Dance Class + Children's Museum

I'm loving this Itty Bittty Dance class that Olivia is taking.  It's a really small group of kids and she responds really well to the energetic teacher.  Last week, they did a little performance for the moms and it was just too cute.  One of the dances was to Old Straw Hat by Shirley Temple.  Oh my gosh - SO cute.  I love that she is doing these little dance classes, because really, it is just too adorable seeing her dance around a little studio {especially in her little dance outfits}.

And, there's really no easy way to segue into this, so.....

Today we went to the Children's Museum with our friend Marsha and her little boy, Michael.  We all had a really fun time and were exhausted when we came home!

Always in the mouth!

Love Michael's face here..

And I'll Be Shooting For My Own Hand

While the rest of the world watched the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, we were busy doing what we do on a daily basis:  playing princess.  And, the princess of choice this evening was none other than our latest and greatest, Merida, from the movie Brave.  Olivia loves her.  {And she was lucky enough to go see the movie again this afternoon with her Nana and Poppy.}

I got her the Merida dress at Target last week {because I'm a sucker and} because I was starting to get sick of the Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty story-lines that we have to play out while she dresses the part with the outfits we already had.

A few days after I got her the outfit, I saw an unraveled, red loofah sponge hanging in our shower and instantly knew it would be perfect Merida hair.  I instantly showed it to Olivia, cut it into a couple of strips and bobby pinned it to her hair.  She loved it, but it kept falling out and there's nothing I hate more than hearing her whine about her weave falling out.  ;)  So, I thought and I thought and when I organized her hair accessories the next day and found a plastic headband, I knew I had my solution.  It took a little convincing on her part, but once I had it done she was in love! 

It was fairly easy to do - I actually found another red loofah and unraveled that one and cut it into about four pieces, so I think I had about 8 pieces total.  I hot-glued the first piece right across the headband so she would have a little bit of bangs that would hopefully cover up her blonde hair.  The rest I sort of just pieced around so it would cover the sides and the top.  It's not salon-quality, but it's definitely cheaper than the $20 Disney version.

My dad fashioned a bow for her out of a twig from our backyard and some bakers twine and she could not have been more thrilled.  

King Fergus giving her some pointers.

I love my little drama queen princess.

David brought his iphone out and took some pictures of her and she started in on our favorite line from the movie {and audiobook}.  We were lucky to get it recorded.  Amazing!  You can also view it here.  

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

The Many Faces of Sydney Ryann

Watch out...

because you are about to get Sydney spammed.

It's her 11 month birthday, so naturally I made her sit outside in the triple digit heat and pose for some pictures.

Could not love her more if I tried.

Just so you know, this little munchkin is sleeping through the night {huzzah!}, has 8 teeth {well, not fully, but the new ones are poking through}, babbles like crazy and is full of new tricks.  

If you tap your hand over her mouth, she will go, AW AW AW AW AW AW.

If you sing Jesus Loves Me to her, she will sing back.  

When I tell her to lay her head down, she'll lay it down right on my chest.  

She is the sweetest.

Doing a little yoga.

This one makes me think she may be related to Dave Matthews.

If only you could hear the laugh/squeal that goes with this smile.  

She was not at all wanting to look up into the sun.

Oh Lord, is she her sister's sister or what?!

Sydney is so gentle with Magnum and he is actually willing to come sit net to her.

But, for the first time today, she cried when he came and sat next to her.

Right during my photo-op.

One more month until the big day.

Happy 11 Month Birthday, Sweet Baby.

Get With It

Almost a week with no update from our little family?  However have you survived?  Now that we are all caught up on our Downton Abbey, my evenings are a little more free to throw up some pictures on this here blog, so I promise to try and do better.  But, man, that Downton.  We love it.  But, it sure is hard to watch without subtitles -- the hourlong episode usually takes us longer because we are constantly rewinding it and asking What did she just say?  Love it though and I'm not happy that I have to wait a few more months to see season 3.

