All about the COSTUMES!!!

Ever since Bella first heard of their costumes for the dance recital in June, she wants to know where HER costume is. Well, it finally came in. So I took the girls to the studio and took their pictures in costume. I picked the Wild Babies one for Olivia because it didn't clash with Belle's PINK one... (she is SO excited it is PINK and HERS!)

I think my kids need to work on getting more personality, don't you? LOL!







And this one, I can't decide if I like the color or black/white version the best...so you get to see both! :)

Greek Food Festival

On May 16th, we went to the Greek Food Festival here in LR. We had never been before, but decided to have fun and go anyway. We ended up running into our friends, the Pate's (Tyler, Tracy, and Mary Ellen) and the Brazil's (Renea, Sydney and Kenny). We had so much fun. The music and dancing was interesting to watch, the food was good, and the children's activiites were a blast for my kids. They had some free things like bubbles, and various crafts. Then, there were some rides/games that cost tickets. We let the girls choose one thing to do. Bella only wanted to bounce in the moon jump, and Liv wanted to do this thing where she is strapped to a harness and pulled up in the air. Then she'd jump on a trampoline HIGH. Don't know what that is called...












It was a great afternoon. Oh yeah, and we also ran into Emily, Justin and Cooper. We had a blast. We will definitely go again!

Cooper 18 months!

I forgot to post these earlier, but it was from a month or so ago... Cooper is now half way to his second birthday (well, technically more I suppose). Isn't he adorable?







We met one Saturday at the Rivermarket and took him out to the park area. When he came to the playground, he saw the tunnel. Now, it had been raining a few days before, and the tunnel had a small stream of water draining down inside of it. So, when he walked through it, he walked right under that stream of water--not knowing it was there. He took one more step...stopped...turned around and went back under the water and stood there!!! It was HILARIOUS!!! So, that is why he is wet in a few of these pictures. :)

Gotta love the mind of a toddler!

And this last one, I just LOVE. Seems symbolic to me some how...

Love being a mother

This year Mother's Day was a little monumental for me. Not only was I remembering the illness my family had last year...yuck, but I started REALLY understanding what Mother's Day is all about.

I woke up to little voices tell me "Happy Modders Day!" (without being reminded) and it just melted my heart!

Then, on the way to church, Olivia said, "Mother's Day and Father's Day are my favorite holidays"

"Why? Even more than Christmas?" I ask.

"Well, I just want you two to know I love you. I don't need any more toys. I already have too much".

I about cried.


After lunch we went to the Victorian Tea Garden for their special brunch...talk about DELICIOUS!!! Then, we came home and I got a NAP! Woo-hoo!! That got me thinking... I really started realizing that I didn't care about getting gifts on Mother's Day. I just wanted to be appreciated. Isn't that what all moms want anyway? So, I started reassessing what I'd done/given my own mom over the years. I think acts of service are so much more important to moms than a gift.. Now, Olivia had been working on a special card for me all week, but it was the effort into it that I appreciated so much. And I got the best gift from Brian...to have a relaxing day where I didn't have to lift a finger... Talk about heaven on earth!!

I think I may start doing something for my mom each year instead of getting her gifts that may or may not be all that special... Besides, who needs more stuff? Ha!

A Whole Month??

Has it really been that long since my last post? I'm so sorry! It isn't the lack of material, that is for sure!

Ok, here goes several posts in a row... :)

One thing I don't have pictures from though... Olivia had her school talent show on May 8. She and 3 of the junior high girls performed Funk. She felt so big dancing with the 'big' girls. :) They looked great!

Here are a few random pics of BelleI just wanted to add in even though they are from a month or two ago...

Results from Regionals!

This past weekend was Olivia's Regional Competition. It started Thursday afternoon and ran through last night. What a weekend! Luckily, Liv's group wasn't scheduled to dance until Saturday morning (early!).

