Happy Long Weekend

I am too exhausted to blog about all the fun we had this weekend, so I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

You'll see that we spend a lot of time outside - at the pool, playing in the backyard, and cooking out with Mimi and Grandma E.J. for Memorial Day.  It was a great weekend!

On a side note, we discovered at our cookout this evening that Grace absolutely, positively loves corn on the cob.  She liked to pretend that she was a typewriter and even gave us a little "ding" every time she finished a row. The funniest part (to me) is that she has no clue what a typewriter even is - and probably will never need to!

It's (finally) official!

In all honesty, we've technically been "under contract" since April 19th.  April 19th. 


I knew that selling a home in this market would be tough, but I had no idea that it would be downright stressful. Every possible hurdle you can imagine turned into giant roadblock.  The latest one being the appraisal.  Ouch.


If it weren't time to think about getting into a better school district, we would have walked away from this a long time ago.  Oh yeah, and we're also under contract on our new home.  Of course, it remains contingent upon the sale of our current home.  


All that said, we are beyond thrilled to be moving on to a new chapter in our life.  And the couple buying our house is basically Corey and me 5 years ago.  Hopefully they will make as many wonderful memories here as we have (and maybe even double in size like we did!).


We've got a lot of work to do in the next few weeks!

On a funny note (at least it's funny to me), Bonnie insisted on eating her breakfast like this today...

...and Grace had to copy her...

Silly girls.

Open the pool!

Our first official pool outing of Summer 2011...

...was so much fun!

I told the girls last night before bed that after breakfast today we would be heading over to Handley and Harper's pool for a picnic and our first official dip of the summer.

Bonnie woke up yelling, "Haapaaa!  Haapaaa!" and the first thing Grace groggily said to Corey and me when we walked into her room was, "Remember, we have new diving sticks."  You think they were dreaming about their pool date or what?!

I have to admit that I was a little nervous about taking both girls to the pool without Corey.  And by "both girls" I really mean Bonnie.

I am happy to report, however, that Bonnie behaved exactly the way I had anticipated she would.  She loved the water.  And was not interested in any help from me whatsoever.  The only problem?  She can't swim.  That definitely made things a little challenging.

Needless to say she ended up spending quite a bit of time in her stroller.  Not bad for our first day, though.

Grace, on the other hand, was a little fish and I am so looking forward to the many more trips we will make to our new pool (hopefully) this summer (more on that tomorrow).  I also think that she is definitely ready for swimming lessons this year and will really get a lot out of them.

Last minute lunch date.

Every day I tell myself that I'm going to sit down and type a quick update on our moving status.  But every day, we hit a new roadblock and by the time the kids are tucked into bed and I finish cleaning up around the house, I am am too tired to even think about it.  And too tired of dealing with it and would much rather blog about fun things instead.

Like our last minute lunch date with Corey.

We decided this morning that we were long overdue for a visit to the office, so the girls and I got all gussied up and headed downtown to see daddy.  We always have a lot of fun and all of the ladies in Corey's office (and even two of the partners on Corey's team) always gush over the girls so we generally end up leaving there in a pretty good mood.

Which is just what we all needed today.

Bonnie at 21 Months

Bonnie's little sniffle has officially turned into a full-blown cold, so I am shocked that she let me put her hair up in pigtails.  Ok mom, puppy dog tails.


This was a first-time occurrence, too, I might add.

Things are pretty much the same as they were at 20 months in the world of Bonnie, except she has added a few little things to her list of tricks this month:

*She can count to 16.
*She can sing her ABC's including the "now I know my ABC's..." part.
*She can pretty much sing all of "Once Upon a Dream."
*She loves to take baths with Gracie now.
*Her eye teeth popped through (hallelujah!)
*Says "Bass you" (bless you) instead of "excuse me" if anyone is in her way.  She says it anytime we sneeze, too.
*Yells, "toot, toot!" anytime she toots.
*Says, "I so toot!" (I'm so cute) every time she gets dressed.
* Loves to say "I so es-I-det!" (I'm so excited).
*Is very dramatic (great) and is constantly saying "Oh. My. Gay-esh!" (Oh. My. Goodness!)

I can't believe that we are now only three months away from her 2nd birthday!

The BIG Recital!

Before the show

Practicing her salute

I don't even know what to say other than that ballet recital was the absolute most precious thing I have ever seen. Ever.

The event took place at Pace Academy and we had to buy tickets for it and everything.  Big time stuff.

The theme of the show was Seasonal Serenade and the performances of each of the 12 classes were representations of elements specific to the four seasons.  There was a Pumpkin Patch dance, a Valentine's dance, a Maypole dance...you get the idea.  Grace's class, the Fireworks group, represented the Fourth of July and danced to John Philip Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever.

They were incredible.  Each and every one of them.  But especially Gracie (of course!).

The music started booming and my sweet girl marched out onto that big stage and smiled and danced her little heart out.  Imagine my pride this time!!!


When the show was over I picked her up backstage and took her outside where she was greeted by her daddy, Mimi, Gramps, Memaw and about a gazillion flowers.  She was beaming and was beside herself that so many people came to watch her dance.

After the recital ended we headed over to Ceylese's house to pick up Bonnie.  Ceylese and Brad were brave, I mean, nice enough to babysit so that the grownups could focus on the show.

I must say that it was tough getting Grace to leave their house.

We also attempted to meet my mom and dad for dinner, but Bonnie, who is coming down with a little cold had other plans for Corey and me.  We ended up taking her home while Grace, Mimi and Gramps enjoyed their Mexican food.

Not to worry, though.  I still got my burrito(s).  Thank goodness for take-out!

Grace was beside herself once again when she walked in the door and saw all of her flowers displayed on the kitchen island!

Off to a very busy start.

I normally like to wake up on Saturday morning and have our leisurely pancake breakfast and play with the kids for a little while before we get dressed and venture out into the light of day.

And while we did enjoy our usual pancake feast this morning, we hit the ground running as soon as I cleared the dishes.  Literally.  The girls were strapped into the B.O.B and on the Silver Comet Trail by 9:26 for a little 4 mile walk/jog with Corey and me.

After we got home and ate lunch it was time to get ready for the big ballet rehearsal.  I did take quite a few pictures but I'll just share a couple for now as tomorrow's post will be overflowing with them.  And also because I took a LOT of slip 'n' slide photos that you will see below.  Just wait.

On a side note, the girls thought that saying "chicken nuggets" back and forth to each other the entire ride home was just about the most hilarious thing ever.  

On the big stage

As soon as we got home, Corey busted out the slip 'n' slide, or as we now call it at our house, the walk 'n' slide.  I think we need to get some of the neighborhood boys over here to show Grace how to get a running start and slide down on your belly as she prefers to tiptoe down.

Bonnie just liked splashing around in the little pool at the bottom.

Pretending to slide down the right way

Don't be fooled by appearances...Grace actually accidentally slipped and fell on her bottom in this one.

Mimi came over for a little while this afternoon to watch the girls splash around, and then loaded up Bonnie and took her home for the night so that Corey and I could take Grace out to a special pre-ballet recital celebratory dinner (which was delicious!).

Stay tuned for a lot of pictures of tomorrow's big recital (and probably another sappy pride story, too!).