celebrations

family helped us celebrate our sound of music actresses with a 'surprise' visit to watch their performance.

we celebrated at nator's piano recital - a high score on her music guild results, rewarded with a trophy.

and hugs.

the girls and i took a moment to capture the space shuttle... floating on water. that's cause for celebration, yes?  i mean... how many times in one's life will you see a space shuttle on water? 

we won't mention how texas was jilted with a pretend shuttle... or the crazy traffic this attracted.  nope.  won't mention it at all. 

the girls and i celebrated with a lil' shopping.
great prices on two cute dresses found at marshalls and ross. 

...in order to celebrate their annual daddy-daughter dance in style!

i have to confess.  
they came back with some pretty jazzy mementos. yes?

we celebrated when the city pool opened.  
water-slides are the bomb dot com.

what are you celebrating?

feb~week 7/366 {be my valenine}

when events of the day leave one's head whirling, one blogs about the previous week for distraction.  it's for sanity, really.  

it's been a rough day.  life throwin' you a big ol' curve-ball kind of day.  no bueno.  wednesday has to be better. technically, it is wednesday now.  howdy, wednesday.  please be nice to me.

without further ado, i give you week 6...


we made it home from dance competition.  in one piece.  but it required a couple days to recover.  before home, we stopped at whole foods market.  essential oils always lure me in.  take a gander at this "road rage relief."  funny, eh?  however, the lavender gets me every time. hahhhhh...

we made valentine boxes for our homeschool skate party. 

tip: paint brushes could possibly double as drum-sticks.

unlike their mama, in the days of her youth, the girls are not skaters.  nator aspires to be, one day.  gracie simply tolerated the skates for 2 minutes before taking them off.  

we are in the season of dance competition and music recital y'all.  can't go messin' that up, you know.

mama was given this look until they came off...
sweet, yes?  but all is better when skates are off and friends are in tow.


a tea party for all...
all american girl dolls, that is.  plus two.

i just noticed that the 'baby' pictures of my babies are shown in this pic.  right there... behind the dolls. {excuse me while a grab another tissue}

 
our new traditional valentine's dinner.  at home.
two years... and going strong. 

  
shopping for last minute decor.
gifts: this year... birthstone barbies for the girlies.
assigned seating.  heart straws.  gettin' fancy. hand-made decorations. 
gangsta necklace... complete with twinkle light.  like i said... fancy.  if you turn the light on, you must be kissed.  it's some sort of mistletoe rule, according to gracie.


flowers. chocolate cake. dancin'. candles. music. lasagna.

we're lovin' this new family tradition.  
do you have any family valentine traditions? 

what a week!

"mama, what are you gonna do?
an evening at home all by yourself!"

ummm...
feed the dog.
inhale some dinner.
upload pix while doing above task.
quick edit.
really quick.
blog {quickly} about current events.

noticing a theme here?

most of my blogging has been quick lately.
i apologize.
complete sentences are hard to come by this week.
complete sentences have been hard to come by since having two kids.

mama is in a hurry.
so i'm gonna be short and sweet here.
gotta go pack.
ah!

nator enjoyed tennis camp this week.
more than she realized she would.
we're not lookin' to go pro,
but we had fun.
four days worth.
and she gained a new friend.

no pictures of the action.
i dislike coverings on fences.

but i guess it's necessary for providing a little shade.
when you have 110 degree heat indexes.
thankfully, we met early.



gracie had a great time at dance camp.
between her exhausting afternoons and nator's early mornings,
we've had really early bedtimes.
that's new for us homeschoolers, you know. ;)

they distributed a total of 4 trophies.
she received one for being the most accomplished in hip-hop.
apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
ehem.

if they had noticed her leap, she may have won one for that alone.
in my book, anyway.
do you know how hard it is to get that back leg up??
it's hard.
i may or may not have tried it.

 

straight from dance camp recital...
time to get ready for the daddy/daughter dance.



where's dad, you say?
he arrived home from dallas just in time to change clothes.
bless his heart.
the girls waited patiently.

yes, these are the same dresses from last year's dance.
they are pretty.
and they still fit.

but we did buy new hair accessories.




and shoes.
better for dancin'.

from what i see via text,
they are partying it up with corsages, masks, chicken dance...
who knows?
maybe there will be a carriage ride, too.
i just know there will be memories made.

****************************************************

thanks so much for all of your sweet comments on our bedroom makeover.  you guys crack me up.  for real. 

okay.

i'm signing off.

wish me luck.

i'm kinda nervous-excited.

nervous about the travel.

excited about alaska.

alaska!!

{still can't wrap my brain around that one.}

the simple things: a family date

A decision to stay home.
And to only think on good things.
Mommy's bubble bath...
after a whirlwind of errands and preparation.



Strawberry-cream candles.
Laughs.
Smooth Jazz.
Lasagna... and salad.



Heart-shaped glasses.
Centerpiece built with love.
Chocolate cake.
Handmade valentines.



Dresses.
Dancing.
Family.
Time.


A few gifts.
Moxie girlz and pillow pets.
A new apron.  ;)
Heart-shaped collar.



But mostly...

Love.

