What a Weekend!!

This past weekend was a crazy busy weekend, but full of some fun times, for sure!! 
It began with a dress rehearsal on Thursday night for Alexia (which also happened to be her 7th birthday)...

Back in December, Alexia decided to take a break from Gymnastics and give Dance a try...hard to believe just 5 months later, she danced in her very first recital.  She loves to dance and the Hip Hop Jr. Class she took was a great first class for her.  She did great in the recital, despite the fact that she was completely wiped out from having the flu leading up to it.  We were all very proud of her!!

 Here are a few pics of her in her costume and at the dress rehearsal.



So, apprently I didn't realize how long her pants were until I saw this pic...thankfully, my mom was in town to do a quick alteration for the actual dance recital on Friday night!  Thanks Mom :)

 After the rehearsal, we came home and did a small birthday celebration with Alexia!  I simply cannot believe these 7 years have gone by so fast!  What an amazing young lady you are becoming, Miss Alexia!

As mentioned earlier, my parents came into town for the weekend festivities, which also involved giving the girls their birthday presents.  Grandma and Papa got the girls very nice roller skates. 

Alexia LOVES them and has roller skated every day since...Megan is slowly warming up to them.  They are a little bulky for her tiny little ankles, but she'll get use to them eventually.

How am I going to get this girl to keep a barrette in her hair?

On Saturday, Mom and I spent the morning hitting some yard sales, my Dad and Scott opened the pool (YEA!!) and we all went out to dinner at Dukes on the river since it was such a nice evening :)

Then, on Sunday...Alexia had a make-up softball game, which allowed for a lot of the family to come out and see her play!  It was a pefect day for a softball game and the girls played their best game yet!!

While everyone that came to see Alexia play was cheering her on...I think Joshua was her biggest fan! 

After the game, we all headed to Dairy Queen for a sweet treat! 

Thankfully, both of the girls cooperated for a pic with the Grandparents :)

We had a very special weekend together with some pretty wonderful family :)  I continue to be thankful for God's blessings in our lives...Life is definitely very full these days...but we sure are making some beautiful memories together!!

Megan turns the BIG 5 Years old!!

Over the past couple of weeks, we've enjoyed helping Megan celebrate her birthday.
Her first birthday celebration was spent at Chick Fil A with one of her very best friends, Connor.  Megan and Connor's birthdays are only a few days apart, so they enjoyed having a birthday lunch together and exchanging presents.

Connor and Megan are such treasured friends!!!

We didn't have a family birthday party for the girls this year, so Megan enjoyed special visits by grandparents, aunts and uncles to bring her some wonderful presents.  She really enjoyed opening presents this year and was so excited to get a lady bug pillow pet :)

For her party with her friends, she was having trouble deciding between a gymnastics party and a princess party...so we combined the ideas and had a "Princess Gymnastics Party."  Megan loved every minute of it!!

The party started out with everyone writing their name on a dry erase wall and a little birthday message to Megan...



This is "Brookie", as Megan so affectionately calls her. 
She is the older sister of one of Megan's preschool friend's and
 Megan absolutely adores her!!!!



After all the gymanstics fun...it was time for a snack and some birthday cake...here is the little princess gymnast enjoying her special day with all of her friends :)

Megan helped me make her own birthday cake this year, which we both really enjoyed doing together.  Here she is as we all sang the traditional Happy Birthday tune to her.

After enjoying some cake, Megan and her friends all went in for some Piniatta Fun!!

Megan really wanted the kind of piniatta that you hit with a bat...but given that her party primarily involved 4 and 5 year olds...Mommy made the executive decision to go with the pull-string kind instead.  Even with the lack of a bat...it was a huge hit...especially once the correct string was pulled to release all the goodies!

Here is the group of kiddos who came to Megan's party (minus a couple who had to leave a little early).

For party favors, the birthday guests went home with their goodie bag of candy as well as their own hula-hoop :)  Here are several of the kids enjoying some hula-hoop fun before heading home from the party. 

Megan had a great party and Miss Lori did a wonderful job with all of the kids :)  She's truly amazing! 

The only bummer for Megan was that she did not get to open her presents with her friends at the party, because we simply ran out of time!  However, in many ways, I think she actually really enjoyed and truly appreciated each gift as she opened them at home.

The phrase Megan kept using as she opened each new gift was..."Look Alexia...this is AWESOME!!!!" 

Here is Alexia giving the birthday girl some sisterly lov'in!!!

Happy Birthday, to our sweet Megan!! You bring so much laughter and joy to our lives each and every day!!!!
You are looking so grown up these days...more and more like your Mama every day!!  You are one of God's greatest blessings in our lives...wishing you another fantastic year ahead!! 

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!