moves!

{hands above her head on the right}

Ballet Dance: "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid

We have never questioned whether or not Nora loves to dance. She loves going to dance class every week but she did verbalize an issue with the "big stage" after last year's recital. We are SO proud that Nora chose to participate this year and overcome her fear of the stage. She did a beautiful job and, just as expected, everyone came to support her!

Proud little girl!

Thanks for coming, Auntie K & Michael!

Thanks for coming, Grandma!

We went out to celebrate {per Nora's request} afterwards with frozen yogurt.

Lip Sense Blu-Red for the WIN!

Nora and her Pops!

We are already excited to start summer dance at Dance Axiom. We couldn't be more proud of our tiny dancer!