Birthdays and Ballerinas

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY to my oldest daughter, Drew! I cannot believe I blinked...seems like just yesterday that we were changing her diapers and giving her a bottle! Where did my baby go??? She has grown into the lovliest young lady! She's smart, talented and beautiful! And she's so kind to others...except maybe her sister occassionally ;-) and polite and everything I had ever dreamed of in a daughter! We are so proud of her and we never cease to be amazed at the wonderful things she accomplishes as she grows up before our very eyes! We love you so very much, Drew! You and your sister have made our lives so rich and full and we are forever grateful to be your lucky, lucky parents!

I snapped this shot this morning while waiting for the bus. She's so excited to be 8 and is forever saying how she can't wait until she's 9. Woah! Slow down baby!!


No doubt making some birthday wishes as she blows on this dandelion...

Yesterday, the girls had their ballet dress rehearsal at their studio. Here's the entire group, young and old.

At their recital, Drew will be dressed like Luci and Sonja (except her dress is light blue), the teacher didn't want to bother getting her changed for this. These 3 have a little trio dance.

Like her sister, Luci LOVES ballet, too!

Drew sneaks a smile for the camera while waiting for the music to start.

My niece, Sonja. Very dainty!

While watching some of the older girls do their dances, Sonja finds a comfy seat on the back of Luci!

Drew's group.

Sonja and Luci's duet. This used to be a trio, but the teacher pulled Drew out so she'd have a spot to change her costume. Drew was none too happy when she heard that!

Drew is very graceful!

Hannah Banana does a little duet with her best friend...also named Hannah!

Great form, Hannah!

Huh...what a shocker...Drew's the shortest one!

I just love watching my girls ballet dance!

Today's Quote:

Dance is a delicate balance between perfection and beauty. ~Unknown

There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them. ~Vicki Baum

In a dancer, there is a reverence for such forgotten things as the miracle of the small beautiful bones and their delicate strength. ~Martha Graham

Awards and Nature's Rewards!

Yesterday, Drew and Luci's school held another award assembly. Below, Drew walks up to receive her award for Excellence in Spelling! She really is a great speller!

She also received another award...a red bracelet. The school participates with an online math program and as the students play the math games, they earn points. A couple of months ago, Drew earned 500 points on this program and she receieved a yellow bracelet. Today's red bracelet was awarded for 1,000 points! Way to go Drew! Her next goal is a blue bracelet when she hits 2,000 points, and the BIG prize is a multi-colored bracelet when she gets 3,000! She's got her work cut out for her!

Here she shows off her awards!

Immediately after the award assembly, Drew's class went outside to plant flowers underneath their classroom windows.

Plants...check. Gloves...check.

Daddy digs a hole.

And, Voila! A lovely plant!

Drew poses in front of the 3 plants she planted.

After school, the weather warmed up considerably and the girls played outside on the jungle gym that Papa built!

And so did Papa! I already warned him this was going on the blog!!! What a goof-ball!

Today's Quote:

Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are. ~Bernice Johnson Reagon

Dance like no one is watching...Part 2

Tonight, Luci received her dance pictures as expected. Below is Luci in her tap costume. Her pose makes her look somewhat like a football player! Ah well, she's still a beauty, even if she still needs to work on her posing skills! Ha ha!



Luci's group in their ballet costumes. My niece Sonja is in the front row all the way to the left.

And last, but not least, here we have the three girls (mine and my niece, Sonja) in their ballet trio costumes. I can't wait to see the three dances they are doing together!

Today's Quote:

Perhaps our eyes need to be washed by our tears once in a while, so that we can see life with a clearer view again. ~Alex Tan

Dance like no one is watching....

Drew came home from dance class tonight with her dance pictures. Here she is in her Jazz costume. The tap costume is the same top with silver capri's added instead of the short-shorts (which you can't see in the picture.) What a beautiful girl! Buying those hairpieces for the girls was the best investment I ever made! They need buns for ballet, and these hairpieces clip right on top of the buns in 30 seconds! Certainly makes recital day, which is coming up in just 2 weeks, really, really easy and a lot less stressful! The girls' stunning beauty never ceases to amaze me!


And here's the entire group in their tap costumes. Living in such a culturally NON-diverse community certainly makes it easy to pick Drew out in a crowd! Ha ha!

Luci will most likely receive her photos on Wednesday when she has her class, so I'll post those when I get them. There will also be a ballet photo with both girls and my niece, Sonja who are doing a ballet trio this year.

Today's quote:

There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it. ~Chinese Proverb

May musings!

This past Monday, at Luci's Daisy Girl Scout meeting, the girls got their faces painted by the junior troop which meets in another part of the building at the same time. She HAD to have a picture of it, so I thought I'd post it here!

On Tuesday, our chorus held our annual dinner at a local restaurant. This year we had plenty to celebrate with our first place win and most improved chorus award. We always take a group photo during this dinner and this year we got to pose with our Most Improved Trophy! As you can see, a few people didn't get the "red shirt memo", but we still make a pretty good looking bunch!

Our chorus knows how to have a good time! One of our class clowns, Michele, wrote a humorous poem about us. The glasses and teeth were for effect!

During the reading of the poem, she referenced a time when, on Saturday after our win, we were hanging out in our hospitality room and singing for each other. One of our directors, Genine, felt her plate drop while she was singing and had to hold it in place to finish her song. We all got a good laugh out of it, but even bigger laughs when Michele "dropped" her teeth as well!

Luci's class was given trees for Arbor Day. She and Daddy planted it in the yard! Drew's brownie troop was given trees for Earth Day last month and they also planted that a week or 2 earlier, but I neglected to get pictures!

A nice shot of one of my little knock-outs! Love this shot!

On Friday morning, Luci's class held their Mother's Day Tea for all the moms. Cheese!

Luci's gift to me...a cupcake she frosted herself, some art and a lovely "essay" about her mom! I never knew I made the best tootsie rolls! Ha ha! I think she meant roly poly's, but that's up for debate...I think Grandma would win that contest! She also thinks the best part of me are my "pretty eyelashes"! I knew I didn't get that LASIK surgery for nothing!

Me and my little monkey!

On Friday afternoon, I went to my niece's school and watched as she recieved an award for Outstanding Effort! Here's Sonja receiving her award from the principal.

Like Drew, she's a peanut, too!

She's very proud of her achievement! We're all pretty proud of her, too!

A shot with little brother Max! Little cuties!

While waiting for Sonja to be signed out, Grandpa took Max out to the play equipment. Here's a cool shot of Mr. Max!

And at last, on the day honoring moms everywhere....Mother's Day, of course! My gift from both my dad and Dean was, of course, the patio! Here is the finished product! It now has a table, though, so we can eat and play games out here during warm weather! I just LOVE it! Not sure how long that gazebo will last as we have some hellacious winds come through, but my dad has plans to construct a wooden one should this one bite the dust! Once we get some grass growing around the patio this will look even nicer!

And from my girls, I received some lovely flowers to plant outside! I know just where to put them...in my stone garden that I installed last year under the trees in our side yard! Thanks, girls! I love them!

Today's Quote:

When you're chewing on life's gristle, don't grumble, give a whistle! And this'll help things turn out for the best...and...always look on the bright side of life...always look on the light side of life! ~Monty Python's Life of Brian

I'm a true-blue Monty Python fan, so when I came across this quote, I just had to use it! Who knew Monty Python could be so dead-on accurate about life?