Sunday, May 30, 2010

one dancer and one year

Whew! Finally getting a chance to breathe here:) Had lots going on last week/weekend and now it seems like Aislynn is coming down with a sore throat/cold so slowing getting back in the swing of normal life here. I will start with Aislynn's pictures from her dress rehearsal. We weren't allowed to videotape or take pictures during the recital, so we did during the dress rehearsal. Unfortunately, the video of her dances were on tape because the memory card wouldn't have been able to hold it all, and there isn't a way to put them on the computer. Here are the pictures from her ballet dance (she is in the front, 3rd from the right):
In case you are wondering about the bats, the dance was to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
It was so cute after the first group of dancers went because Kieran started clapping and saying "Na Na," which is what he calls Aislynn:)
They did the tap dance to "Ticket to Ride."
When I went backstage to pick her up, she told me she was nervous that I wasn't back there with her. Well, for the recital, she gave me a big hug and kiss and told me, "It's okay, Mom. You can leave me here." Then she clapped her hands together and told everyone "Hey everyone, I brought coloring books and crayons!" I don't know about you all, but there are certain moments in this adventure called parenting that make me an emotional mess. I was really trying not to cry as I blew her a kiss and walked to the auditorium to perform. It was odd, that not that long ago, I was the one performing (I danced until I was 16)...and now here I am, watching my beautiful, talented, amazing daughter dance onstage. Maybe it was partly that exactly a year ago on that day, it was my last day being pregnant with K...and then there he was, bouncing on my lap to the music and clapping when he heard the applause after each dance. Time really does fly so incredibly fast...even more so with these 2 precious sweethearts in the picture. Okay, sorry! Enough sappiness:) I do just want to add that when Aislynn was waiting on the stage to go out, she was looking for us. We were all waving at her and she saw us and starting waving like crazy! She had the BIGGEST smile on her face during her dances and she did so good! At the end of her tap dance she bowed (no one else did) before she went off the stage. She is a character, I love it!
Andrew and Jessica came over Wednesday night, and on Thursday, they hung out with the kiddos a little in the backyard. Andrew shot some hoops and played some soccer with this one...
We then went to the beach, which worked out because both kids took good long naps before Aislynn's recital.
The birthday boy! I cannot believe he is 1!!!!!!! It's crazy! It feels like it was just yesterday that he was in my belly, but at the same time it seems like he has been a part of our family forever. Weird. I will be posting a white onesie post with what he is up to these days sometime later this week. Thinking I should make a mini album with those monthly pictures?
I had his shirt made from flyduds on etsy. I LOVE how it turned out!! It was soo sooo soooo hard to get a good picture of him. He was wriggly and he wanted that hat OFF!
Opening presents (Aislynn was a big help, ha!).
Hee, love this one!
Aislynn helped blow the candle out.
He did not mess around, grabbing a fistful of cake!
Aislynn waiting for her piece of cake to arrive:)
He went straight into the bath after this...there was cake everywhere!!!
Then playing with some of his new toys...this one from Grandma and James.
After the kids went to bed, we broke out the wine, that was fun:) Here is a picture of my brothers and sister.
Not sure what was so funny:)
The next day we went to Mimi and Papa's beach house to have party #2. We went swimming after eating and opening presents and here is K relaxing in his float with a mohawk:) Sunday was pretty relaxed and we went out to dinner with Phillip and Josh before they left. I think Aislynn was a little bored today, ha ha! I know I am missing lots of pictures, so Jess and Bernie-send them to me!!!

Monday, May 24, 2010

permanent vacation?

This is how I feel lately...spending lots of time outdoors, spontaneously going to the beach at 4 in the afternoon and picking up pizza for dinner afterwards, laundry consisting of bathing suits and beach towels, a layer of sand on our tile floor, neglecting regular household chores (but who cares because we are at the beach!). I think we went to the beach more times this week then all of last year (because of teeny tiny K-has it REALLY been almost a year??). This past weekend, my friend Becky and her little girl, Riley came over, and we of course headed to the beach, here are the pictures: I totally copied the idea of bringing K's little splash pool to the beach from someone we saw while taking a walk! Plop it right under the umbrella and we are good:)
The beach babes...I think the first time they went to the beach together was when Aislynn was 22 months, so Riley was about 16 months? They play very well together too, and they are special buds since they don't see each other often, but really get excited when they are going to see each other.
This guy eventually crawled out of the pool and was crawling all over the sand...I think he would've went straight into the water if I didn't stop him. He is most definitely a beach baby!He loved going into the water with Daddy too! Shaun was holding him up like this and every time a wave came and touched his piggies, he would do a little happy bouncy dance:)
Friday, Aislynn was really nervous about going into the water, but Saturday she was having a blast with the waves!
She had to have had at least a cup of sand in the crotch of her bathing suit from this...
After dinner, we had promised the girls ice cream if they were good, so we headed to Kilwin's. They were so serious about eating their ice cream.Love little girl dresses and sandals...cuteness!
We had a great weekend with you girls!!! Now it's a busy week of dance rehearsals and a recital and a big birthday boy!!! Maybe some more beach time too;)

Thursday, May 20, 2010

sunny days...

As you know, I decided to make my blog private. We had major drama with Shaun's Mom this past week/weekend when she was here, and I just decided this would be the best thing, and with everything going on with the house, now I can update here without having to worry about random people stumbling across the blog.
So after all the drama, we decided to just have some family fun together, so we headed to the beach. Kieran LOVED it:) He was pretty content with this shovel until he discovered the sand. Then it was all about consuming the sand:) A loved the water. A wave totally knocked her out, but she just giggled and said it was fun. She also loved playing "Jack and Jill," where she would keep filling up her buckets with sand.
Shaun took Kieran in the water, which he was sorta nervous about the waves, but he did love the water eventually:)
Monday we went to swim at Shaun's Dad's beach house and that was fun! A loved the water, but it seems like everything from last summer (swimming classes) went out the window. Oh well, she still had fun!!!
Ahhhh, this is the life:)
My boys hanging by the pool...
Tuesday was Aislynn's last dance class before her recital and they invited the parents in for the last half hour so that we could preview the dances and the girls got awards. Shaun came with us and A was sooooo excited. She stopped dancing to give him a thumbs up:) This picture below cracks me up. Shaun always teases Aislynn about "hips" so when it got to that part of the dance, she looked at him and smiled. A and her teacher. The girls got these cute medals at the end of class!! Yesterday we went to meet my friend from high school, Alaina, and her sweet new baby boy. She'll send me the pictures. Today we had a play date, and another one tomorrow, then a friend and her daughter are coming this weekend. Busy busy, but looking forward to the weekend...scrappy time for Mama and playtime for the girlies!