Catching Up....

Recital 2013
This was the last recital with my dance studio.  I can't believe how much the studio has grown in 2 short years. I have been so blessed to be able to have started my own business and still be at home with my girls.  All our house has known is dance!  Even though Sampson never wanted to come home on "dance days," Phoenix and Eva have loved every minute of it.  Phoenix could have been in 6 different dances in this recital, but I had to cut her back to 4.  She decided that she was going to do a solo and she helped me choreograph parts of it. She was so proud of herself.  Her favorite part was walking on and off the stage :)  Although it was stressful at times having the studio at my house, I would do again in a heart beat if it meant being able to be surrounded by so many girls that have been positively impacted through dancing.  There are no words to describe the feelings I had while watching all my dancers dance up on stage with confidence in who they are.  I am grateful for this experience and I am sad to leave, but I am excited to start a new chapter in our lives.   

 

"In My Daughter's Eyes"

Here is the dance I did with my girls

"Glad You Came"

Phoenix's Solo

 

"Hands in the Air"

The Final Dance of the Recital

Biltmore
I have been dying to see this place ever since we moved out to Tennessee.  It was so amazing!  It started to rain right as we were walking up to the house so we grabbed a bite to eat and when we were done, the rain had stopped and everyone had left.  We had the whole place to ourselves.  We slowly walked all over the property and through the beautiful gardens.  It was so fun.  I can't even imagine what it would be like to actually live in a place like this!

 
Disney World 
We had so much fun at Disney World.  Eva asked if we were there only about a million times on the drive down.  When we finally saw Mickey she screamed and about fell over. She was so cute.  Meeting all the princesses was by far their favorite part, especially when Phoenix got to be Felipe as she acted out the story with Belle.  They also loved "It's a small world" and wouldn't stop singing the song!  The electric parade and firework show topped off our 14 hour day.  It's hard to believe we were at Magic Kingdom that long without one melt down.  The girls had the time of their life.  The next day was more for me and my mom.  She went on Soaring and I got to go visit the Yetti!  The last day we spent enjoying the pools and water slides at the resort.  It was a much needed vacation after the Recital :) 

Savannah
On our way back from Florida we stopped in Savannah, GA to see the beautiful city and eat at Paula Deen's restaurant.  We ate chicken pot pie and a crab cake burger....the most amazing food ever!  We stayed the night on the beach at Tybee Island and in the morning climbed to the top of the light house.  I have always wanted to be inside a light house.  Eva led the way up the 178 steps without a sound.  My mom, Phoenix, and I were complaining the whole way up :)  The view on top was awesome.  The girls weren't scared at all of being up that high...they loved it.

Turning FOUR!

March 11, 2009

Four years ago I had an emergency C-section, bringing my beautiful baby girl into this world, 3 weeks earlier than her due date.  I was completely unprepared.  I didn't have a bag packed, my mom wasn't there, and I had no idea what to do with a baby!  I couldn't believe how quickly Sampson and I had to learn how to be parents.  I still remember the nights our room was glowing because Phoenix had to sleep with a biliblanket the first few nights due to her jaundice. I remember how she would sleep for hours as Sampson and I went rock climbing at the Quarry.  I remember when she first started chasing the broom around the house, sliding herself as fast as her little arms would allow her.  I remember the stalks of broccoli she refuse to let me cut up for dinner because they were "her" trees.  I remember walking, ever so slowly, to and from church as she stopped to smell every flower and hug every tree.  I remember going to the Bean Museum and listening to Phoenix quack like ducks and name every animal that was there (even the animals I've never heard of). I remember the smile on her face the first time she saw her little baby sister.  I love how she still takes care of little Eva.  She is always watching out for her.  Phoenix never wants to leave Eva out and always make sure Eva has enough to eat.  She helps Eva get dressed, get her binki's, and even helps lift Eva up so that they both can climb to the top of every play place.  I am so grateful that I am able to be a mom and have Phoenix and Eva in my life.  The smiles on their faces make this long journey worth it.

 

The Birthday Party

Phoenix has been planning her birthday party since December!  She came up with her guest list, the food, and the activities.  She even knew what decorations she wanted. We had so much fun planning the party.  We were both so excited we couldn't sleep last night.  She had a blast with all of her friends at her Ballerina Birthday Party.  And of course, she got just what she always wanted :)

Birthday Video

The Zoo

I took the girls to the zoo for Phoenix's birthday.  Phoenix got to ride on a camel all by herself.  She was so excited....that's all she could talk about all day!  I just love Eva and her outfits...she always insists on dressing herself!

