Ballet Recital Dress Rehearsal

From BlogFavorites

Girls in leotards are such adorable subjects! This was their big prep day for the recital at our stake center.

From BlogFavorites

Waiting for their queue.

From BlogFavorites

From BlogFavorites

Backstage while the littler ballerinas practice.

From BlogFavorites

From BlogFavorites

What a smile!

From BlogFavorites

From BlogFavorites

From BlogFavorites

From BlogFavorites

Rehearsals mean a lot of waiting around . . .

From BlogFavorites

Food Sculptures

From Blog Favorites #3

I had to take a picture of these cute foods Angela sculpted at school with play dough. The foods are from the squash looking thing on the left going clockwise: a squash, cookie, apple, peas, pancake, melon and a strawberry in the middle. Mmmmm. (o:

From Blog Favorites #3

An Art Scroll

From Blog Favorites #3

I thought this was so cute. Angela came up with this and asked me to help her create the vision she had. I don't remember what inspired it, but it turned out adorable. (o: The straws roll up toward each other and you open it like a scroll. That blue thing is my camera case holding the other side open.

Self Taught Bike Rider

From BlogFavorites

Natalie just needed to turn seven, I guess. The same afternoon of her birthday party, Benny* took Nat out to try her bike without training wheels. I was expecting them to take some time practicing together while I cleaned up the birthday aftermath. To my surprise, about 15 minutes later, Benny* comes to tell me, "you've got to see this!"

From BlogFavorites

To my surprise, there was Natalie riding her bike all over the place by herself! She didn't need anyone to teach her apparently! Benny* said he tried to hold on like a good dad always does, but she just took off. (o: What a funny girl. I feel bad she was stuck with the dumb training wheels all that time. She LOVES to ride her bike all the time now! Go Nat!

My Spring Piano Recital

From Blog Favorites #3

I think this was my fourth piano recital. (o: My song was "Emma" from my Jane Austin piano book. I keep thinking maybe I won't get as nervous for my recitals, but every time, I just shake and yawn (a nervous habit)and worry about messing up. This time, Sarah and I played a duet together. It was so fun to start with this number - it really helped me relax having my piano buddy up with me. We played a Beauty and the Beast duet. We're starting to learn a few more duets together and really enjoy it!

Calling All Fairies!

From BlogFavorites

I love being the mom of girls. Look at all the fun girly stuff I get to do! I was excited when Natalie decided she wanted a fairy party. I had so many ideas. I think this turned out to be one of the cutest parties I've done, if I do say so myself. With a lot of fun ideas from Family Fun and the internet.

From BlogFavorites

I got a little crafty. For one of the fun party favors, I took these . . .

From BlogFavorites

Plus these . . .

From BlogFavorites

Added a little of this . . .

From BlogFavorites

Like this . . .

From BlogFavorites

Add some fake flower petals and pipe cleaner hair and you've got a slew of adorable little fairies.

From BlogFavorites

These tiny cakes were so easy. Seriously. They are two oreo cookies stacked/glued with frosting and then frosted on the outside to look like mini cakes. I put them on our little Ikea tea party plates.

From BlogFavorites

Some of our cute guests coloring Melissa and Doug fairy pictures (FYI these are the best coloring books I've ever found.)

From BlogFavorites

We had a little fairy scavenger hunt to find things like smooth stones, feathers, a spool, sea glass and sea shells.

From BlogFavorites

Natalie on the hunt with her fairy friends.

From BlogFavorites

Some of the decor . . .

From BlogFavorites

From BlogFavorites

The highlight of the party, was taking the found items from the scavenger hunt and using them to decorate a little fairy house. Each of the girls got a saucer with floral Styrofoam covered with grass for their blank canvas. Their little homes turned out so cute. The girls put these in the foyer when they were done and while they were eating cake a fairy magically appeared in each of their fairy homes which they got to take home.

From BlogFavorites

The girls were meticulous about their fairy decor.

From BlogFavorites

From BlogFavorites

Sage continued to work even during the fairy storytime.

From BlogFavorites

Natalie liked her mini cakes

From BlogFavorites

From BlogFavorites

From BlogFavorites

From BlogFavorites

Jayda likes her itty bitty ice cream cone made with a Bugle! These were so simple, but a huge hit!

From BlogFavorites

From BlogFavorites

From BlogFavorites

Rachel was adorable in her fairy costume! I love the colors. What a sweetie.

From BlogFavorites

I didn't get any pictures of the girls making these at the beginning - things got a little busy during that time. They turned out adorable! We set them out to dry on the porch and some fairies came by and filled them with tiny treasures!

From BlogFavorites

. . . little tiny rock candy, sunflower candies and glass treasures. As usual, the house was a disaster after everyone left - but that's just an indication of a successful party! (O:

She Did it Again!

From BlogFavorites

Sarah got selected again to take her science fair project to the district fair at Liberty High. She was so excited the day she brought home the letter from Mrs. Elliott. She was not as nervous this time as she knew what to expect. This is such great practice for her learning how to interview and discuss scientific findings with adults. She had to be judged by two of the judges and tell them all about her experiment. They asked her questions about it and they gave her marks for how well it was presented, etc. She was excited to get all 4's and 5's. Natalie and Angela were troopers. It's important to us that they come and support each other for things. This event is pretty boring for bystanders, but Nat and Ang did great. We cheered on our Sarah!

From BlogFavorites

Skater Girls

From BlogFavorites

When I went to pick up Britlee for young women's on this particular Wednesday night - I got a surprise! Britlee was going all out for our skate night! I laughed my head off. I love this girl - talk about spunk!

From BlogFavorites

Ellie, Tylin, Heidi, Tana and Britlee

From BlogFavorites

Melanie was a little nervous and clung to the side at first. Here's Britlee giving her a friendly push - I think she ended up falling down after receiving this "help".

From BlogFavorites

Ohhh - my girls can do some pretty awesome tricks.

From BlogFavorites

Wow - that takes coordination! Our skate night was a little funny at first - as you can see it's totally dead - we practically had the rink to ourselves. It was Christian Rock night. Every single song was a religious song - but not even upbeat ones. Apparently, there was a youth group from a different church with a very strict leader. The DJ said she put on a Hannah Montana song and heard about it from this particular leader. So for about an hour, until that group left - the music was BORING. Nice to listen to when you're not skating, I'm sure, but come on - there's a time for everything and skating means time for Phil Collins, Michael Jackson and, yes, Hannah Montana! (o:

From BlogFavorites

Penny was a pretty rockin' skater - especially for being one of the "old" ladies! (O: She is an 80's girl too.

From BlogFavorites

Getting a photo of Heidi and Tana getting a photo in the photo booth.

From BlogFavorites

Kristi and Melanie being silly.

From BlogFavorites

Whoa! Check out those moves! Seriously - if I did that, I would never get back up.

From BlogFavorites

Synchronized roller skating.

From BlogFavorites

I love this - Ellie's skates exaggerate the already big difference in height between these two. (o:

From BlogFavorites

Wow! The girls were getting good at playing the "claw" game! Look at their spoils!

From BlogFavorites

From BlogFavorites

From BlogFavorites

I love Tylin's expressions!