Busy weekend!

It was a wonderful and eventful weekend!  Thursday afternoon, Emma's class had an ice cream sundae party which I attended but did not eat any ice cream.  (Still trying to shed some pounds.)  Friday was Ethan's last day of preschool and he is now an official kindergartener!  Then Friday evening was Emma's dance recital.  She danced 4 dances in one show and 1 dance in the 2nd evening show.  She was wonderful!  Saturday we worked in the yard all day and the kids played outside.  Sunday was church and then off to the kid's 1st Clippers baseball game.  We had great seats (right by 1st base, thanks to HNB)!  It was a hot one but the kids LOVED it!  Last but not least, Emma's 9th birthday is May 30th.  She will not have school so she wanted to celebrate with her classmates with cake pops.  So I made her some confetti pops with white chocolate icing and sprinkles.  I am taking her and her friend lunch and the cake pops today!

Happy 40th birthday and Happy Mother's Day

May has been a very busy month for us.  Erik celebrated his 40th birthday last Wednesday, had lunch and a cookout for family to celebrate on Saturday and Sunday was Mother's Day.  Erik took us out to brunch to BJ's Brewhouse for Mother's Day.  It was a great weekend!

Here are some pics of our crazy busy week....

My Little Camper

Today Ethan went to Sugarbush which is a little park near Blendon Woods with his preschool class.  They go every year in the spring.  Ethan went there last year with his 3/4 yr old class and was super excited to go again with his pre-k class.  He told me they walked through a small creek and looked for small fish, bugs and all kinds of animals.  He said they saw some worms and other bugs.  They hiked a little, read stories, ate hotdogs, played games and made s'mores.  This was evident since chocolate was all over his face.  When I picked him up, one of the teachers found a small turtle near the parking lot and fed it some strawberries and had it under a wire trash can for the kids to observe.  I believe this was the highlight for the kids especially my little animal lover.  He wants to catch one in our back yard.  Now we get all kinds of little animals in our back yard due to the woods but not sure about turtles!!

Dancing Queen

Emma rehearsed this past Friday for 4 hours for her recital which is May 18th.  She is in 4 different classes which includes ballet and jazz technique classes along with competition jazz and a tap class.  I am so happy she loves it but I am just exhausted running her from place to place and watching her dance.  It is great exercise and discipline for her.    

Growing up, my parents could not afford too many activities for me.  I tried a little gymnastics, cheerleading and even played the clarinet for a few years.  When my parents divorced, all of them were stopped.  I want my kids to experience many different activities to be more of a well-rounded child.  I am so lucky that my husband and I were able to save money for me to quit my job to be with my kids and to experience all these fun things.  

So...with that said, I hope NOT to become one of those "Dance Mom's" and let my child decide for herself and not pressure her to be perfect.  Yes, it is very hard work and if she wants to continue, she has to put in the time and effort.  Emma has the drive and so far, still loves all the classes, rehearsals, community events, and shows.  

Now I have Ethan who will probably want to participate in some kind of sport soon.  He is already talking about soccer, karate and basketball.  Currently he just takes swimming lessons at the community center and loves it.  

I am happy to wear the "dance mom" hat or the "soccer mom" hat anytime.  These things go by so fast and I do not want to blink and see my kids are graduating high school.  I am going to slow down and watch them grow as much as I can before they are taller than me.  

Here are some pictures of our little dancer...