Kai is 3 months old

This little boy is 3 months old and such a trooper. He is pretty much drug here, there, and everywhere and always gets compliments about how he never cries and seems so happy. That’s mostly true. If you are out at 6:30 or if he wakes up while riding in the car, you will hear him cry. Trust me. Major milestones at 3 months include laughing, scooting around a bit, and even sleeping through the entire night (2 whole times). He is a giggler and lightens the mood of our house. Happy (very late) 3 months.

Ballet Observation Day

We have finished up another year of ballet. It was Emi’s first year at this particular school, and she did an excellent job. Her feet are very flexible and her jumps are great for her age. We are so excited to see how she does going forward. Emi is lukewarm on ballet. She is pretty good at it but doesn’t like it that much. However, we are going to tough it out another year or at least semester to see if she enjoys performing in front of a crowd. It will definitely be a challenge for her.

Here are a few little snippets from Emi’s last 3 year old class at the ballet academy. We are very proud of the hard work that she put in.

….and a little swimming for fun too.

Foam-tastic

I am a few posts behind, but I do have them all lined up in my Drafts folder just waiting to be finished up. Three kids in very different stages (infant, pre-schooler, and elementary age)….it’s keeping me pretty busy. Busy in a way where it looks like we get absolutely nothing done every day, but we are. It’s just accepted and organized chaos. Not bad.

The girls are doing three weeks of summer camp, and we are in the middle of week 3. They love camp so much. Unfortunately, camp hasn’t sent too many pictures home this time around; however, I did get an email about Foamtastic. One day they have a special foam party. Kind of like those Cancun spring break parties from when I was a teenager. I’ve been informed that those aren’t so popular anymore.

Here are a few pictures of Foamtastic at summer camp.

Filling the courts up with all of the glorious bubbles.

Emi playing in the foam and having the best time. Her first year to get to experience this.

Love this pic of her smiling to herself while checking out the foam.

Mia in the foam party during full swing.

Did I mention we are missing a front tooth? …and I owe her a dollar for borrowing her tooth fairy money…haha.

A few more pictures of Mia playing. Unfortunately, Emi’s pictures had too many full on faces of other kids….and I don’t want to post pics of kids that I don’t know.

Bubble Butt…haha

We are so sad that camp is about to wrap up, but we have lots more planned for a great summer. I’ve also been enjoying being able to get a few things done in the morning without everyone here….though it hasn’t been a ton.

Spring Ballet Gala

Continuing on the ballet theme. Last weekend, Mia performed in the spring gala for her ballet academy. It was one of those shmancy fancy things with a champagne reception before the performance began. I used to think that these things were so pretentious and try hard….but I’m secretly getting accustomed to these Greenwich ways. Now, I can hang out in the MidWest with the best of them, but I also appreciate celebrating all of the hard work that the girls put in (and the money the parents have spent) with a little bit of a pre-event party. Did we drink? No. But we appreciated the atmosphere.

For the performance, the girls danced to “Simple Gifts” which was also a song Mia played at one of her past piano recitals (we are having to put piano behind us for right now which makes us very sad). We were so happy with the choice. The dance was so pretty and energetic and showcased what the class had learned over the past few months. It made my heart happy. No other way to say it. Here are a few photos from behind the scenes and also a video clip of the dance taken by a friend’s husband.

Also, one of Mia’s teachers dances with ABT…and performs with Misty Copeland!! Yes, we are stupidly excited about that. I don’t care much about celebrities, but since Mia LOVES Misty….it makes us a bit giddy. Anyway, here are a few clips.

Eloise at the Plaza

Oh my. I cannot believe we are through the first week of summer. It FLEW by. The girls are absolutely LOVING summer camp. Mia tried zip lining twice today! Emi was very excited to practice archery…just a great time. Ten is out on a boat this evening with a friend, and the kids and I made the long drive into New York to one of the river towns to visit a friend. It was an hour drive after finishing camp. Throw in a flat tire and trip to fix that, and you can imagine that we have had an eventful week.

Anyway, catch up continued. Two weekends ago Mia got invited to The Plaza in the city for a birthday party. Magical. I was so excited for her. I have been contemplating taking the girls to the Eloise tea there since this is one of our favorite books, so this was a good introduction to The Plaza. Good luck following those rambling sentences that I do not intend on fixing.

Hmmm…what’s in this bag? I think it was 6 new Eloise books for the girls to share.

Starting a bit at the end, but each girl came home with a few Eloise trinkets. A notepad, pencil, a door hanger, lip gloss, etc. Very cute.

This was an all girls party, so they were able to do very girly things. One event was to choose your own outfit for a fashion show. Mia went with an all white ensemble. She looks like an angel.

The usual pizza was pushed aside for tea sandwiches and fruit. Mia really liked the fruit but said that the bread was kind of dry/almost stale….hmmm…wonder what was up with that…and wonder if she would like the actual tea luncheon at The Plaza…mental note made.

The girls spent time coloring and decorating little bags to bring home. Our coloring sheets are still tucked away in our Eloise bag in the girls’ room.

You can’t have an Eloise party without a reading about Eloise.

