End of the year ceremony

Our third big event of the day was the pre-school's end of the year ceremony.  After ballet we went over to our friends new house to have pizza and change the kids before heading back to the school.

The girls had been singing bits and pieces of their songs for me the past couple of weeks and I knew we were in for a treat tonight.  They both seemed to get a little distracted up there at times, but would quickly jump back into the song and keep on going.

Tomorrow is their family fun day at pre-school (including bounce houses, games, face painting, snow cones and much more) and then we are officially done with this school year!

Harper's dance class

We had hardly gotten home and settled from the last day of school celebrations when it was time to turn around and make our way to the last dance classes of the year.  Harper's class had a parent observation day since they didn't get to do a recital dance.  She was so excited that we were going to be able to watch her today and loved that Robby was able to make it there to see her dance.  Robby and I were cracking up half the class because she was just so funny.  At home she has a nick-name of Tornado because she is full speed ahead all the time and often leaves a path of destruction everywhere she goes.  Well, the same held true in ballet today, too.  She slipped and fell a few times, but it didn't seem to phase her because she'd hop right back up and get back into whatever she was supposed to be doing.  I think her motto there is "go big or go home" because she certainly went all out with all her moves.

After watching her today I think tap might be more her speed.  She's got rhythm and did really well during that part of the class.

Since Handley recently got two trophies, it's all Harper has talked about.  She wants to hold Handley's and have one of her own so I ordered her a ballet trophy and let Handley give it to her after the class today.  She was beside herself with excitement and it is now proudly displayed in her room.

To see a few videos of her dancing click the links below:

Tap
Ballet

Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school!!!  Not only did both the girls have ice cream parties in their classes to celebrate, but Handley also got to celebrate her "pretend" birthday today.  She'd been talking about it for a really long time because they do the cutest thing.  Instead of having real candles to blow out, the birthday boy/girl gets to choose 5 friends to represent their 5 candles.  The friends put their arms up like candles and then the birthday boy/girl gets to blow them out and they each fall to the ground.

The end of this school year is bitter sweet.  I'm really excited about summer and having the girls home with me every day, but they have both had such amazing school years that I hate to see it come to an end. We could not have asked for more perfect teachers this year.  I loved them all and I know the girls did too.   Harper told me the other day that when she moves to a new 3 year old class that she was going to miss Deborah and Jennifer.  Handley and Harper have both made really excellent friends in their classes this year.  I love seeing them practically run into their classrooms each day with confidence to greet their teachers and friends.

Here's the first day of school and last day of school comparison shots.

Harper's morning was a little rough today as you can tell from the picture above and her fake/forced smile.  She was much happier when I arrived for her party and was excited to get to go to Handley's class for the celebration down there, too.

After school we came home to get ready for ballet and the end of the year ceremony.  I'll post about them separately, because I have way too many pictures for one post.

Hudson - 10 months

I can hardly believe that I'm about to write this, but Hudson is 10 months old today!  As I mentioned in my last post, he started crawling over the weekend and he's figuring it out more and more and starting to crawl further distances now.  He does it most when he's not thinking about it like when a toy rolls away from him he wants to get.

 One of his favorite things to do right now is move these tiny books we have from the box they belong in to an empty swiffer box.  So random, I know, but this past weekend I was letting him play with the box and it wasn't until I started to clean up that I realized what he'd done.  Now it's a little game of his.

Another game of his is throwing his pacis out of the crib when I put him down for a nap or at night. He cries until I come back in and give them back to him.  The other day I could not find the one he'd thrown out and I couldn't even find any of our back-ups (he usually has 2 or 3 in there with him).  Then he started looking over the back and I finally moved the crib only to discover a little stash of about 6 hiding out back there.

He's telling me: Mommy please!!!  Just look back there...that's where all the pacis are and I NEED one right NOW!

He got to spend his day hanging out with his buddy, Parker.  I watched Parker for a little while this morning and the boys had fun on a walk together.  So much fun that Hudson didn't fall asleep like he normally does on our morning walk/run.

Tonight we celebrated our big 10 month boy with popsicles for everyone.  To say he enjoyed his first popsicle would be an understatement.  He and Parker split one, but I think next time Hudson can definitely finish off his own.

At 10 months Hudson:

• loves books and gets so excited when we sit down to read. 
• seems to be starting up with separation anxiety again and is happiest when he is in someone's arms or very close by.
• has really started using toys the right way and loves trying to figure out how things work (opening and closing containers, stacking blocks, putting on the stacking rings, etc.). 
• has started to try to pull up on chairs or the side of the bathtub. 
• is eating mostly finger foods now and I'm trying to slowly get him off of baby food.  His favorite foods right now are macaroni and cheese and yogurt. 
• is getting more teeth...I think some of his molars are starting to come in.  

