Ballerina Girl

Evelyn had her last ballet class today. This is her second time taking this class.. her teacher encourages the young ones to take the beginner class more than once so they can get comfortable with the basics. I think it was a good idea, as Evelyn did really well this time around and I think improved a lot from the first set of classes she took.

She had a lot of fun this time around. First, because she LOVES ballet. Second, her friend Juilet took the class with her. It was fun to watch them together.

Since parents get to watch the first and last class only, my camera was in action today! Unfortunately between the lighting, my camera and my skills, my pics didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. *sigh*

Evelyn and Juilet excited for class to start!

They are so cute!

Teacher Valerie doing her magic.. she is really good with the girls.

This picture cracks me up... Evelyn is all caddywampus and her back is arched to get her kick high. Watching all the girls try to do their skills got many chuckles from all the parents. They looked so cute!

She couldn't do this last class.. this time she did it gracefully and looked good!

Love this face!!

Listening with a smile!

One of her favorite things to do.. the sache!

SO SO SO sad this one didn't turn out. My beautiful (and blurry) girl!

Evelyn really wants to continue with ballet. Looks like there may be lots more tutus and ballet shoes in our future!!

The BEST part of her day, however, is when her grandparents (who came up from Dallas to see her performance... LOVE them!) took her to McDonalds for lunch after class while I took my tired and cranky (teething) boy home to nap. She played in the play area with other girls from her class who were also there and had a BLAST! She was so tired from all the playing and no napping.. so we watched one of her favorite movies (Barbie as Island Princess) this afternoon just to take it easy.

Overall.. I'd say she had a pretty spectacular day!

My Big Girl

Every year, we spend the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend doing grave tidying up/flower placing at Willamette National Cemetary (my dad's grave) and then head to Dallas to do the same with Doug's family at the cemetery there (where many of my mother-in-laws ancestors/family are buried). It is always fun time to get together with Doug family and do something worth while.

Unfortunately, par for the way the past 6 months has gone for us, we are sick. All of us except Evelyn.. as usual. She actual got this bug first, but it didn't last very long for her and other than an occasional cough, she is fine. Doug, Matthew and I, on the other hand, are tired, coughing a lot, and super congested. We just weren't up to a big event today. I knew Evelyn would be heartbroken as she really loves to hang with her cousins and loves to "clean the rocks" as she calls it (rocks are the headstones!).

However, Doug's aunt, who lives down the street, offered to take her down to Dallas with her. By herself. Without us. Crazy thought, but an idea. I wasn't sure if my shy girl would want to be away from us the WHOLE day. And to be honest, I wasn't sure if I wanted to be away from her the WHOLE day! (Yes, I have worse separation issues than she does and we rarely are away from her!)

We presented the idea to her at breakfast this morning and got an emphatic "YES!!". She was SO excited to get to go with Aunt Mary (who, I have to admit, is pretty cool!) and go to Grandma and Grandad's house BY HERSELF! She was giddy. I was crying. Sad tears. Proud tears.

"Mom, are you going to cry all day?" She asked. She knows me. Too well!

I pulled it together and got her ready to go. Mary came and off they went. Simple as that. She was all smiled. So was I. Until she was gone. I shed a few tears, prayed with Doug for her safety and that she would have fun, then was fine.

I just spoke to her. She is having a super time. I am sure there will be many stories shared when she gets home. I can't wait!

She's growing up. Bittersweet. I love her so very much!

Sneak Peek

I was fortunate enough to get a FREE photo shoot with Colette last week. We went to Laurelhurst park and had a fun time with her. While all the photos won't be available for a couple more weeks, she gave me a few "teasers" to share. This is my favorite!



Can't wait to see more!

Award Night

There has been a BIG countdown in our house this week.... a countdown to tonight. Evelyn's AWANA club's big Award Night. She has been just beside herself with excitement because.. get ready... both me and Matthew got to go to club with her!! Isn't that the sweetest?

The whole year, Doug, who is a leader with the grade school kids, is the one who takes her to club. I am home with Matthew. Until tonight. She was just giddy.

To make it better, we surprised her with not one, but BOTH sets of grandparents AND Jody attending as well. Man.. it was like Christmas for the kid! She was beside herself.

She has loved AWANA.. I am so glad she is involved with it. She is already talking about how many days until it starts again (that would be September!).

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking....

Grandma and Grandpa Doug

Grandma and Grandad

Jody

Me and my girl... (yep... still no contacts.. hopefully tomorrow!)

Evelyn and her friend Heidi. They are in Sunday school together at our church as well as AWANA. Heidi is the sweetest thing. They are good buddies.

Proud Mom moment... *sigh*

All the "Cubbies" singing for us... so stinkin' cute!

All smiles!