Finishing up 2012

Thanksgiving

We had a Hale of a time in Atlanta for Thanksgiving this year.  The girls love being with "cousins", especially playing hide-n-seek.  The girls had fun dancing, hiding in the leaves, skateboarding down the slide, hiking in the park, eating turkey, and drinking a lot of "dragons blood".  I had my own fun as Haley took me Black Friday shopping for the first time.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching the crowds killing each other over xbox games as I simply reached over the group that took each other to floor for the game we needed.  I also hate waiting in lines, so I managed to sneak us in front of the line of hundreds of people, who were waiting for hours outside target, to make sure we were one of the first people in there...it was definitely worth it!


Christmas Card Pictures

Pretty proud that I took these all on a tripod....Yay for tripods!

CHRISTMAS BENEFIT

The Christmas Benefit was awesome.  I had many different people and dance groups that were willing to participate to help raise money to buy food for people around the community that are in need.  It was amazing to see so many people helping a good cause.  I love watching my girls and all my dancers learn to love dance and want to share it with everyone. Although it was incredibily difficult to put this all together and pull it off without Sampson, I am so excited that he was able to go down to the Dominican Republic and Haiti with doctors from his school.


Christmas in Texas

 Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve we only have one lasting tradition: Eating Hins (The best Chinese food you will ever have) for dinner and watching Christmas Vacation!!!  We are however bringing back a few old ones and starting a few new ones.  As a little girl we would always act out the nativity at my grandma's house.  Now my girls get to do it too!  All three girls picked out who they wanted to be and did an excellent job acting it out.  Eva had the only speaking part, "Fear Not!" and of course she nailed it :)  Derek I think was the best baby Jesus ever though...he didn't cry once!  Luke read the story (with Liz overseeing), Sampson controlled the camcorder, I took pictures, Kenny was a donkey and one interesting looking wiseman, and mom just enjoyed the whole thing. We did miss having Houston, Nate, and Butch there. 

Christmas Day
Of course Phoenix woke up super early and was really excited to see what Santa had brought her, but we had to wait for Brooke to get there before we could go downstairs.  While waiting, I did the girls hair (Phoenix requested a Katniss braid), we sang songs, played with toys, did Christmas crafts....needless to say the girls were really excited when Brooke finally got there.  The girls loved all there presents and Christmas would not be complete without my mom's frittata, which surprisingly was actually good this years and we all ate the whole thing!


Holiday Fun!

For us the Holidays consisted off:
Playing with polar bears, eating pancakes, playing with xmas toys, winning 2nd place in my 5K (the girls were not quite as excited about running as I was, but Phoenix sure liked my medal), having Christmas early with daddy before he left for the D.R., getting the Grinch in the mail from Pitty, rowing in boats, creating Humo's xmas card, getting pulled off the plane in Lexington and watching Disney movies in our hotel, falling asleep in the massage chair at the airport as we waited for our plane the next day, building "Poley" (Phoenix's bear) and "Polar Bear" (Eva was creative with her bear's name), flying in a helicopter at Chuck E Cheese, riding in a bus and collecting tickets with Ki Ki, watching TV with Humo and Nate Dawg, painting snowflakes, tickling each other, and collecting sea shells along the beach in Galveston!

Happy Birthday Eva!

Minnie Mouse Birthday Party

Eva turned 2 last week and she wanted a Minnie Mouse Party.  She asked if her friends could come and I said of course.  If you can name any of your friends I will invite them.  After a long pause, all she could come up with is, "I want my friends to come!"  So with that I decorated and we had a family party.  She was so excited!  She had been helping me make everything for about 2 weeks.  She is a great helper.  I was going to do her party on her actual birthday but Sampson wanted to be there so we waited until after his test on Monday.  We ate Eva's favorite food, mini "corny" dogs and anything with sugar! 

2 Years Old

Eva loves taking pictures.  She is so good at following directions and expressing her opinion....it's almost too good :) She loved dressing up in her fluffy skirt.  She couldn't get over how fluffy it was!  I was trying to get a natural smile out of her so I would tell her to show me a mad face, a sad face, and then a scared face as I roared at her.  Right after the scared face she always got excited and smile so big because she thought I was so funny trying to be scary (Eva doesn't get scared of anything).  Of course at the end of taking pictures she wanted me to take pictures of her dancing and turning.  Eva is a beautiful dancer and loves doing "mommy's moves" which with her interpretation is quite amazing at her age.  She is always saying, "mommy watch this pirouette", "watch this leap", "watch this passe" "watch my floor work".  She LOVES to Dance! 

Phoenix & Eva

Eva is always so happy and she loves being with Phoenix.  They play so well together.  She also loves to bug Phoenix.  If Phoenix ever falls asleep during the day she is always a little grumpy when she wakes up and Eva takes full advantage of this.  Eva will go up to her pet her head and say, "Ohhhh, she's cute".  This makes Phoenix so mad which makes Eva do it even more!  I love Eva and I am so grateful to have her sweet spirit in our family!