Concerts, recitals, and Mom's Day (oh my)

Happy Monday Friends! I hope you had an amazing weekend! Ours was incredibly full and included my first ever 'sit in the audience and watch your child perform on stage while your heart is so full of thankfulness and pride that it almost bursts and you cry'.

Twice.

The first happened on Friday night when the 1st graders who made chorus for the 2012-2013 school year had their first concert. Since our school doesn't have a theatre, they perform on the stage of the high school that they will eventually attend (assuming they continue in the same school zone) which just so happens to be the high school I attended. As most of you know, I went to high school for one reason and one reason only: to be in musicals. Yes, I had other subjects to contend with, but musical theatre has pretty much always been my passion and so, the majority of my time at school was spent right there. On that stage. I added 8 shows to my resume and even directed the Fall and Spring musicals my senior year. I must give a huge shout-out to Mrs. Bonds, our Musical Theatre and choir director, for the countless hours she poured into all of our shows + concerts and who just so happens to be retiring this year. You will be missed!

My sweet boy sang and danced his heart out, and at the end of the concert, once the house lights were up, he spotted me in the audience and beamed. And waved. And I loved it.

I took some video of their last number which was really a 'have-fun-and-dance' kind of finale. This cracks me up because my son, the child of a music teacher, needs a little help in the rhythm department Godblesshim.

**and if any of you tech savvy friends can tell me how to get the google ads OFF of my videos, I'd be forever grateful. I've just spent 20 minutes on it with no luck and I'd really rather not have Bud Light ads on the screen thankyouverymuch**

 

Bright and early Saturday morning, we were in full-on ballet recital mode. E sat in my lap and was a complete pro while I curled her hair and applied her makeup. That's still a bit crazy for me to admit..."Yes, I put makeup on my two year-old. On purpose." Anyway, once she was gussied up, I loaded her in the car and we headed for downtown. To the big theatre. Without the tickets. Thank goodness the hubs was still home with the babe and was able to grab them. Also, thank goodness my seester's beau was able to stop and grab a bouquet of roses for our tiny ballerina since I didn't want to stop and do that while she was WITH me. Moral of this story so far? Hire live-in help.

Moving on.

Our little ballerina was perfection on that stage. She followed each of her instructor's movements with a look of determination that was priceless. Not gonna lie- I cried. So did hubs. Itty-bitty ballerinas are precious anyway, but when one of them is YOURS?

Fuhgetaboutit.

And the stage she was dancing on?

Well it's only the stage where I began performing in musicals at age 7 and would continue to do so for the next 19 years until, at age 26, I directed my first musical there.

And the hubs? Well, he knew how much this theatre means to me and he totally proposed on the marquee.

So yeah, kind of a big deal.

Since picture-taking and video-ing aren't allowed at the actual performance, here are a few shots + video from her rehearsals last week.

Prepare for cuteness.

 Note to self: work with E on staying open to the audience, and never EVER forget to tuck laces into the shoes again. She had a bit of a Tonya Harding moment due to that untied lace in the pic above- thank goodness it was during a rehearsal...

Here's a bit of her dance.

Again, cuteness abounds.

One of my favorite pics from the day is the one below of her in front of the marquee. Love her expression, and the fact that she was holding out her dress, and I loved the 'Bama' in the background...

and I also loved it when little seester climbed up there and held her dress out.

Ahhhh, memories.

Which brings us to yesterday.

I had a lovely Mother's Day, eating lunch with my mum & grandmother after church, and then enjoying an afternoon with my kiddos. I was determined to get a picture with them, but since I forgot to ask anyone before leaving their house, I settled for the next best thing:

an iphone pic in the bathroom mirror.

The three most undeserved gifts I've ever received.

Yes, there are crazy days, but for the most part, I find myself saying,

"Really God? You're trusting me with these 3 precious littles?"

wowza.

My cup runneth over.

Like, over my hand and down my arm and all over the floor...

THAT'S how much my cup runneth over.

I pray that all of you had a full and enjoyable weekend as well, and may your cups also runneth over, and all on the floor, and all over the place.

our week via instagram

Happy Friday friends! Hope you're having a fabulous day at whatever hour it happens to be in your neck of the woods. I've been a bit MIA this week which is a sure sign that hubs has been working a crazy amount of hours. Thank you, hubs, for working crazy hard for us. Even when I don't have time to sit and write a post, I've always got time to snap a few photos. I'll be linking with Jeannett today who came up with the brilliance that is InstaFriday. Here's a look at our week via Instagram:

worked on some monogrammed notecards for my aunt over the weekend. plan to list this item in my shop...whenever I find the time.

the hubs made a late night trip to Target Sunday night and picked this up for me. Because he knows I loves it. And also because....

the purpose for his late night trip to Target was to pick up ingredients to make homemade-made-from-scratch blueberry muffins. I think the blueberries he found in the fridge sparked the idea. Do we eat a lot of blueberry muffins? No. Does hubs do a lot of made-from-scratch cooking? No. Just a hankering he had to make something spur-of-the-moment, not unlike my late night "I have to make this craft thing right now while I'm thinking about".

they was real good, by the by.

real good.

Sometimes I buy things on eBay that come from distant lands. Like Batman cookie cutters from Hong Kong.

Makes me feel ever so important to pull things like this out of my mailbox.

My little man had a Fairy Tale Valentine party at school Tuesday. Here he is with his best bud from his class, pre-party-

and here's a during-party shot-

His teacher had the cutest decor- everything from a Snow White sitting on a full-sized well, to center pieces depicted different fairy tales. See the pumpkin, mouse, & glass slippers on O's table? (Cinderella) Pure cuteness...

Rachael Ray has arrived at our Target. That garbage bowl totally came home with me and I need her cookware. No really, I do...

