Our Rainbow Diamond

Everything about Tralee's first big dance recital was so fun!  She and I started the day looking on Pinterest for ways to do her hair.  She found two styles she liked, so we just combined the two.  Tralee was super excited about putting on make-up as well.  I usually let her play around with my lipstick and blush, but the mascara has always been off-limits, so the thought of giving her "long lashes" was almost too much excitement for her!  After getting ready we drove to dress rehearsal, came home, applied make-up, and then our whole family went to watch Tralee perform with her fellow Rainbow Diamonds (that's the name Tralee and the rest of the girls in her dance group came up with for themselves).  She, and all the Rainbow Diamonds, did amazing!  We were so proud!  Here are some pics before, during, and after the recital:

Tralee took dance with her first-cousin-once-removed . . . lets just say, cousin Brinley.  They were so cute together!

The cotton wood trees created quite a bit of "snow" that night.  After the recital, Tralee wanted to go catch snowflakes, so we let her.

Tralee flowers from Mommy, Daddy, and Hunter

Here's a video from that night.  I've included little snippets from each dance, and some pictures from the night.  Watch if you like:

Tralee's First Spring Dance Recital

Here are a few pics we took on our phones from Tralee's dance recital yesterday. She was brilliant, and we had so much fun getting her ready and watching her perform! I have nicer pics taken on the big daddy camera, but I thought I'd post these for now. Enjoy!

Breakfast in Bed

This morning Tralee told me to stay in bed. About ten minutes later she brought me breakfast! Her food choices were so very cute, and how she displayed the cereal in a muffin cup was adorable! I loved it! She was so proud of her little self!

Hunter's Third Birthday

Jim was in town for Hunty's birthday, so we made a night of it! First we played at Pojo's as a family, then we went out for Japanese (sushi for the adults and noodles with veggies for the wee ones), lastly we came home to open presents and eat birthday cake. It was a fun evening celebrating Hunter's three years of life!

Playing at Pojo's

I don't get spending a lot of time and money on wrapping presents.  I know Martha Stewart would probably slap me in the face with a roll of pearl-finished gift wrap for my laissez faire attitude when it comes to wrapping presents.  Why spend a chunk of change on something that will just get ripped to shreds in two seconds flat?  I let my kids do most of the gift wrapping around here, and don't get too involved (hence my laissez faire attitude).  We tend to wrap things using recycled gift bags, newspaper, and dollar store gift wrap if we're feeling especially fancy.  This year I let Tralee wrap Hunter's gifts in newspaper (the end rolls you buy from the newspaper for $2 a pop), and she decorated them however she wanted.  If you look closely, most of the pictures Tralee drew are of Hunter, and every picture has a number three (backwards!) on it somewhere.  I LOVED it! 

Hunter really got into present opening this year.  He received a wooden train track with a few sets of trains and extra tracks, a remote controlled robot, a pop-gun, and a remote-control helicopter (although to be honest, the helicopter was probably more for Jim than for Hunter).  Hunty also got some cards with moola in them from some other family members.  He has yet to spend his birthday money, and some of it might just end up in his bank account!  Shhhh. . . he'll thank me when he's older!

Blowing out his candle.  This year's birthday cake was a bit controversial!  We've changed our eating habits a bit around here, and this cake was an experiment of sorts.  The good news is, Hunter, Tralee, and I all loved it.  In fact, both children asked for seconds.  Jim, on the other hand, thought it was gross.  I probably won't be making this cake again, but I'm glad most of us liked it -- most especially the birthday boy!  Phew!

I can't believe my baby is three! 

10 Years!

Three Years

Hunter turned three today!  So many mixed emotions come with each of my children's birthdays!  I'm so happy and proud of them for growing, learning, and accomplishing new things.  On the other hand, I can't believe another year has flown by, and my baby has grown up before my eyes!  I get sentimental each birthday, and pour over old pictures.  Here are a few of my favorites from Hunter's first three years of life.  I'll let you enjoy the pictures while I go mug on my three-year-old (THREE!!!!!), wrap some presents, and finish a birthday cake!

Happy third birthday Hunter (A.K.A. Hunty, Hunter-Bunter, Hunty-Dizzle, Dizzy, Love Nugget, Blinky)  I love you!!  Here's to many many many many more happy years spent with my snuggle-bug!

My Little Author

On Sunday night Tralee told me she wanted to write a book for our library.  She found the paper, drew the pictures, handed me the pen, and told me what I should write for her.  She titled her book, Girls Around the World are Great.  Tralee informed me she decided to write about girls because she is a girl, and so she knows all about them.  The little stinker already knows one of the most important rules of writing:  write what you know.

After we "pinned" (stapled) her book together it DID NOT leave Tralee's side.  She slept with it next to her.  She walked into our room in the middle of the night, book in hand, and asked me, "is it time to go to the library?"  When I told her it was still time to sleep, she crawled into bed next to me, and kept her book safe under her arm.

The sun rose, and Tralee rose right along with it.  Every few minutes she asked again, "is it time to go to the library?"  And every few minutes Tralee walked away disappointed that it still wasn't time to take her book in.  It got to the point where Tralee found her pink Hello Kitty watch (something she NEVER wears), brought it over to me, asked me to put it on her, and point out when it's time to go to the library.  I showed her where the hands need to be pointing, and right at 10:00am Tralee sprinted up the stairs to find me.  As soon as she found me putting on my make-up, she shoved her watch in my face and announced, "Mom!  It's 10!  It's 10!  It's 10!  It's time to go to the library!"

All the way to our library I prayed that a nice librarian would help us.  I hoped she/he would understand the excitement that had been festering in Tralee's little body for the past 12+ hours.  I hoped the librarian would humor my little girl, and tell her how special she was for writing a book for the library.

When we arrived, we waited in line as Tralee's proud little smile stretched from ear to ear.  Her hands clutched her special book tightly.  Her eyes twinkled underneath the pink princess sunglasses she chose to wear for this "fancy" event.  When the librarian said, "I can help whoever is next."  I thought, "well, here we go!"

I watched Tralee march up to the librarian behind the desk -- so self assured -- and place Girls Around the World are Great on the counter that was just a few inches shorter than herself.  I listened to Tralee tell the librarian that she wanted to give her book to the library so everyone can read it.  I held my breath and waited for the librarian's response.  Would she scratch her head and wonder how to respond or would she sense how excited the five-year-old standing in front of her was about the experience?

To Tralee's delight (and mine) the librarian made a nice little fuss over Tralee's book.  She asked if she could be the very first person to read it.  She pointed to a specific page and told Tralee that was her favorite part.  You could feel Tralee's happy energy bursting out of her little body.  The librarian then thanked Tralee for bringing in the book, and assured her it would be well read.  I sighed a sigh of relief, and thanked the librarian several times for making my daughter's day.

We then continued on our way, and checked out some new material -- none of which, I'm sure, was writen by a cuter author than my Tralee.

If you're interested, here's a video of Tralee reading her book.  I took pictures of all the pages before we took it into the library, because I didn't want to forget it.