Kellyn's Ballet Recital

Here's part two of our super-busy weekend! (Catch up on part one here)

Kellyn just performed in her last ballet recital...for a while at least. She danced for a year, and now she's going to try soccer! We're all about exposing her to as much as possible while she's young, so she can decide what she likes and wants to do later.

Again, I'm gonna let the photos do the talking :)

hair and makeup did

eyelashes for days

afterwards

of course she had to have a silly picture mixed in there!

proud momma

Now that all the craziness is behind us, I'm excited for next week. We'll be relaxing at the beach, so don't expect to hear from me. :)

Pre-school Graduation {bloopers included}

Last weekend was the busiest weekend of our year! It included Kellyn's pre-school graduation, Kellyn's dance rehearsal and recital, and a date night (for our 6th anniversary!)...along with all the normal hustle and bustle in between!

I'm just going to let the photos do most of the talking today. Enjoy. :)

she asked for "pretty princess curls"

I think she liked them

such a little ham

so silly

processional

singing

getting her diploma

our little girl is growing up

If Jude had smiled, this would be our best family photo to date!

wriggling away from Mommy

So proud of his Kellyn

Kellyn & Mum Mum

Okay, so I just realized that I have way too many photos, as usual. I'm going to post the dance pictures tomorrow so that your browser doesn't take an hour to load. You're welcome. :)

But before you go, check out these bloopers:

 Happy Thursday, friends. :)

I Did What Any Parent Would Do

So the other day Kellyn, Jude, and I went to a playground. It was just us, a 7ish year old boy, and his 10ish year old sister there. Kellyn kindly asked if they wanted to play with her, and they decided to play hide-n-seek tag.

Yeah..TAG. My five year old's little legs obviously didn't move as fast as those kids' long legs. It was totally unfair, but Kellyn was having the time of her life! I watched from the park bench as they happily chased each other up and down the playground.

Things soon changed--the girl told Kellyn she didn't want to play with her anymore. Then she changed her mind, and decided to play dirty. I saw the older siblings teaming up against my little Kellyn. I saw the little smirks on their faces as they plotted against her. They began to only chase her. They would wait at the top of the slide as Kellyn slowly climbed up to get them and then quickly slide down the other slide. They hid outside of the playground fence. So not fair.

Innocent, little Kellyn didn't even know they were being mean, but her momma sure did.

So I did what any parent would do..I joined forces with my daughter. I started chasing the little brats too! Juuuust kidding--their mom who was watching from her air-conditioned car might not have liked that. I simply became Kellyn's coach. (I mean, I was pretty freaking good at tag back in the day..) I made sure she yelled "no tag backs" the one time she actually caught one of them. I told her which short-cuts to take. I told her to get them as they were dangling from the monkey bars. I also may or may not have accidentally blocked the other kids paths...

All I knew was that we were not leaving that playground until one of those kids was "it".

So after 15 straight minutes of Kellyn trying to tag the big kids, she finally got the boy. And we left winners.

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time there was a girl named Holly who started working at a sporting goods store. She met a boy there named Matt who had tattoos and a Jeep. One day they sat by the lake, went to a carnival, and then kissed in the driveway.

They got engaged four months later and married 6 months after that.

Yesterday they celebrated six years of marriage. Look at them now.

Still so in love and living happily ever after.

Happy Anniversary, my Love.

A Day To Myself

I'm a stay-at-home mom. This means that I'm with my precious, ornery children 24/7. I'm so very grateful that I've gotten to witness their first steps and first words, but sometimes they have me pulling my hair out by the end of the day. There are days I don't get to interact with adults. There are days I don't get to shower. There are days I can't get away from them for 30 straight seconds to pee or sneak a piece of the good candy. You know it's bad when you dream of having a nanny just so you can mop the kitchen floor without one kid hanging on your leg while the other is trying to steal the mop so they can "help".

Things like these can make one a little crazy.

You see, I need some time to myself. The problem is that I know I need this, but I also feel guilty for needing it. Again, I'm not Super Mom.

This year my Mother's Day gift was a day to do whatever I want. Yeah, that's right..a whole day. whatever I want. Do you realize what this means?!

--I can sleep in. I won't have to get up before dawn when my half-nocturnal children wake up. Hallelujah.
--I can carry a purse instead of lugging around the heavy diaper bag.
--I can actually walk inside a coffee shop and enjoy a latte instead of hitting up the Dunkin drive-thru.
--I can go shopping at a nice mall without managing my time around fussy kids and nap time.
--I can grab some girls and bolt to the closest winery. Any wine festivals happening anytime soon?
--I can bask in the sunshine somewhere with my eyes closed. I won't have to worry about if the kids are still in the yard. I won't have to get up every other minute to chase a bumble bee away or settle the fight over the blue sand shovel. I can just lay there. Maybe even fall asleep.

The possibilities are endless. It's not often I get a whole day to myself..I just want this one to be perfect.

What would YOU do with a whole day to yourself?