Funk was came first that morning. It received an Elite Top First, a Special Judges Award of Funky Fresh (I think...), and came in first over all. They won $150!

Then, that evening was the large group dances. Angels Among Us received a Top First award, a Special Judges Award of "Little Angels", and got 3rd over all. Wild Babies received an Elite Top First, a Special Judges Award of "Wild Award", and came in second overall for 8& under. Wild Babies also received the choreography award for all of the large groups--what an honor! Then, 5678 also received an Elite Top First, and got first over all for 8 & under. They received $175!

Sunday morning was Olivia and Kenny's duet, Love Shack. They had their new costumes and they looked AWESOME on stage. Ms. Jamie said they had an advantage b/c the judges would remember them from the last night. When it came time for awards, Love Shack received a Special Judges Award of Cutest Couple, got an Elite Top First, and came in first for the intermediate division ages 12 & under!!! They received a check for $25. Then, they also came in second place for all 7&8 duets and trios in the advanced category.







It was a FANTASTIC weekend... Makes us look so forward to Nationals this summer!

Putting my hope in Him.

By now I know so many of you have heard of our situation with Isabella that we've been dealing with the past few weeks. Just a little recap in case you aren't aware... Bella has had so many issues at her daycare. Honestly, part of it is her with her sensory/behavior and part of it is them and the lack of consistency and structure/routine. Well, we got a letter that gave us a reason to get out of dodge and find a new daycare--now. They had given up and would not follow her modifications on her IEP. So...I took off work one day to find her a daycare that she could begin the following week and spoke to her speech teacher for advice on the best placement for her the following school year. We visited and decided on a daycare for now and later a Montessori school.

With all of our struggles with her, I have been having an extremely hard time. We had been 'in the gray area' as far as testing goes--not severe enough for actual HELP on issues, but enough of a problem that it was causing a problem... We were frustrated and pretty desperate, actually.

Well, once again, in church we were singing and the next slide started with the line, "I put my hope in You..." and I about lost it. It is no coincidence to me that Bella's middle name is Hope. All of the sudden, my HUGE problem seemed so small as I realized that God was in control of Belle. Not that I didn't know that before, but it was as if the concept slapped me in the face. It was then I had realized I had been praying for guidance for her (even putting it on my prayer card each week in my ladies' bible study) and knew that the awful note, the search for a new (and better) place for her was all part of His GUIDANCE. Not what I had expected as an answer, but I had no doubt. Maybe there were signs before and this was our final 'shake you up' kind of thing to GET HER OUT...?? Who knows. But I do feel so much better about our situation knowing that this is exactly what needs to happen right now.

And now that she is in her new daycare until the fall, things are going marvelously well. Her new teacher LOVES her and keeps trying to convice me that she is not 'bad'. She said Bella just needed some structure and honestly, she does. The fact that the teacher is firm, but loving, helps a ton as well. Ms. Judy tells me how advanced Bella is and how much she enjoys her. I come to work every day practically in tears because I am so happy... It is a nice change. :)

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and thoughts. We still have a way to go, but we are definitely on the right path.

Easter

Easter weekend was so much fun. We started out the day on Saturday going to the egg hunt at our church. We always enjoy that. Then, it was to Emily's house. She had come up with several crafts for the children to do for the decorations on the lunch table the next day. In addition to decorating eggs, she had them create window cling stickers, made little bird nests, and egg-holding place markers.









Unlike the day before, Sunday proved to be a cold and rainy day... No egg hunting outdoors. But, the decorations looked great, the food was oh so YUMMY, and the company was great! Not only did Nathan and Dorothy come this year, but so did Ashley. The girls wore their flower girl dresses that they actually didn't wear in the wedding and looked so beautiful!

Coming Home

We left the cruise ship with no real problems. A little bit of waiting and some lines, but that was to be expected. We were in the car by 9:45. We drove to Houston and up 59 all the way. We never stopped for food...until about 3:45 (I figure we'd eaten enough all week NOT to feel hungry). We ate breakfast/lunch/dinner in Texarkana at La Caretta--one of our favorite places to eat at when we lived there. It was just as wonderful as we had remembered!

