Amelia's Dance Recital 2023

 Amelia has really fallen in love with dance this year. She practiced on her dances at home over and over until she felt super confident that she knew all the steps. I was so proud of her! Not to mention, she couldn't have looked cuter! 

She had a lot of friends from her school in her class this year, and her teacher was sweet to come to the recital to support the girls. 

And even though Amelia was the star of the show that day, I got a big kick out of her teacher meeting Reagan and saying "so this is the legendary Reagan?". Thanks to Reagan's boisterous personality, she already has a reputation at the school....and she won't even start going there for 2 more years!

What's Been Happening in 23 So Far

 We've been busy so far this year starting off with Amelia's 8th birthday. She celebrated with her friends at Chik-Fil-a and had a family party at our house. The theme for her party was PURPLE! 

We also celebrated some sweet friends birthdays during January (Ezra and Sophia).

At the end of January, Amelia's school had a Little House Day after reading the book Little House in the Big Woods. We got to dress up in our old-timey dresses and aprons and pretend like we were back in pioneer days. It was so cute and fun!

We've also been busy with dance every Monday. We started picking up Amelia's BFF Kyri on our way to class and those girls are the funniest little giggle boxes each week in the back seat!

These girls keep me on my toes and I just love them so much. I'm a terrible blogger but I don't want to let too many days go by without documenting what is going on in our lives. These years while they are little are so precious and I know that I will blink and they will be teenagers!

Christmas 2022

 Christmas 22 was very much not our normal traditions, thanks to a pretty scary bout with RSV. We didn't get to go to any family gatherings this year, but we did get to visit the children's emergency room twice! Yikes! Amelia, Reagan, and myself all came down with it, but unfortunately Reagan had it the worst. Amelia got over hers fairly quickly, so we were able to send her to Nana and Papaw's for a few days while I cared for Reagan 24/7 (while also being sick myself, Lord have mercy). The thing about RSV that I didn't realize is that it takes away your appetite and even your desire to drink anything - so we ended up in the hospital mostly for dehydration. Poor baby had to have fluids, but once she did (and once they gave her an antibiotic) she was on the mend and we were able to be back to normal on Christmas Day. 

Family Pictures 2022

 Our family pictures turned out so well this year! Well I guess technically these were taken last year, considering it has taken me about 6 months to update this blog. (Whoops!) Even though the process of getting everyone dressed and ready is exhausting, plus Chris absolutely loathes having pictures taken - it's all worth it! 

Summer has come and gone, too!

 I went from being a monthly blogger, to now a seasonal blogger. Do better, Emily! 

So here is our summer in a nutshell. 

May

We finished up the school year with Amelia's recitation ceremony where she impressed us with her astounding memory, reciting all of the Bible verses she learned throughout the year.

 Then it was the last day of school and Amelia seems to have grown a whole foot over the course of 1st grade. 

June

Next up was Amelia's dance recital. Thanks to COVID, we had not been able to attend a dance recital since Amelia was 4 years old, so we were all extra excited to be back to normal. Amelia did SO good and looked SO beautiful.

For summer, Amelia and I created a bucket list of all the things we wanted to do before school started, such as go to the zoo, read 100 books, have playdates, go to swim lessons, and things like that. So that is how we spent the rest of our summer!

July

We spent the fourth of July weekend at Nana and Papaw's house, cooking out, catching fireflies, and setting off kid-friendly fireworks.

Reagan started soccer in June, but our entire household came down with COVID so we were all out of commission for about 2 weeks. Finally in July, she got to start playing with her bestie, Ezra. Big sisters Amelia and Kyri were always there to help cheer for them and coach them along!

We made it down to Franklin in July to spend some much needed pool time with the family. Amelia loved swimming, but Reagan was not a fan of the water so she mostly ate snacks and squirted everyone with water guns. 

We are so blessed to have Kyri and Ezra and their mom in our lives. Between school, soccer, and playdates, we live a lot of life with them and love them dearly!

In late July, Chris and I got away just the two of us for a long weekend trip to New York City! He has been a few times, but this was my first trip - and I was so excited! We had the best time! We went to see two shows - Phantom of the Opera and Moulin Rouge, went to a Yankees Game, stayed at the Plaza Hotel, walked through Central Park, visited the Met, took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty, and walked about 20,000 steps a day. Our Apple watches were dinging at us every so often telling us how good we were doing with our daily steps, I guess usually we are pretty much sloths. 

We ended the summer with a final trip to the zoo with our besties to see all the elephants, zebras, and lions and to ride the carousel about 10 times!  Reagan had her final soccer practice on this same day where she received a medal and certificate. 

It was a fun but busy summer! Now we are already in the full swing of fall and back to school!