Anywho...onto how we finished up the week last week.  Despite my parents being out of town, we still managed to make it to all of our classes. {That is surely a miracle.} On Friday, Sydney and I took our first Mommy & Me class together.  Sydney enjoyed it, so that made me happy.  It was fun to see her interacting with the other babies and moving all around.  I totally expected her to stick close to me, but she definitely ventured off.  But, it wasn't my most favorite class ever and it really makes me appreciate what wonderful classes we had back in SLO.  I loved how there was always play time for the kids, but also an opportunity for the moms to talk and share what was going on at home and with their kiddos.  During this class, we did three interactive songs with the kids while sitting in a circle and then they had free time to roam around and play with the various toys until we gathered together at the end for some parachute time.  That was all fun, but there was no real adult interaction or shared conversation and I really miss that in a classroom structure.

On Saturday, I literally spent the entire morning cleaning house.  David took Olivia to a Zumba class {!!!} at the gym and Sydney took an extra long nap.  I seriously considered checking us into a hotel for the night so that the house could stay clean for longer than an hour.  But, alas, we did not.

We invited Liz and her kiddos over for a mini cook-out and pool party on Sunday and wouldn't you know I didn't take one stinkin' picture.  We had fun and hopefully helped Liz out since she's been single-parenting it for awhile while her husband is in the middle of baseball season.  

Today, I took Olivia to an art class with one of our favorite art teachers, Miss Kathy.  We just love being able to make a mess in her room.  Olivia took home 7 different mini-projects and also played with  mixing food-colored water.  Miss Kathy truly understands the short attention span of 3 and 4 year olds.

An easel made out of a pizza box!  How smart is that.

Now that you are all caught up, it's almost the middle of the week again.  

Day In, Day Out

I feel like such a lazy blogger these days.  I'm sure my posts lack any interest, but right now it's 9:30, I'm waiting on David to get out here so we can watch a little Downton Abbey before bed and I'm beat. He's still pretty sick, my parents are still out of town, and Syd slept for about an hour and a half today and THAT'S IT.  {It should be noted that an hour of that time was in the car and while we were at Target.}  I just realized that I haven't eaten dinner and have a basket of the girls' clothes begging to be folded.  So, here's a brief summary of our oh-so-exciting day.

I took the girls to see a puppet show this morning - The Monkey and the Pirate.  I'd never heard of that play/sketch/skit/story and after seeing the performance I'm fairly certain it has never existed before today.  It was pretty awful.  But, I got to dress Olivia according to a theme, so that made me pretty happy.

The monkey and the pirate...

Oh heavens, the cheeks from this angle.  

The first five minutes of the show consisted of the monkey puppet grunting.  

We were pretty much over it.

The frightening part of the triple-digit weather we're living with these days is that Target seems to be our favorite escape.  You know how difficult it is to escape Target without spending at least $100?  Especially when you have two kids with you -- half the time I don't even know what I'm getting until I'm home.  Anyway, we found this Merida costume and had to add it to our mix.  She loves it, I love her.  It's a win-win.

I took the girls to swim again this afternoon.  Sydney does so great there.  I packed a few toys and of course she only wanted to play with my keys. Olivia blows my mind at each lesson.  I'm amazed at all she has learned.

Alright, David's out so it's time to get our Downton Abbey on!  Happy Hump Day!

A Few Pictures From Our Day {and a birthday wish}

As I've mentioned before, I've enrolled Olivia in several classes this summer.  One of which is a Mommy & Me Pottery class, and let me just tell you that I just about break out into hives during each of the classes.  The room is full of breakables - most of which are other people's work - and I don't know what it is about the place that turns her into a crazed lunatic, but there you have it.  That's exactly what happens.  I'm grateful for our finished projects, but man am I ever glad that class is over!  Ha ha.

Does this picture give you any ideas of how stressful 45 minutes of every Tuesday has been?

