Recital Time!

 Since Evelyn started ballet in January, I have to admit I have wondered  if she really had "it" to do well in dance. After all, she is not that flexible and would prefer to just dance around like a crazy monkey. But she REALLY wanted to do it, and I am SO glad she did. Since parents are not allowed into class I really haven't seem much of her dancing, except what she has shown me at home (which hasn't been much). The girls have been working SO hard for the recital that was last weekend and Rodney their instructor has been saying how great the girls are doing, so I was excited to see it for sure.

Dress rehearsal was last Wednesday. That meant full makeup and hair. Which if you know me, you know I have limited skills in both departments on my own person, let along on a SEVEN year old!! Sheesh!! But... I did the best I could with a bun holder and my own makeup and got her to rehearsal. Evelyn  WAS so excited to put on her costume... they danced to "Swan Lake" and they had very beautiful costumes. After getting her put together at the theater, I asked Rodney how I did on hair and makeup. With a smile (I warned him of my lack of skill!) he said I did great but then asked if he could " do a little more". Sure I said..he does this WAY more than I! After working his magic, she was all smiles and ready to go!

Waiting patiently for her class' rehearsal

They had their pictures taken while waiting, too.. I grabbed this with my camera. She looked so pretty!

Finally they got on stage and Rodney did his thing!

As I watched them dance their routine, I couldn't help but get teared up watching her. Oh my.. she seriously knew the routine perfectly and performed beautifully. I was happily surprised to see how lovely, graceful and skilled she was... yes, I may be bias but really, she was so beautiful out there! I am so proud of how hard she has worked (really unbeknownst to me...)!

Her class...

The recital was Saturday. I am glad I had time to practice hair and makeup beforehand... it went much better for the actual performance.

Warming up before changing...

All ready!

Maggie, Evelyn and Nia... two of many nice girls we have met in class.

While I was getting Evelyn ready and settled, Doug and Matthew waited in line with Doug's folk. My mom and her Doug came, too... we are so thankful for their support of our kidss!

I didn't get any pics during the recital, but I did get this one of her taking a bow afterwards.

My pretty girl...

She was celebrated with lots of hugs, photos and flowers after the show!

We took Doug's dad and my mom's Doug out to dinner for Father's Day and to celebrate Evelyn's first recital. It was a fun time.

So thankful for the great grandparents my kids are blessed with!

Evelyn is excited to continue with ballet this summer and this fall. She is already working on stretching and getting more flexible. Who knows what her future in dance is, but I am sure proud of her for doing her best and sticking with it, even when it was hard!!  Love my sweet dancer!

Father's Day

There are no words to describe how fortunate my kids are to have the father they do. He is the best of the best. Patient, kind, funny, nurturing, encouraging, honoring, and would give his life for both Evelyn and Matthew.

They love him to the moon and back and have no doubts about his love for them. His is one in a million. We are so blessed.

Happy Father's Day, Doug. May we celebrate you, for all you do, every day. We love you so!

Last Day of First Grade!

I was NOT gonna cry, I said. I am SO SO excited to have Evelyn home for the summer. Saying goodbye to Mrs. Pearson and kindergarten last year was WAY more emotional.. heck, I still tear up thinking about it. But this was a difficult year on different levels, mostly because I just plain missed my baby girl, so her and I both were counting down the last days until school was OUT! So... no tears for me, I said.

Then yesterday morning I took pictures of her and compared them to her "first day of school" pictures.

First Day

Last Day

And then the tears started flowing... my goodness, she has changed so much this year! I just want time to slow down! Sigh...

Once again I went to her end of school year assembly, and once again she got the Gold Presidential Academic Achievement Award for her class. She works so hard and we couldn't be prouder of her. She still is planning on winning this award EVERY year!!

Evelyn and Ian, Gold Award winners!

Mr. Culbertson took over for Mrs. Beltran when she went on maternity leave and although Evelyn was not sure about having a "boy" for a teacher, she warmed up to him quickly. It has been fun to see him grow in confidence and skill as the time passed (this is his first year teaching). He and his wife both got teaching jobs at the coast and I am so excited for him to begin his new adventure there... but we will miss him, too!!

