Mischievous Addie

Our little Addie Bear is a handful these days. She can wail with the best of them, answer "no" quickly and loudly to any question you ask her, and throw food with some force. I tell myself that it's just her age- 18 months is hard- but deep down I know different. Addie is mischievous...as Baba says, "she just has that gleam in her eye".

I had to confirm the spelling of mischievous because I was having trouble with it, and it turns out the definition of the word is the "fondness for causing trouble in a playful way". Yep, that's our Addie!

Photographic proof of this personality trait...

Addie's favorite way to start her (and Collins's morning) is to barge through her sister's door and wake her up (especially when we tell her to let Collins sleep a little longer).

I went bathing suit shopping with Addie, and it was TORTURE. Both the bathing suit shopping part and the Addie part. If I don't strap her down in a stroller (which I can't do because she will scream), I have to chase her around the store and try to find her among the racks. This might be her favorite game. :)

Oh the garden...we so love our garden. Addie loves soaking herself with the garden hose and then picking unripe tomatoes. She's already gotten two big ones...sigh.

Addie loves squeezing herself into small spaces where she's not supposed to be...under tables, behind displays at Costco, you name it. If she gets quiet, there's no telling where you may find her! 

Oh how we love our Addie. She makes us laugh so hard, she cuddles with the best of them, and is about the cutest thing we've ever seen. Add the mischieviousness, and you have about the best personality combo possible. :) 

The Big Dance

On the day of the big recital, Collins was ready for her big dance. And so was her entire family. I think we all were just as excited as she was! Mimi, Baba, and Poppy and Nana all came into town for the occasion, and she knew it. She kept saying, "they are all coming to watch me dance!".

Mimi and Baba loved seeing our little dancer get ready...

Poppy and Nana drove up the day of the recital saying they drove the farthest for the one minute 45 second show. :) 

How cool is it that her recital was at Memorial Auditorium? Such a beautiful venue.

The show was a big success! Collins did GREAT! Her class's dance wasn't until the second act so they had to wait over an hour backstage before they went on stage, but they all were troopers and executed the moves really well. Seeing how this was our first dance recital, we were expecting the worst (for it to drag on forever) but it actually went by quickly. Stage Door Dance did a great job keeping the program moving and making it interesting with their "Family Game Day" theme.

How sweet is this? Alli captured this neat moment. Baba wanted to get our dancer some pink flowers to congratulate her on her performance, and she loved them. 

I'm so glad Collins was able to do the dance class with her friends Eleanor and Reeves. That made each week fun for her.

It really touched me how everyone never questioned if they would come to the recital- it was just a given that they wouldn't miss it. Collins is one lucky little girl to have a family who loves her so much.

She just struck this pose as we were leaving- how cute! I think Collins actually has some talent when it comes to dance, but ironically she has chosen to do gymnastics next year instead of dance. Oh well...even if this turns out to be our only dance recital ever, it was a special one.

A Summer Must

Dierks Bentley! We had a VIP experience last year which left us begging for more...we got it the first weekend of June. Dierks came back to Raleigh, and we made sure we had tickets. This year, Rach joined us. He did not disappoint...he sang hits for an hour and a half and we sang along with him. Until next year, Dierks!

First Dress Rehearsal

Collins didn't know what a dress rehearsal was. When I explained the concept, she got REALLY excited. Dress up in her costume and dance on a big, fancy stage before the big show? Yes please!

Her dance teachers told the class they were NOT allowed to wear their costume in advance of the dress rehearsal. This good little student obliged, but was really ready to put it on when the time came. I admit, I thought the costume was wildly tacky when I first saw it. But once she put it on with her cute little bun, I thought she looked adorable.

The girls were pretty impressed when they saw the theater they would be dancing in...I don't blame them, I was impressed too! Memorial Auditorium's Fletcher Opera Theater is so adorable. 

They were mesmerized watching the group ahead of them...I couldn't tell if they were anxious or impressed with what they saw.  

How cute are these girls parading out on the stage? For some reason, I was nervous for her! That was a pretty big stage and some pretty loud music...

But I shouldn't have been...she went for it! Collins was not nervous at all and brought her best dance moves!

She must have Brian's ability to perform under pressure because she did a really good job. I was so proud of her! I had been skeptical of the whole dance recital (just seemed over the top), but when Collins danced on that stage I understood how special it was for her to get to do that. It was a neat moment for her.

And not only that, she was good! She must have been paying attention in dance class this year.

After they got to run through their number three times, they wanted to stay and watch more.

We finally drug them out of the theater for a photo op...how adorable. 

A successful first dress rehearsal! Now on to the big show...

Pool Fun/Issues

Our first trip to the pool this summer turned out great for Addie...she loved the fountains and fearlessly stormed through them getting splashed in every direction possible. She also liked the baby pool and kept herself very busy going back and forth between them. I was so happy she was not afraid of the water!

Our first trip to the pool did not turn out so great for Collins. Our little fish was way excited to get in the big pool and show off her new moves from swim class. She was NOT excited, however, to be stuck at the baby pool with her sister. This will be our new issue from now on when I take them to the pool by myself. Collins threw a fit and could not understand why we couldn't hang out in the big pool the whole time. I hope she gets it before our next trip to the pool or there won't be lots of swimming in our future! :)

Roses in Bloom!

We stopped by the rose garden at just the right time...roses in full bloom! 

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent the long holiday weekend being outside. It was GORGEOUS!

Was itching all weekend to spend some quality time with this book. It was that good...

Emma turned four, and Mandy pulled out all the stops with a princess castle bounce house!

 

Collins enjoyed jumping on her new birthday present...

I love crostadas and decided to make a patriotic one. :)

On Memorial Day, Collins requested to take a picnic to the Art Museum park...this was easier said than done for Dad who was STILL on crutches!

How's this for a patriotic shot? Brian and Collins remembered that they needed to put up the flag...

 The Bakers down the street were so nice to host a "small" neighborhood cookout which was really fun...plus we got to meet the two new families that just moved into the neighborhood.

 

 Addie and Ballard had fun interacting...

The kids were totally afraid to try the sparklers...

but not the smores! The girls went to bed late but happy! The weekend ended up being busier than I had hoped, but it was really fun.

Hot Air Balloons...Was it Worth the Wait?

For the first time in 25 years, hot air balloons were coming to Raleigh (over Memorial Day weekend) and I felt like we shouldn't miss it. I personally had never seen a hot air balloon in person, and I thought the girls would think it was cool. I convinced Al to come with us telling her it would be a great photo op, but she would have probably opted out had she known what we later found out...that it would be 5 HOURS OF WAITING before we saw a balloon inflate. 

We are talking a lot of time entertaining the girls in the hot sun without a proper snack (I thought we were only going to be there an hour or so). They were restless, we were restless. We would have pulled the plug a lot earlier on this adventure, but we were led to  believe that there would be balloons up in the air at any minute. We hated to leave when we were so close. So we waited and waited and waited...and finally this happened.

The girls were just about to lose it, when the balloons stopped them in their tracks. They were mesmerized! 

It really was very cool watching them inflate really quickly and then go up into the air.

C got to touch one as it was inflating. 

We left shortly after they were up in the air, fed the girls a hot dog and ice cream from Goodberry's in the car on the way home, and put them to bed a good hour late. I was exhausted and mad at myself for putting them through that. Then Brian told me Collins told him "the balloons were awesome!". At that point, I decided it was worth it. :)