Happy Memorial Day!

To celebrate Memorial Day, we enjoyed a relaxing morning at home, headed to the gym, then finished off the day at Granny Annie's house for a yummy cookout! Not having a parent in the military, it's hard to explain to Kate and Gabe the significance of Memorial Day. But, I do hope that as they grow we will be better able to share with them how thankful we are to those moms and dads, men and women, who give their lives to serve our country and give us the freedoms we so often take for granted. And to our many friends whose husbands are in the military, and to our friends in the military......Thank You!!!

We love Granny Annie!

After a yummy grilled shrimp dinner, the kids hopped on their bikes and we headed to the park.

Kate wanted to "race" her daddy on the swings to see who could go the highest....I think it was a tie.






After playing and riding bikes around the park, the kids wanted pictures.
They each chose their own spot....

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Then Gabe wanted a picture with Kate on the cannon.

Happy Memorial Day!

Baja Buggyz

With Gabe's birthday only a little over 3 months away (and since Kate's birthday is right behind his), I have begun the party planning process! Actually, I kind of start planning about 11 months before the party, but I don't actually finalize a theme that early. :) That said, the party themes are set now, and for Gabe, it's racing! To be a little more specific, he is having a Dune Buggy party and we are so excited! I found this great dune buggy track and have been waiting to go check it out....it's perfect! We had a blast racing around the track today at Baja Buggyz and afterwards went ahead and booked his party! Now I'll get to spend the next few months working on all the little details to make Gabe's day extra special!

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Kate & Gabe are both too short to drive the dune buggies, but they aren't too short to have a blast! With wind in our face and dust in our hair, we flew around the track more times than I could count! The kids loved it and would have probably stayed several more hours. I think we have a winner for Gabe's birthday party!

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Gabe was a VERY serious passenger!

Daddy & Kate with a trail of dust behind them........

Jon is definitely a wilder driver than me!

We swapped out riders after the first round of laps around the track.

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Kate loved the dune buggies, but she didn't forget her love of bugs.

She found so many grasshoppers and caterpillars and tried to catch every single one!

Dance pictures in the park

After Kate's dance recital we told her she could pick wherever she wanted for dinner. Well, she chose Chick-fil-A.....no surprise there I guess! I actually thought she would pick IHOP, but I guess I should have known better! Anyway, after eating I asked her if she would let me take some pictures of her at the park in her ballet costume since most of my pictures from the recital were sort of blurry. I was so excited when she agreed! Kate & Gabe both do great when it comes to pictures and let me take lots (obviously), but when it comes to only going somewhere for the purpose of pictures, they aren't always so excited. Today was different. Kate really wanted to take these pictures....and it shows in their great natural smiles! And I say "they" because since Kate wanted to take lots of pictures, Gabe did too! I followed them all around the park as Kate went from one location to the next telling me where and how she wanted a picture. We had so much fun and probably spent an hour running around taking pictures!

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So, here we go!

Presenting........My beautiful ballerina princess and her handsome little brother.

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Gabe wanted something special to wear to the dance recital like Kate, so he asked if he could wear a tie. Of course I agreed! And much to my delight, he picked out a blue bow tie that matched Kate's outfit! I love that they love to match and take pictures. I have trained them well! ;) LOL! Their Daddy would probably be rolling his eyes right about now.... :)

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being silly.....

Gabe was equally excited about taking pictures tonight and also had his own ideas about where to take them around the park. He was being so cute and also so very silly!

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Is that not the look of a very mischievious little boy!?!

