Dance fever

Last month, Reina had her dance recital.  She danced in pointe, ballet, hip hop and hoop.  Both pointe and hoop were new classes for her this year.  I didn't get a picture of her hip hop performance and I could kick myself because it was super fun.  

Reina had her own fan club at the recital. 

Look at my girl on pointe!  This is so much harder than it looks.  She's been working on this since September and has made awesome progress.  

Ballet time.  This was her favorite costume.  

Hoop!  I was blown away by this dance.  Reina made it all look so effortless. 

 Reina isn't sure what dance classes she'll sign up for in the fall.  She talks about wanting more time to do clubs and activities at school, but she also loves dance.  We'll see what she decides.  Reina we just love watching you have fun.  

June

Well that was fast.  June started with the end of the school year and now we are one month into summer 2022 and we have a dance recital, baseball games, 7 v 7 football, a garden, and lots and lots of family togetherness to show for it.  

I'll have to post photos later but Reina had her dance recital at the beginning of the month and it was so much fun to watch her dance.  This year she had pointe, ballet, hip hop and hoop.  Her favorite dance was Hoop and I don't have a favorite because I think she's brilliant at all of them.  Reina has her first big babysitting job this summer.  She babysits an energetic 5 year old boy two days a week and she's discovering all of the joy that is the 5 year old brain.  She's also in charge of making dinner at our house once a week.  One week, she ordered pizza all by herself and this week she made frozen potstickers and potato salad.  We appreciate her enthusiasm and I'm just noticing that maybe she only can serve food that starts with a P?  

Will is playing on two baseball teams and working out with the football team.  He's also practicing driving and napping.  Well, he's not practicing napping, he's an expert.  For his turn at making dinner, he (with Glenn's help) grilled steaks and asparagus and learned to make mashed potatoes.  

Glenn and I are both busy at work.  Glenn's had to travel some and I had a trip to Nebraska earlier in the month.  I'll have more pictures to post on the holiday weekend. If I can take a break from my napping.  

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a nice holiday weekend.  The kids had Friday off so I took the day off and Glenn took part of the day.  We attended a few graduation parties for friends' kids and I started a little bit of our garden.  Reina caught Will's cold so she was in bed most of the day but tested negative for Covid. Phew.  Saturday was gorgeous so we gardened and worked on cousin E's birthday cake.  I bought this fancy pan that can make all of the letters and numbers and I was itching to try it out.   

The first E didn't turn out as planned but the second version (of which I don't have a picture!) was yummy and more solid than this version.  

Sunday was a little cooler and brought much needed thunderstorms.  Luckily, we got to attend E's 6th birthday party at the roller rink.  I'm happy to announce that all of the adults emerged from the skating rink unscathed.  Considering Aunt V and I served cake and treats while on skates the entire time, that's a huge achievement.  

Along with a giant E cake, he also wanted a baseball one.  I was going to make the stripes with frosting but Kindergarten Cousin insisted on red sprinkles.  He and his sister laboriously picked through the jar of sprinkles to find enough red to make the baseball - the blue and white were used on the E cake, naturally. 

Monday was also cool and overcast.  Will and I took E to Murdoch's for his second annual 'pick out your birthday present' trip.  After much dithering, he chose a toy ATV/Camper combo, a small truck and trailer and a wooden knife (that was Will's idea).  The toy section at Murdoch's is getting smaller so if this continues to be an annual tradition, we are going to have to start buying tools and livestock equipment.  Stay tuned.  

Baseball season again

The temperature outside hasn't always felt like it, but apparently it's baseball season again.  Will is playing with a new team this year.  He's actually on two teams.  One team is for the regular season and just plays in town during the week.  The other team is made up of the best players from the regular season teams and travels to tournaments or plays out of town teams.  The regular season was supposed to start tonight but we had a rain out (which was actually great news because we are in a drought!).  The travel team has had some scrimmages but last weekend Will had games in Casper,  I went with Will for the quick overnight trip and had fun watching him play.  

Playing third base

At bat

 

Mother's Day

Today was my sixteenth mother's day and I'm not sure how that is possible.  Insert lamentation about time tick tocking by here.  I told everyone here that I didn't want a present because I bought myself a cakepan that can make numbers and letters last week (yes, it's unbelievably wild and crazy at our house) but that I would like a card.  Thanks to Glenn, they obliged.  

Sweet note from Will and he even used markers!  

Reina knows (and shares) my obsession with Wordle and made me this little gem.  So creative!  

 

So this is happening

Will got his driver's permit a few weeks ago.  Yes, it looks like a mugshot.  Yes, you might want to stay off the sidewalks for a little while until he gets the hang of it.  Honestly, he's doing great.  His favorite parent/driving teacher depends on the day.  I was too encouraging when I drove with him.  He did not need/appreciate all of my "good job buddies."  Glenn accidentally instructed him to go through the roundabout and 'wasn't explaining things very well.'   But so far, so good.  

Spring Break

We've been back from Spring Break for a few weeks but it feels a lot longer than that.  The kiddos and I zipped down to Cabo for a few days with my sister and family and my parents.  Glenn stayed home to hold down the fort and save up his vacation days with his new job.  We missed him and we'll make sure he goes with us next time!  We arrived in Mexico on a Monday and flew home Saturday but we packed in a lot during our time there.  

Reina left her mark on the wall of a restaurant where we celebrated (early) my parents' 50th wedding anniversary!  An amazing accomplishment!  And this is a weird way to acknowledge it but I'll make sure to dedicate a whole post around their actual anniversary.  

This cat showed up at our resort every night around dinnertime and sauntered through the outside dining area to see what was happening.  We may have shared a tiny bite of cheeseburger.  

Down at the marina, tourists pay these guys for the opportunity to feed a sea lion.  It's a pretty sweet deal for salesperson and sea lion if you ask me.  The pelicans don't seem to mind either.  I just observed even though I was tempted to fork over a few bucks.  That sea lion is definitely not starving.  

These four cousins.  Time feels like it's flying by when all of these kiddos just keep growing year after year.  They had a fun time swimming with each other