Princess Ballet

Many of you know that I started taking dance classes when I was 3 years old and continued on into college.  Dance is something that taught me so much more than tap and ballet.  I learned poise, confidence, and hopefully, how to be a lady.  So when I had Ella, I could barely contain myself from buying her ballet shoes before even bringing her home from the hospital.  Last year though, she expressed interest in learning how to ice skate.  Joe and I were totally supportive of this and promptly enrolled her in a program where she has done very well.  I was secretly SERIOUSLY disappointed when she said that she wasn't at all interested in dance lessons.  Ouch.  I was not to be deterred, however, and presented the idea of Princess Ballet Camp being offered at a local performing arts center for this summer.  She quickly jumped at the chance. Anything princess these days is right on the money for Ella.  She had a wonderful time, dressing up, making crafts and friends, and putting on an adorable show at the end of the week.  Not kidding, be still my beating heart...

With Kylie, ready for camp!

 During the show (mouth-open, tongue out, concentrating.)

 My princess...

 There's the tongue again!

 Hugging sweet teacher, Miss Krissy.

Gabe is the big ONE!

Our little guy turned the big ONE at the beginning of June.  You really just can't imagine what a joy this little boy is and how fast this first year has gone.  His smiles brighten up a room (and he smiles just about constantly, so he brings a lot of sunshine!).  He loves to eat, and eat ANYTHING.  He says, dada, hi, bye, Ella, and mama (but only occasionally, when he wants something;-).  His favorite pastime is standing at our front door, pointing and saying "brooooooommmm" when trucks go by. He just adores his brother and sister, thinks he can certainly do anything they can, and gives the best hugs and wide open mouth kisses.  He is such a little gift...

On his birthday morning!

A candle in his pancake.  Chocolate chip pancakes are a birthday tradition in our family!

Watching the cars and truck on the front step.

We had a little smash cake that night, courtesy of the Norris family.  He dove in face-first!

Getting some help from Will and Ella!

BLOW!

Not sure...

YUM.

Delish.

New digger! Gabe loves it. That is when Will gives him a turn!

Bros.

To celebrate the big milestone we had a party with our dearest family, friends and neighbors.  We had a monkey theme to celebrate our little monkey!
The cake and cupcakes!

 Goody bags!

 Ready for round 2 of cake!

 And the face goes in again!

 Will helping him out!

 A great gang!!

 Digging in!

 And a cheese from Ella...

T-Ball!

T-Ball season is in full swing around here! Will is having a lot of fun, and we are having a lot of fun watching him!
Heading out to his first game.  It was of course FREEZING!  But a good time anyway!

Warming up.

Getting ready to bat.  He was the lead off hitter!  No pressure...

He did great!

Running to first.

 

Waiting on second.

Scoring a run (not really- they don't keep score). 

 

Playing the field on the pitcher's mound.

 What do I do again?!?!

That's right!  Throw it to first!

Ella making a silly face.

 At bat again!  Good swing!

Lining up and shaking hands.