Fancy Nancy Tea Party

The girls had the honor of being invited to their very first formal TEA PARTY...it was their friend, Maddie's, birthday and she had a Fancy Nancy Tea Party.

So, the girls put on some dresses suitable for a Saturday mid-morning tea party and off we went.  It was a beautiful day today, in the 70's, so Alexia's squinting was the result of the bright sunshine :)

Here is the birthday girl, Maddie...welcoming everyone to her tea party :)

This was such a fun party for all these girly girls...they all looked adorable and had a wonderful time!

This party was filled with dancing, brunch, jewely-making, a Fancy Nancy Piniatta, cup-cake decorating and more!  Miss Maddie has one creative mom, for sure!

(And she went to a few extra measures to make sure Alexia had a gluten-free flower sandwhich and a gluten-free cupcake to decorate and eat).

Here are a few pictures from their day.

THANK YOU MISS MADDIE FOR A VERY SPECIAL TIME AT YOUR BIRTHDAY PARTY! 

Daddy-Daughter Dance

Last year, Scott took Alexia to her very first Daddy-Daughter Dance and she waited all year long for another chance to go.  She had such a special experience at last year's dance...
Here they were last year...

And...one year later...I simply can't believe how much she has grown!!!

Here's a few pictures of the big night :)
It began with a visit to the salon to get her hair done...



Love all the long curls !!

After getting her hair done and dress on at the salon...we headed home to do her nails and I even allowed her to put on a touch of blush...after all, she had been waiting all year long for this night to come :)

Daddy was looking pretty handsome, too...and Megan...she put on a special dress as she was going to go over to Grady's house for a little date. 

Daddy took time to pose for a special picture with Megan

so that she would feel like it was a special night for her, too.

After pictures here at home, we headed over the Williams' home for a few more pictures and to send them off to the dance.

Here are the Daddys and their precious daughters...

Alexia and Alayna took time out for a quick pose together....

A few hours later, they returned home and Alexia was so excited to share that she won a door prize at the dance.  A popcorn tin full of goodies and tickets to the movies....Woo-Hoo!!!

While Alexia was busy with her door prize, Alayna, Megan and Grady checked out some of the dance footage on Scott's phone.  They had another very special night.

Get ready, Daddy...next year Megan will be in Kindergarten and you will have two girls to take to the dance...one on each arm :)  Megan is already talking about it...

Gymnastics & Monkey Joe's

The girls have been really enjoyng the Gymnastics Program at Rich Valley Gymnastics the past few months.  Alexia is going to take a break from gymnastics during softball, but she had off school on Monday for Easter Break, so Ms. Laurie allowed her to be part of Megan's class.

Here are just a few pictures from Monday's class:

I've been so impressed with this gymnastics program and it has really built confidence in the girls, especially in Megan.  She has been more open to trying new things and the instructors have helped her realize that she can do so much more than she ever gives herself credit for.   They challenge the kids in their skill development, but do it in a way that creates such a fun, affirming atmosphere. 

One of places where I've seen this increased confidence play out for Megan has been at a recent visit to Monkey Joe's.  Monkey Joe's is a huge warehouse with several large bouncy houses in it.  Both girls, along with about 90 other kids from Daybreak, earned a party at Monkey Joe's for going to Scrimmage each wednesday night, bringing their Bibles, doing their Scrimmage homework and memorizing a new verse each week.  Alexia was ecstatic that she had earned enough points to go, but Megan wasn't so sure she wanted to go (she has not had very good experiences there in the past because she just gets too overwhelmed with all of the kids and does not like to be bounced around by other kids).  Well, I encouraged her to go and at least give it a try.  When we first got there, not very many kids had arrived yet, so she was in her glory to be in one of the bouncy houses by herself.  However, it wasn't long before all of the other kids arrived and invaded her space....
To my surprise, she didn't seem to mind at all and she had a great time for over two hours jumping, bouncing, and running from one bouncy house to the next.

Of course, it was a huge bonus for Megan that her best buddy Connor was there as well.  He spent a lot of the night running around with many of the other crazy boys, but Megan would steal him away from them any chance she could get.   I absolutely love what wonderful friends they have become!  Their friendship is priceless :)

Alexia also had a great time, but she was much harder to catch up with throughout the night.   She ran hard with her friends all night long :)

I did manage to get at least one picture of her coming down a big slide with a bunch of her friends!

It was a super fun night for all of the kids and a great way to celebrate all of their hard work in Scrimmage this year.  I'm so thankful for all that Daybreak's Children's Ministry does to encourage the girls in their relationship with Jesus and to learn what it means to love Him and to follow Him with their whole heart :)

Alexia, Softball and Major Daddy-Daughter Bonding

I have to be honest...when Scott told me that he talked to Alexia about signing up for Softball...I thought to myself, "This is going to be a disaster."  However, I kept my thoughts to myself and secretly prayed that Alexia would love it and that, if she didn't love it, she would at least tolerate it for a season in order to give it a good effort.

Well, I'm THRILLED to report that Alexia LOVES playing softball.  She's only had a few practices, but she looks forward to them every week.  Here are a few pics from her first practice a couple of weeks ago and from her practice last night.

Alexia has enjoyed having a few good friends from school who are on the same team.  Yet, she is not nearly as distracted by the "social aspect" of being on the team with her friends as I had thought she might be.  In just a few practices, she has been doing a great job learning some basic softball skills.  Scott and a few other dads have been helping with the practices, too, and Alexia has really enjoyed the extra bonding time with Daddy :)  Scott took her out over the weekend to buy her a new bat and "purple" mit.  I LOVE IT!!!

She has one more week of practices, with her 1st game scheduled for April 24th.  I can't wait to see her in her softball unform and ready to play on game day!  It's going to be great :)