Rose's Dance Recital

We had our first pretty busy weekend of kids' activities.  Ava had 2 soccer games back to back on Saturday and Rose had a dance recital on Saturday.  And of course the times overlapped making us split up.  Oh well, it all worked out in the end.

Rose, as you all know, is my little diva, so it is no surprise that she loved dancing on stage!  It was right up her alley with loud music, fun moves, fancy costumes, make-up and a bunch of her girlfriends.  She was not the least bit nervous.  She owned it up on that stage.  I was very proud of her because we had been practicing almost every day for the past two weeks and it definitely paid off.  She knew every step and some of the girls were watching her to see what to do next.

Rose with some of the girls from her dance class

Rose with her good friends, Whitney and Reese

Watching the all the other dances on stage

Rose and Whitney at rehearsal

Practicing ON stage!

The proud mama and little dancing queen

Watching with their dance teacher, Miss Amanda

Paul's parents were able to come down to see Rose's performance which just made her day.  She was so excited to show off everything she learned and they brought her a beautiful bouquet for doing such a great job.  What girl doesn't love flowers?!

Rose with everyone after her performance

The fam

Rose with 2 flower bouquets.
She felt quite special that day.

I love to see my little girl following in her Mommy's footsteps :)

Friday Funnies

Rose got in trouble one day...can't even remember what for...so I sent her into the basement.  A while later I went down to check on her and talk to her about what she did wrong and found this note for me on the chalkboard:

It says, "You broke my heart and hurt my feelings soooooooooooooo bad."  I was trying not to laugh out loud when I read this.  Oh, my little diva!

Ava:
"I'm keeping these glasses on in case I get blind."

Madeline:
"Mom, can I play the I-patch (I-pad)?"


Ella's version of "cheese" cracks me up every time.

HAPPY Friday!

Mother's Day

I had a lovely Mother's Day last Sunday.  It was very low-key and relaxing...I even took a nap in the afternoon!  My favorite part about the day though was how thoughtful the girls were...especially Rose.  It does not come easy to a kid with her temperament to think of others before herself, so I was very proud of her effort on Mother's Day.

She started out by making me breakfast in bed (a big bagel with peanut butter and 2 slices of bread...a LOT of bread...haha).  She must have been eager to surprise me because she brought it up at 6:45 am!  Paul told her to leave it by my bed and let me sleep.  Such a treat...I LOVE sleeping in!  They also left me the cards they had made me.  It is always fun to see how they drew me this year :)

They were all SO well-behaved in mass.  Definitely one of the best gifts!  Ella took her socks and shoes off and put them back on for probably 45 minutes straight.  It is amazing what simple things entertain little ones sometimes.

One my favorite winter outfits of Ella's

Since it was so beautiful outside, we biked to Bruster's for some ice cream after Ella woke up from her nap.  Paul and I both got salted caramel ice cream with toffee pieces in it...soooooooo good!

My one request for Mother's Day was that I didn't have to make dinner.  That probably sounds selfish.  It is not even the making of dinner that I don't like...I don't like figuring out what to have for dinner every night.  My phlegmatic temperament at its finest!  So, we had pizza and salad for dinner.  Easy and delicious.

I am so thankful for my four little girls and a wonderful husband who made my day so special!

Friday Funnies

Kids (especially toddlers) say the funniest things.  I laugh at something my kids said or did on a daily basis.  So I thought I would use Fridays to share some of these funny things with you in hopes that they bring a smile to your face as well.

The Most Recent Madeline Funny:
Last Sunday, Paul had to usher so we split up for mass.  Paul took Rose and Ava with him at 11 am and I took Madeline with me to the 5 pm mass.  In the middle of mass, Madeline looks up at me and whispers, "How old am I again."  I told her she was 3.  She thought for a minute, then pointed to the altar and innocently asked, "Can I have one of those big mints (referring to a communion host)?"  I didn't stop laughing for 5 minutes straight.

Spa Day

Today we didn't have any plans, so I thought it would be fun to do something with the big girls in the afternoon.  Rose has been asking to do one of the activities from her Fancy Nancy book ever since she got it for Valentine's Day, so I thought today was the perfect day for it.

I put Ella down for a nap, then transformed our "extra room" as we call it, into a spa.  I brought in trees from the other rooms, lots of towels, robes and slippers, eye masks, snacks, nail polish, lotion, and a Fancy Nancy book, so Rose could tell me if I was doing everything exactly right ;)

I made the girls play in the basement until I had everything ready, then called them up to see their 'surprise.'  They squealed with delight.  They put on their robes and slippers and I wrapped their hair in a towel.  They felt so grown up.

They each got a pedicure, then relaxed to music by The Rippingtons while a mask of raw honey moistened their little faces.

It was a half an hour of pure bliss.

When Ella got up from her nap, the girls decided to give her a spa experience of her own.  I love that they wanted to include her.  They continued to play "spa" for the next hour.

We will definitely have to have another spa day soon.  

