Dance Your {heart} Out

Another dance year gone by!  It's hard to believe this was Brooklyn's third dance recital!  She performed with her beginning/intermediate jazz and beginning/intermediate ballet classes. She has made soooo much progress over the last year and I feel like she really is turning into a beautiful dancer, especially in ballet!

For jazz, she danced to Ghostbusters.  It was cute and they all held flashlights during their routine.

For ballet, her group danced to Who Says by Selena Gomez. 

Brooklyn had a few cheerleaders in the audience including her BFF/cousin, Emily & Grandma Palmer

Grandpa & Grandma Hamilton

Aunt Brittney

 and of course ME!

 (Matt wasn't able to be there because he is away at Philmont)

 

Giving her her new ballerina necklace

Post-recital treat from Baskin Robbins, becoming a tradition I suppose!

I have been struggling a lot lately with how busy we (the kids) are.  On activity day weeks, she has 4 days where she has an extracurricular activity and things start conflicting all over the place.  I decided that we need to cut one of her dance classes, but both Brooklyn and I were struggling on deciding which class for her to stay in.  Brooklyn said that she loves jazz, but she's always wanted to be a ballerina and when I asked her dance teacher, whom we love (she teaches both of Brooklyn's classes), she felt that Brooklyn is stronger in ballet.  That helped make our decision easier, plus she's being promoted to intermediate ballet which will be a challenge for her, but I know it'll be good for her.  It's so fun to see your child grab hold of something they love and work to be good at it.  I have loved seeing her grow as a dancer and can't wait to see what the future holds for our little ballerina!

Father's Day & Matt's birthday

With Matt's birthday being June 19th, it usually falls on or around Father's Day.  I had a birthday idea in the works for a long time but it was pricey so I asked if he didn't mind that I combined gifts for both occasions (we normally try to avoid this).   He told me only if I didn't spend more than $20.  Haha, too late, I had already ordered it!  So we gave him his "birthday" gift Saturday before Father's Day so that he could have a couple days to enjoy it before he left on his trip to Philmont a couple days later.

This is his, "oh-no-you-didn't!" face. ;)

Matt has lovingly harassed me for awhile about getting an Xbox 360 and I have adamantly said NO.  Matt hasn't really ever been a gamer; he enjoys playing when he gets the chance but it isn't something he does frequently, but I was finally ready to let him step into that little world.  With moderation.  Now he can join the throng of his guy friends/brothers that play this shoot 'em up game online together.  I just hope I don't regret this purchase!!!  I know the kids will love the Kinect.

I do this every year with the kids (on Mother's Day and Father's Day) and it's something I hope we can always do.

(Preston's picture will be coming)

Happy Father's Day!!!

I made these from-scratch Andes mint cupcakes to take as dessert to Matt's family Sunday dinner to celebrate his birthday the coming week.  The lighting wasn't great as I hurried to take a picture before we ran out the door.  The frosting is a light green.  They were quite a bit of work, especially for a Sunday morning, and my frosting job is pretty weak, but everyone thought the cupcakes were delicious!

Matt's actual birthday was pretty low key since he was leaving early the next morning.  He and I did have the chance to go out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse on Saturday evening.  We didn't stay out long, it was just the perfect amount of time to have to ourselves.  I love walking around, being able to hold hands with my husband and not have to worry about 5 other little sets of hands. ;)  He still got birthday brownies smeared with Andes mint (notice a trend here??) and a candle to blow out to celebrate his day.

Happy Birthday, Matt!!!

Hayden + Scarlett

Hayden has really started to notice Scarlett, my sister Brittney's dog.  I think Scarlett just likes to be close to Hayden to lick up her barf spots on the carpet.  Yuck!  Scarlett is VERY protective of Hayden!!  If Hayden is laying on the floor and one of the kids moves too quickly toward her, Scarlett will jump right over to make sure Hayden is safe.  It's funny to watch and I'm amazed how doggy instinct just takes over.

SIX {6} months!!

She's 6 months old already?!??!!!?  How did this happen?  Hayden is just such a goooooood baby! 

The biggest news is that those toofers did indeed break through, the first one coming in four days after she turned five months old.  She still spits up a lot and drools a TON!!  The front of her clothes are always soaked!

A few times I've found her sleeping on her belly, but she mostly still sleeps on her back.  This one time I put her down, she immediately rolled over to her tummy.  She has started sleeping through the night more frequently, but it's still not every night.  She takes three solid naps a day.

Hayden gets herself all over the place by rolling and if she finds anything along the way, it goes straight to her mouth- papers, cords, etc.  We've really got to start being diligent at making sure the kids don't leave their Legos down!!!  She grabs at everything within reach!

She has been sucking her thumb a bit more but the funniest thing is she prefers sucking her index finger!!!  I wouldn't mind another thumb/finger-sucking baby!  I think it's adorable.

 BATH TIME!!!

Oooooh, a little splash action!

Clean girl!

 Up until this point, she has been pretty stubborn about giggling.  She will do it when she's tickled, but only ONE time had she actually laughed as a reaction to someone and that was for Uncle Dan.  I couldn't get her to laugh at all!  Finally she's let out a few good giggles, especially if you lift her into the air.

Love our Hayda-bayda!!

Six month stats~
Weight: 15 lbs 13 oz  (43rd %ile)
Length:  26.25 in (64th %ile)
Head: 17.75 in (98 %ile)

She's growing up

Brooklyn has been wearing glasses since she was 2 1/2 years old.  It's hard to believe it was that long ago that she got those first pair of glasses, back while Matt was in his first year of optometry school!

We've mentioned here and there to her about trying contacts, but she hasn't expressed an interest.  She has said that she thinks she looks weird without her glasses.  I've talked to her about it over and over again, that she's just used to seeing herself with glasses on.  Then right before school got out, she mentioned to me that some boy had teased her because her glasses make her eyes look huge. :(  I didn't really think that teasing about glasses happened anymore since there are so many kids these days that wear them!

Out of the blue today, Matt brought home a pair of contacts for Brooklyn to try.  She was really hesitant, but Matt put them in for her.

At first, she fussed about how they hurt her eyes but after awhile, she was carrying on like normal!

I'm hoping that we can use the summer to practice getting them in and taking them out, and by the time 4th grade rolls around in the Fall, she can be wearing them full-time.  Thanks, Dr. Daddy!


P.S. This is my 600th blog post!!!!