Barcelona nights

So Rebekah, I noticed you painted your nails purple.  What's the occasion?  What?  Oh, thanks for noticing.  That's just because Ben and I went out to a rock show last night.  On a Tuesday.  At 10pm.  It was awesome.  We sat at the bar and had a beer.  The music was fantastic.  Just a typical weekday night for us.  What you don't believe me?  Ok, your right.  This was no usual affair.  It really takes a village, so here's the shout-out to the peeps who made it happen:

First I would like to thank my parents who took the first leg of childcare.  This was the hard shift people.  We're talking dinner, playing, and full bedtime routine.  I should insert here that before attending said show we had to lead our dear friends in a biblical study on the book of Revelation.

I don't want to leave out our small group who put up with our half-a**ed leadership due to all the preparations for the evening, including but not limited to, bed making, laundry, nail painting, extra time to apply mascara, and dinner.  Thank you for your words of hope and promise.  You were with us in spirit.

To Kirstin who took the second leg of child care and spent the night just in case our youthful endeavors carried us out past 5am.  You had to drive a long way just to watch cable tv.  I'll never forget your sacrifice.

And finally to Amy who believed in us and never once doubted that our dreams of staying out past 11pm could become a reality.  Without your support and encouragement all this wouldn't have been possible.

And to anyone else who contributed in any small way to this achievement I'm sorry I've forgotten to mention your name.  You will receive your reward in heaven.

Now go buy Barcelona's new and old album and relive this historic event with us!

dancing queen

Ava had her last ballet class of the year today and it's a good thing cause mama needs a break.  She was so proud of her hard work for Hansel & Gretel and has all of her flowers next to her bed.  Her teacher is still commenting on how happy she was to be out there dancing.  I was so proud to see her up on stage beaming as she tried to remember her steps.  She may not be the best dancer but she's definitely the most enthusiastic. 

Final touch-ups

Heading out to the stage

Silly village girls

My baby girl

Posing with the witch

Grandma & Grandpa came on opening night

She wouldn't let her flowers go and refused to hold them in any other position until I put them in the vase

Her teachers came for a matinee

Look close, she's the only one smiling

Her biggest (and fuzziest) fans

Love this girl!

W_EE_ O_ FO_TU_E

We decided to celebrate our potential 2 seconds of fame on Wheel of Fortune with a party.  We actually never saw ourselves on camera but hey, any excuse to eat cake right?  

I would really like to say that this was the cake I made and although I am twelve shades of crazy when it comes to cooking, I didn't set aside six hours of my day to roll fondant in seven colors.  So the actual result was what I prefer to call "rustic."

I used Alton Brown's angel food cake recipe and it was fantastic!  I highly recommend it if you have 12 egg whites laying around.  Which actually happens to me quite a bit.  It's probably a sign that I should stop making me so much ice cream and quiche.

These two are such good friends.  John always lets Ava be the pink power ranger and she can wield a sword with the best of them.

Sibling love

Ninjago pose

Anne and I doing our best Vanna

How much is too much?

I find myself rationalizing all the things I can put this on.  I dip my bananas in it and I spread it on graham crackers.  A brownie version is currently in the works.  This morning as I was brushing Ava's teeth she said, "Mommy, I can smell that chocolate peanut butter stuff on your breath."  Then I think she texted Ben to stage an intervention when he got home from work."

This is not an advertisement for Justin's.  This is a cry for help.

Hansel & Gretel

I'm not sure when it happened but at some point over the last few months I became a ballet mom.  I'm pretty sure that I now have one or more friends with Got Bobby Pins? bumper stickers on their minivans and I've started carrying so many baggies of dried snacks that I could be mistaken for the whole foods bulk section.  I kind of knew what I was getting into with Ava's last show but apparently this one has double the cast and therefore requires twice the time commitment. She's really been a trooper with all the practices and a 10pm bedtime for seven consecutive nights.  And so far she's had one less meltdown then mommy so she probably deserves some sort of award.

Practicing the maypole dance

Little village cutie

The transformation from peanut butter faced, tangled hair, scraped knees, markered fingers five year old wild child:

Into foundationed, powdered, blushed, mascaraed, eyelinered, hairsprayed, perfect postured ballerina princess.

Chattin it up with Emmi backstage

Four delicious ribbon candies

Here's to her first show!  Keep your fingers crossed that we'll survive four more.

irresistible

She just slays me in this denim jumper:

What's that honey?  You want marshmallows in your orange juice?  Ok.

Of course you can have a sucker before dinner.

You want to stay home from school so we can drive Strawberry Shortcake to her hair appointment at Ariel's house?  Let me just call your teacher.

Yes, we can go roller skating during Ian's nap time.

Which swimsuit did you want to wear to church?  Let me just grab your flip flops.  

Maybe she should keep this outfit handy for when she "accidentally" trips her brother because she didn't want him looking at her while she was in time out for spitting on the cat.

quote of the day:

Me: (standing in the kitchen trying to make lunch for everyone before we have to be at Ava's five hour ballet practice, while simultaneously answering a million questions and trying to comfort Ian on my hip after he "faww down.")
Ava:  "Mommy, is having two kids pretty hard?"
Me:  (regretfully, not skipping a beat) "Yes."
Ava: "Oh."
Daddy:  (Sensitively noticing the slightest change in her demeanor:) "But you know that you and Ian are the best parts of mommy's life, right?"
Ava: (smiling) "Yes."
Daddy:  "Because if she didn't have you she would be reading on a tropical beach somewhere surrounded by piles of money."
Ava:  "That would be sad."