Avery

I thought this was funny... when Avery grows up, she wants to be a "grown-up".

Dress up

Morgan and Avery love playing dress up. Ruth brought some fun costumes for the girl to play dress up in when she came for the recital.

Cowgirl Avery

Oh, Morgan, always the jokester

Dance Recital

A while back we started the girls in dance class. We started out in a Tuesday night class, which was just too much following a full day at daycare. Plus, the Tuesday night class was slow and didn't keep Morgan's attention very well. She has a short attention span and gets distracted very easily, unless she's doing something she's really interested in. We actually weren't sure that dance class was going to work out for her.

But, we switched to a Saturday morning class and both girls did very well. In fact, now that the dance classes are over, the girls ask us to play the songs from their class so they can practice dancing for us all the time. Morgan knows all the songs and the dances that go with each one. She even gets mad at Avery when Avery doesn't do the correct steps to the dance!

To wrap up the dance session, the school had a recital. Matt's mom flew in and my parents drove up for the big event. I was SO nervous about how the girls were going to do at the recital. Would they cry? Would they dance? Would they even go on the stage? Well,  I had nothing to worry about! They loved being on stage! We had a dress rehearsal on Friday (the day before the recital) and there were a few tears from Morgan when I had to leave them in the cafeteria to go to the auditorium. But, once Morgan saw her teacher Miss Brianne, she perked right up and was ok. The next time I saw them, they were on stage. I was sitting in the front row for the rehearsal and when the girls saw me, they both got huge smiles and waved. They did their dance and came off the stage so excited! They immediately asked if they could go dance on the stage again. We stayed so they could watch some of the other dancers rehearse and they were in awe. They just loved it and didn't want to leave! We eventually got them to go home with the promise of some frozen yogurt!

The recital was on Saturday at 5pm. The girls and I hung out backstage in the cafeteria until showtime. I was surprised at how the recital was run for the little kids. They had a "table mom" for our class and then the parents were told they had to leave their kids with her and go to the auditorium. Well, one table mom and 11 3-year olds was not going to fly with me. I ended up staying as well as one other mom. It was lucky we were there because the table mom had to take kids to the bathroom multiple times and leave the other kids in the cafeteria alone. They also had nothing for the kids to do while we waited. I had brought stuff for the girls to do, but the other kids whose parents left them with us just dropped them off with nothing to do. Um, maybe their kids are better than mine, but I would not expect the girls to just sit for an hour or more with nothing to keep them busy.

The girls number was right before intermission. When they got called to line-up, I went out to the auditorium. I again got super nervous! I don't think I could ever be a stage mom! :) The girls came out on stage with big smiles and stood in their spots ready to go. They had an older girl (maybe 10 or 11) dress in their same costume and stand on stage in the front of them doing their dance so they had someone to watch. I thought this was awesome! Otherwise, they would be looking backstage at their teachers and not forward towards the crowd. The girls did awesome and I could tell they were having a blast. The best part was at the end when they finished their dance and the crowd clapped, Morgan got a HUGE grin on her face, just SO happy! I loved that she was enjoying it!

Swim

Grayson and the girls started swim lessons a few weeks ago at an indoor facility near us. I had no idea how they would do since this was the first time we've done swim lessons. They love bath time and playing in our pool in the backyard. And they did great at swim lessons! They were smiling and having a ball! The best part was the "car wash" at the end when they got to stand in the shower and rinse off. We had to drag them out of there! :)

When Daddy goes out of town

Matt has been traveling about once a month to Pittsburgh now that Kraft and Heinz merged. As a special treat while he's gone, I take the girls out for dinner to McDonald's Play Place. They have a blast and it wears them out. Win-win! And they forget that Daddy isn't home.

We usually FaceTime before bed and the girls always like to see Daddy's hotel room. Avery is very curious about where Matt sleeps and gets such a kick out of him giving her a tour of the room.

Summer fun

We have been loving the summer weather! We got a pool for the backyard for the girls to swim in. At first, they were a little freaked that it was deeper than their little plastic pool, but they soon got over it. We had lots of hours of fun in this thing. It's a pain to set up and the water didn't warm up fast enough, so we had to throw some boiling water in to heat it up... but, it was worth it!

I did not realize how large these rings were going to be when I bought them!
They take up the whole pool! Ha!

Make it rain, Daddy!

Grayson got a new playset

Picnic in the backyard

Happy Father's Day

The girls are pretty lucky to have such a great guy to call Daddy! :)

The school did these little interviews with the girls and I just love reading what they come up with!

Morgan and Avery also made this apron with handprints at school for Daddy!

The girls have been asking to have picnics and go camping lately, For Father's Day, Morgan and Avery gave Matt a tent so they could camp out in the backyard. They are really looking forward to it!