First Dance Recital

Sophie had her first dance recital.  Her class is the youngest at the studio and they did great!  They did a tap number and ballet routine.  Their songs  were, On The Goodship Lollipop and Bibbity Bobbity Boo.  I don't think the girls did one move together but the crowd "oohed and aaahed" over each step because they were the babies of the group and just beautiful in their little costumes.   The girls are only three and we mommies were amazed that not one of them were afraid to go out and dance on the big stage for all the people watching.  I have never been part of a recital before.  It was a lot of work getting Sophie ready, changing hairbows, tights and shoes between numbers.   Getting her back stage and picked up at the appropriate times was kind of crazy but it was worth it because she was so proud of herself.

Sopie warming up backstage with a few of her own moves.

Sophie and Kate

Sophie loved getting flowers from Daddy and Jojo but her most prized possession was her trophy.

Jojo and Mamoo came to watch Sophie dance.

The trophy.

He is....

He gives baths.  He carpools to dance class.  He is the king of the "playlist".  He loves his boy.  He loves his little girl.  He is witty.  He is the easiest person to draw.  He is always on time.  He carries a copy of the Constitution with him wherever he goes.  He does dishes.  He cleans the house.   He is honest.   If you need something done, he's your man.   He loves to serve.   He loves to be home with us.  He is a man of integrity.   He is a follower of Christ
....He is Daddy.

Happy Father's Day!

Playgroup Zoo Fun

This week our playgroup met at the Zoo.  I was told that if you go on Thursday after 4pm, it isn't crowded and boy were they right.  I think this is the first time I have been able to actually see the Gorillas up close.  We were the only ones in the exhibit.  It was also nice because the girls were able to be together, walking, playing and checking out the animals up close.   I love our little group.  They are such a blessing!

It seems like every time the girls are together a game of Ring Around the Rosie begins.

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Sophie and Lydia.  They just automatically grab hands as they are walking along.

Up close watching the seal swim by....

I love the look on Elizabeth's face.  It's priceless!   She and Sophie were so apprehensive about doing the slide but they got over it quick.

Bathing Beauty

  I took an opportunity of a new bathing suit and beautiful weather to snap a few photos of my baby girl. That gorgeous face says it all!

He's Still Rattling the Windows

My older brother Dwayne has always loved his music.  I can remember as a kid him  cranking up the stereo or his amplifier in the basement & my mom stomping on the floor yelling, " turn it down!!!"  He taught himself to play the guitar and has always had a little garage band as a hobby but now he has a real band who gets paid to play.  In fact they are booked up for the next month.   He finally invited us all to come hear him play, for some reason he was always shy about asking us.  I don't know why,  we had a great time and mom and dad were so proud of him!   His band is called Throttle (they play classic rock) and they were awesome!  Dwayne is the lead singer and guitarist.  He is really good.  So much better than when he was jamming in our basement as a teenager.  

Dwayne turned 50 this year is living his dream of having a real band.  I think that is so cool!

                            Sophie and Mamoo enjoying the music.

 This time instead of mom telling him to turn it down, she was throwing out requests.  He sang Sweet Home Alabama for her.  Always a crowd favorite.

                               Becky watching the show.  She thought he needed some leather pants and a vest.  He said, "no".

                   Rock on Dwayne!!!

From Green to Clean

I have a love- hate relationship with our pool.  When it's hot and everything is working I love it.  When it's not, I hate it!  This year I spent about a week hating it.  We had so much rain for so long that when the cover was removed this year, it was a swamp!  It's always kind of yucky when I open it because our cover is mesh and that allows a certain amount of stuff to go through plus having trees around the pool makes for quite a few leaves that find their way under it and into the deep end but this year it was just awful!  I am the one in the family who reads the directions on everything and therefore am the one who understands how the chemicals work and how to set the pool up for vacuuming so therefore I am the one who had to figure out how to clean it up.  After dumping a huge amount of chemicals and money into the thing and brushing and vacumming and brushing and vaccuming and .....it is fianally ready.

 This is the pool after I had been working on it already for about 5 days.  Ugh!!! At least it was a lighter shade of green. Somewhere in the bottom of that murk was my sunglasses that fell off the first day I was vaccuming.  I think the Creature from the Black Lagoon had them.

 Sophie played in her little baby pool while we worked on the big one.  She couldn't wait for her first swim but was making the best of it.

 Even Lifeguard Barbie kept asking, "when is the pool going to open? "

 My new Hibiscus opened before the pool.

Finally, all my hard work paid off.  A clean, blue sparkling pool and just in time for the 90 degree weather that moved in!

Sophie was just a little apprehensive when she first got in but quickly got her "swim on".  She was all over the pool swimming with her noodle by herself.  Back and forth to the deep end.  Summer for the Shipley's is ready to begin!