I made little somethin somethin for myself and little man as sort of a Valentine-before-bedtime treat. Bananas split down the center, filled with peanut butter, topped with vanilla ice cream, caramel syrup, and chocolate cookie crumbs.

As Rachael would say, "yum-o"

I found my 3 just like this on Wednesday night.

Be still my heart.

Ready for ballet Thursday and wearing a new rockin' flower headband made by me. Hubs said it was ridiculously big, but I disagree. I think it's presh.

Yes, I just said presh.

During class...

Found some inexpensive cabinetry to make our kitchen banquette out of. Nearing the end my friends. We may just win the longest-kitchen-reno-process-ever award...

This is how MM likes to snack on goldfish:

lying on the kitchen floor, blanket in hand.

And why not?

and this is where E likes to eat goldfish.

In my bed.

Making lots of under-the-cover crumbs on her daddy's side that he finds when he comes home from work.

Made some awesome thrift store finds this week. This horsey was only 1.48 and with a fresh coat of white spray paint looks 100% better than it did when I brought him home. And yes, it's totally a 'him'.

And that was our week in a nutshell.

What about you?

How was your week? Any Valentine goodies you're excited about? Or was your hubs working on V-day so you're celebrating this weekend, like me? Make any great thrift store finds lately? Have a kid that likes to eat on the floor?

Do tell....



boycott, ballet, and busy

3 things to share with you today:

BOYCOTT

see that?

That's my laundry.

A hamper full in the closet + overflow pile on the floor.

Haven't really been in the mood lately to wash my clothes.

Just mine, mind you. The rest of my fam is A-OK.

You could definitely call this an experiment in laziness, but I'm choosing to call it an experiment in creativity.

Why creativity?

Well you see, the longer I go without washing, the further I have to dig in my closet to come up with something to wear. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that people only wear about 10-15 % of their clothing the majority of the time because of favorites and whatnot. Do you have favorites? I do, but like I said, not really feelin' the laundry duty as of late so...

I'm gonna show some love to the pieces in my closet that have felt neglected, abused, and unwanted. Because they deserve their day in the sun too. Just like I deserve a little more time away from the washer + dryer. If you see me in the next few days and think I've gone shopping, I have.

In my closet.

BALLET

Eliza went to her first ballet class yesterday. Before we left the house, she showed me a few spins and twirls that she learned from Angelina Ballerina. I honestly don't know which of us was more excited. This child has been talking about ballet class for months and months and has had a fascination with tutus for as long as I can remember. I was just so happy seeing her so happy. We made it to the studio a few minutes early and within 2.5 seconds she'd already made a friend.

Take a bunch of teeny gals, dress em up in tutus + ballet shoes, put em in a room together and you got yourself a whole lotta BFF's.

The studio has an 'observation window' for parents to watch their kiddos, which is awesome. The window, however, is reflective and one-sided so the kids can't see everyone staring at them, which is not so awesome for taking pictures. My iphone seemed to work the best on the half window/half mirror, so here's a quick video I took of my girl in action. For the last 20 minutes of the hour-long class they wore tap shoes.

Pure cuteness.

She's ready to go back next week.
Can't wait.


BUSY

I'm finding more and more lately that my kids can keep themselves busy.
On their own.
Without me.

While it's nice to have a break from the constant need-to-be-on-mommy's-hip-all-the-time, it's just further proof that my babes are getting bigger.

I found the 3 of them coloring in the dining room last night while I made supper. Together, but working on their own masterpieces.

Always busy.

Happy Friday friends.

May you all have a lovely weekend!

a few things you should know

Good morning friends!

Just wanted to share a few quick things with you today.

First....

I found this via Pinterest a few weeks ago.

I pinned it. I loved it. I ordered it. And I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And then I realized the etsy seller that makes it is based in Hawaii.

And then, yesterday, our postman left it in my mailbox.

It's true.

They do.

I opened my e-mail yesterday morning to find this:

I knew it was coming, but this e-mail was like opening a golden ticket.

Might just have to take the day off to spend some quality time perusing the aisles. It needs a proper welcome. The STORE needs to know how much we appreciate them being here.

I feel it is my duty.

I enrolled E in ballet class yesterday.

She's ecstatic, and if there was a word to describe being 1000 times happier than ecstatic, she'd be that. The only downer is that she thinks she gets to go to ballet whenever she tees or poos in the potty now. As in, every single time. It's going to be excrutiating for her to have to wait until Thursday rolls around each week, and I must say....

I'm as happy as she is.

A child of mine? Performing on the stage of the Bama?

Twirling and whirling and pointing toes and wearing a COSTUME?

Yes.

Ecstatic.

SO ecstatic I could pee my pants.

But I won't.

Because then I wouldn't allow myself to go with her.

Oliver got a video camera from my parents for Christmas.

It's his new favorite toy.

He takes it everywhere, and I mean everywhere.

He snuck it to school last week in his pocket.

I've got the video footage to prove it.

I'll have to share some of his cinematic genius soon-

it's quite entertaining to see what he deems 'video worthy'.

MM wore pigtails last night.

She's growing up.

I don't care for it.

She's growing up so much, in fact, that she teed in the potty last night.

Did you hear that, internets?

My precious little wee babe teed in the big girl potty and wants to be a 'rina' too.

Turns out she's been watching and listening and knows the deal.

Teetee in the potty = get to go to ballet class & be a ballerina

Done.

"I can do that", she says.

I can't handle it.

She's my babe.

Although...

If she does start using the potty NOW, and we've just said buh-bye to diapers for E, just think of all the extra money I'd have to spend on shoes/ finishing the kitchen/ getting my hair done/ gas/ bills/ clothes.

you get the picture...