Noelle's Stuffed Animal Party

Noelle has been planning a stuffed animal party since January.  At first, I thought it was a fleeting plan.  Something that she would do just playing around in the toy room, or something she would talk about but then give up on.  February came and went, and still that stuffed animal party was high on Noelle's list of things to talk about.  Then March and April slipped by.  Not a day went by without Noelle telling me something else that we would do at the party.  So...  When May seemed to be coming to an end and she was *still* planning this party, I decided to give in.  

We had a stuffed animal party.  It wasn't as grandiose as Noelle had planned (she wanted a lot of things that I didn't have the time or energy to do), but I think it was still a success.  Here are some pictures from the gathering.

We made party hats!

We played games.  (Don't laugh or judge them, I spent a bunch of time making them!)

Pin the carrot on the bunny!

This is random, but cute... Oliver pulling Charlotte on his trike.

Bean bag toss!

Ring toss!

Then they decided to make MORE hats. After that, we had a party treat of rice crispies.

The finale of the party was indoors.  We did the freeze dance with our stuffed animals.

In the end, everyone had a great time and went home exhausted, though probably not as exhausted as I was!  I'm so grateful for a daughter that is creative and thinks up things like a "stuffed animal party".  I'm also grateful that I was able to put it together for her.

Beautiful Ballerinas

Friday, August 3rd, was the girls last day of dance class this summer and they did a special "show" for the parents (and grandparents).

Special show means special hair dos and fun before pictures.

(I didn't do buns because they were also doing some tumbling and I didn't want them to hurt their heads).

It was fun watching them in action! They did a bit of tap, ballet, and then tumbling.

Noelle cracked me up. She was quiet the entire time... until the tumbling. Her teacher asked if she wanted to do it by herself, and Noelle broke her silence to say: "No, I'm just too little". It was too cute.

The girls just loved their teacher! And I loved that it was a summer long program through the Town of Gilbert.

"Got To Dance"

Ever since watching "Singing in the Rain", the girls and I have had a few new songs in our heads. I love the song "Good Morning!". I now sing it (along with "Good morning sunshine/You are my sunshine") to Oliver and the girls first thing in the morning. Great Song (I have changed the lyrics slightly to say "You've slept the whole night through" instead of "We've talked the whole night through", but it's the same, and produces huge smiles). Another song you can hear in our house a lot is "Singin in the rain!" The girls will sometimes sing the lyrics to that song to the melody of "The Farmer in the Dell". It's pretty cute. And the last song we sing a lot is "Got to Dance". That's pretty much the entire song... just those words, but it inspires some serious dancing. I love the movie "Singin' in the Rain"! The plot is great, but even better is the dancing. I especially enjoy the tap dancing. After watching the movie, the girls were dancing all over the place... so when I was able to find a summer dance class through the Town of Gilbert that I could enroll them BOTH into, I jumped all over it! Not only will they get to learn to dance, they will learn a little tap, ballet, and tumbling! It's for 2 full months and really didn't cost that much. I am excited! They have already participated in the class for 2 weeks and are doing such a great job. I'm impressed with how well Noelle is following directions. This is her first class (besides nursery) away from mom. She is a champ! She is probably the youngest in the class.

Here are a few pictures from last week's class. I didn't get any pictures of them tap dancing. I'll have to sneak a few shots next week.

And tumbling! Here is Melanie:

And Noelle!:

So fun! Great job girls!

Princess Dance Class

I signed Melanie up for a dance class (entitled "Princess Dance") through the Red Mountain Multigenerational Center. The class meets for 4 weeks at a time, and each week it focuses on a different princess. This is right up Melanie's alley, and with no preschool right now, I thought it would be a good way for her to interact with different kids about her age. I spent most of the class out in the hallway with Noelle, but the parents were invited back in for the last 5 minutes to see the "performance".

enjoy:

They actually ran through it twice. This is the second time, and though she didn't do as well as the first time, it's my favorite. I think it's safe to say she gets her grace and timing from me!