dance recital time.

emme's dance recital was a couple weeks ago and it was so adorable. she loved dressing up and especially wearing make-up (sparkly eye shadow, blush, lip gloss). she looked like a little prima and i was so proud of her! she really followed along and did all the moves so well.

she's torn on whether she wants to take dance again next year, but i'm hoping she sticks it out another year at least. it is fun to watch her and i think she's got a knack for it.

the performance was super cute and she plowed through even though it was right in the middle of nap time. hollis made it through his sister's performance, then promptly passed out on my lap. poor duder.

my parents sent flowers the day before since they weren't able to come into town for the event - they got delivered while she was napping, so she got to discover them at the front door. it was so cute and she was super excited to get a beautiful arrangement just for her. she was devastated that they didn't live forever.

we also picked up a flower lollipop bouquet for her at the recital. she was a fan....

picture overload - so hard to edit this batch down...

first dance recital.

ek's dance recital was on saturday and it was hilarious.  she started dance a few months ago, but i don't think it really clicked for her that the culmination of that activity was a performance on stage.  last week, we had parents' observation in her class.  she barely danced at all - mostly she looked at us and looked at herself in the mirror and kind of flopped around.  i was not optimistic about the amount of legit dancing we would see come recital time.

the dress rehearsal was a trip.  it was from 4-6 on a friday afternoon (side note: how are there this many women who DON'T work?  what year is this?), so i worked from home earlier in the day, then grabbed the kidlets from school, battled traffic to round rock, wrestled a sweaty emme into her costume, bribed her with lipstick, then deposited her in a dark theatre solo.  whew.  i didn't realize beforehand (communications were not the best) that she would have to be in the auditorium without me, so i didn't get to pre-wire her at all.  stuff like that freaks her out, plus she was super duper freaked out to go up on stage.  my kid is not the ham that some kids are, that's for sure.

anyway…hollis and i wandered around the performing arts center, reading the same three books about 492 times until i was allowed to grab her.  fortunately, that was at around 5:!5, so she didn't have to stay the full 2 hours.  she was bright eyed when she got out of the theatre - seeing the "big girls" dance, seeing everyone else's costume, the lights and darkness - it was pretty cute.  i asked her how she felt being up on stage and she informed me that she didn't go.  i guess she got upset when she got her leg stuck in the chair in the audience, so she sat on some adult's lap and didn't go up when it was her class's turn.

so i was not optimistic about her actually dancing on saturday.  when we got there, it was total chaos.  i'd had to wake both hollis and emme up from 3+ hour naps to make it on time, and there were zillions of families and kids everywhere.  it was a bit overwhelming, and none of us had had lunch!  fortunately, i brought a boatload of cheerios, so they were able to have a pre-recital snack.  em did better when i dropped her at the green room, but she was still a little freaked out.  hollis and i found a seat and waited for the show to begin.

emme's class went on 5th and it was fairly adorable.  she didn't do much dancing right at first, but then she tried a few moves and smiled and did her thing.  she's at least 2-3 months younger than the youngest kid in her class (they were all supposed to be three before the end of august and she's a november birthday), so i didn't feel badly that the nearly-five year-olds were much more focused than she was.  i was just SO proud that she got up on the stage and so so excited that jb made it in time to see her.  she applauded at the end of her performance, which i thought was super cute - i just know she was so relieved to have made it through.

they didn't allow videos in the performance, and i haven't decided if we're going to buy the DVD yet or not, but i snapped a few pics of them snacking before the show, and we got a couple more shots afterward, before she changed out of her costume in the middle of the parking lot.

reemerging.

man, a week sure does go by in a hurry.  this past one was a blur for many reasons.

two weeks ago, justin's uncle was killed in a car accident.  he was 56 and driving his son home from college when another driver veered over the center line, clipped his truck, and he flipped.  both his son and the other driver emerged with minor scratches, but brian was pronounced dead at the scene.  needless to say, this was a very tragic accident.  brian and marilyn were super close, and brian's kids have lost three grandparents and their father in the last year.  things like this always make me realize how fragile and precious life is - nothing is certain and it's a good reminder not to take even the most mundane bits of life for granted.

the kids and i weren't able to attend the services, but justin flew up and got to spend a few days with his family.  while he was gone, the kids and i handled up on emme's dress rehearsal for her dance recital, whole foods, and some serious park time.  emme's favorite spot to eat after school on fridays is the whole foods up north (near their school), but i have a feeling we'll be looking for a new spot now that it's crazy hot and we'll be at a new school in july.  anyway...she devoured 6 or 7 stuffed grape leaves for dinner that night.  it makes me irrationally happy that my kids eat things like grape leaves.  also, hollis defaults to playing peekaboo at all times right now.  when he sees you see him, he immediately covers his eyes (or at least one of them) and then flashes a big grin when he reveals himself.

