Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Wednesday

Today was nice. I have Wednesday's off to spend with my girls, do some lingering dishes and laundry (both of which I never get done), and maybe catch some afternoon down time. The last few Wednesdays, though, have been so busy with activities and duties that my days off have felt more like a day on. Today was nice though. I stayed in my pajamas and didn't shower until noon. Nice. I did dishes and laundry. I read to my girls and played with them. I laid around and snoozed during the girls' nap time. We had a great day. Then, for dinner, I asked Dave if we could eat out, and go to a few stores. He agreed to my plan, and we did just that. Since I hadn't put on any make-up today, I brought my bag of make up along, and did it in the mini van when we pulled up to the restaurant. Julia loves to watch me do my make-up, and asks me if she can wear some every single time. Since the car was parked, I let Julia get out of her seat and crawl up in the front to watch me do my make-up. She immediately started asking questions about application and which types she was allowed to wear. Then she asked me. "Mom, when you die, can I have your eyeliner?" The end. -Amber

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

"Housekeeping"

Praise the Lord, it's finally raining! I am so glad. After having one hot day after the other, I am thoroughly enjoying, this dark, rainy day. Thank you Lord for the rain! Our little garden was so dehydrated.
This last weekend was crazy busy for the four of us. We spent some wonderful time with our friends who are moving to Seattle (tear), had a garage sale with them, visited the fire station near our house, went to church, and went swimming on Sunday evening. Because of all of that, I miserably failed to get our Father's day cards out for Father's day. I have the cards, and still plan to send them, but they were accidently left at a friends house, and we haven't had the opportunity to run by and pick them up yet. But, to Papa, Grandpa Dan and Papa Don, Happy Belated Father's Day!!! We all love you very much. (At least I was successful in handing Dave his card.)

To Dave: Thanks for being a great Father to our girls and a wonderful husband to me. I couldn't do this crazy thing called life without you! I love you, Happy Father's day, again.

To Mom: Happy, happy, happy, happy  Birthday!! Enjoy getting your nails done and going to Lafeyette to eat with Dad. Love you!!

To add to next month's craziness, I am feverishly planning a strawberry shortcake pool party for my youngest daughter who is turning the ripe old age of 3. She's so big! I can't wait to celebrate my little shortcake.
In other news, Julia read her first two words last week!!!! Dave practiced the word exit with her, and two days later, she read it right off of an EXIT sign. She also sounded-out the word book two days later. That girl is going to be reading to us in no time!! I can't wait to catch her reading to Lydia in a moment of sweet sisterhood. How cute. I just love my crazy kids.
Well, I guess I'm going to sign off for now. Could this post be anymore random? Please have a very safe and fantastic Fourth of July!! Independently, Amber

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Life is Good.

No news is good news, right? I don't have much to say today, but I don't want to lag behind on blogging. So, here goes....

We have been working hard, and staying busy lately. The girls are enjoying their summer babysitter, and I am happy to have someone coming to my home to watch my girlies. I love not having to rip them out of their peaceful dream states in the morning so that I can get them to school on time. I just let them eat their breakfasts leisurely in their pajamas or sleep in. It's like the good old days.
Dave and I are contemplating a lot right now, but have decided to lay low and see what God has in store. We have been thinking about moving into Sugar Land next year. It seems really crazy to me that we are even considering this option as we've only been in our beautiful, much loved home and neighborhood for a year and a half. But, the long haul to work and church is definitely taking a toll on us. Dave may have the opportunity to teach a Sunday School class starting in the fall, so we would love to be able to get to church, work and the girls school in less than 30 minutes. We'll see.
Changing Sunday School classes so that Dave can teach would be hard and sad, but I am totally excited to support him if he does get to teach. I know he grows so much from lesson preparation, and I love to see him fulfilled in that way. But, if he does teach, it'll be a balancing act for us all. I don't know when he'll fit the lesson preperation in. Maybe he can do it while the rest of us are sleeping. He slept WAY too much in highschool and college anyway.
I am amazed to see how the girls are growing and changing. Julia is becoming such a big girl and understanding concepts that little toddlers don't really get. It's so wonderful to see her little mind work.
Julia and Lydia fight a lot these days. They fight over toys and over invisible objects and about what the other one is saying about them. If you are riding in the car with us, you'll often hear:
"Mooommm, Lydia/Julia is saying I'm naughty, but I'm not naughty. I'm nice!"
Lydia is getting big too. She is saying new things and just as spunky as her sister. She is struggling a lot with contentment these days though. She has hit a whiney stage in the last two weeks that is about to drive me nutty. But hopefully she'll snap out of it soon. She'll be 3 years-old in a month!!! Boohoo, hoo, hoo.
We hope to make it to the beach this summer, play a lot in the pool and have tons of family time. Next weekend, I've scheduled for us to tour our local fire station. Julia hasn't let me forget about it since I mentioned the idea to her a few months ago. I am definitely looking forward to that, as well as, celebrating Independence day and Lydia's 3rd Birthday in July. I can't believe I'm saying this, but, I love Summer!!!
-Amber

Monday, June 6, 2011

Julia's First Dance Recital

Well, Folks, this blog post calls for a lot of pictures. So, that's what you're gonna get. Julia had her first recital on Saturday, and it was so, so, so fun to watch!! Her 5 minutes of fame were recorded on our ancient, video camcorder. The other 3 hours and 45 minutes of the first part of the recital were not. Those minutes were also fun to watch...but we were all exhausted at the end of them.

Julia had a beautiful little costume that had pants for tap and a tutu for ballet.

Julia before the show in tap outfit.

Lots of make-up and tons of hairspray.

Mimi and Princess Lydia
 I told Lydia that she could wear a princess costume to the Recital. I didn't want her to feel too left out. If she couldn't dance on stage, at least she could dress up like a princess. :)
Leader of the pack.
 I was so torn about whether or not to use my flash during the show. The owner of the dance studio told us not to, but I knew the pictures would turn out all blurry and hard to see if I didn't. I decided to be good and forget about using the flash. I was already rebelling by giving Lydia snacks in a "No Food Allowed!" theatre. At least we've got it all on video. So, so cute!
 This was right after Julia started bossing the rest of her dance team and right before she stopped dancing to wave at us in the crowd.

Julia and her little posse had two dance numbers. One for ballet, and one for tap. (Hence, the seperate costumes I spoke of before.) Both her ballet number and her tap number were totally adorable.
Princess Lyd got to hold her sister's trophy for a few small minutes.

Flowers for a job well done.
I was amused at this thought: Dave and I paid for dance this semester, bought Julia the practice outfit, tap shoes, ballet shoes, dance tights, and the costume for her recital. I dolled her up, and we missed out on some church plans to go to a 4 hour dress rehearsal on Friday and a 4 hour recital Saturday. I'm not saying we didn't love every minute of the whole dance experience. But, I am saying that I think it's ironic that we're the ones giving Julia flowers. Look at her sweetly brightened eyes though. I love it.
Trophy and Flowers!!!

Beautiful little Ballerina, and Beautiful little Princess

Julia in her ballet tutu.


Lyd opted out of this photo.
 My parents and brother were here for less than 24 hours. I really appreciate them coming though. I'm sure it was hard for them to go back to work today after such a weekend whirlwind. (I know I was exhausted!) Thanks so much, Mom, Dad and Alex for coming!!!!!

Woooohoooo!
 Right after both of Julia's dance numbers, Julia dropped her hands, and ran off stage before any of her fellow dance-mates were finished bowing. She was ready to be done immediately after her little show was over. It made us all laugh, it was just so cute!

Thanks for letting my share my cuties with all of you!! Love, Amber