Enjoying cupcakes

The girls got a chance to walk down the red carpet and model. This was apparently the best part of the party.

Mia had such a good time at this party, and Ten said it was one of the best parties that he has ever been to. The girls were all very well behaved, and they had such a fun time. I was so happy to be spending the morning with Emi and Kai at a different event, but I am dying to go to The Plaza for an Eloise tea party…because I am mentally 6 I suppose.

Before heading home, it looks like Mia got to stop by Ten’s office for a little cheesecake….because you know cheesecake after cupcakes….much needed.

This weekend made me so thankful that my kids get the best of everything here. Beach life, suburb life, and city life. Mia was a city kid for a while, so it’s always nice to get to go back in and hang out for an afternoon.

First Beach Day 2018

First, let me tell you a story. I have been trying to grow Emi’s hair out for 2 years now. We were almost to the point where we would have enough for a nice bun for ballet.

But…..she came downstairs…on our way to ballet…with tape all over her head. I started to take the tape out, and was also pulling out chunks of hair. Yep…it was awful. Her and Mia decided it would be a good idea to cut her hair really short, and then they taped it back in so I wouldn’t notice. Honestly, they did a good job. You couldn’t tell until you started to pull it all out. Awesome…and we had to cancel our aquarium trip for the next day as a consequence. No fun at all.

New hairstyle. She asked if we watered it if it would grow back….nope…doesn’t work like that.

So, Memorial Day Weekend! We had our first beach day of the summer, and it was Kai’s first day at the beach ever. We found a nice shady spot and took out the sand toys for the girls to play with.

Enjoying the sea air.

On their way to fill up buckets. The water was FREEZING by the way.

Ten in the white shorts searching for seaweed so the girls could use it as lettuce.

While everyone was busy making sand food. I was giving Kai lots of attention. He is such a vocal baby.

Ice cream and cupcake making going on here.

People were enjoying flying kites on the beach. I actually didn’t know this was allowed. May be fun to try one day.

These two get very serious about their sand food creations.

…and of course…people enjoying their time on boats as well.

So, there  is our first beach day of the summer. I honestly think that we are going to have to save the beach for when Ten goes with us. Three versus me (with one who can’t move themselves) isn’t the easiest. When the rain eventually stops, we will make a longer day of it.

In other news, the girls are enjoying summer camp this week. I may be spending my entire day watching Reese Witherspoon movies and throwing a smidge (a tiny smidge of cleaning). Hopefully, I can get another 2 posts finished this week and will be all caught up! I can do it this time. 🙂

Down on the Farm

Ok, I am going to fast forward a little bit and talk about how we spent our actual day today; however, I’m still going to work on my backlog of days I still want to document and remember for the girls.

Today, we got invited to an event called “Down on the Farm” at the Darien Nature Center which is a few towns away. We hit the road hoping to drop by Costco first, but dear Lord…the traffic. It took us forever to get to Darien, so we decided to postpone our Costco run until after the event.

We didn’t really know what to expect, but when we parked the car and heard Taylor Swift playing from loud speakers down on  the open lawn, we knew it was going to be a good time.

First stop, pony rides. Mia hasn’t been a big fan of pony rides. They scare her, but this time…she loved it and decided to do it twice! Emi decided to sit this one out. The venue was just far too crowded for her, so it took her a while to warm up to things.

While Mia was riding the pony for a second time, Emi and Ten visited the photo booth.

Next stop, face painting. My kids have a love/hate relationship with face painting. They love to have it done, look at it for a second, but then hate to keep it on.

A rosy cheeked Emi with a butterfly. It was so incredibly hot and humid out.

Hmm…what did Mia choose?

A snake! These were definitely not the best face painters, but the girls didn’t mind.

Our next farm adventure: milking a cow. Mia assured us that it was just water.

Next, we found some shade and decided to grab popsicles and lunch.

Playing with friends while we wait.

Mia went with a cheeseburger, and Emi just had a few fries. I usually don’t eat at these things because it is just so expensive, but decided to go for it this time. Ten went and grabbed me a grilled cheese from Mobile Melts. Gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches that were featured on Food Network….umm…yes, please.

What did I choose?

Jalapeno popper with bacon! OMG…this thing was so good. I washed it down with some ice water sitting in the shade. Side note: I had Kai in the baby carrier, so Ten did all of the running into the heat for us.

After lunch, we checked out a little bit more of the festival. Sorry for the photo overload if you are still patiently reading.

Our owl and mustache baby.

It was so hot, and we were getting kind of miserable (especially me and Ten), so we headed into the air-conditioning for a few activities. It was amazing that Kai slept through the entire thing!

Nature Bookmarks.

They also got to pet a guinea pig and a few bunnies, and we followed this with the outdoor petting zoo.

Last stop, tot lot. We let the girls play in the water tables before heading home (or actually to Costco).

This event was so fun; however, I always groan when adults have to pay to enter these things. Not really worth the $20 to watch my kids pet a goat….but whatever. On the positive side, we were able to find some Usborne sticker books (our favorite), and they had plenty of free iced water. It was a great summer experience.

