Let The Dancing Begin :)

Before I write this, I should say that the title is misleading . Today was Bella's first dance class, but she has been dancing since she could walk.  Seriously. She dances everywhere. Especially at church. In fact, before she understood all of what goes on at church, she would get so excited in the parking lot, and ask (every week),"Can I dance?! " "Is I'm going to dance now?" There's not a lot of dancing at our church and it was weird for me at first, but I've come to get over it. No one minds. She is just a free spirit, and I think it is born in her, so we will embrace it! We decided then that we would sign her up for class when she was three. We knew she would LOVE it!

 

SO...today was the first ballet class! I intended to sign her up at a studio right near our house, which started next week, but after thinking about it lots decided to use a bigger place that would have a recital this year. I'm sure I will think that was  a crazy choice at some point not to far from now...but at least the decision is made :)  The catch is that the class for the studio I chose started TODAY! So Bella and  I spent the day getting ready for ballet, signing up for ballet, and anticipating...ballet.  It was so sweet. I have never ever seen her happier.  When we left the studio (the first time) after registering, she said, "Mommy, did I do everything I was suppposed to now?" (We had already been shopping, etc.) and I replied, "Yes!" and she says, " I am so happy! I am happy a million!"  My heart melted! So we picked up the boys and raced over and she kept saying, "I am so excited!" She could barely wait for class to begin. When it finally did, I think they could've turned off all the lights and her little face would'e lit the whole room :) When class was over she cried. She wanted to stay. And so it begins...life with a little dancer. :)

Back to School!!

Our First and Second Grader!!

The three "little" Aminis, getting far too big too fast!

Andrew, ready to tackle first grade!

David, ready for second grade!

The school-aged Roslyn bunch. We have great neighbors!

All the kiddos, including the preschool-agers :)

Daddy kisses :)

So, by the time we got to school it looked like a parade :)

Andrew sitting at his desk

and this is what Mommy and Bella do---find fun on our own, without our boys.

with one of the Grosse Pointe Perch

And Mommy wears Bella out :)

Bella loves the toddler park

fun fun fun!

 

Well, the summer flew by far too quickly, as all summers do, and the fall is upon us. This year went WAY better than last (I didn't oversleep). The boys were up and excited and we had a wonderful walk to school with Daddy and all our fun neighbors.  It's really like a parade around here. I love living in this community where most people still walk their kids to school! The boys are getting off to a great start and love their teachers, and Bella and I are adjusting (again) to being without our boys all day. We've filled our time with trips to the park, shopping, and Perch pictures around the city :) and Bella will soon start preschool and dance.  Seems like just yesterday I was snuggling a preschooler, toddler and a newborn, and now look how big they are! I'm so thankful for them, so proud of them, and so excited to begin this year and see what adventures it holds!

First Amini Kid Surgery

David waiting for his turn.

"Cutie" getting ready to go in!

So the doc pulled more than just the tonsils/adenoids. He also pulled a loose tooth! Bonus, the tooth fairy came at the Surgery Center and home!

David's awesome recovery nurse did this with his mask so he could take it home. He woke up and saw his doggie with the mask on :)

Video games!

Tent in the yard :)

All 5 of us ate lunch in the tent last weekend :)

some harvesting to pass the time :)

Last week David got to experience what has become for many, a rite of passage of childhood. The tonsillectomy. (eek.)  He had been getting WAY too much strep and it was time to do something about it. In all honesty, it was past time and I should've listened to all the really smart nurses that I work with and scheduled it last summer, but five streps and a crazy immune system flare up later, it's finally done. He was such a trooper. We had it done at the surgery center where I work, and they were, as they always are, A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  David actually thought that part was a whole lot of fun. I work at the best surgery center ever. Seriously. It was later, when his local anesthetic wore off (a.k.a 2 am) that he no longer enjoyed the process.  All in all, it went very well, and today is officially post op day 10 which is when the bleeding risk really goes away, and I couldn' t be more relieved!  The last two weeks we've spent a lot of time at home (not like us)! We put up a tent in the backyard for a couple days, moved the playroom around to make video games more accessible :) watched a ton of movies and the kids have had innumerable slurpees (we couldn't just give them to David). Hopefully on to better things now, and a healthy school year!!

