Goan's Lake

One of our favorite things to do every summer was to visit Goan at her house on Prior Lake, so when we found out that they were selling we were all so sad!  The girls always loved to splash around in the lake and play in the sand, and Ryan and I thoroughly enjoyed the fully stocked fridge in the boat house.  Even Kev got invited out once in a while, the lucky dog.  :)

Goan was good enough to host one last lake trip for me and the girls this week, in the midst of her moving craziness.  I mistakenly thought it was too cool to jump in the lake, so I didn't bring swimsuits.  The lake water was actually perfect, and luckily the girls had no qualms with jumping in fully clothed.

We had such a fun time, and I was so glad we got the chance to create a few more memories.  I know for sure Lyla and Evie will always remember their days at Goan's lake.  She may not live there anymore, but I'm pretty sure it'll always be hers to them.  :)

Thanks for the beautiful afternoon, Goan!

- K

Vacation Bible School

Last week the girls and I all attended VBS for the very first time!  VBS is technically for Kindergarten through 5th grade, but when I found out they offered a pre-K class for children of volunteers I figured it would be a fun change of pace for all of us.  And then I got slightly coerced into being a lead teacher for a 1st grade class.

Going into the week I was excited, but also nervous.  I had never even attended as a child, and being a lead teacher was a little bit overwhelming.  Not to mention that us girls have always had a bit of a laissez faire life.  We've never done daycare, so it's been a lot of jammies all day around here and not so much get-up-get-dressed-get-out.  Five days in a row of that was going to be a test.  Not to mention it was 3 hours, which was the longest I've ever left them anywhere AND went well past our normal naptime.  Double test.

I was so proud of the girls, they were more than amazing!  The first day I rushed downstairs, not sure what to expect from either of them.  I was slightly shocked to find two super happy girls!  Each of their teachers had rave reviews, and they both had little crafts and couldn't stop talking about their day.  By Friday everyone was a little worn out, but we made it!  Evie's teacher even commented about how "easy going" she was (she had them fooled!), and how she was by far the least upset in her class when it came to being separated from me.  I wasn't sure if I should be proud or offended.  ;)

Here are a few pics from our week!

- K

First day of school!

We passed by this park on our way home one day and Lyla asked if we could stop to play.  They'd done so well that we made a little pit stop to reward them.  :)

They had a "gone fishing" theme.  Sis was not interested in taking a picture with the decorations.

Pure "easy going" right there.

Last day of school!  Getting out of the house was a bit rough that morning.  I was nervous about how they'd do for those 3 hours, but they exceeded expectations as usual.  It was such a fun and exhausting week!  Lyla and I are still singing all the VBS songs.  Girl's got some pipes.  ;)

Ballet

Sometime late last year Lyla declared that she was done with gymnastics and had decided that ballet was her true calling.  I finally got her signed up for the spring ballet session in February and she was pretty excited...until she figured out that ballet was much slower and more disciplined than gymnastics.  And Lyla is a lot of awesome things, but slow and disciplined are not really any of them.  It wasn't too long before she decided that maybe gymnastics really was more of her speed.  :)

We finished up the spring session and despite realizing that she wasn't a natural born ballerina, Lyla did have a blast.  She loved her teacher and the princess sticker she got after every class, and we even made some great new friends.  I was proud of her for sticking it out through the entire session without ever really complaining.

It may have been short lived, but I loved every minute of our little ballet stint.  The tutus and the hair buns and the constant fancy leaping across our house were kind of a dream come true.  But let's be honest, it's not like I had any graceful genes to pass on, so I kind of knew the ballet career wouldn't go that far.  I'm thinking we'll need to go full contact to have any real success.  ;)

Here's some pics of our little ballet star!

- K

Trying on her new ballet gear!

Ready for her first class.  :)

Picture day!  She even got to wear a touch of makeup, and now both girls are obsessed with lipgloss.  :)

Part of her class, before pictures.

The whole crew going in for their pictures.  It just doesn't get any cuter!

Last ballet class!  (We ripped through at least 3 pairs of tights and I refused to buy more at this point. :)

Got her pictures back!  So many heart eyes.

Recital time!  The poor girls had hand foot mouth disease the week leading up to this.  I didn't know if Lyla would even be able to attend, but thankfully she pulled through quickly enough to go without being contagious.  We quarantined Evie, not letting her touch anything or anyone.  Can't be too careful - I wouldn't wish that disease on anyone.

