Character Parade

 Each year, the kids' school has a Character Parade.  Grades K-4 are assigned a book genre and then they choose a character in a book in that genre to dress up as.  Then, they parade around the halls showing off how cute they are.  The fifth graders had Colonial Day that day.  

So, they were dressed in colonial attire and costumes.  

 I made Jayden's costume out of these items.  He already had a pirate belt from a Capt Jack Sparrow costume he had one year and we splurged on a new pirate hat at some Halloween store.  

Grace's class dressed as Fairy Tale characters.  

Luckily, my mom had made a Little Red Riding Hood costume one year for Norah - 

and even more luckily, it fit!

Tappin' Away

 Norah is at a new dance school this year.  During the hour she dances, she does both ballet and tap.  

Tap is a new dance for her and she loves it!  

As a special Halloween treat, the little girls tap danced to 'Monster Mash' and wore their costumes for the event.  It was so cute.  As you will see in the pictures, Norah is very unsure of all the parents watching her.  She won't crack a smile for any of the pictures!  

 Norah wanted to be a 'Mermaid' for Halloween this year.  

I made the costume - and it turned out pretty cute!

Afterwards, the girls had a little party.  She still wouldn't smile.  

A New Look

 I had a new project recently...  I blame it on Pinterest.  That website makes me feel so crafty, I have to get it out somehow.  So, I conquered the girls room.  It was really one of those rooms that made me always so frustrated.  No matter what I did, I could not adjust it to what I liked.  I decided to just start over.  So I painted 3 of the 4 walls a neutral and the 4th wall I striped out.

 These are some bulletin boards the girls and I made.  Grace has a pink one, too.  With a "G" on it - she was just at school when I took this picture and she hadn't created it yet!

 My friend, Tiffany, made the 'SISTERS RULE' board for the girls.  

 The bunk beds are new and give us so much space.

We call the space below the window a 'reading area'.  I'm on the lookout for floor pillows on the cheap!

Best Sisters

A conversation I heard between Norah and Grace~

Norah:  We're best friends, right?
Grace:  Do you mean best sisters?
Norah:  Yah.  Best sisters!  And we are never, ever going to get mad at each other.
Grace:  Well, not for a long, long time.  But we will get mad.

First Day of School - 2011

ok, so I'm a little late (only 9 weeks!) but here are some first day of school pictures.  I'm kinda amazed at how much Jayden and Grace look alike when they are squinting into the sun and have sleepy, puffy eyes :)

Galveston on One, Hot Summer Day

On our way!  

When we are at the beach, we can't get Grace out of the water.  

Norah giving the boogie board a try!  

Sometimes it hits me, just how big this kid is getting.  

Jay acting silly to try to get me to stop taking pictures of him.

it didn't work - and look at this picture i got of him because i was persistent! 

See, big?  yes?

She loved the ride!

the girls made friends with the people next to us.  Who, by the way, didn't speak english.  But they bonded over all 5 of their girls, ranging in ages from 12-4, having the same bathing suit as Norah.  They were nice people vacationing from South America, if Adam guessed correctly.

Just a Bit of Fun...

In an effort to keep the blog going forward, I have to go backwards a little.  

These are some pictures we took in California last June/July.  

It seems like just yesterday that we were there, so to think that this was 

actually 2-3 months ago is killing me.  

But here there are - and this is life.  

One night, Jo and I took the kids out for a bunny hunt.  

This is Grace laying her carrot hoping to lure a bunny out in the open.  

And there was another beach day.  

My sisters and I (And Bela and his parents) took the kids to Balboa.  

It was a beautiful day and the water was still cold :)

"Sand"wich.  mmmm

One of the California Girls at work/play.

My Baby holding and feeding April's baby.

Big John played 'Duck, Duck, Goose' with the kids one morning.

The Palm Springs Windmills, a familiar scene from our past.

We went to Aunt Linda's and Uncle Dean's one afternoon in Long Beach.  

I think Grace had 2 or 3 ice creams.  What the heck?  It was our vacation!

Bathing Beauty

Loving the cousin time!

Taco Tuesday!

Coronado

this is Grace realizing this water is A LOT colder than our Gulf of Mexico water...

'the busch's, 2011, coronado'

The Land of Disney