Pictures (mostly for Stephanie)

Forever ago, I promised Stephanie I would post some pictures of Beca in the dresses that were made for her. So, here they finally are - Stephanie's sewing work, which will conveniently be passed down to Emily!




And a few others of Beca, opening presents, getting her hair braided, twirling, and nap.

Dance Dance Wherever you may be

So my own little Angelina Ballerina took her first ballet lessons yesterday. Oma gave the lessons to her as a present, bought her a pink leotard with a skirt attached, pink tights, and black ballet shoes. The black was my request. I love the contrasting pink and black together. The little girls loved running around together. Beca's class is her best friend Kate and 2 other girls. This is going to be really fun!

My baby's in Fortune magazine!!

I know I haven't posted anything in a while and I'll try to catch up at some point but we got the coolest news today!! Beca is going to be in Fortune magazine! Well, her picture - not really anything she did, except hold up her art! She's on the left, not looking at the camera (per her usual). She was involved in both days of photography that were done at Children's House!

Worst plane flight ever

Singly, and for so many reasons, that was my worst plane flight ever. I've been on the ground for 40 minutes and I think it is going to be a while before i get that picture out of my head. Quite simply, the poor kid next to me threw up the entire plane ride from Minneapolis. The whole time with his head in a bag. And by kid, I mean maybe 13 or 14. And his parents were sitting with his 9 year old sister and not even 2 year old brother in the row in front. So not only did their eldest throw up (or at least spit repeatedly) into a bag, their youngest screamed and threw himself. Not the best time to take a toddler on a flight, I can guarantee that. I felt really bad for the older kid though. My only saving grace was the seat in between us. Neither parent offered to come back and sit with him. Not sure if they felt trapped by the tiny tyrant (understandably because it was WELL past his bedtime and you could hear in his cry that he was beyond overstimulated) or if they were just ignoring a behavior employed by the eldest to gain attention. After he couldn't just suck it up and we were in the air and got the cool air jets on him and cool cloths (oh and by we, I mean the flight attendant and myself) and tried to get him a little to drink, I finally resolved it was largely a party trick crafted for attention. Either that or the stomach bug. I have never, ever, never, ever, ever ever ever ever ever ever EVER been soooooo happy to get off a plane. Which by the way unloaded us into RDU's brand new terminal - very beautiful. I would highly recommend if you get there with plenty of time and need a little spa treatment, run by the XPress Spa shop - the girls are nice and it is really a peaceful little spot. Especially when you need to have your nails done before a business trip.

Fun with the Leahy twins!

So while big bro Aidan was galavanting through rain with his Nana and poor Daddy Leahy had to stay late at work, Kristin brought the 6 month old twins, Addison and Alec, over to play at my house last night for dinner. It was so much fun watching them! Oma and Pop-pop came to visit for a little while too.

Beca got another birthday present! Tinkerbell exploded on our floor! Way cute stuff from the Disney Store! Kristin is AWESOME!

Beca was starving after swim lessons so my parents hung out with the twins while the rest of us ate my version of chicken parmesan. Beca's reward for eating all her food (or whatever amount of it we said she had to eat) was to get to hold the twins. They were definitely bigger than the last time she asked to do that!! She wanted to hold "the girl" first.

Alec is a big giggler. It's very funny - got some good smiles out of Addison too!

Beca helped Kristin try to feed Alec his solid food but he didn't really want a second meal that day (they are just starting solids) while I fed Addison who is totally into eating, even if she laps it like a doggie (her mom's words).

Feednig cereal early on is messy - I forgot how messy. Alec was done first eating so he got a bath first while I finished Addison's eating. I then took Alec to get him dressed and Beca helped wash Addison - she was very good at it. The tricky part was what to do with Alec for a minute when I went back to get Addison to dress her - thankfully they don't roll far, yet. Beca tried to help feed a bottle but it was difficult because alec was already trying to fight sleep. While Kristin cleaned up, Addison snuggled down on me and fell asleep and Alec just sat and watched the happenings, fighting sleep the whole way. He finally shut his eyes when we put him in his car seat and there was nothing interesting to see.

I can't imagine doing that every night but as my mom sent me recently - "The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God cannot protect you". At least some parts get easier as they get older!

