Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice... x3!

We're excited to share that this November Evelyn and Grace will be getting a baby sister! They don't fully grasp the implications yet (do any of us???) but it should be a wild, crazy, fun adventure. It's not quite the pay-off-law-school-buy-a-house winter we had originally anticipated, but we're so much more excited about this. :)
And let's just say that it's a good thing most stores here don't have their fall/winter stuff out yet because otherwise the matching (or *at least* coordinating) outfit craziness would have already begun on my part. ;)
We love our three little girls!
  

Parades, Picnics & Fireworks

We had a wonderful 4th this year, one of our favorites ever. :) It was just a beautiful day with lots of fun with our girls, neighbors and friends. It started out with the Yorktown parade. It's not an overly crowded parade, which is nice, and we were right next to the bandstand which played before, after and even during parts of the parade.
After the parade we stuck around for some swimming with the Ickes. I hadn't come prepared with swimsuits, but we made do. Gracie's hat got left at home so this is the contraption Nathan came up with while I was going to find a hat for the poor baby - lol..
My solution wasn't much better - haha. The only small sized hat in the gift store was, I realized once I got back to the beach, too small for my 89% head size baby. :p It kept the sun off though and we'll get our money's worth out of it next summer. :)   
The evening of the 4th we had our neighbors in our town home row over for a bonfire, s'mores, etc. I didn't get any pictures of the event, but here is Evie oh so patiently waiting for her friends to arrive.
Both girls took late naps so we finished off the day with fireworks! Our friends (who also joined us for the parade in the morning) live close to CW so we parked there, walked part way, watched the fireworks and left without having the hassle of traffic or parking. Thanks, friends! :)

And my favorite pictures of the night :) (taken by a REAL photographer, as in, he was Condolezza Rice's personal photographer for a while).

So thankful for my family and our friends who helped make this day of celebration so wonderful, for the country that we get to live in, and for all the people who have (and are) fighting to make it possible!

My Little Ballerina

I'm not sure if I mentioned before or not but this past spring I taught a two year old ballet class. My friend Molly is a music teacher and neither one of us wanted to pay for our girls to take ballet ($30-$40 a month) and music ($30-$40 a month) when they're 18mo-3 and we could teach them! So we started our own music/ballet class - we called it Tuneful Toddlers in Tutus. ;) We had 10 two year olds in our class this spring and while it was exhausting at times (keeping 10 two year olds attention for 45 mins???) it was so fun. Here are a few pictures from the last class, courtesy of another mom. Since I was teaching I didn't get any pics. This just gives you a tiny taste of how much adorableness there was in the class. :)

Gracie loved the music part. I'm looking forward to this fall when she can participate a bit more. :)

SonWest Roundup - VBS 2013!!

So the one thing responsible for the looooong gap in blogging in May and June and the delay in vacation pictures was VBS. :) While being children's ministry director takes a significant amount of time all year, the heaviest time is definitely spring/early summer when on top of regular things, we switch to the summer class/volunteer schedule AND host VBS. :) While it was a lot of work and exhausting, it was a great week and so much fun. We had an amazing team of youth and adults helping this year and I couldn't have asked for better. I am so thankful for the many veterans who help out (at least 3-4 who have run VBSes themselves in the past) as well as the new people I get to know each year. We had about 80 kids this year which is the max our building can host. 32 were from our church and the rest from the community. Our theme was a wild west them and I think it's been my favorite so far.
Grace and especially Evie weren't sure what to think of "VBS" at first. All Evie knew was that it was taking a lot of my time, resulted in additional meetings, and that all sorts of cool stuff kept arriving via UPS "for VBS" and not for her. :) They both had a blast though. Two of Evelyn's friends' moms were also helping out so the three 2-year olds had their own little class. Their class consisted of tagging along with the 4 year olds, playing, eating the extra snacks, etc. :) Nathan has a hilarious video from the closing ceremony of Evie up on the stage with everyone singing, but I think it's still on his phone because I can't find it right now. Here are a few pictures, mostly of my kids :), to give you a small taste of the fun week.
PS - all the decorations I take no credit for. I have two very artistic and amazing friends who did it all!
Prepping props and crafts...
My cowgirl and her friends...

Cowboys rounding up their cattle (part of one of the games for the older kids ;)) oh and this was "tacky" day - thus the wildly clashing outfit my daughter is wearing. ;)
Some light reading...

Hanging out with the 4s...

Some others...

Yeeehaawwwwwwwwwww!

The Beach Party That Wasn't...

I was so excited to have a baby born in the summer - beach parties, pool parties, parties at the park - here we come! Except for the fact that I am now scarred and don't think I'll have another outdoor party. ;) I couldn't wait for Gracie's first birthday at the beach by our house but torrential rains the morning of turned the beach party into a house party for 35+ friends. :) Thankfully our friends are pretty chill and didn't mind the last minute change and slightly cramped quarters. And Gracie didn't mind the change.

So Grace and her two BFFS, Catherine and Daphne, sat on the floor and played with toys, ate food, and generally chilled and watched the chaos around them. You can tell they are all second borns. ;) Here they are with their mamas. This picture was taken at the end of the party which is why they all looked so dazed.
  
The boys took over the play room and duplos...
And all the older girls turned into princesses and fairies - lol. Thanks to Amelia and Lily for sharing their dress-up collection for the occasion! Here are some of the princesses.  
Enjoying the food...

Gracie was more interested into watching the people around her than in her cupcake, but she was pleased with all the singing...

"What's this???"

"I think I'll eat this piece of cheese that Margaret just shared with me instead, I know what it is and I KNOW I like it..."

Eventually she dug in and ate less than half. She definitely wasn't sold on it, which is fine with me. :)
We had a pinata for her and the kids as well. She was a little confused, but the other kids were there to help her out. ;)

Caroline was quite pleased with the pinata additions to the headband necklaces she was already wearing. ;)

Evie got one red lollipop from the whole pinata, but what more could a girl ask for??

Gracie and I had two excellent present opener helpers, thanks Kate and Amy!   
By this point, this is what my sleep-loving child was like... "please let's just go to bed, mommy!" lol...

Even though it was a last minute switch, it was a wonderful time - thanks to all the family and friends who have meant so much to us during Gracie's first year and made her birthday so special!