Glazed and waiting to be fired.

We spent much of the day playing princess.  Why it takes her so long to get dressed anytime I need to go someplace is beyond me because she can change out of one princess costume and into another licketysplit!  She then likes to direct me and tell me what role to play for each story.

This afternoon we went to swim lessons.  I love the classes where Olivia can move and be active - that's much more her speed at this age!  She's such a great little swimmer.  I'm so proud of her.

Entertaining this little cherub while Big Sis swims.

Her favorite thing to do when swim lessons are over is to go and watch the big kids swim.  One of these days, it's going to be her in those big lanes...

Happy 39 Months, Crazy Girl

Saturday's Happenins

Saturday morning we took Olivia and Sydney to a Meet the Creature class.  I was a little nervous that the "creature" might be something like a snake or a lizard, but we were lucky enough to get a few fluffy critters in the mix.  Sydney loved standing on the little fence and looking at the animals.  The little bunnies were adorable and I won't deny that I sort of wanted one, but alas, we'll stick with our non-shedding iggy.

Saturday evening we met up with Liz and Brooklyn & Zack and headed back to Amazing Jake's.  The girls rode the train and carousel rides about a zillion times.  I guess we got our money's worth.

Those eyes + that smile = a winning combination. 

Clearly Sydney has her eyes on Zack.

This week has the potential to be a little crazy.  David has been sick and isn't showing signs of improving anytime soon and Mom and Dad are in Atlanta for the week.  So, my plan is to go to our classes, lay low and try to stay sane.  Posting may be a bit light this week. {Plus, we are slightly addicted to Downton Abbey and I need to focus my attention on that in the evenings!}  

So You Think You Can Dance

I can't believe that it is only Thursday night.  This week has been so busy, it honestly feels like it should be next Friday.  

Each morning this week, Olivia has been attending a Storybook Ballet Dance Camp at a local dance studio.  For two hours each day, she has been with at least 15 other little girls listening to stories, doing crafts and learning new dance movements.  It was bittersweet taking her into class each morning.  I love that she is old enough to be able to do these types of classes on her own, but at the same time it breaks my heart a little to see that she's not a baby anymore.  I've really enjoyed peeking in the windows to watch her as she interacts with the other girls as well as the teachers.  

First day of class...getting ready to go in.

According to the thank-you note she had me write for her teacher, lining up for the potty "choo-choo train" style was one of her favorite parts of the camp.

Oh goodness, I love this girl.

Making their Angus picture for their scrapbook.

The story of this camp was from the new Disney/Pixar movie, Brave.  At the beginning of the camp, the four groups of kids would gather in the large dance room to hear one of the teachers read a Brave story before breaking apart and going into their own rooms.  Olivia always had to be front and center for story time.  She would just go right into the room and sit down to listen.  I was so proud of her for being, well, brave enough to do these classes on her own without really knowing anyone else in the class.  {She was lucky enough to be in the group with her friend Brooklyn's cousin who she had met a couple times before.} 

The last twenty minutes of today's class was going to be the performance of what they had learned....a sort of recital, if you will.  The dance was to Touch the Sky by Julie Fowlis {from the soundtrack to Brave}.  Olivia, just like Merida, went a little rogue during the routine, but we loved it.  {And, yeah, both mom and I cried.}  You can watch her performance here.  

Love her little princess ribbon.

Celebrating with Nana after the show.

My mom and I went and got Olivia some flowers during the first part of her class.  We also picked up some for her to give to her teacher.  Last night, she made a little thank-you card for her and the first line was, "Thank you for taking me to the potty."  This girl.  Of course, when she gave her the card, she had to open it up out of the envelope.  And then this afternoon she got upset when I took the flowers out of the tissue paper and put them in a vase.  I guess she wanted to carry them around all day.

Hope this girl loves to dance as much as I love to watch her.

{Especially considering I just dropped a benjamin on new dance clothes.}

Way to go my sweet ballerina!