so ty just walks in to my room, after he was supposed to be in bed, and says, "my tummy hurts as much as a crocodile bite!" i have been hearing lots of stomping and crying coming from the upstairs so my guess is that he went up there but did not get right in bed...oh those kids. today was a lovely sunday--church, flying biscuit cafe, an afternoon at publix with the whole fam, dinner, and now brownies :) today needed to be a relaxing one because i have been running myself ragged these past few days preparing for our worship dance performance, which was last night and was awesome! my first and second grade girls danced two different numbers and then lily and i did a duet to chris tomlin's "i will follow." that duet was the culmination of years' worth of wheedling and cajoling that child, begging her to dance but to no avail...last year i also taught her class for worship dance and she flat out refused to join in until the very end of the year...so for us to dance together last night--especially to that song--was really meaningful and special. this picture is james from exactly two years ago...he has come such a long way! two years ago he was still in the throes of his worst screaming fits and i burned a ton of digital video recording him because sometimes it was my only defense! he still has tantrums, but i can pretty much count on no more than one a day, and they are becoming less intense. he is really a sweet little boy with the memory of an elephant! when he is extra quirky and cranky, i take solace in his intellectual abilities, because i think deep down he is a little scientist and can't always get his emotions in order. his favorite toy at the moment is this plastic torpedo, meant for the bath tub, and he totes it around everywhere.
miss bella, who has declared that she will skip turning four next year and go straight to turning five, because apparently five is "where it's at." she wants to be a big kid so badly, and actually she already has a leg up on her siblings for her ability to reason and be reasoned with...she's a wiley one, though, and behind that irresistable smile is a bundle of mischief! she plans to be pocahontas when she grows up, but last week it was a butterfly, and before that a princess at disney world. she loves her barbies (yes, the very dolls i swore my girls would not play with until they were eight), but she plays with them very sweetly. they are all fairies, or ballerinas, or princesses themselves... in the above photo bella is modeling the swimsuit that i made for her. i found a cool and simple tutorial and just followed directions (which is totally against my sewing persona--miss sews by the seat of her pants)--turns out that sometimes following those extra annoying steps will yield a beautiful result! go figure...anyway, the suit fit her perfectly and i plan to make more--perhaps even leotards!
lily has been in performance mode these past few weeks--she had two different performances for the literary celebration at her school--one as a part of a group that recited this veeerrryy long poem from memory, which i heard her say at home and then forgot to actually make it to the performance! as i said, there have been many! the other performance that week was her recitation of "chicka chicka boom boom," complete with a coconut tree and felt letters that i created and a puppet stage that todd made with curtains that i sewed--love the family projects! lily did fabulous and i was actually the puppeteer for this one--video to come later! then last week was the first grade play, in which lily was a clownfish--again, video to come later. she was barely recovered from her reaction to amoxicillin so she was still covered in hives and swollen, but she sang her little heart out!
another shot of my little model--i even sewed a little rosette onto the shoulder
when bella says she "did" her hair, this is the result...it looks pretty sweet heart (wink wink, as i am running to grab the camera)
there's my little hivey fish
and here is lily with gabrielle and shane, two best buds from this year
her royal highness and the rest of her courtiers received their recital costumes for ballet last week...a lovelier sight has not been witnessed
these came complete with butterfly fairy wands and the ensemble is purple, which is her royal highness's favorite color...


and here is my beautiful dancing girl--i couldn't have been more proud

oh, and these were at shane's bowling birthday party earlier in the day on saturday--it was meant to be a pool party but got rained out, so the kids bowled instead
james and bella both loved bowling--i was pleasantly surprised how much! bella was quite sad when it was time to go!!
so one of my dance moms wanted to know just how pregnant i would be when todd and i went to china this summer...ladies, let that one sink in...NO, I AM NOT PREGNANT!!!!!!!! as my body image has suffered immensely after having the twins, i am still not well-equipped to field questions like this. i do not think it was because my body really looks pregnant, although my costume for the performance was rather drapey in front--she said her daughter had told her i was... but i am so dang self-conscious about my mid-section that i will be licking this wound for a few days. this brings me to my number one rule--do not ever, not ever, really...NEVER ask a woman if she is pregnant or when she is due unless she has told you outright that a baby resides inside her fleshy middle! and if she doesn't volunteer that little nugget and she looks like she's about to pop like a can of biscuits, you just smile and comment on the weather...compliment her shoes...cheers