Derby Day 2013

This year we got invited to the Kentucky Derby by the big distributor Paul works with here in Kentucky.  We were so excited because that meant we were going in style :)

All dressed up and ready to go

The girls had to put fancy dresses on too :)

On our way

First we met up at one of the guys houses for drinks and appetizers, then drove down to the Derby together.  There were 6 of us who went...Dan (who invited us) and his wife, Kathy, one of their high school sons, Dillian, a man named Jason from Boston with an awesome English accent, Paul and me.

Our tickets

Derby nails and the wristbands we had to
wear to get into our area

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with the Derby fesivities.  It looks sunny in the background of most of my pictures, but it actually poured almost the entire day.  Our seats were right next to the track, but they weren't under cover, so we didn't even get to sit in them until races 10 and 11.  We stood in the aisles next to the boxes under cover and tried to look over everyone's heads to see the races.  Everyone wore ponchos over their adorable dresses and fancy hats.  Such a bummer since we all went to great lengths to look our best that day.  

Excited to be there

The guys deliberating which horse to bet on for the next race

I wish I was tougher when it comes to bad weather, but I was cold and wet most of the day.  I was dreaming of going home, throwing on sweats, and cozying up next to Paul on the couch.  I didn't want to think like that since I was at the Derby, such a huge day for Kentuckians, but I couldn't help it in the nasty weather.  Despite the bad weather, we tried to make the most of it.  I enjoyed seeing all the women's hats in all shapes and sizes...the fascinators were my favorite.  The men were also decked out with hats, bowties, cigars, and seersucker suits.  Not many opportunities come about where you get to pull out all the stops like you can at the Derby!

A mint julep...the official drink of the Derby

Me with my mint julep

We had to stand to eat lunch because our seats were
outside and they were soaked

One of my favorite fascinators that I saw at the Derby

My absolute favorite fascinator...loved the rounded
peacock feathers!  I want to wear one next time!

A guy wearing a horse head...wish it wasn't so blurry.

Mid-afternoon, we met up with a fraternity brother of Paul's that we haven't seen since he went to the Derby with us 5 years ago.  He drove a bus full of 16 people down from Indy!  I wish the weather was nicer for them since they came from out of town.  It was nice to catch up with him though...he is such a good guy.

Chris Thomas and Paul...college buddies

Christ with us 5 years ago at our first Derby

After meeting up with Chris, we went back to find our group and they were gone.  They had snuck up to the box seats in the level above.  It ended up working out fine though because right about that time, it actually stopped raining, so Paul and I went down to our seats next to the track which was a much better view.

The awesome view of the stands

A picture to show just how wet and muddy it really was

Down by the track there was a lot more action.  Soon after we sat down, a guy in a box behind us threw his mint julep glass and it shattered everywhere.  People next to us were extremely annoyed because they told us it was the 5th glass he had purposely broken.  They nicely asked him to stop or they were going to have to call the cops.  The guy apologized and then tried to make up for it by buying everyone mint juleps....which of course we didn't mind :)  About a minute later, the cops show up (somebody else must have called them). The two guys were trying to be smart with the cops, but they were not amused.  So the cops took their drinks and escorted them away where they were going to spend 72 hours in jail for all their  crazy shenanigans.  The entire section cheered as the two guys were led away.  Crazy!  But hey, we got a free drink out of it and the guys were gone!

Paul by the track with his free mint julep

Awesome view!

It was quite an experience to be down by the track!  We got so lucky to be able to watch the actual Derby race from our seats because it started raining again right after the race ended.  The rain couldn't have had better timing.

At our seats by the track

Here is a video of some of the Derby race which was race 11 out of the 12 races that day.  It was amazing to be able to see the horses so close.  I loved to hear the sound of their hooves on the wet sand.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of the horses after the race.  Their faces and the entire front of their bodies were covered in mud.  They didn't seem to mind.  

Paul bet $2 on every horse, so I guess you can say we were winners, right?!

Although it ended up being a fun day, I was so happy to finally be back home in the warm house.  The girls were happy to see us too and tell us all about the adventures they had that day.

The girls so excited that Daddy was home!

It makes everything better to know we have a great babysitter for our girls.  She really is wonderful!  She is probably in her mid to late 50s and she is awesome with our girls.  She genuinely cares for them, treating them as if they were her own grandkids.  The picture below is of the Derby chandelier decoration she made with the girls.  They decided that next year they wanted a horse named Tulo (after her dog) to win, so they drew a picture of it and hung it up as a surprise for Paul and me.  I was very impressed!

The girls actually watched the Derby race at home and each of them picked out which horse they thought would win.  My oldest and most logical child picked the winner.  Lysa (the babysitter) said that Rose listened to what everyone on tv was saying about the horses and said, "It sounds like everybody thinks Orb is going to win, so I am going to vote for him."  Smart girl.

This picture reminded me of the picture I took of Rose
with my hat on last time we went to the Derby.  Can't
believe how grown up she is now.

Love this one from 2008.
She was about Ella's age at the time

The girls trying on our Derby hats

It really was a fun day.  I mean, who doesn't like to dress up?  I just wish the weather would have cooperated better.  But I am so grateful that we were invited and able to go.