Father Daughter dance

Last night was the Father Daughter dance at the Y.  She was SO excited for it!  I had gotten her a new dress to wear and she asked to put it on around 7am.  I think I held her off at least until after lunch.  I let her put on a little makeup (lip gloss and blush) and she chose her jewelry.  It was a very special night and they had a lot of fun!

 Pictures taken at the dance!

Claire's dance recital

Claire has been taking ballet and jazz at the Y again this year.  She continues to enjoy it and I love that it's fairly low-key and fun for the kids.  I especially love that the recital was about 20 minutes long and we didn't even have to buy tickets!  Not that I wouldn't have loved to sit through 3 hours of a dance recital like all the other ones I heard about on facebook.  (It was definitely dance recital weekend!)  Claire's teacher did a great job and aside from some "costume drama" she really loved dancing on the stage and being a part of the recital.  

 I invited the whole family and they came out to support this beautiful dancer!  Mimi, Papa, Uncle Andy, Aunt Tara, Samara, Popa, Aunt Bradford, Patti, Mommy, Daddy, and Fielder were all in the audience.  She was most excited that Samara was coming.  :-)

 Here she is with Alison and Mallory - she has had such fun with these girls every Friday night!

The whole crew came back to our house for pizza and ice cream sundaes to celebrate.  It made the day very special for her - thank you to all our family for crossing the river to make it!!

Catchin' Up

Just a few recent pictures from April/May...

Healthy Kids day at the Y....Fielder's first time getting his face painted.  I was shocked at how still he was.  (It's a smiley face)

We Heart Harlie Day - I ran the 5K in the morning and Rob came with the kids later.  They had a great time in the bouncy house and having popsicles!  Afterwards we had a Mother's day lunch at Mom and Dad's house with Andy, Tara, and Samara.  No other pictures but it was a fun day!

On Sunday (Mother's Day) I somehow didn't get a single picture with the kids!!  I woke up early that morning so I settled in on the couch with a cup of coffee and my book....and then I heard rustling and down the stairs came Claire.  She had wrapped my gifts and couldn't wait any longer to give them to me.  She gave me some cards, a wonderful book she made me, and a few things she found in her dresser. ??  The book was my favorite - and my favorite page said "My mom likes wine and salad."  (True!!)  Fielder also had made me some beautiful pictures at school that he gave me.  Rob gave me some time alone (a MUCH appreciated gift) and later in the day Claire and I went shopping together.  We were just in the Target parking lot but I got this sweet picture of her smelling the flowers.  They drive me totally insane at times, but I love being a mommy to these two!

The neighborhood Spring carnival....it happened to be the same night as her dress rehearsal for her dance recital which made for a long day, but since we had to drive right past it there was no way I was getting out of taking her to the carnival!  We got to see Jonathan Austin perform (I even got called up to help him) and I finally got to try the Boka Taco truck - YUM!!

1st Baseball game

Claire's school had Reading Night at the baseball field and Popa went along with her and Rob.  They got to parade around the field with all the kids from her school. 

And of course, the real reason she had so much fun...cotton candy!

Firemen Games

Last weekend was absolutely perfect weather and we decided to go check out the Firemen Games. Rob had taken Fielder last year and knew they would like it.  They had bounce houses, every kind of fire and rescue truck you could imagine, and of course the firemen were competing.  It was a really great event - kids had lots of fun but got very distracted by ice cream and because I wouldn't let them have ice cream at 10am it became too much of an issue.  We ended up going back to the car for snacks and headed to Robius Landing.  Here they are on a cool police motorcycle...Fielder is pointing at the &%$# ice cream truck.  (We did end up with chick-fil-a later and of course, ice cream, so I guess they got their way!)

 Claire giving me a serious police pose:

Say cheese

Most every picture I take of Fielder is a blur...or something like this:

So imagine my surprise when his school pictures come home (taken on his first week) and they look like this:

Oh bestill my heart!!  He looks so grown up.  The one on the left is my absolute favorite.  How'd they get him to hold still?!  Just don't let that sweet face fool ya :-)


This one wasn't my favorite but it's still pretty cute (even with snack crumbs on his face!)

Donut Day

Mmmm....I've been wanting to try one of the fun donut shops in Richmond and this was the perfect morning for it.  We talked Daddy into taking us to Country Style and they were delish!

 Fielder moves so much and so fast, it's hard to capture him on film.  Obviously he loved them!

 The aftermath...

Maybe not the healthiest of traditions but a fun once-in-a-while treat for the family on the weekend!