walking!

ellie has been taking steps lately. she seems to be getting a little better each day. it's been really fun to watch! she seems to be walking pretty much at the same age addison started. here are a few videos that i took today and yesterday.





improving...



typical day: ellie eating my lunch, henry eyeing the food, and addison being silly!

visitors

we had the great pleasure of having some friends that we haven't seen in a while over this past saturday. our friends dave and dylana and larry were over... and our old roomie and dear friend, henry was in town visiting his family. we finally got to meet his wife and their new baby daughter! we spent the day eating, drinking, playing with the kids, and just hanging out and laughing. it was a really good time!

i realize that i didn't really take any pictures of our guests! but i did get the most important guest of all....


introducing... henry and lisa's daughter, amelia!!



is she a doll or what??!!



amelia and ellie playing :)



for those who know henry, it's kinda crazy to see him as a dad! i mean, he was the ultimate bachelor not too long ago. hehe so it's seriously heartwarming and sweet to see him with his baby girl!! he's a natural daddy!



ellie: "i'm not too sure about this guy right here! he's a little goofy." :) hehehe

preschool graduation

addison had her preschool graduation last week. it was super cute. actually, she's not really graduating. she has to go through another year of pre-k or jr. k or whatever you want to call it since her birthday misses the kindergarten cut-off for this fall. at first, we were a little bummed that she wasn't starting kindergarten. we thought she was totally ready.. intellectually and socially. but after talking to many parents and reading up on it, we realize that it is better for her to start later than early. so it's another year at Goddard school. they have a really great pre-k program and kindergarten prep program there so i'm satistfied and have no complaints. the only sad thing is that some of her friends are moving on. but today was her first day in her new class and she said she had lots of fun! kids are so resilient, aren't they?

anyway, here are some pics of her graduation...





each child showed their names in sign language for the parents



then they sang the alphabet and signed along with the singing



and then sang another song and signed... i think she was signing the word beautiful?



receiving her diploma or certificate



ellie enjoying the ceremony... and her cracker



yes, they're in matching outfits. i do this a lot. i can't help myself! :)



they had a picnic afterwards in the backyard of the school. ellie's a hit with the kids!



addison was grumpy here. some of the boys were teasing the girls. look how mad she looks. hahaha! she's so sensitive!



happy 1st preschool graduation, addie! :)

tis the season for dance recitals!

it's spring time and dance studios all over are putting on their annual recitals. addison's dance place is no different. i wasn't really aware when i signed her up back in the fall that her place puts on quite a production at the end of the year. dance has always been an important part of my growing years and something i've always had a huge love for. so i have always known that i wanted to get our girls into it...but i did not sign her up with the intention of her (or me as a dance parent) being really serious with dance.. yet, at least. :) but after 9 months of wednesday afternoon classes, $60 spent on a costume, $120 for recital fees, dress rehearsal, and just coming home from 2 1/2 hours (and that was just the first half) of a pretty impressive recital, this was no joke!! but it has been totally fun!! the recital was really good and it was personally so fun and inspiring and nostalgic for me to watch all the dancers! some of the older ones were really good! i loved it! and of course, it was so awesome to watch addison up there on stage doing her routine! jimmy and i were so proud. not to be dramatic, but it was slightly surreal sitting in the audience watching our first daughter perform in her first real recital. it was one of those "wow, look how far we've come" moments. and i think addison may have caught the dancing/performing bug too because she loved being on stage, she loved the idea of a crowd watching and she did great out there! and afterwards she kept saying how much fun she had... which was a great thing to hear! so, hopefully, we'll continue with this and someday i can compare photos of her first recital with all her many other recital photos! :)

This is before the dress rehearsal.. with her stage makeup on. To be perfectly honest, it felt a little weird for me to be putting on makeup on my 4 year old. I am slightly uncomfortable with it. I didn't want her to look too pagaent-y. It kind of freaks me out. But I tried not to overdo it and keep it subtle and after seeing the other little girls, I felt a little better... :/









We are not allowed to take photos or video at the actual recital, but i took a few at the dress rehearsal....






Day of the recital....



Striking a pose!



And with her dance class back in the dressing room...

great job, little ladies!!

home alone... with two lovely ladies!

so jimmy was in korea recently for his brother's wedding while the girls and i stayed back. we had the option to go with him. but to be honest, i wasn't ready to take ellie on an overseas trip. i know people do it, but i have heard many stories on how hard it is and that it's better to wait until the kids are a little older. so we opted to stay behind and endure being away from daddy for a week and half. it was a little hard and of course we missed him tons. jimmy and i tried to correspond via email daily. phone conversations were tough due to the time difference. i know he missed the girls a lot. i think it might have been harder for him to be away than he thought. so i tried to send pics of them with each email and keep him posted on what we were doing here.

here are some of the photos i took with my phone while he was gone...











big hugs to daddy!




a lot happens here in a week and a half... one of those things unfortunately was addison getting a stomach bug. :( it lasted a week. it was not fun for her or for me. it's always a little stressful when your kids are sick. the poor girl couldn't eat anything. she was pretty miserable. but by day 7, she was finally showing signs of turning around and getting her appetite back. thank God!

another thing that happened while jimmy was gone was that my parents came to visit for a few days. it was great to see them! despite addison's condition, the kids had a great time with them.





she's really into this peace sign thing, huh?!





we also had a birthday party that we went to. one of addison's school friends had a party... the three of us went and had a great time.


they had face painting there.. and surprise, surprise, addison wanted a butterfly painted on her face!



ellie was having fun at the party too! even though it was naptime for her, she hung in there like a champ!


and these are just the girls hanging out at home...












we missed daddy! and we're glad he's home now! :)