Life Lately (June)

We were actually pretty busy in June.  I had my anatomy scan, AveryAnn's dance recital, and our vacation.  It was nice considering we had not really been anywhere in months.

My favorite cookie maker is moving and won't be doing as many cookies.  She offered these fun decorate your own taco cookie kits.  The kids thought it was great. (I did too)

The fashionista on a walk with her baby in the stroller.

We celebrated Barret's 1/2 birthday with a trip to the waterpark and DQ blizzards.  He was pretty excited.

He was so excited she wanted to wear a hoodie like him.  He wears a hoodie nearly everyday no matter the temperature.  It's somewhat infuriating.

For Father's day we got our dads scratch off lottery tickets. It was entertaining.

My dad with the grandkids minus Drew who had to work.

And the kids.

We are constantly entertained by her outfit choices and her performances.

He'd been hanging on to that top tooth for weeks and it finally came out, while we were driving down the road, and my nose was bleeding and there was no where to pull off.  It was fun.

We were excited Alabama Adventure opened for the season.  We got season passes again this year for Christmas and have really enjoyed going.  We've already been 3 times and plan to go several more before school starts.

Writing a thank you note.  We need to practice more writing this summer!

AveryAnn's First Dance Recital

This was AveryAnn's first year of dance and she was so excited.  She went one day a week for 30 minutes and she loved every minute of it.  Of course it never failed whatever sport Barrett was playing the practice fell at the exact same time so I didn't get to take her to every class but she didn't care.  My mom took her when I couldn't and I am so appreciative.

We've been looking forward to her recital all year.  We went to Madelyn's recital last year so she knew what it would be like and she was excited.  It was supposed to be at the Alabama Theatre.  We were there at Christmas time and we all "oohhed and ahhed' over what a beautiful place it was going to be for her recital.

Well, then covid hit and we weren't sure we'd get to have a recital at all.  She didn't love the zoom classes nearly as much as she enjoyed the in person classes. But she did great learning her routine and she was still excited for the possible recital.

Thankfully they were able to have a modified recital at a local outdoor camp that has a covered stage.  The only negative was we only got 4 tickets.  I'm also thankful this was her first recital so she really didn't know how grand it should have been.

She didn't care, she thought it was the greatest thing ever.

I know we're biased, but we thought she was the most precious ballerina.

When her class was finished on stage Barrett looked at me and said, "that was so sweet I almost cried!"  And it was pretty sweet.  

I was trying to tell her she could wear a little makeup since she was going to be on stage and it was a special day but she convinced she would be in trouble with her teacher if she did.  I finally convinced her it would be okay to wear a little lipstick.  She said "my teacher is not going to like this". I laughed and laughed.  

All in all I was sad all of our family couldn't be there to see her.  We were able to video and they gave us a video.  It definitely wasn't the same but thankfully she didn't care one bit.  We're looking forward to next year and hopefully getting the full recital experience.

Life Lately (May)

I'm trying to get caught up on documenting our time at home during the pandemic.  So this is just a random dump of things we did and pictures I had on my phone.

One night we made funnel cakes for dinner.  I mean why not.

My sister mailed all of us a letter during the stay at home order and Barrett's had a list of things to do at home and he took the list very seriously for a few days.  One of the things was to play/sleep in a closet so they played in my closet for about 3 days.

The first week stores opened up, my mom called me from Hobby Lobby because she was choosing yarn for the new baby's blanket and wanted to know my opinion on colors.  We were in the area getting dinner with no intentions to get out of the car, she was like just come by and help me really quick. So the kids and I ran in to help.  This is what AveryAnn was wearing.  We've forgotten what its like to go in public.

I think this was one of his last class meetings for the year.  

She found my American Girl dolls at my parents house. I let her play with them.  I bought them matching dresses but the doll's isn't fancy enough so she still prefers to dress her in her party dress.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this child and her fashion choices.

Our school was so great during the shut down.  Our PE teachers organized neighborhood bike rides each week for the kids to participate.  We decided to crash the last one in a friends neighborhood but the turn out was intimidating so we opted to go home and ride on our own.  Barrett has thrived on his bike this spring.  I'm not usually a super cautious parent but watching him ride his bike is one of the most nerve wracking things I've done as a parent.  

We splurged on an inflatable water slide for the kids.  At the time we really had no idea if the water park would open or if we'd be allowed to go anywhere this summer.  

Before it got so hot we tried to hit some local trails once a week.  The kids are at really great ages this summer.  (I may or may not had a little panic one day realizing that we've finally reached that sweet spot in parenting and next summer we'll be back to square one with a little baby but I know it will be so sweet and worth it)

We got brave one day and went to the back side of the trail we don't usually do and I kind of got us lost.

I mean not really lost because we were still on the trail but I wasn't sure we'd ever get out.  We did.

I found this picture that the kids took on their ipad.  I love it so much.  I think they have really enjoyed being home together.  They've actually gotten along really well and played nicely together for the most part.  It's been really sweet watching them.

We got to go to my brother's house on the lake a couple times in May.  Once for his 30th birthday and once for my mom's birthday.  The girls are so much fun together.  AveryAnn thought this float was tied to the pier but it wasn't and she started floating away so Madelyn swam out to drag her back.

John finally got the "old boat" running.  It was my uncles when I was a kid and I hated it so much.  It's a really cool boat but it was so loud and I never liked it.

Now my kids hate it.  It's really special.

The last day of school.

I feel like they both grew so much. AveryAnn has changed so much just this year since January.  I feel like she still looked like a baby while we were in Disney world but she's looking more and more like a little girl. 

And this one.  His quarantine haircut made him grow up entirely too fast.  He's still so sweet and loves to snuggle.  He had a great first grade year.  I'm sad we didn't get to do all the fun end of the year things but we ended it as best we could.

Patrick's nephew Tripp graduated high school at the end of May.  They had a small outdoor party to celebrate him.  My kids love him so much and we're so proud of him!

This kid has been sleeping until around 9:30 most mornings.  We're going to be in a world of hurt if we actually get to go back to school this year.