justin got home saturday and drove straight from the airport to ek's dance recital.  he skidded in right as her performance was starting, which was magical.  even though it was short and pretty anti-climactic, i'm so glad we both got to watch her up on stage.  i'll write a separate post about that.

sunday we went on a mission to get furniture for our patio project, which is nearing completion (!!!!).  apparently, children love to go into large containers.  we may need to invest in some sort of decorative box for them.

weekendly.

the weekends are never long enough and i always plan to accomplish infinitely more than is possible with two young kidlets, but whatever.  lately we've been beginning the weekend at the new whole foods up north by the kids' school - pick them up friday afternoon and let them go buck wild while we sip a beverage, enjoy the springier weather and graze on yummy snacks.

this weekend, we went to the natural gardener saturday morning to pick out some stuff to grow this year.  our yard was really well-landscaped when we bought our house, but it's been a super hard winter, so we had some stuff to replace.  plus, i wanted to attempt a few veggies this year, and i have a nice herb garden kicking as of now.  so for edibles we have: zucchini, yellow crookneck squash (heirloom variety - super excited), cucumbers, japanese eggplant, banana peppers, cherry peppers.  i will pick up a cherry tomato plant or two this week, as they tend to fare better in our super fun texas summers.  herbs: oregano, cilantro, rosemary, sage, english thyme, lavendar, feverfew, chives, spearmint, burnet salad.  i'm just guessing we'll lose the chives and cilantro before too long, but they've had a good run.  if i could grow other plants as well and i can grow oregano, i would be a horticulturalist.

55.

the other night, we did letter work in ek's room after hollis went to bed.  she is really starting to recognize letters (though the only ones we have are lower case, which are way harder and not what she's accustomed to at school) and she is quite good at giving the starting sound and then telling us examples of what else starts with that.  in montessori, they learn the alphabet, but when they're learning letters for practical use at this age, they learn them as sounds.  so, T is learned as ta (the sound it makes in the word) instead of as tee.  and so on.

anyway...when it was time to pick up, i held open the bag and had her count all the letters as she was putting them back in (hoping it would motivate her to do it without too much complaint).  i figured we'd get to 15 or 18 and then just start over.  but she just kept right on going.  for all 55 letters.  she needed a little help here and there (she has a tendency to skip the 7s - 27, 37, etc, and she wasn't quite sure about 40), but she TOTALLY got it.

i love watching new things click into place in her brain.  and i am so amazed at how she learns and how i can not think about counting for a few weeks and she's more than halfway to 100.

rsv.

last night was ek's first "real" dance class, since last week was just a trial.  i'm still on the fence about committing to something like this with her being only three and me already having a hard enough time feeling spread so thin, etc.  but man she loves it so much.  in last night's class, they sang "bippity boppity boo" while twirling and running around the room, flinging scarves this way and that.  she could not stop jabbering about it last night or this morning.

hollis has rsv and an ear infection.  poor thing.  he's so pitiful - this is the sickest he has ever been by far.  i brought him to the doctor this morning and his breathing is still pretty good, so that is a relief.  he's napping right now and when he wakes up we'll go fill his prescription and hopefully get him to eat something.

some dudes are working on our house right now - we're having a wall removed between our laundry/storage rooms, scraping popcorn off the ceiling in the den, removing paneling and installing drywall, etc.  it's a lot to manage.  the television is in the middle of our dining area, furniture and random stuff is scattered throughout the rest of the house.  i'm super excited to see what it's going to look like, just not entirely thrilled about the process toward that end result.

first dance class.

we brought ek to a dance class last night as a little trial to see if she'd like it, if she'd go, etc.  i have really battled the whole extra-curricular activity thing because i feel like she's really young and also like we're already spread super thin and how do you fit one more single thing into life?  bleh.

but, she's been dancing around the living room daily and telling us to check out her "ballet".  and there's a dance school like 90 seconds away from our house.  so.

of course, i neglected to snap a picture.  but despite initial reluctance/shyness to go inside, she sucked it up and went.  she did awesome - paid attention, participated, followed instructions.  she looked like she was having a blast and couldn't stop talking about it last night and this morning.  so i think we're going to do it.