Watching the puppet show very intently!

Getting her awards from her small group leader Maria.. she got her stuff and B-lined to the back of the room to show us! She was so proud... and we were, too!

Oh, how I wish I would have changed settings on my camera to make this picture work. Matthew was such a trooper the entire evening. He loves doing the "1,2,3.. Weeeee" game, so daddy and Jody obliged on the way to the car. Such a happy face.. blurry, but happy!

Evelyn was sad that AWANA was done for the year, but I know she will be equally excited if not more when it starts up again in the fall!!

A very fun night indeed!

Grilled Cheese Grill

Today the kids and I headed to Laurelhurst Park to meet Colette for a photo shoot. It was such a perfect day for it.. good 'ol Farmer's Almanac predicted it to be nice today!

Anyways, Doug met us right at the end of the shoot and we surprised the kids (well, Evelyn really) with taking them to the Grilled Cheese Grill. Both of them got SO excited when they saw the double decker bus.. I mean squealing excited.. both of them! Pretty cute.

We sat on top.. of course!

Enjoying the view!

He pretty much stood up the entire time.. ate standing up, too. And we let him. 'Cuz sometimes you just gotta have some fun!

Self pic of me and my sweet girl! (My glasses are on because yours truly put a contact down the drain last week. Stellar... $100 down the drain.. literally!)

Evelyn really isn't a fan of grilled cheese, so she was a bit upset that there wasn't ANYTHING else on the menu! But she was so excited about the bus that she was a trooper and ate almost her whole sandwich!

Cups with no lids are cool.. and messy! Seconds after this he doused himself with milk. Super...

This boy LOVES his daddy!

And she apparently loves the bus! :)

How I love these three faces!

Since Doug starts a brutal 2 months of work next week to finish a huge project, I am even more thankful for fun family times like these!

Love well, friends....

Easter 2011

Since having kids, each year Easter get more fun. Evelyn grows more and more excited about celebrating Jesus' resurrection and loves the idea of getting a bit more dressed up for church. Oh.. and then there's the whole Easter basket thing.. she's WAY into that.. shocker!!

Here's some pics from Holy Week:

Coloring eggs with Jody. She had lots of fun and loved the "sparkly eggs"!

Our great friends the Bjorge's came over on Saturday to hang out. We had cinnamon rolls, coffee, and really good chat time. Their daughter Hannah is the same age as Evelyn.. they are good buddies, which we love. Anyways.. the girls made Rice Krispy Treat Easter eggs.. egg molded treats with M&M's in the hollowed out center. Great idea. We gave them to our faithful and awesome Sunday School teachers on Easter.

Easter Morning... this is the best shot I got of my loves before church. Lovely, isn't it? ;)

After church we went home and had lunch and naps before heading to my mom's for the rest of the day.

It was snack time for Matthew when we got there.. then again, when is it NOT snack time for him? HeeHee!

My beautiful girl coloring.. she really colors exceptionally for her age I think.. mostly in the lines and very detailed. I Love her!

My Mom and Evelyn

Matthew LOVES my mom's stairs. We have to pry him away from going up and down them. Doug was playing peek-a-boo with him... and got him laughing SO hard!

My mom's husband Doug is the best. He always thinks of cool thing for the kids to do. He organized an egg hunt in their house (it was kinda wet and rainy). Here he is explaining the rules to the older kids.

Evelyn on the prowl...

Each kid had ONE special egg for them with their name on it. In it was a silver dollar. Very cool idea. Here is Evelyn with hers...

My sweet and cute niece Regan. She is hilarious!

Daddy helping Matthew find his egg.

Regan was totally loving on her cousin. SO cute!

The kids watched Cars after dinner. Doug chaperoned! :)

I wish I had taken more photos.. as I have said in other recent posts.. its HARD with a crazy 17month old that you have to watch his every move to take a lot of pics. I gotta work on that!

Its really not about the photos, tho. Christ's death and resurrection for me and YOU is what it is all about!!

Happy Easter!

Cherished Time Together

Since Doug has been working A LOT lately, both at his job and on projects at home, I relish time we have together. These pics are from Palm Sunday.. we went to for a walk to the park.

Daddy and his boy...

One of our goals for the summer is to get Evelyn comfortable on the "big girl" swing!

A rare moment of happiness on the swing.. he would MUCH rather be running around! (In all honesty.. I think he might have been signing "all done" here with one hand...LOL!)

Playing the "Spin Racer" game with Daddy

One of my favorite faces of Matthew....

Hanging on the cross bars.. she actually held it for a long time!

Spinning things are SO cool!

.. and so is his snack trap.. a must have wherever we are!

And a couple of my net climber!

She is trying to master going OVER the net and come down the other side.. almost there!

My heart smiles when we are all together...