Weekend Highlights

Monopoly. Longest game ever. (We left the game unfinished!)

On Sunday, Walker hit his first home run! He is THRILLED! (These next few pictures are still shots from a video...that explains why they are a little blurry.)

Look at his arms. So cute. He was so happy. Good job, Walker! :)

Sunday afternoon and evening was spent at the Embassy Suites...the End-of-year Dance Banquet was so much fun.

sweet friends :)

team moms :)

The girls went BANANAS in the photo booth.

Apparently this last one tells a story...haha!

This is Lainey's award...from the teachers. Ms. Annie is one of our favorite instructors; not only is she a gifted dance teacher, she is also a classroom teacher who genuinely cares about raising good little people. She also happened to look a lot like Lainey when they were little (hence the award). 

(Lainey on the left, Ms. Annie on the right)

Baseball Pictures

This might be the first time Walker didn't throw a fit before having his picture taken in a professional setting. We didn't even bribe him. He's growing up. :) 

Walker has recently developed a fear of storm drains. He has lost two tennis balls and one football to a storm drain. Sad times in Walker's world. I think he's actually afraid that he will fall down a storm drain but I've assured him that he won't...his head is too big. But he steers clear, regardless! Anyway, while discussing storm drains one day, Walker said, "Mommy, if you ever died, I would think about you all day long." How sad! I really think that he thinks that you die when you fall down storm drains. I assured him there was nothing to worry about and there's no way I would fit down a storm drain and even if I did, it would be unlikely that I would die. (This little guy thinks SO much!)

Walker learned to whistle on May 5th or 6th and hasn't stopped since. Literally. He hasn't stopped. :)

Walker's awesome self-portrait. I love it. He drew this at school. :)

AND! I survived my first year of teaching preschool. Look at my sweet Camryn. I gave her a big hug (her mom captured this). I love her so!

Mother's Day and Lainey's Dance Recital (#1 of 6!)

A sweet Mother's Day card that Lainey made at the club...it says, "I love Mom because she's very nice and kind to me. She helps me with my homework and takes care of me when I'm sick. Love, Lainey." 

Walker didn't want to make me a card. He spent some quality time on the floor in the fetal position (I think he was hungry and grumpy).

If face painting is available, Lainey is in line. Walker is never in line. He doesn't want anything on his face. :) 

with cousin Ella

looking grown-up in one of her costumes for her recital

Posing with such maturity...just before recital. :) 

Lainey recently told me, "I love jazz, hip-hop, and musical theater because I can go full-out and be all crazy and more 'me'." (We were discussing ballet versus other forms of dance. Lainey knows that ballet is important but she does not love it.)

with her daddy

Lainey and her big sister from last year...Ilana. Lainey loves Ilana. We're so happy she's home for the summer!

With KK! Kaitlyn came to see Lainey dance and they stayed the whole time...impressive! The show is LONG!

Sweetness. :) 

This is what backstage looks like. It's crazy!

Lainey's big sister this year is Maggie. She's amazing, too, and Lainey had several emotional breakdowns backstage because Maggie is leaving for college. :( 

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All in all, Lainey's end-of-year recital was a very fun, exciting experience. Lainey performed in six pieces and did great - she has so much fun on the stage and loves to perform. However, I also learned that she can be quite hard on herself when she makes a mistake. She messed up a bit in her hip-hop dance...which is one of her favorite pieces. After getting really upset about this (totally unusual for me to see), she seemed to snap out of it and forgave herself before the night was over.  Having had rehearsed all day, executing lots of quick costume changes, messing up on the stage compounded with her realization that Maggie was leaving made for a rough night! She can get pretty emotional, especially when exhausted (don't we all). We have five more recitals (all are short and simple) the weekend after school gets out for the summer. It's exciting but so exhausting! :) 