She was so proud of herself!  And that's her very first bouquet of flowers.  Pink roses, her favorite.  :)

Lyla and Miss Hannah



Lyla and her best ballet friend.  :)

So proud of this little beauty!

The 7 Best Friends

A couple weekends ago we were graced by the presence of some of our very favorite people - Will, Heather, and Dex.  It only took 4 years, but they finally made it!  ;)  The crazy thing is that almost half of our friendship has been long distance, and precisely all of our parenthood.  But weirdly enough Dex and Lyla follow eerily similar patterns, and I honestly couldn't make it through this motherhood thing without Heather and our daily venting and/or gushing session about the latest thing our little boogers have gotten into.

The first time Lyla and Dex ever met, Lyla was about 10 months and Dex was 3 months.  While I was holding Dex for the first time Lyla crawled right over and planted a big ol' open mouthed smooch right on his mouth.  Every time they saw each other since then was brief and usually ended with Dex in tears, in true "young love" fashion.  :)  They couldn't wait to see each other again this time around, and they all got along like three peas in a pod, minus the several times they went fist-a-cuffs for a babysitter while we were at dinner.  The next day Lyla told me "Mom, I feel like I'm going to marry him."  haha!

The weekend was so great, the only thing that would've made it better is if we could do it more often!  Here are some pics from the visit.  :)

- K

Lyla made sure to put on her best gown to greet Dex.  :)

 



Having a good time while the kids duked it out at home.

 



It called for rain but we braved it and headed to the local amusement park anyways.

 



The whole gang.

 



He looks good with a bunch of babies.  :)

 



Twinning with our braids.  :)

 





Tight quarters.  :)

 

No joke, Sis rode this ride more than 10 times and then cried when she was finally forced off.  It was the highlight of her entire life.  Just look at that face!

We took them to one of our favorite lakes on Sunday before they had to leave town and we finally got a sunny day!  The kids loved checking out this mama duck and her babies.

Memorial Day Weekend with Auntie Kate

Memorial Day weekend is typically my least favorite long weekend.  It almost always falls on the end of the month, which up until this year meant my Fiscal Year end and Ryan's month end close out, and just to rub it in it usually rains.  Which meant all work and no fun.  This year was quite a different story, and included a sort of impromptu trip from Auntie Kate, a Zac Brown Band concert, a landscaping project and two very casual barbecues at our house.  Go big or go home, am I right?

Here are some photos from the weekend!  Thanks for the visit, Auntie Kate!

- K

 

When Kate booked her trip for this particular weekend I had forgotten about our concert tickets that we'd had for months.  We bought a cheap ticket the day of and snuck her into our seats.  Luckily the people around us were super tipsy friendly and accommodating.  Luckily for everyone else at the concert we decided to be "smart" and wear our rain gear since it had been calling for rain and thunderstorms that night.  So, you're welcome all you ladies in your cute little dresses and adorable cowboy boots.   Our preparedness guaranteed your good weather for the evening.

On Saturday we had a landscaper come remove the sod from around our house so we could add some landscaping.  Ryan took care of the weed guard and edging, and I still had no idea what the heck I was going to plant anywhere.  The only thing I knew was I needed lilacs, which is what actually prompted this entire project.

 



 

The next day we headed to a local nursery where these guys and gals were busy resting.

 

They had donkeys and reindeer and a playground set.  It was a dream come true for the girls!

On Monday some neighbors came around to see how it was going, and I think they saw the panic in my eye when it was already nap time and I hadn't even accomplished digging one hole.  Next thing I knew all their kids had shovels and every last hole was complete.  Poor Kate might have regretted coming the weekend of our landscaping project.  :)

 



 

The girls took the skin cancer PSA's a little too seriously.  ;)

 

We found this Saint Joseph figure while we were digging.  Apparently it's something people do when they're selling their houses?  It was the most interesting buried treasure we found all day.

 



 

In between working we obviously had to have some Princess Anna time.

 

And play time.

 

And strike a pose time.

 

And pink lipgloss duck face time.  :)



 

And kitty snuggle time.  (Tim loves his aunts the most.)

 

 

This is from our second "very casual" barbecue.  I say very casual because I actually made both sets of guests bring a majority of the food and yes, that is dirt on my knees.  It's fortunate to have good friends around that don't care about petty things like "showering" or "brushing your hair", or even providing food for a barbecue that you are in fact hosting!  ;)