Royalty Here in Pensacola

On the anniversary of the Royal Wedding, I flipped through the channels and came across a replaying of the ceremony. I had no clue (even though I should have) how much the girls would be into viewing the wedding. The interesting part was that for 45 minutes it was just people arriving and walking in, and they patiently waited for the guest of honor to arrive. The girls properly dressed for the joyous occasion... hint: the blankets are supposed to be a train on a gown.

Self Portraits

Since the school has focused some on self portraits the girls have focused on drawing them self and other faces quite a bit. There masterpieces are some of my favorites. They did use a couple stencils,  but mostly free hand.

Reese's masterpiece

 Brady's drawing of herself, then Elliot and lastly her Daddy...her proclaimed favorite people.

All Dolled Up!

The school had a Gala for fundraising that I decided to attend 'stag' with some of the other moms. So Karl was taking care of the girls, and they decided they needed to get fancy too.

Let's start with the fancy mommies...

Hanging out with all these beautiful women, I was honestly shocked by the number of people that came up to me and commented on my shiny belly! It was a lovely evening of dining, and auctions. But most importantly it was a lovely evening of time with the girls. Here is one of the pieces of art, inspired by Andy Warhol, the school auctioned off.

The kids did a self portrait. Here is Brady's.... 

 And Reese's...

I forget the artist inspiration behind this one but the class also painted this one.

There was lots of other beautiful kid made art, pieces you would find in an art gallery. One piece made by the upper elementary kids went for about $1300!

So while I was off celebrating artwork at the Gala, Karl had a great evening with two of his lovely ladies. For those who are familiar with the Fancy Nancy series will really appreciate the night's events. First the girls got fancy through their own eyes, including (and not all pictured) fancy shoes, boas, hats, jewelry, Karl's grandma's clutch purses, legwarmers...And of course Daddy sported his fedora!

Well, in the Fancy Nancy book  the family gets fancy to go to "kings' crown" restaurant. So Karl treated the girls to the closest thing...Burger King. They loved it!

Then they continued onto ice cream!

 Can anyone say "ice cream coma"?

By the Numbers

So while I never forget that I am pregnant, I will have random moments of realization that very soon I will have another child. How can I forget that there is about to be a baby? Like I said I am constantly reminded that I am pregnant and that obviously leads to a baby...confused? Yeah, it throws me off too.

But the other day, my math brain explained to me why I have a hard time picturing this baby heading my way in a month. So let the numbers talk...

Karl and I got married with one dog.
0.5 years later we got our second dog.
2.5 years later we had our first kid.
1.5 years later we had our second kid.
3.5 years later we will have our third kid.

Point is, my family of one awesome husband, two adorable dogs, and two amazing daughters has not changed for over three years. I have known this as my family longer then any other situation. I know in no time I will not be able to imagine what life is like without Elli Dew but for now, I haven't grasped life with her...

Excited about this now journey!

Our Little Stars

The girls were giving us performances in dress up clothes (a daily occurrence) today when my wheels started spinning. Today's matinee was held in the tiled foyer with the playroom in the background. I started mentally measuring the opening to the playroom...and I just had to ask for an intermission. My mental measuring was spot on and I proudly found the supplies around our house to create a backdrop for their performances. I was quite proud of myself (if you couldn't tell since I am blogging about it!) for my creativity. However, I did have to laugh when Brady excitedly proclaimed, "Now we have a dressing room!!!"

Here is a couple acts from today's matinee in the new outfitted auditorium...

A couple sidebar lessons:
-I have obviously moved a lot since I had a shower curtain, rod and hangars all at my disposable (without dismantling one of our three full baths).
-Raising kids in awesome (for many reasons) when you get to see how they see the world (even if it is way different then you) I see a backdrop, Brady sees a dressing room.
-My girls are way better at wearing high heels then I have EVER been.
-I think I will be attending many of performances in real auditoriums, whether for drama, dancing, or choir...these girls LOVE to perform.

Firehouse Walk

The preschool does a couple 'neighborhood walks' a year. The spring one is to the local firehouse a mile down the street. I was unable to make it to the walk last year, but boy am I glad I made it this year. It was so much fun!

The school asks the parents to come along if they can so that they can lower the adult child ratio. Most people walk with two kids. Well, that puts me needing to be there just to cover my kids ;) I can't believe I am actually going to post this picture, but here is my trio... Maybe a I should say my quadruples since my bottom could count as its own entity.

One of the cool parts about the walk was that we had to cross a very busy road, well that isn't the cool part. The neat part was the police car that is scheduled to stop traffic for our parade of preschoolers.

So after a mile of trotting we finally arrived at Fire Station Number One...just in time for a snack!

After snack, we got to enter the station, where the fireman welcomed us.

Then, after the short introduction, the children got to walk through the fire truck....so much fun.

The tour then included seeing their dining room, sleeping quarters, their heat sensing guns that can spot the fire location (if smoke is too thick) and people, and a mom dressing up in all the gear that weighs about 100 pounds! Can you imagine wearing 100 pounds of gear for your job, WOW?!?!?!