Happy Kids

Here's Lainey, just before ballet recital pictures on Monday. I LOVE her costume for this piece. It's so pretty. So, so pretty. As I've stated before, Lainey is generally a very content child. Very sensitive, but very content. She's grateful for what she has, doesn't dwell on things too much, and doesn't look too far into the future (at this point). A healthy mindset. I am always learning from her...and her contentedness. After recital pictures, the girls in her age group learned their part for the finale in their upcoming recital. When Lainey and Morgan arrived home that evening, they proudly showed me what they had learned (all 24 seconds of it). Morgan said excitedly, "I'm in the front and in the middle the whole time!" while Lainey exclaimed - just as excitedly - "I'm on the sides and the edges the whole time!" This made me so happy. A proud mom moment for sure. I'm grateful that she sees the positive in all situations and is happy with the cards she is dealt (most of the time). She is eight years old, so of course she has her moments, but for the most part, she has a pretty positive attitude. She is sweet and joyful. And I wish I could bottle it up and save it for when she is not so sweet and joyful (in several years)! :) 

Cute little Walker and his classmates observing what happens when a solid turns into a liquid. I love Kindergarten. I can't believe it's almost over. :( 

The Loredo Family's Last Day in Texas

So, it arrived. The day we never thought would come actually arrived. It was a hard day for all of us! We said good-bye to the Loredo family...some of our very favorite people and best friends. We've known they were moving to Ohio since December, but we honestly never thought it would actually happen. :) Haha. That's denial for you. Lainey and I kept "not talking about it" for months because we would both start crying...and when the day finally arrived, we both let those flood gates down! Lainey and Ainsley have been best friends since they were babies...they connected immediately and have basically been inseparable ever since. I mean, physically, yes, they could separate, but not emotionally. Each one holds the other very close to their heart and soul. Very close. Like sisters. They fought like sisters, too. Yet they loved one another so fiercely.

Lainey's tears after school. She was a disaster. Ainsley held it together the whole time, saying, "It's not good-bye forever." Voice of reason from that one. She's has an old, wise soul. Lainey has a very live-in-the-moment, emotional soul. :) Makes me super excited for those teenage years.

These four. Walker has known Ainsley and Gage since birth. He knew the names "Ainsley and Gage" early on; they have always been a part of his life in some way or another. 

See? Ainsley is tough!

Lainey is not!

And, there's Kelley. Their mom. And one of my best friends. We've raised these kids together...we've been through it all together. She has always been close to my heart and soul; someone I spoke to almost daily for the last eight years. (And by "spoke to" I mean called or texted or emailed.) Eight years of solid, true friendship. Anyway, my heart is a bit sad. I will miss my friend. 

This is us after they left. And I had to get Lainey ready for dance and recital pictures! She was so sad!  I think the hardest part for Lainey is knowing that Ainsley won't be there at school and won't be there at recess and won't be there at lunch. I truly think she'll go through a bit of a grieving process, but I also know that it will get better! It gets easier. It won't disappear, but it'll get better. I think Lainey was upset by my tears, too. Part of growing up! This stuff happens! :( 

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"[Moving apart] doesn't change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled." -Ally Condie, Matched

Weekend Update

We spent the majority of the weekend at a dance convention/competition in Dallas. Well, Lainey and I did. Walker and Ben and Tuck and Uncle Greg went to the lease! :) 

Lainey, onstage, far left (leg by her head) during "Brave"

center, just to the right during "Tell Him"

center

second from right

far left, leg in air

center(-ish)

"Tell Him" did so well! They got a "Stop-the-Clock" award and an "11-O'Clock Number" award - meaning it was one of the highest scoring pieces overall. Fun! Lainey's in front, holding her Sock Monkey Unicorn. :) 

Lainey and Eva :)

Lainey and Ava, being silly

cute picture in her "Tell Him" costume

after ballet with Francisco 

(He is amazing...and comes to our studio often to work with the older girls!)

what happens when kids get ahold of a phone

with Jess

 (Another instructor who also makes visits to our studio to work with the older girls!)