Beca's Birthday Bashes

Beca has the luxury of celebrating her birthday over an extended time frame. She's been getting presents occasionally since the end of May. It would have been earlier (like the beginning of May) but I made her save the presents from Grandma and Aunt Dawn. And we knew we'd be seeing Pop-pop's side of the family at the beach the end of June. A 2 month celebration is taking it a little too far, don't you think? However, I will state that I am all for birth month celebrations.
Bash #1 -
the first big celebration was a family party, which started early in the afternoon with the arrival of Emmaw and Aunt Jenny. Beca also had her friend Joliana over for the afternoon and it was fun just to have a small play time. I had a slight hiccup int he day when we went for the cake - they had never gotten my order - but they did a great job getting one together in time for my parents to run by and get it (just chocolate with vanilla buttercream iciing and pink flowers). Next, Allie arrived with her entourage (Joe, Erin and little bro Andy). We were opening some presents then. I was also in the middle of baking cookies (partially for the party but mostly for the Spruills because I believe in the healing magic of chocolate chip cookies when you have had a baby). Mom and Jen had to leave (always too short of a visit!) and then Jolianna had to head out too but no worries - the Horman and Queen families arrived! And then the Blooms! Yeah! Steve made kabobs - and they were good! Of course, the cake and presents were Beca's favorite parts! And she hadn't worn the pink birthday girl hat since her first birthday - I kept forgetting to pull it down! But she knew it was up there this year and had told us she needed a special pink birthday hat.
We used the bounce house for a while - always a crowd pleaser!
A cake fromm Blue Moon Cafe-yuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmm!


Princesses all over the cake!
Andy and his Daddy
Beca and her "Nici crackers" - or crackers that Jan makes - or seasoned oyster crackers. but Nici crackers is so much cuter!My favorite party favor: (I ordered these from mymms.com - I'm not getting paid or anything, I just think these are the coolest gift for personalizing!)


Princess Isabel modeling one of my other favorite favors!
The next day we went to another birthday party - this time for Anderson Cole! He turned 4 and it was so much fun to see the Cole and Pipan families - I've been friends with Emily, Mikey and Mary since high school! Here's some picts of the birthday boy and his cousin Maddox, plus Beca on the playground:



Bash #2 -

OK, not so much of a bash but its nice to do something quieter with just our family group. So on her birthday, I wanted to do something that was sort of special but everyday too. First, we had lunch with Beca at SAS - Mommy, Daddy and Oma. With mini-burgers! she loved that. Then we had cupcakes with her class and Beca got to serve them to her friends after they had eaten their lunch. After sugaring up the kids, we took off so they could "nap". After school, there was supposed to be swim lessons but the weather was not cooperating and lessons were cancelled after we were already there and dressed. Beca took it ok when Denise explained it to her but that was only because she had gone through the meltdown earlier when there was thunder and lightning as she was leaving school. Oh well - we did get to talk to Grandma, who sang Happy Birthday to her. We headed to dinner - Beca's favorite restaurant is Torero's - chips and salsa, milk, and a chicken soft taco with only rice and no tomatos. And she will order everything herself, thank you very much. We did presents from Oma and Pop-pop and some clothes from Mommy and Daddy. Mostly nightgowns and a pink Disney princess robe (personalized, even) but some other clothes too - Hanna Andersson dresses that I was going to give her regardless but it was way more fun to wrap up. We had already given her the pink Jeep and the bounce house. Spoiled much? Whatever...



Bash #3 -

Princesses!! Except Beca just wanted to wear her Easter dress to start out. I knew that would change once the princesses began arriving. We had fun playing outside in the Jeeps and on the playground. Steve made burgers and dogs for the adults and the kids mostly had princess and unicorn PBJ's!

Queen Rebecca to the rescue with glitter for all the princesses!

Our token prince - Harrison

Caroline Grace shows everyone how to eat a cupcake: Beca and Kate

Beca and Caroline:Payton, Beca, and Kate:
Princess Kate:
Princess Caroline
Princess Flora
Princess Payton
Princess Alice (Beca)
Melissa Rose and Harrison wondering what in the world their parents are trying to do - and before Melissa figured out that this was her friend Harrison from her class.
Princess Flora
Beca with her flowers that she picked out to have at her party (and the like 4th wardrobe change):
Cupcakes - Beca assigned the princesses to each -Kate got Ariel, Caroline got Snow White, Flora got Aurora, Payton got Cinderella, Melissa Rose got Belle, and Beca took Jasmine. The one with the candles on it went to Harrison - it was cute and little! There is a 5th candle there - a princess castle.
The Princess line:
Princess Payton decides to smile
Princess Melissa Rose

It was such a fun day, even if it got a little muggy. The bounce house came into play again after the cake and presents. Beca's favorite toys were an MPG princess player, Cat in the Hat game and Cooties game! She also loves her new music box (which I sing little Einsteins songs to). there was actually a real nap time that afternoon in our house, which after a 5:30 AM wake-up seemed perfectly reasonable!