After school a bunch of us headed to Menchie's for frozen yogurt. It was fun to have a last hurrah with some good friends, although we plan on seeing them quite a bit this summer!!

Ev and Josh

Silly Cassandra

Good friends: Evelyn, Cassandra, Noah, Josh, Helena, Alexis, Gus and Jack

Love these moms and dads!

We ended our fun day with dinner at Red Robin to celebrate the end of first grade and Evelyn slept VERY very well last night.

I still find it surreal that I will have a SECOND grader in a few months. I am looking forward to having Evelyn home and doing lots of fun things this summer.. together!

AWANA Camp Fun

I want to say that Evelyn and I had the BEST weekend at AWANA camp last weekend, but if I am being honest, I would have to say we had a great time, but there were some really not so great moments as well. Overall, though, it was good time spent with my sweet girl!

I took Heidi and Evelyn to DQ to get a milkshake for the hour-long ride to Trout Creek Bible Camp. They were super excited and we had fun trip over. singing and being silly. I love these two!

Cabin mates, Alexis, Evelyn and Heidi

Night time is play time!

So after we played and had our group teaching time, it was time to head back to the cabin to settle down for bed. It was probably 10pm when we got back to our cabin and the girls were hyper and playing around. There are a lot of details surrounding what happened , but to keep it short and sweet,  Evelyn basically fell off one of the top bunks in the cabin. It was one of the most scariest screams she has ever let out, and one of the most scariest moments I have had as her mom. The look of pain and terror on her face was one I don't ever want to see again. All she could say was that her back hurt and she could not stop shaking. I really had to get out of "mom mode" and go into "nurse mode" for a while to determine if she was okay or if we needed to get her some medical attention. After a full once-over, I was pretty sure she was okay, but she was still a mess and at one point wanted "just go home". She finally calmed down about 30-45 minutes after the fall and we decided to stay. Needless to say I didn't sleep much at all. It was really traumatic for both of us. 

Thankfully she woke up sore but feeling okay. She seemed no worse for the wear and we had a great rest of the day.

Being silly on our morning walk

I think she is a beauty!

Exploring the treehouse... one of our favorite things to do!

9

Friends for life (I hope!)

Camp is a time to be super silly!!

So excited to head to the pool!!

That's my girl... first one on the tube slide!!

Diving board fun! I knew she was fine seeing her be so crazy in the water!

 Evelyn was in the pool ALL morning, and it was a little hard keeping her awake on the ride home that afternoon, and she slept 13 hours that night. She was so tired! I did end up taking her to the doctor, mainly for an infected bug bite, but I did have her back looked at too. She is still bruised and looks a little beaten up, but other than having some sore muscles, she is back to her old self.

So... it was a good weekend with some not so good moments. I am thankful for God's protection over my sweet girl and some good time that we could have just the two of us. Despite all that happened, she still is excited to go back next year! That's my girl!!

A big deal....

Seriously....

.... she LOVES these sunglasses! She looks so grown up in them... which makes me NOT like them so much...haha!!

But the BIG deal... the BIG BIG deal... is that someone lost one of her front teeth last night!! It has been loose for a while but seemed like it was a ways from coming out. About 20 minutes after we tucked her into bed last night, she came downstairs with a bloody mouth.. but the tooth was still in. She had irritated it so much that she made it bleed. Doug tried to pull it but it was still in there pretty good. We cleaned her up and sent her back to bed, but she couldn't stop messing with it and came downstairs again 10 minutes later, REALLY wanting her tooth out. Doug said he could pull it out but that it might not feel too good. She emphatically replied "PULL IT!" So... he did. And it truly surprised her how much it DID hurt. After a few tears and lots of hugs, she became super excited that the tooth was gone and went to sleep a happy, happy girl!

Another "first" for my sweet girl... who is growing up before my eyes.