A cute, toothless Walker...eating some frozen yogurt on the way home from the lease.

Updates on the Kids

Some long overdue posts about the kids are in order...! Well, maybe just for me because I like to remember this stuff.

Walker: 

-continues to be very type-A
-recently told me that "grandmas and grandpas are the nicest persons in the world..." Ha!

-is obsessed with all sports...right now basketball and football are his favorites

-still doesn't want to play soccer...has admitted that he doesn't totally understand it (ha!)

-says cute things like "not that much" when discussing something he doesn't like and "too much persons" when talking about...well...too many people

-is always doing the "whip and nae nae" (not singing the song, just doing the movements)

-loves to please his teacher at school

-loves to get coins at school...one day he remarked, "I'm on fire getting coins!"

-anxiety about everything 
-becomes hysterical when he sees blood (especially on himself) 
-once refused to wear a shirt because it had "too much words on it"

-more likely to not try something due to fear of failing 

-loves to read...but is always concerned about how many pages and how many chapters there are

-continues to love to punch Lainey's bottom...he calls it a "po-tah-toe bottom" which, in Walker's world, means "a bottom that when you punch it, it wiggles around" (this definition cracked me up!)

-determined to do push-ups before bed...and he wants to do them correctly
-sometimes declares that he needs to "sleep on it" when faced with making a decision...and by "sleeping on it" he means that he will close his eyes for about 30 seconds and then open them, ready to announce his decision. However, while this would be a super efficient way of making a decision, it doesn't work. Thirty seconds isn't long enough for him to come to a conclusion. So...we always end up where we started. Needing to "sleep on it." He takes a long time to make a decision.

Lainey:

-continues to be very content and lives in the moment which makes her a very joyful, laid-back child (most of the time)
-is sort of fascinated with blood...she will pick scabs and make herself bleed by squeezing the still-healing wound...YUCK 
-is still terrified of dark rooms...like the media room and the playroom at night
-recently confused "St. Thomas and St. Maarten" with "St. Louis"....I explained to her that we didn't visit St. Louis while on the Disney Cruise...there aren't any beaches in St. Louis. ;)
-is likely to walk out the door to school with no shoes on
-When tired, she does tend to melt down about "life"...especially around 8:30 p.m. This is her magic hour...when all the questions come out. Like "how come I look like you, Daddy, when Mommy is the one who had me?" She also will begin to think about the next school day, like how to tell someone that she doesn't want to play with them at recess. Or how all the cafeteria workers are grumpy except Ms. Lillian. And why can't they all just be like Ms. Lillian.

-until recently, thought you had to be six years old to be able to go to Six Flags 
-can use a cup to perform the  "cup song" ...she only does the "cup" part - she doesn't sing the song (referring to Anna Kendrick's "Cup Song" from the movie Pitch Perfect)
-made the comment once that she should be on the show America's Got Toots (Please don't kill me for writing this, future Lainey.) 
-doesn't love when things are too long/too big...she is bothered by them
-cannot multitask...she cannot simultaneously do two things (like talk and get dressed, talk and put on shoes...)
-gets very distracted (Me: "Lainey, please go put on your shoes." Two seconds later...I find her in the pantry, scratching her name into the scratch-and-write label on a Solo cup, ignoring the fact that we had to be at school in about 5 minutes...) 
-doesn't like wearing socks with her Nike tennis shoes (yuck)
-has asked me about her developing brain (basically my reason for why she can/can't do things)...she recently asked me, "Mom, you know how you tell me that my brain isn't fully developed? Is it like a half circle? Not a whole circle?" I explained that it was a bit more complicated than that...I compared the compartments in her brain to the rubber band compartments in her Rainbow Loom box.
-is really growing up...this has been a big year. All of a sudden she's becoming more aware of things! That's hard for a mom and dad to deal with sometimes! 

I love both of these cuties SO much and miss them when we're not together. I hope they know how much they are loved!