Dance Fever...

There has been a new phenomenon to hit our house in the past several weeks….Alvin & the Chipmunks.

The girls were first introduced to this movie by my cousin Norm when we were visiting Minnesota, and then Grandma Miller bought the girls this DVD a couple of months ago. It’s actually a very cute movie, and the girls just loved watching the chipmunks (it must be their voices?)…but all of sudden, Macy just could not sit still when she was watching this movie. The music was just too good….and that girl just had to dance. So quickly, this movie was no longer for watching…it was for DANCING! Macy would start dancing around the room and hit the “previous scene” button (I didn’t even know such a button existed until Macy showed me) over and over and over, just so she could listen to the songs again and dance with her beloved chipmunks. So….smart Grandma Miller went out and bought the soundtrack on CD, I dusted off my old portable stereo….and the girls have since spent HOURS dancing around Grandma Miller’s deck when we’re over at their house. Grandma has them on video…but today was the first day I was able to capture them at our house. Seriously….they make me laugh so much when they’re dancing that it is difficult for me to keep the camera still. Macy gets so into it….but the really funny part is watching Morgan try to keep up and creating her own dance “moves.”

Hopefully you’ll find them as entertaining as I do….enjoy! :)



And one more... :)

4th of July!

Are you detecting a theme here? That it takes me approximately 3 weeks to get around to completing just about anything these days? So….here you go, pictures from the 4th of July, 3 weeks later.

The night before the 4th, we always decorate our wagon for our neighborhood 4th of July parade – and Macy was more excited that ever this year about decorating, given that she was moving on from the wagon….on up to decorating her own bike, like all of the other “big kids” in the neighborhood. Exciting stuff.

But our fun-filled, decorating, flag-waving, “grandma & grandpa are here!”, race to the front of the neighborhood to start the parade morning, seemed to be anything but fun for the girls as the day started out.. After both sets of grandmas and grandpas arrived, we took the girls out to the garage to get ready to go – and Morgan started crying and trying to climb out of the wagon. (you’ll notice the less than excited look on her face below)

Then, after pushing her bike past a few houses, the formerly excited Macy decided that she didn’t want to ride her bike, she wanted to be little again and join Morgan in the wagon (tight quarters these days for both of them, mind you) and she started whining, crying and carrying on for the entire walk to the front gate, and quickly discarded her bike in the neighbors driveway. (insert mom pulling her hair out at this point...the one and only happy picture with the bike is below)

So, we eventually make it to the front gate, and find our way to the pack of the large group of other happy, exited kids. Meanwhile, Morgan was still crying intermittently, trying to unhook herself to climb out of the wagon and Macy was whimpering, refusing to push, pull, ride, or consider doing any of the above. Finally, the parade began, and it seems that the shared excitement of all of the other kids seemed to help lift the mood. And of course, it’s always exciting to have both sets of grandparents cheering you on!


And finally, once we reached the end of the parade……Macy quickly remembered part of the reason she's always been so excited about the parade -there’s nothing like a good ol’ fashioned otter pop to add a permanent smile to your face for the morning.

So, with red otter pop dripping from our happy faces, we made our way back home, and enjoyed a fun rest of our day, beachcombing during the very low tides, and barbequing with Grandma & Grandpa Miller. We also congregated with several neighbors in our driveway for a fireworks show – with our kids being ages 9 mos., 16 mos., 19 mos., and 4 ½ and 5. Can you say “ground bloom flowers”? Actually, the dads were not willing to keep the show on the ground, so we learned the art of “stick your fingers in your ears!” and Macy was seen peering out of the office window during one particularly loud display. We all ended up having a great day though, despite our rough start!

The Recital

I’ve been meaning to get these pictures up from Macy’s recital from back on June 22nd– but I think it took me the entire two weeks (okay, okay...nearly three) to recover from the big day! I didn’t realize it until after it was all over, but I was pretty nervous about whether or not Macy would be willing to go up on stage in front of hundreds of people and dance. Not to mention the anticipation of having a squirmy, teething, 18-month old “I haven’t had a nap this afternoon” child on my lap for the entire performance. (For the record, Morgan did amazing – surprising us all, barely making a beep the entire time – AND she stayed on my lap too) With that said, we tried to be very laid back about the whole thing and just encouraged Macy to have fun up there-that’s what it was all about! She has just been so excited, nearly obsessed, with ballet all year long, and actually cried once week when she was sick and unable to go to class. When we arrived at the theater, Macy was VERY excited – nearly giddy, and was so excited to see Morgan and all of her family outside of the theater waiting for the recital to begin.
I left her with the “backstage mommy helpers” and we went out to our seats. When it was finally time for the “Pink Rose Princesses”, little Macy tiptoed out on her “Cinderella toes” (as her teacher Ms. Kristine calls them) and made her way across the stage right on cue. I have to say that I had tears in my eyes as my little girl walked across stage – flash backs to my little baby and thoughts of “how in the WORLD did she get so big?” Anyways, she did wonderful and had a sweet little smile on her face. But, with about 30 seconds to go in the routine – I could see her pause for a split second, as she was trying to remember the rest of the routine – and that was it. She turned to find her teacher in the wings for some assistance, noticed the very large audience, and then slowly started to walk (quickly progressing to a run) off stage to the loving arms of Ms. Kristine, who I could see lift her up in the air in a hug of reassurance that it was okay. My heart just went out to her…she was trying so hard to be brave out there on stage. To tell you how much we love Ms. Kristine, she actually called me the next day to make sure that Macy was doing okay. Now that’s "above and beyond" in my book.

After the routine ended, all of the dancers were to remain in their “waiting rooms” until the end of the recital, so that they could all participate in the “curtain call” in their costumes. I knew Macy would be hesitant to go back out at this point, so during the intermission, Grandma Miller & I decided to surprise her with some of her congratulatory flowers. Her face absolutely lit up…and the beautiful “just for me” flowers somehow gave her the confidence she needed to go back out on stage. We waited out in the audience….anxious to see whether she would join the other dancers….and out she ran – leading the way for her class, clasping her special flowers tightly in her hands as she ran. It was just what she needed. She was very excited for the rest of the day, posing for pictures with family….it really did end up being a special day and experience for her. Here are some pictures:




We’ve since asked whether or not she wanted to continue with ballet classes next year….and we’ve received nothing but an emphatic “YES!”