“In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony.”  ~Eva Burrows

after 18 yrs, we've learned to be flexible, if nothing else

My original plan was to attend a Sugarland concert.  You know, a date night.

Didn't happen.  Poor planning.

Another idea was a weekend at the beach.  Probably our first option, if given a choice.

Nothing available.  For now.

So what does a couple, celebrating 18 years of marriage {with two lil' gals in tow} do?

We head back down to the Boardwalk, of course!  Only this time, you cannot make us ride the merry-go-round, girls.

Our view from the restaurant.

The girls enjoyed driving race boats.  I'm pretty sure they enjoyed spinning in about 2,471 donuts.

"A winner every time?"  Of course, we'll play.  Ha.

We watched people, and boats, but we should have been running for cover from the birds, as one defecated on my head.  But let's not focus on that...

Let's just focus on these lil' sweeties.  I'm pretty sure they thought it was their anniversary.

Then it was off to feed the stingray.  What?  Everyone doesn't do this on their anniversary?!  It seems I was the only brave soul to volunteer.  Let me just say, I will never be swimming with these critters on purpose, if I can help it. 

There were instructions posted on how to do this properly.  You know, having your hand inches below the water, put the lil' fish between your knuckles and tuck your thumb in.  Huh?  No, thank you.  I just sort of slide the lil' fish over the edge and let the stinky stingray suck it up.  Technical terms, of course.  He always thanked me with a nice splash of smelly water.

If I was a stingray, I'd want to be one of these.  They seem to know a lil' more about fashion, yes?

Nator says that she would never marry something like this.   Ummm... sense my relief?

A lil' window shopping.  She couldn't resist.

Did you know that Marble Flab Slab sells ice cream with only ingredients one can pronounce?  That means it's healthy, right?  ;)  It was a fun indulgence, I must say.

I left smelling with memories of bird poop, smelly fish, and ice cream {cheesecake ice cream to be exact, dipped in heath.  close to health, right?}.

My sweet hubby did gift me with 24 roses, turtles {the chocolate kind}, and a sweet card... including a spa gift certificate for a facial, massage, mani & pedi!!!  Wait, what??!  Oh, be still my beating heart!!

The best gift of all?  His friendship.  And two sweet girls.  What more could a girl ask for? 

Absolutely nothing.

a {sweet} girl after my own heart

I understand that life demands focus away from ourselves, many times, and attention is given to the person in the spotlight.  Truthfully, I'm personally okay with that most of the time.  I'm not typically a 'spotlight' kind of girl.  Neither is Nator.

However, even by those standards, so much attention on sister {between a new tap shoe fitting, talk of competition try-outs, Gracie's hip-hop class, try-outs, and waiting for results} last Friday was beginning to take its toll.  Understandably so.

So, as soon as we made it home after finding out that Gracie made the team, I whisked Nator away for a lil' Mommy/daughter time.  We'd talked of going on Mother/Daughter, Father/Daughter dates before... but honestly, by the time we get the whole family together, we just want to be together.

This moment seemed like the perfect opportunity.  Sometimes, you just have to act upon a good, spontaneous intention, right?  It was also a good time for Gracie and Daddy to catch up on some Lego Batman, something Gracie was looking forward to as soon as Daddy returned from Alaska.

This girl is up for almost any adventure, but I knew where to score some points.  Our local bookstore!  Have I mentioned Nator's love of books before?  ;)

She says her dream room would look like a library.  I {heart} this girl... and sometimes envy those smart brain cells of hers.

She was so excited!  The only dilemma was which. book{s}. to. pick!  She finally settled on {Disney's} Tangled {junior edition}, Charlotte's Web, and  Big-Sister Blues (English Roses #5).  There's no correlation to having sister blues, she just likes the series.  :)  She has a list of classics she'd like to pick next time.

Another thing Nator and I have in common?  Cheesecake.  Pumpkin cheesecake, to be exact.  At the nearby Starbucks, I let her pick whatever she wanted.  We could split it.  {Surely, you didn't think I'd lost all sense of self control? Ha!}

There was not a spare seat in the house, so we got it 'to go'.  This worked out even better...

Oh, did I mention that it was Cheesecake Factory cheesecake??  Licking the plate is almost a must in the privacy of your own vehicle.

She enjoyed the fact that she could join mom in the front seat, too.  One day, they'll be old enough to sit up there with us all the time.  For now, those air bags keep them in the back seat.

She thought mom was cool for letting her lick clean the plate, but after shooing me away a couple times I got the hint that the mama-razzi wasn't welcome to document said activity.  Oh well, good thing I didn't. ;)

This lil' girl tells us all the time {and even again last night at dinner}, "I believe God put me in the perfect family.  I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, with any other family, sitting at any other dinner table."

Let's just soak that in for a moment.  Sigh...

On this date, I also let her pick out something for Gracie, as a congratulatory gift.  I figured that would help Nator feel like an active part of sister's activities.  Nator decided on the dance bag that Gracie begged asked for the day before when trying on tap shoes.  It may have had something to do with the hot pink and zebra pattern.  Cute, I must say... and Nator couldn't wait to see Gracie's expression when giving it to her.  Priceless.

We had a great time, giggling, just the two of us.  I'm looking forward to my next date! :)