Then it was back in the car and 2 hours to see the KIDS!!! We hadn't talked to them at all on the trip and hoped they were doing well with my mom. We picked them up at 6:30 from Ms. Gina's house (mom had a hair appointment and the girls were both there so they were VERY surprised to see us. The plan was we'd get them on Friday--today).

We went and bathed the girls at mom's while we gathered their stuff and came home. We kept Bella home from daycare today and gave the girls their presents this morning.

We got the girls pink maracas, wooden beaded bracelets, charm bracelets with Mexican charms, color-changing T-shirts and rings, shell necklaces, and a coconut cup/bank.






I love this picture in particular. We call it her Mexican Bling...

Day at Sea--Day 5

I was so exhausted (and enjoying the bed SO much) that I could not seem to get up that next morning. Brian got up and decided to eat breakfast in the dining hall instead of the buffet. He came back and I was still in bed...did I mention I loved that bed? I got up, got dressed, grabbed a bagel and we were off to the towel-animal demonstration before heading to the debarkment talk that Kirk, the director, was giving at 11:00. We had run into Dawn and Wayne at both of those and sat with them. Dawn kept telling us that at 3:30 we needed to go to the Newlywed and Married Game Show. We agreed to go.

We grabbed some lunch and headed to the deck to lay out some more and read more in my book. Honestly, this was one of my favorite times of day. After an hour or two, Brian came to find me and we went down to the slide...we'd waited all week to be 'one of the kids' and slide. The water was FREEZING (we had forgotten it was straight from the ocean), but it was so much fun, we went again. While we were in line, we saw Dawn, Wayne, Jason, and Kasey sitting near the pool in the shade. We joined them after the second ride down the waterslide.

Dawn was very worried about us not getting a good seat for the gameshow, so they all went to get a seat while Brian and I changed out of our suits. We joined them in the balcony. Brian and I tried out to be a contestant for the game show by being Tarzan and Jane...THAT was interesting, but in the long run, another couple was picked by the crowd (at least a dozen tried out). It was hilarious!

Then it was off to shower and start steaming my dress for our last evening at table 282. We got ready early enough to have our pictures taken before going to dinner. We ran into Dawn and Wayne again as they were ALSO having their pictures taken.

Dinner was bitter-sweet. I hated for it to be over. It was the first night that we all 10 were at the table at the same time. We got a picture made of all of us and it is so cute! I got a picture of Ali and Amera (remembering I had not gotten one of them earlier in the trip).




Kasey hopped up during dinner (and we were afraid she was seasick again) but she returned to the table with her bottle of champagne that she had won in a game show several days before. Our table toasted to new friends and our fantastic wait staff.




The food was wonderful, as always, and then bid our farewells to Venera and Dante.



I was really excited about the show because it was to feature the Carnival dancers/singers. We went with Dawn, Wayne, Kasey, and Jason. However, we were disappointed, and actually left after a few songs. It was very abstract and had a Wizard of Oz theme to it, but I didn't get it. We were excited to see our pictures anyway (they were to be ready at 10:30). So, we picked out pictures instead. We bought a few and even ordered a canvas of one...what were we thinking? Ha!

Then, we went with Wayne and Dawn to the midnight comedy show. I didn't want to go. I am realizing I am not much of a 'comedy act' person, but went along for the ride. We got there early to get a good seat so we sat through the end of karaoke before the comedian started. We all stayed for about 15 minutes before leaving. There were some parts that were funny, but we were SO tired and hadn't even started packing, filling out customs papers yet, not to mention the surveys, etc... So we went back to the room--and found a cobra as our last towel animal. Our stateroom steward, Gabriel was awesome!



We were up a while, packing and then off to bed...for the last time on the Carnival Ecstasy...