Kids U Birthday Party

So, trying to do a little bit of catch up from last weekend. I was going to do this in one post, but realized I just had too many pictures to combine for what the girls did last weekend.

Emi got invited to one of her best little friend’s birthday party last weekend in Stamford. So, we picked out a cute dress to wear with shorts underneath since it was at a gymnastics/inflatables type of place.

It has been brought to my attention that it looks like Mia only has one arm, and Emi looks…really weird…hahaha. Well, still a cute picture.

We dropped Ten and Mia off at the train station and headed straight over to Kids U in Stamford. This was the best venue for a 4 year olds party. I actually wish we would have used this place rather than the one that we had chosen.

Indoor slides on hot, humid days.

Same bouncy house obstacle course but at a different location. Emi flies through this thing in no time with as much practice as she has had on it.

Coming down the giant slide I had to talk her into trying. She played on this thing non-stop with the birthday girl.

Over and over again. Having such a good time.

After playing on the inflatables and this huge play structure, the kids got to enter a room that is more gymnastics like. Emi kept going across the beam trying out new things that she has learned in her gymnastics classes. She LOVES the beam.

After a little while, I had to convince Emi to go and try and something else. She is a fearless kid when it comes to physical challenges, but socially, she is very timid.

Flying on the trapeze. She was kind of meh with this, but tried it a few more times.

After the kids had played for more than an hour, we headed to the party room for pizza and cake.

Emi must have been starving because she ate two slices of pizza and all of her cake, which is about 2 slices of pizza more than usual. We said happy birthday and thank you and then headed to the grocery store. We were so tired when it was finally time to go get Mia and Ten!

Also, we got the birthday girl a mermaid tail blanket, set of dress up rings, and a birthday reading book. Really cute gifts for a 4 year old girl. In the goody bag, Emi got one of those mermaid sequence slap bracelets which she hasn’t taken off since.

End of the Year Sing-a-Long

OK, after this post I will be all caught up. First a little weekend recap. Basically, Mia had ballet rehearsal on Saturday, and I volunteered to help out for her class. It was a lot of fun, and she decided to attend a 5 week ballet intensive this summer along with 2 weeks at another school. She signed up for ballet 4 days a week for the fall and had me order some ballet books to learn the stories of the different ballets. She is going to be super committed in the summer/fall. I think it is great. She will either love it or hate it, and then we can make a decision about continuing or not. Emi got to attend another really fun birthday party. Ten said they had a great time. Emi also decided to continue with ballet and will be performing in The Nutcracker in December.

So, here is a sneak peak at our schools end of the year celebration. They do a sing-a-long and had out certificates. Short and sweet. We then head to the playgrounds to play and have watermelon. Using very few words.

Emi getting ready to receive her certificate.

Congratulations!

Playground fun.

Enjoying watermelon.

Mia running into the playground to applause. Very cute.

Congratulations Polar Bears. On to your next adventure.

There you have it. The girls are off to their second week of summer camp tomorrow. They are loving getting pool time every day and then having fun activities like tennis, soccer, zip lining, go karts, etc. We love our school.

Summer is Almost Here!

I’ve decided that I really don’t like summer bucket lists. They are just far too stressful for someone like me. It gives me a serious case of “fear of missing out.” Also…I can never cross anything off of the list unless it is completed perfectly. Like perfectly perfectly. I don’t want to just have a playground day. It needs to be the most perfect playground day. I need to have the perfect weather and the most perfect packed lunch. It puts a lot of pressure on playground day….so, this summer…I am saying goodbye to bucket lists. I’m just trying to have days that are restful, fun, productive. Just worthwhile days.

So…on that note…we had our first almost summer day. One of our classes has finished for the school year, and so some of our day was freed up a bit. Summer fun day one: lunch at a friend’s house.

Friend has an elderly dog named Mia, and Mia would not let Kai out of her sight. She barely let me near him.

Our friends had such a nice surprise for us when we arrived at their house. They ordered pizza for us, and then about 20 minutes after we arrived, our favorite music teacher showed up to conduct a private lesson while we got to go chill on the couch. This was the best surprise…food and rest…I can ask for literally nothing more than this. By the way, when my kids get to do things like get a private music lesson…just for fun…I can’t help but think….what a completely different childhood they are getting from what I experienced. I always try to tell people I grew up poor…like cheese sandwich and food pantry poor…but they never get it.

More random things we did last week. Took very cute pictures of this boy. He has the curliest black hair recently.

He is beautiful.

Taking advantage of another short day we had, we decided to go feed the ducks at our park….except there are no more ducks…..where did the ducks go??

But we did see lots of turtles.

We decided to pack up our bird seed and cut our losses. Mia asked if we could go to the new playground in Binney Park, so off we went.

Jumping on toadstools.

Playing on the caterpillar. 

Thoughts on new playground….not that great. Just not that much going on. The girls played for about half an hour before we decided to head home and get some ice-cream. It was so incredibly humid out.

So, we got to have lunch with friends, a music lesson, and explored a new playground. Hits and misses, but it all counts as part of our summer fun.