Then they saved by far tejecoolest part (in my opinion) for last. Each kid got a chance to turn a fire hose on and off!!!! They put out a construction cone for the kids to aim at and knock over. I was giddy (and jealous) with how incredibly cool this experience was for the kids.

Well, my jealously was quickly turned into pure joy when they asked if any parents wanted to try....UM YEAH!!!!!

BEST FIELD TRIP EVER!

So I asked the girls later that day what was their favorite part of the field trip. Reese immediately responded "the red light". Nope not what you are thinking, she was referring to the red lit hallway that lead to the sleeping quarters. They make the hallway red so that when they get middle of the night calls their eyes can slowly adjust to light before having to drive around a massive fire truck. So there you have it, after all of that Reese got to see, she liked walking through a 10 foot hallway that was glowing red. Brady said her favorite part was seeing the mom dress up in the fire suit and....the red light! Simple pleasures of preschoolers ;) Later when Brady relived the day with Karl, she told him her favorite part was going through the jungle... other words, walking on a sidewalk with overgrown palms and shrubs ;)

Then and Now

I love that when I look at this four year old face...

I still see this (as Brady says) zero year old face!

When I look right into Brady's eyes, I flashback to early 2008. The interesting thing is I don't have that with Reese, I guess her face has changed more.

 What do you think?

Leader of the Day

Reese was leader of the day at preschool last Tuesday. I know I have posted several times about this role on this blog, but it is a big deal to my girls.

The Saturday before she was set to perform this task Reese was up before anyone else. When I wake up second, I see that she has a dress from her closet hanging on her door knob. I comment on how she already picked her outfit for the day... "No mommy, that is for Tuesday, when I am leader of the day!" I have to explain to her that the class is having a walking field trip and all the teachers asked the students to wear their Montessori shirt. "Mommy, I will put that on AFTER I am leader of the day." Alrighty then...

There are two (of many) responsibilities the leader of the day holds that both my girls love. Calling names and show and tell. Guess what Reese choose to 'show and tell'...

I didn't press record in time but when the teacher asked her what she brought to share, she stood up twisting her hips and said my twirly dress. I LOVED it. Then she slowly walked about the line allowing her friends to touch this oh so magical dress. One of the boys even asked, what is inside of the dress to make it do that?!?!?!

How do I manage to raise such girly girls?

Another responsibility of the leader of the day is to change the date on the calendar. They may bring one friend to assist them in this task. When asked who Reese wanted to have help her, the picture below shows her excitement as she proudly and loudly states "Brady"

 Then, this picture shows Brady's happiness to have been chosen by her sister...

I am so so so glad these girls LOVE each other!

Wordless Wednesday: Angelina Ballerina

seven month craving=day of great fun

Since basically the very beginning of the this pregnancy, I have been craving high quality Asian food. I tried to get some take out Chinese in hopes of satisfying the craving...no luck. I tried having sit down Thai food...no luck. I needed some P F Changs. Easy enough right? Not if you live over an hour and a half away from one! Well, my awesome friend, Kristen, organized our lady friends to have a mom's day out in honor of Elliot. HOW AWESOME IS THAT! I have an amazing hubby that let me escape for the day while I went out with my amazing friends that were willing to make the 3 hour round trip ride for some Chang's spicy chicken. I am a lucky lady!

I was showered with gifts that were all perfect! Much needed items for my new adventure in cloth diapering, mommy pampering, and memory capturing was all gifted upon me. 

 Thanks to my great group of friends for celebrating Eli Dew. It was truly a day of awesomeness.

 Since we were a few towns east of Pensacola, we decided to hit up the outlets and the gelatto shop. So we left our houses around 10:30, well the first time any of us thought to look at our watch is was 5:00...and we were still shopping!!!! See where the awesome husbands come in. We closed the outlet mall down at 6:00 and headed home. After all was said and done, I got home after 8 (yes, 10 hours later). Karl was so gracious to not complain, and actually brag about his day with the girls. I love you, honey!

As you can tell, I really had a BLAST!

Easy Breezy Friday Afternoon

Last Friday, I brought the girls to the park on base so that Reese could try out her new (new to her that is) bike. They can ride on the sidewalks (no where close to a road) at different speeds without my having a heart attack. Reese's bike is something I have JUST recently heard about...pedalless bikes. Apparently this is the way for them to truly understanding balance in biking and therefore never have the need for training wheels. You are suppose to start them on the pedalless bike around two. They just push themselves along with their feet, slowly gaining speed, all the while learning their center of balance on a two wheeled bike. Then when they are ready you move them over to a pedalled bike (without training wheels). The moms I have talked to that did this at 2 had a kid riding a bike without training wheels by 3! AMAZING in my opinion. The first day on the bike was frustrating for Reese, but it will also be the hardest day for her, since it will get easier and easier with each use. 

 Since we were on base, Karl left work (an hour early) and meet us out there. Luckily, we had our softball gear leftover in the back of the van and the girls and Karl played a pick up game of softball. I so throughly enjoyed sitting in the dugout, feeling the breeze from the bay, and watching my family bond and have a great time together. As I sat there, I thought to myself, this is what life is all about...this is pure happiness.

LIFE IS GOOD!