Anna's 1st dance recital!

It was a lot of fun to create this invitation, with Anna's help of course! Those are her tap dancing feet! Anna's first dance recital happened to fall on Father's day...so it made for a busy and exciting day! Anna has been really excited for the recital because she couldn't wait to wear the costumes.
All her practicing really showed! She did a great job and had a lot of fun with her friends.

Her dance class's first performance was a tap routine to a Shirley Temple song, "Animal Crackers in My Soup." They wore a zebra printed tutu with matching hair band and ribbons on the tap shoes. Anna likes this song a lot and still sings it.

The second performance was a ballet routine to songs about cats.
"Everybody wants to be a cat!"
Anna really enjoyed wearing the black tutu with kitty cat ears and a tail.
At the recital, Anna and her friend Ailey took center stage together when they stepped up out of the line of kitties and danced.
It was quite cute.
For the finale, all the dancers came on the stage with their trophies.
Anna is so proud of her trophy.
It was a great reward for all her hard work this year.

When I went to pick her up from the dressing room after the recital, she asked with a disappointed look on her face,
"is it really all over?!!"
It was so precious.
All she wanted to do was keep dancing, keep singing.
She definitely does not have a problem with stage fright.

Good job Anna!
You are growing to be a wonderfully delightful young lady.
And you will always be my little chunky monkey baby girl.

Many thanks to: Amy, Jennifer, Amanda, Ed, and Grandpap for helping to make her first recital so special!!!

To see images from the dance recital, click here.

To view more images of Anna's photo session, CLICK HERE.

For Father's Day...

This weekend was full of events!!! On Friday evening, we took the kids swimming. On Saturday, Anna had dance practice and then that evening Brian and I enjoyed a date night. Since it was Father's day weekend, we did Brian's favorite, pizza and a movie. We went out for dinner at Minsky's Pizza Cafe and went to see the new "Karate Kid" movie that just came out. I liked the movie because they did not try to imitate the original and it had a great story line to it. Sunday was Father's Day and Anna's first dance recital (more about that in the next post). For Father's day, Brian decided that he would just like to enjoy spending time together, so that is what we did. Here is a little collage and note in honor of Father's day for Brian.

Brian--Even before we were married, I knew you would be a great father. I knew this because of your honesty, integrity, and compassionate heart. You are succeeding as a father, and most importantly is the example of Christ that you bring to our family. Thank you for your leadership, your love, your care, your hard work, and your perseverance through life. You have helped me to become a better mother and person because of your faithfulness. As I watch Anna and Micaiah grow, I cannot but smile and give thanks to God for this beautiful family. You are an inspiring man of God and I am so blessed to share this life with you. You are my very best friend and I am grateful that you have chosen me to be yours. You have given to Anna and Micaiah much more than you may understand...including their blonde hair and green eyes that are priceless. Thank you for helping to keep me youthful and for leading our family in truth and in love.
Happy Father's day!
Hugs and love from all of us!

My Cookie Monsters!

Cookie Monster #1

Cookie Monster #2

This treat was especially wonderful to Anna.
It was her first treat in 3 days!!!

She made the mistake of indulging in a handful of 'rewards' when she was not supposed to and lost the privilege of treats for three days.

She has learned that "greedy, greedy makes a hungry puppy!"

Now, she has learned her lesson and even refers to this saying.

I love parenting our kids...and am so thankful for life lessons like this that make teaching AND learning quite a treat!