Dancing Queen

Anna had her first dance recital in May.  Oh seriously happy Mommy.  I think this is one of those things that when I found out we were having girls, I was the most excited about!  Its just a right of passage of little girl childhood!  But, no pressure or anything...

 She had so much fun, and did such a good job...

We somehow managed to not capture it photographically, but Grammie and Bucko came and surprised Anna for her recital.  She was elated!

Snuggling her new "ballerina monkey"...

Pooltime with Nana

We enjoyed a weekend of fun in the sun when Nana came to visit.  The girls barely let her get in the door and get settled before they demanded she come outside for some counter service at their "cafe".

And, showing off her mad ladder climbing + sliding skills was tops on Kate's list as well...

I think we pretty much stayed outside the whole weekend.  Even when they tired of the pool, the girls decided to do some "science" outside, and play "name that food".  Anna ensured that Kate's mask was securely tightened...

...and then helped her self to some of the "samples" once Kate was done guessing.

Kate thought the whole activity was just fabulous!

And, what could be more fun than a giant turtle...

And, a giant shark (DBA a dolphin).

A great relaxing weekend had by all!

THANKS for coming to visit us, Nana!!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

 Anna had one of her most fun field trips yet to Taqueria Arandas.  The people that own it and hosted the field trip could not have possibly been nicer!  I highly recommend stopping by there if you're in the area...definitely a business worth supporting!

 Are these little chef hats too much, or what?

 (Ok, blogger confounds me...why do these pictures turn on their side??)  Anyway, each child got their own cake, and own bag of icing and were set free!  What cute (and SWEET!) cakes they made!

Anna with her final product--quite the fancy clown cake!

We also enjoyed a wonderful lunch of fantastic Mexican food after the field trip.  And, the wonderful Arandas family didn't let us pay for a thing.  Now, that's outrageous. Will definitely be visiting them again...



More painting...

 Have I mentioned that these girls love art?  And, painting?

Oh, Kate thinks its beyond fantastic that she's old enough to do spin art now.  With a little of sissy's help and an apron, bring on non-washable paint being sprayed via battery power!

My little picassos

We followed up our haircut adventure with a visit to the local pottery place to let the girls paint their "birthday" plates.  I make plates for the girls every year near their birthday with their handprints on them...so fun to see how much they've grown year by year!  Kate was old enough to get to "decorate" her own plate this year!

And, this was the first year that Anna really had the interest to sit and work carefully on a "design" for her plate.  It turned out beautifully!!  When Anna was little, I tended to just let her do the handprint and I did the decorating...I kind of regret that now...so much better to see how their "art" grows every year, just like their hands do!  I had thought I would stop doing these after the girls were 5 or 6, but seeing what fun it still was for Anna this year and how amazing it was to see how much her artistic skill is growing, I'm thinking we're going to keep this tradition at least a little longer...

Kate's First Haircut

I hadn't necessarily planned it this way, but decided to just bite the bullet and get Kate's first hair cut while we were getting Anna's cut this spring.

The "first" haircut is always so nerve-wracking, so it was kind of nice to get it out of the way kind of spontaneously so I wouldn't have to get all worked up about it!

And, Kate did great!  She was a little hesitant at first, but then warmed up and was so excited about her "big girl" hair cut!

Pretty impressed with her new locks...

Future cheerleader

This girl definitely thinks she wants to be a cheerleader when she "grows up"...

Go team!

The Boardwalk with their buddies

The girls had so much fun on the Kemah boardwalk with some of their MOMS Club buddies!

Lunch at Joe's Crabshack...

...followed by splashing in the Kemah fountains.

And, of course, playing on the playground!

Kate wasn't so interested in riding the rides this day, but Anna sure loved taking a spin!

Butterfly babies

Anna got one of the coolest gifts EVER for her birthday--a butterfly habitat! We ordered the larvae online, and the girls LOVED watching them grow, turn into cocoons, and then hatch into butterflies. Amazing.

I asked Anna when she wanted to release them, and she said she thought Easter would be nice since that's the day that Jesus rose again. Oh, my sweet baby...how I love that girl!

And, so, as requested, on Easter we sent the butterflies into the "wild".

Kate needed to be sure to take a closer look before we let them go...

This one wasn't quite ready to leave, so hung out with us for a while before we finally sent him on his way. What a great experience--we'll definitely be doing some more of these next spring! The girls still "look" for their butterflies around the yard, and have "spotted" them quite a few times!

Easter morning

What a great Easter we had this year! The girls thought the "loot" the Bunny brought them was pretty fantastic...