Dance Recital

Emily's dance recital was the first weekend in June.  This year, she was part of the "big show" at the Music Hall!  (Previously, she had been a part of the Kids Review show).  

Her first number was tap and she danced to a Charlie Brown song, "Why is everybody always pickin' on me?"--Actually, I'm not sure if that's the official title, but that's what I know it as.  Her costume was modeled after Lucy from the Peanuts gang and there was a little boy (who's a great little tap dancer) who played Charlie Brown.  Tap is tough for Emily and she worked very hard to memorize the dance and learn the steps.  She did very well and it was such a cute dance!

Emily and her dancing friends, back stage, before the show

Emily's ballet number was to the song "Working Song" from the movie Enchanted.  It was darling and Emily did really well!  Her facial expressions were adorable and you could tell how much she enjoyed doing the dance.

Here she is, getting a little post-dancing congrats from Gma

Big smile from the beautiful ballerina!

 I love this picture, both the color and black and white, so they're both posted.  Emily is just so lovely and I think this picture captures that!

 Emily was most excited about her flowers that she got afterward.  They came from my mom's garden and made her feel like a professional dancer after her big concert!

Over the past year she's worked so hard (and got awards for both perfect attendance and entrance into the "splits club"!).  We loved watching her dance and can't wait to see how much she'll grow in the years to come!  Way to go, Em!

Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail

We have baby bunnies "growing" in our phlox out front! (Yes, I'm excited about this--I'm a sucker for babies!)  What's been neat about these bunnies is that we've been following them since the evening they were born.  Cubby happened to come home from work just as they were being delivered!  They were all tiny and slimy and gross looking, but it was very neat all the same.

The following day, my friend and I went out for a run and I saw that three of them were out of their burrow, laying in the grass.  "How sad," I thought.  "Something got to a few of them."  When we came back from our run, I took a closer look and, low and behold, they were all still breathing!  It was a chilly day (shocker, I know) and so I was very surprised that they were still alive.  So, I put on some gloves and carefully transferred them back to their nest.  They all snuggled right back in and I hoped for the best.  (Like I said, I'm a sucker for babies.)

A couple of weeks have gone by and, unless you knew where to look, you would've never known that there were seven little bunnies hiding and growing.  Mama bunny comes in the evening and nurses them.  (I had never seen a rabbit nurse before--it's a very strange sight.)  But, they are getting braver and tonight I caught all of them lined up and looking about.  Aren't they cute??!  (And, lest you think I'm a total sap, I have a spray for my plants in the backyard that makes the plants taste bad to rabbits.  But, since these are in my front yard, I'm happy they're here and doing so well!  The kids have loved seeing them grow!)

C's Big Par-tae

Christian's birthday party was fun!  We weren't sure if we were going to be able to have it outside until about noon that day (yes, the weather is still acting crazy).  Thank goodness, though, that it ended up cooperating!  I put Cubby in charge of the games and the kids all had a great time!  Tug-of-war was up first...

The kids versus Cubby...and the kids won!

 The ring toss was up next...

 Followed by sack races!  (These were hilarious as most of the kids ended up falling on their faces, either from tripping on their sack or from giggling.)

(Uncle Kyle must've been bored or tired from all of his sitting and talking.)

 We served up some grub...

 Everyone say, "Hot Dogs!"

 Juliana liked the cones :-).

 Harvey was in-charge of feeding Juliana--he did a great job!

 Time for presents!  Christian was very happy, of course, with his gifts and was very good about saying "thank-you" to everyone.

 Harvey, continuing to perform on his Gpa duties...

 And then it was time for cake!

The cake.  Christian had requested a Lego cake.  Originally, I was going to keep it simple and do two Lego bricks.  One blue, one green.  However, the cardboard we used wasn't quite big enough for two side-by-side cakes so I figured like Legos, I'd stack them!  A few things I learned:  1)  yellow cake is much less crumbly than chocolate cake.  2)  It's important to have the proper cake frosting tools when you're doing something not-so-simple.  3)  There's a reason why cake decorators frost cakes in big refrigerators.  I finished frosting this one while it was in the fridge.  4)  It would've been better to just cut a bigger piece of cardboard.  5)  The kids all thought my less-than-stellar cake was fantastic.

 Finally, it was time for a water-balloon toss (and water fight).  Woohoo!

 Christian's big surprise came when Gma and Harvey brought out the new bike they bought for him!  Didn't he get a bike last year, you ask?  Why, yes, he did.  However, when you grow as quickly as our Christian does, you end up needing a bigger bike just one year later.  Thankfully, Trek bikes have a trade-up program so we're covered from here on out :-).

 He was THRILLED with his new bike and we have gone out on bike rides almost every day since!

A boy and his bike.  Awwwww....

It was a great birthday party!  (But we're thankful we're done with birthday parties until December!)

It's Super to Be SIX!

Today, our boy Christian is SIX years old.  Wow.  I think I write this with every birthday, but, where has the time gone??  The days seem long but the years go by so quickly!  This not-so-little boy is wonderful in so many ways.  He is smart, affectionate, thoughtful, quick to help out, passionate about his opinions, funny, fun-loving, determined, and a terrific brother, son, and friend.  We love Christian so very much.  Here he is today, enjoying the spoils of his (a-hem) labors...

And then, here are just some random ones of this sweet, special boy in his "early" years :-)....{happy sigh}....

Happy Birthday, Christian-boy!  We love you!!!