Hudson's crawling! (and Mother's Day)

Well I certainly didn't intend to take a blogging break, but that is exactly what happened this past week.  We've been busy with the end of school year stuff and I guess that just made me too tired to blog at night. Anyway, we've had a lot going on and the biggest piece of news to share is that our little buddy is finally crawling!  He was getting up in his hands and knees all last week, but this weekend is when the crawling actually began.  He's still pretty slow right now and keeps within a couple of feet of his starting spot, but I know if we give him another few days he will be all over the house.  He has already figured out how to get into things he has probably been eyeing for months, like the magazines, and the new stuff that is within his reach, like the princess art easel that was sitting under the kids table in the kitchen (it won't be there much longer because, as you can see below, it's quite the attraction for him.)

We had planned to spend this Mother's Day weekend at the lake, but the weather wasn't cooperating, so we ended up coming home late last night.  Today we just had a lazy, rainy day around here.  Robby did vacuum for me this morning and I didn't even have to thank him because Harper spoke my feelings for me.  As soon as he was done she gave him two thumbs up and said, "Great job, Dad.  Awesome!"  Later this afternoon, Harper dumped an entire bag of Cheez-its on the floor.  While trying to clean them up she managed to smash half of them into tiny crumbs in the carpet.  That was not so awesome, but when I started getting upset at her Robby came running to the rescue, vacuum in hand, to clean it up for me.  That was pretty awesome.  If only he could keep this up everyday...not just on Mother's Day. :-)

After being cooped up inside all day we decided to get dressed and head out to dinner.  I just had to wear my Mother's Day gift from the girls, which needs a little explaining.  Earlier last week, Gigi took the girls to the movies and on their way home they stopped by Target so she could let them pick out a gift for me.  As soon as they got home I went out to help get them out of the car and I saw a gift bag in the backseat.  Handley grabbed it and ran inside and must have hidden it.  As I got Harper out of the car she looked at me very seriously and said, "We didn't get you a Mother's Day gift."  All week long the girls kept telling secrets to each other and then Harper would always look at me and say, "We didn't get you a Mother's Day gift."  Well, surprise, surprise...they did get me a gift and before I opened it Gigi explained to me that this gift was 100% their pick.  She told me they were just precious holding hands, walking around Target and picking out what to get me.  Gigi had suggested some lotion and a few other things, but apparently Handley told her, "No, Mommy likes tank-tops and jewelry."  And that is exactly what I got.  A sparkly tank-top in my favorite color, turquoise, and some earrings and a bracelet to match.  They were SO proud of themselves as I was opening it.  The sparkles may have been a little much for BBQ at Jim-n-Nicks and frozen yogurt at RT tonight, but there was no way I wasn't going to wear their gift on Mother's Day.  As soon as Handley saw that I had put it on, her face was glowing and she kept telling me how pretty I looked.  It was the perfect way to end this Mother's Day.  

Field Day

Today was Handley's first ever field day!  I was excited to get to volunteer for the day and be there with her.  Unfortunately, when I woke up and heard the rain I was worried that the days events might just be cancelled and I knew it would be a major disappointment for Handley.  However, they moved the games indoors so the fun still got to go on.  I was helping at the sack races and Handley's group got to us as their last station.  I could only catch glimpses of her at the other stations, but I loved what I saw.  She was giggling with friends, having fun with all the activities (three legged races, hoola-hoop hopping, ring-toss, etc.) and displaying a friendly, competitive spirit that reassures me that she is turning into a confident and independent little lady.

She was SO fast at the sack race. 

It actually ended up sunny by afternoon, so after lunch the kids went outdoors for the water part of their field day.  They turned on the sprinkler system on the ball field and let the kids just have at it.  Oh my word did they have fun!  I wish I would have video taped because it was so simple, but the squeals and screams coming from all the kids were just precious.

Matchy-Matchy

It's no secret I love my kids to match and coordinate.  The girls are having just as much fun as I am picking out their new summer outfits each day.

Today was the first time in a VERY long time that we had absolutely nothing planned after school.  I loved it and needed a day like today.  Hudson's new routine includes taking a short cat-nap in the stroller while I run and then taking a 3 hour nap in the afternoons.  It's wonderful, but usually I have to wake him up so that we can get to ballet, soccer, playgroup, etc.  Today was nice though because he could just sleep and sleep.  After he finally woke up we made our way outside to play a little. The girls stayed entertained with their Polly Pocket pool set.  They had fun helping the little dolls splash around.

Tomorrow Harper is going to get to splash around a lot.  Her class is having "water day" at school.  To prepare I had her try on her bathing suits to decide which she wanted to wear.  Unfortunately, almost every single one of the 3T suits I had for her are too small.  Thankfully, all I had to do was head down to the basement and pull out Handley's 4T suits from last summer and most of them fit much better.  As Harper was trying them on she informed me that she likes ones with ruffles and that show her belly.  Then she wanted me to take her picture.  She's sassy, sweet, and going to be a handful when she's a teenager. :-)

One other little note I want to remember.  After I'd put Hudson to bed he wasn't going to sleep right away like he normally does.  Handley went to check his video monitor and came running it with it laughing.  She was so tickled that he was sitting up just looking around and holding his lambie.  He's just figuring out how to get to a sitting position by himself, but this was the first time he's done it in his crib.  When I went in to lay him back down, he seemed confused and not quite sure why he was sitting up in the first place.  After that he went right to sleep.