Memorial Day weekend

I didn't get back home from Colorado (pics & details on that soon) until late on Sunday of Memorial day weekend - it was nice to have Monday off to be with the kids, but it was still kind of rough to miss most of that 3 day weekend. At least the conference was good; that mostly made up for it. As I was gone for 6 days, Evan's parents came down on Friday (left Sunday morning) to help him out for a bit. I know he appreciated it - he'd had 3 days/nights of being alone with the kids, and having just done that myself at the beginning of June, I know how exhausting it is! We're lucky to have such good kids (while I had them and he was in San Diego, they were fantastic), but it's hard not to have another adult there to give you a short break!

On Saturday, they took the kids to the National Zoo. I love this zoo - while not the best one I've ever been to, it's free and it's in a nice part of DC. Evan actuall bought a membership, as it's only $70 for the year and you get free parking, which is $20 each time you go. Plus, the kids get free animal crackers every time which does wonders for keeping them occupied! Here are a couple of the pics that Lynn sent me of their day at the zoo.

We're making the most out of the memership, and actually have gone again since then - those pics will go up soon...hopefully. More description to come of just how crazy May & June have been for us, which is why it's been 2 weeks since the last post. My worst lapse yet!

As I said, Evan's parents left on Sunday, and then I came home! Evan and the kids met me at the airport, which was great. That evening was just a flurry of time with them, unpacking, and relaxing.

Monday was a family day! Since our pool opened that weekend, we made our first trip of the year. We were very happy to find out that Natalie has gotten over pretty much any fear she had of the water, and Henry loves it too! I think we've been there at least 1-2 times/week since it opened. Great way to entertain them and wear them out at the same time!

That night I decided to do mine & Natalie's nails. I've been trying to do my own pedicure more often this summer to save money, and Natalie absolutely loves having her nails painted, so it's a lot of fun. I even pulled out my foot spa to have some bubbly fun.

She then thought it would be fun to pumice my feet. I did NOT put her up to it, I swear!

Natalie's first dance recital

While this makes everything a bit out of order, I'm so excited about Natalie's dance recital from yesterday that I have to get these photos up! I'll get back to Memorial Day & my trip to Colorado soon.

Sunday June 12 was Natalie's first dance recital! It was held at the Franklin Park Arts Center in Purcellville, VA. We'd never been there before, but it's a really great event space! I was definitely a little worried about how Natalie would do with getting dropped off (in costume) and handed off to the "big girls" (high school dancers) helping out for the day. Turns out, she did great! We gave her a hug and off she went, with her costume change ready to go.

In her show (2pm), there were 8 dances. Natalie was in #4 and #8 (ballet first, then tap). Her ballet routine was to "When You Wish Upon a Star". The girls did fantastically! 

Natalie is on the far right as you look at the picture. Miss Helen was to her left, just off stage, so the girls could watch at the same time while dancing, as you can see below.

The other dancers were adorable too, and I did take some photos of them, but I didn't feel comfortable putting their pictures up here since my kid wasn't in them. For her second dance, they did a tap routine to "You've Got A Friend In Me". Next to Natalie in the photo below is her friend Nola. They looked so cute together!

To be honest, I'm not entirely certain what was happening in this picture - there were definitely moments of wandering about the stage a couple of times, but overall the girls did fantastically!

And here's our little dancer after the show. Unfortunately, I had a giant FAIL and didn't realize that I was supposed to bring her flowers! Almost every other little girl was given a big bouquet. I felt so bad! Luckily, Nola was willing to share and gave Natalie a few.

We are so proud of our little dancer, and can't wait for the next recital!

Haircut #2

Henry got his haircut "professionally" for the first time back in March, and we'd finally reached the point where it was necessary to go again. Here's the before:

I actually kind of liked the shagginess, but it was time to cut it. So, this morning we took both kids to get their hair cut, as Natalie desperately needed the bottom few inches cut off too. You can see in the photo below just how long & scraggly her ends had gotten.

So, this morning was hair cut time, as they both needed it and this afternoon was her first dance recital (more to come on that in a later post). When I sat down with Henry in my lap, I knew I wanted the back & sides razored, but the girl who cut it really thought he should have a buzz cut. I thought "what the hell, it's summer, and it's hair, it just grows back!", so I allowed her to give him a buzz cut and basically shave his head. While it's super short, here's the final result:

What a big boy with his new haircut! Evan isn't so sure about it, as he isn't a huge fan of the buzz cut, but I really like it. 

And here's how Natalie's looks with about 3 inches cut off:

We told the girl that she had her first dance recital today, so she braided both sides back and put the beads in. I then ended up pulling both braids back and tying them with a ribbon for the recital. All in all, I think they're looking pretty cute!

Fun with anything

If there's one thing that kids are good at, it's making just about anything into a toy!

Foxfield races: Part 3 - UVA

On Sunday after the races, since we were staying just outside of Charlottesville, a few of us headed into town to take a look at the new South Lawn project, as none of us had really seen it complete. Plus, it's always fun to get pictures of the kids on The Lawn! Unfortunately it was very overcast that day, and we had a couple of light showers while walking around, but it was still a fun visit!

First up: The Rotunda!

Natalie pushing Henry in front of The Rotunda

Natalie & Zabby running around in front of the new South Lawn buildings

And probably my favorite picture of the day:

How ridiculously cute is that? The girls had so much fun together all weekend. If only we lived close enough for them to see each other more than once or twice a year!

Foxfield races: Part 2

As I mentioned in the previous post, the Foxfield races are a fantastic way to catch up with old friends. So, in this post you get to see us hanging with all of our friends! However, the kids aren't completely gone from these photos...in the first two you get super cute babies!

Emily and Ben (only 2 months old!)

 Beth and Ellie. Beth is amazing - she plans this craziness every year!

 Eric and Henry

 Evan, Natalie & Amy. Amy held Natalie after this and talked to her for about 30 minutes! It was fantastic. What a good auntie!

 Amy and I

 The "Old Ladies" - gotta get this shot every year!

 Kathy, Amy and I

 Brian, Peter and Evan (with passed out Henry)

 Kathy, Beta and I

 Alison, me and Stephanie

 last but not least...Kathy with Natalie!!

Foxfield races: Part 1

Is 6 weeks too late to post up photos? Well, even though it shows how ridiculously behind in posting I allowed myself to get in May, I'm going to put up the photos now from our trip to Charlottesville for the Foxfield Races. For those who don't know, it's an annual horse race held every spring down in C'ville (ok, technically there's one in the fall as well, but that one is lame because we don't go). We basically use it as a Pep Band reunion - we've got 4 spots along the railing, just in front of a jump, and about 60 people show up that were all in the band with us in college, spanning about 15 years (if not more). We rent a house with friends, eat & drink all weekend, and generally have a fantastic time. We hated missing last year (not that we didn't have a good reason: we had a 2 week old Henry!), and couldn't wait to get there this year.

In starting to upload photos, I've realized that I have a ton of them! So, I'm breaking this post up into 3 posts. First up: cute photos of the kids.

Zabby & Natalie

Henry man!

Finally napping on Daddy!

Alie, Natalie & Zabby watching the horses run.

A family photos. We only got two of these the entire day, and Natalie was unfortunately sullen in both of them. Of the two, this is the better one...that should tell you something of the other one!

Oh, and there are horses there too!