More Summer Fishing Success :)

Well, David is finally starting to feel like a normal kid again (mostly) after his tonsillectomy, so Joe and I decided to have a "family date" tonight and take the kids out to dinner and for some fishing.  They were so excited that they didn't want to eat dinner :)  We had lots of fun, with David catching three fish, Andrew catching one, and Bella catching one.  Andrew almost caught two but the thing was so powerful it ran off with his line. We were lucky it didn't take the pole with Andrew still holding on! We are calling it the Leviathan :)  By the way, the kids' secret to such successful fishing? They keep praying the whole time, "Jesus, please let me catch a fish." Sooooo cute. At the end, Bella still didn't catch one, so I heard both Andrew and David quietly praying, "Please help Bella catch a fish God. "  I'm glad they are learning that God cares about the details of our lives :) even silly things like fishing.

Bella wanted to carry the tackle box and the worms. She's braver than mommy. I don't like the worms.

David's first catch. :) About ten  minutes after we arrived.

David jumping up and down when he saw the size of the second catch. Joe had to help reel it in it was so big. :)

That is one proud boy!

bonding moment :)

Andy waiting for the fishies to bite:)

David's third fishie.

The boys caught matching fish. Hilarious! At the same time. Andy said, " We are brothers and we caught brother fish."

Andy's fish (the one that didn't get away)

Bella's fish. She wasn't so sure about holding the line but she did it!

Mommy and her princess. :)

Fun Summer Days

I love summer. I love it that it's warm. I love it that we can swim so much. I love it that my garden is so beautiful. I looooove it that my kids don't have to go to school so we can spend oodles of time together. And I especially love summer weekends, because I pack them to the brim with family fun, and I have a very....accomodating....husband who has come to embrace my inability to sit still longer than ten minutes and lets me keep us moving. Today was one of those weekend days :) We did chores in the morning (I finished staining our fence :) and then at noon Joe came home from work and we all headed to the community park for our City Picnic. It was great! Lunch, pool games, swimming, little prizes, and we got to see some of our friends :) Did I mention that I love summer?

After that it was back home for naps, Joe took the cars for oil changes, and then to the beach we went to meet our friends the Hemmingways :) They've moved to a far, far away land...(Ok, just 45 minutes, but it seems like it's lightyears away). The kids had lots of fun building sand castles and swimming, and it was nice to spend time with our friends who we miss!

I love summer.

my amazing husband making sand castles with the kids. Best. Dad. Ever.

this is the sand village he made with Bella and Scarlett. Oh, and he posed them for this shot. I may have to make him my official photography assistant. He's getting good at it!

David, Grayson, and Andrew digging a DEEP hole! Maybe to China...Andrew is drawn to China...

Celebrating a Decade of Marriage!

This past weekend, Joe and I celebrated a ten years of marriage! Hard to believe it was that long ago that we were just 23 years old, with sweaty palms (really literally...it was like 110 degrees on our wedding day and our church is not air-conditioned!) and giddy hearts saying "I Do!"  This weekend we celebrated the fact that we continue to say "I will!" 

Funny, but we actually started our celebration at midnight on Friday. I woke Joe up to say Happy Anniversary and then we gave each other our gifts. (We are like little kids when it comes to waiting for presents :)  The best part was that we bought each other the exact same card. I guess that whole "two shall become one" thing...

On Friday morning, mom came over and we set off for our weekend at Mackinac Island. We honeymooned at Mackinac and have been back many times to celebrate anniversaries, but this year we stayed at The Grand Hotel!  It was such a treat. Beautiful, elegant, amazing. We had a fantastic time touring the gardens, swimming in the pool, dining in the fancy dining room, taking horse-drawn taxis into the woods to the Grand's Woods Restaurant, and of course we enjoyed our ceremonial bike ride around the island at dusk and our visit to the Butterfly House, as well as enjoying way too much ice cream and desserts. It was a fantastic weekend.

We concluded our weekend by signing our Marriage Committment certificate from the "Weekend To Remember " Retreat we went on about a year ago. We wanted to save it for our tenth anniversary. We will have the kids sign it as our "witnesses" and hang it in our home. 

I am so thankful to be married to such an amazing man, who is my dream come true :)

on the ferry!

The Grand:)

my bike on her first visit to Mackinac! Joe designed this bike with Mackinac in mind:)

the view from our room!!

more beautiful view from our room!

the Grand gardens

longest covered porch in the world!

my love

i love butterflies!!

Joey enjoying his complimentary sno-cone at the pool

chocolate covered strawberries---a surprise sent to our room from Joe's client, so sweet!

Tea in the parlor :)

Arch rock :)

my first-ever hole of golf.

views at the golf course!

first time golfing together.

closest thing to a vehicle on Mackinac