NXS Dance Recital

It's the day we have been practicing for all year.....Recital Time!!!! Since we are still very up in the air on whether Kate will continue with dance next year (due to just being too busy!), we were very excited about her first...and possibly last....dance recital! First, we had dress rehearsal yesterday afternoon. Kate loved getting a make-over for this! She has for a while now enjoyed putting on blush and nail polish, but today I had to put on her eye liner, mascara, blush, and lipstick....she was such a little princess! She insisted on looking at herself in the mirror after each item was applied! :) As long as she doesn't start expecting this every day after this weekend, it's cute. ;) I was just shocked with how much older it made her look! Anyway, we arrived at the High School Auditorium and Kate was excited to meet up with all the other girls. After getting dressed in their ballet costume, it was time for the little princesses to take the stage for practice. They were all so beautiful!!!!

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The girls did just a great job dancing to "I'm a Fairy Princess."

I know they will do awesome tomorrow!

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Next up: Tap!

The dance steps are a little more difficult, and there are a couple little kinks to hopefully work out by tomorrow, but overall the girls looked adorable and still did a great job!

The Dance: Mickey Mouse "Party for You!"

Kate, you did a great job!!!!






Once our girls were finished with their dances, we decided to stick around for a bit to watch some of the other classes perform.

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The opening act.....Mario Bros......is very fun!

Now, on to today.....The Big Day!

Kate was not at all nervous but only very excited and confident. One of her favorite books is called "Little Ballerina" and Kate loves to recite the 5 things every ballerina needs: Practice, Patience, Grace, Poise, and Confidence. Kate, you have mastered them all! The Sugar plum Fairy would be very proud of you! :)

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It was very busy at the Auditorium today. People everywhere, girls running around getting ready, and lots of excitement in the air. But, between the chaos and dances, the girls had fun in the dressing room! They played with dolls and video games, watched Tangled on a tiny screen, and just had great "girl time!"

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And while all that was happening backstage, our family was seated and ready to start the show! With running back and forth between the dressing room and our seats, I didn't get pictures of everyone, but I do want to thank our family and friends who came out to support Kate. I know it meant alot to her to have you all there!

Unfortunately, not being allowed to use a flash and with a dark room, my pictures didn't turn out great, but you'll get an idea of how cute the girls were! They did such a fantastic job.....and Jon has video of it too of course!

My beautiful little Fairy Princess!

Tap was a little more confusing...as expected....but equally as cute!

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After her second dance, we had flowers waiting for Kate.

We are so very proud of you!!!!

Kate has had such a great year of dance with NXS Studio. Thank you Mrs. Susan for all the time and energy you put in to teaching our girls and helping them have so much fun being princesses!

Thomas the Train LIVE

My mom & I have been very excited about a surprise we had planned this afternoon for Gabe.(and Kate) They knew they were going to something fun, but didn't know what we were doing. Of course, they started guessing everything they could think of......

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When we arrived at the Moran Times Union Theater, Kate knew where we were, and guessed we must be seeing a show. But despite seeing the stand selling Thomas toys and all the kids wearing Thomas shirts and/or hats, they never guessed Thomas.

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Before going in to our seats, they took a picture for me. In the one on the right, you will see my silly girl with foam soap on her nose. She can be such a nut sometimes! :)

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We walked into the theater and the Thomas the Train logo was giant on the big screen. Gabe's eyes lit up with excitement, Kate's expression fell with disappointment. We debated leaving her home with Jon, but in the end my mom & I thought Kate would have more fun with us and be upset if we didn't include her. If I had it to do over again, I would have secretly told her what we were doing to let her in on the surprise for Gabe. I think then she would have been excited for him....and to see Thomas. But instead she was expecting something for them both and was very disappointed. Oh well, we can't get it right every time. After the initial disappointment wore off, Kate enjoyed the show with her little brother! As for Gabe, he was pretty happy from beginning to end!

We are ready to see Thomas the Train LIVE!!!!!!






The show began with all the drivers walking down the aisles singing and waving.

And then....the trains arrived!!!!

I really didn't know what to expect from this show, but it was awesome! It was so entertaining and all the trains were so realistic! We all ended up having a great time!

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As the show concluded, they shot out long paper streamers. The kids both jumped from their seats to collect as many colors as possible! We had such a fun afternoon!

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