Happy 2nd Birthday Maria!

June 15, 2009 - Today my baby is turning two! It has actually been very hard on me. I can not believe how fast the time has gone and that she is really not a baby anymore. She has brought Andy and I a whole new set of experiences, a whole lot of joy and a whole lot of love. Happy Birthday my beautiful Maria! Mommy loves you soooo much!

Maria's Birthday Party

This weekend was crazy busy, as usual. Friday night Julia had soccer. She is playing with Kendall and 2 friends from her dance class, Ava and Laci. The girls did pretty well - Julia still doesn't seem that interested in soccer - and we went for pizza after. It is nice to see Ava and Laci and their parents at a non-dance event. I am sure we will be seeing a ton more of them this summer.

Kendall, Laci, Ava and Julia

Saturday we had 2 birthday parties. One for Maria's little friend Hazel, her parents are our friends Ambee and Andy, at a park in Stillwater. It was a Hula theme and the girls had a great time. We also went to Maren and Ethan's party at Pump It Up. Their parents, Kari and Lonny are really good friends of ours. The girls had a blast and needless to say, slept well...

Sunday we had Maria's birthday party. It was a Pooh-a-palooza! She loves Pooh and all his friends. It was just immediate family and we had a BBQ. Some gifts highlights were a ride-on Bumble Bee from my parents, a Aerial Big Wheel that blows bubbles from my sister's family, and a playhouse for our deck from Andy's family, among many other things. We are all set in the toy department for a VERY long time! Thanks everybody for making her birthday so special!

Maria and her pile-o-gifts

The Fam

Blowing out the candles on her Pooh cake

My baby - oh say it isn't so - two years old. Blows my mind.

Pooh Cake

Dance Mania!

We had a crazy week full of dance, dance, and more dance. All four of us were in the show this year and we had either a practice, dress rehearsal or show every night of last week. Exhausting? Yes. Worth it? Most definitely. Here is a photo recap.....

A family affair

This was Julia's second year of recitals and she did awesome! She knew her songs and even smiled. We were so proud of her. I got to watch from the wings one night when I was "room mom" and she looked over at me and smiled and waved and it just melted my heart. Yes, I cried all four times she took the stage. I think that is just how it will be forever. This has been a great year and the recital was the perfect ending. Way to go Jules!

Julia's ballet dance - "Neverland"

My beautiful ballerina

Making their grand exit

Julia's tap song - "Candy Cane Jane"

more cowgirl action...

This was Maria's very first recital and she did wonderful! The first night her little group got out there and the curtain opened and they are supposed to stand up - well, all the little "blue jays" just sat there except one little girl who wouldn't sit down to start with. Then, all the sudden, Maria stands up and crowds cheers and she starts rocking out. The louder the crowd cheered the more she jumped! It was the cutest thing I have ever seen and I was beaming with pride when she was done. No one else stood up! The group as a whole did much better on their second song and then the second night, but my not quite 2 year old was a shining star!

Maria's tap song - "Hey, What Did the Blue Jay Say?"

Getting ready to stand up!

Maria's ballet song - "Shoo Fly"

More fly swatting action...

I loved Maria's little class. All nice kids with nice moms and the smaller class meant more attention. It was great! Way to go Bailey, Teagan, Malania, Maria, Keegan, Brooklyn and Gavin!

This was my first recital, performing in anyway, in a very long time and I am happy to report that I loved every minute of it. Yes, my kicks are lower, my waist line larger and my feet a little slower, but once a dancer always a dancer. Andy was in our jazz dance. He only did it because I asked him to. I think he had fun, although he will probably tell you otherwise. I took the class with my friend Kari, who had no previous dance experience. Not even as a little kid. She took the stage for the very first time, ever, at the age of 36 and rocked it! I was so proud of her and so happy that this is something we got to do together. It would not have been the same without her. I am hoping that when we are 60 we still head to class every Monday night together.... (Lonny, Kari's husband was also is his first recital and you didn't hear this from me, but I think he and Andy will be joining the dad's group next year.)

Kari and I in our "Candyman" wigs

My jazz dance - "Candyman"

The Dancing Fearless Foursome!

My tap song - "Dancin' Fool"

All in all a wonderful weekend! Thanks to my sister and her family for coming to support us, my parents, my mother-in-law Pat and Andy's Aunt Karen, and my friend Lynn. We loved having you in the audience! I know they won't see this, but thanks Kara, Taylor, Dannica and Katy for a great year!

Maria's 1st Playdate

Today Maria had HER first official playdate. Yes, she plays with other kids all the time, but usually as part of one of Julia's playdates or when we get together with family friends. Her friend Hazel came over this morning while Julia was at preschool. They are only a few days apart. They had so much fun and played really well together. Who knew a laundry basket could entertain two almost 2 year-olds for so long? We will definitley have Hazel over again soon!

Racing

Buddies!

Peek-a-boo with a laundry basket. They did this for a VERY long time! I had to try and snap at the right angle at the right moment. Luckily they did it so many time I a lot of chances!

Two heads are better then one?

More race action....

Birthday Bonanza!

This weekend we had the girls "friend" birthday party. It was a Princess and Pirate theme. There were 37 kids there, 2 bouncy castles, a face painter, and a cotton candy machine. Yes, I am aware that I am totally crazy. In a nut shell, my kids had a blast and so did all of their friends. I think all the adults had fun too! Thanks to all who helped - couldn't have done it without you, and thanks for all the gifts. I am not sure where I am going to put all of them, but the girls are in heaven. Next year maybe I will tone it down a bit, but probably not. I love birthdays and I love my two little princesses!

My friend Kari made then each a little cake with princess jewels all over them. They loved them!

I don't have many pictures of Julia because she rarely came out of the giant princess bouncer. It even had a big slide off the side of it!

Maria in the little bouncer for her 2 and under friends!

A shot from the deck of half the backyard.

Princess Maria and Daddy

Jules and Molly heading into the bouncer AGAIN! We definitely got our moneys worth out of that thing!

Maria getting her face painted. She picked Elmo!

On Saturday night, we went to my mother-in-laws birthday party at Karen & Jim's house. It was a super nice party and we had a ton of fun! My sister-in-law and brother-in-law were there from Chicago so we were all really excited to see them too! We got to go to lunch with them on Sunday before they went home. We are hoping to get to Chicago again this summer for a visit. We miss them a ton! All in all a wonderful evening for a wonderful person. Thanks Karen and Jim and Happy Birthday Pat!

Grandma Pat and Julia and Maria

The Hansell/Lankwarden Family

(No, my brother-in-law doesn't normally look like that but I am working on getting it photo shopped - it was the best one on the whole...)

Sunday some of the mom's from my dance class went to dinner and then to the Larkin dance recital. (Huge local dance studio that is amazing.) It was so much fun and entertaining. Nice to go out with the girls and nice to see such incredible performances with people who appreciate it just as much as I do. It was the perfect ending to the weekend.

This week is DANCE RECITAL MANIA! We have something dance related every night this week and weekend. Watch for more on that after the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed that both of the girls have fun! Julia will be great, but this is Maria's first time on stage so we will see how that goes.....