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Busy Calendar

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Hello and Happy-day-after-St. Patrick’s Day!

Our day of {all things green} was just like any other Monday pretty much.

It started out with my favorite pair of gold Havaianas having a blowout in the same spot as all my other well-loved pairs. The little part between the toe gave way and forced me to switch to my gold flats. Havaianas are my absolute favorite and I did get 3-4 years out of these, but I imagine the chlorine from the pool and the trips to the beach eventually take their toll on the rubber…..sad face.

flops

Mama Leprechaun dropped the ball on the once-a-year-Lucky-Charms-for-breakfast deal so she popped them in the car for a donut with green icing and shamrock sprinkles at Albertson’s on the way to school instead! Not the best breakfast to start Health Week off with….

We had a leprechaun come and turn our toilet water green which seemed to freak the kids out a little more this year.

Last week I sampled a precooked corned beef brisket at Trader Joe’s and immediately knew I was going to serve it on a hectic, homework-filled St. Paddy’s Monday night. Fortunately Mondays are our “easy” days and we have nowhere to be, but it was nice to know all I had to do was heat the brisket for about 30 minutes in the oven and sauté up some cabbage and onions to make some sauerkraut! I also squeezed a couple drops of food coloring into a lone bottle of Mexican beer and hit it with a little lime juice for an adult after 5:00pm treat while I prepared our Irish feast.

cornedbeef

Holden brought home a friendly little leprechaun and I updated our “days until” sign {which hadn’t been updated since Christmas!!}. That was the extent of SPD at Chez Aspiras!

stpaddysday

*****

And as for our nice, quiet, after-the-holidays schedule……that is all coming to a screeching halt and the calendar is quickly filling up again.

Elliott is back in full swing with Spring soccer through AYSO and is on another great team. They’ve played two games and walked away with a shutout in game one and managed to tie game two up this past Saturday. The Spring season is a lot more relaxed as there are no playoffs and only 8 games, but it is a great way for the kids to keep up with their skills and build up their momentum for the Fall season. We are so proud of her as she ASKS to go and practice at the park above and beyond her normal practices. She was chosen to be a team captain this past week and Jay captured this sweet picture of her teammate and her after they won the coin toss…

soccer

She also has stepped up her dance game and has taken on another class aside from her Friday hip hop & jazz. Last week she went and tried a lyrical class with her friend, Tiffany, and came home so excited to show me what she had learned. In one hour she had mastered choreography for the Spring recital number and the teacher asked of she was doing the recital! I thought the deadline had passed to order costumes, but apparently it was extended so BOOM she’s enrolled in one more dance class during the week and I ordered her second costume for the recital.

lyrical

This warms my heart as lyrical is one of my most favorite styles of dance and I have been nudging her to take this class for a couple years now.

I feel so blessed that she can go from aggression and speed on the soccer field to beauty and grace in the dance studio. I pray that she will continue to grow in both of these activities and is always able to keep one foot in a soccer cleat and one foot in a dance shoe.

*****

Holden is about to start Spring baseball so we will throw in a practice during the week and a Saturday game into the calendar for the next couple months. He is very excited and received new baseball necessities from Gramma Kathy for his birthday last month ~ fancy cleats, official baseball pants with a big boy belt {no more drawstrings!}, a bat and some awesome batting gloves. I need to uncover his right-handed glove out in the garage and he’ll be good to go! He hasn’t played since being on the cutest little t-ball team 3 years ago, so this league will be a great way for him to be reintroduced to baseball.

He and I also enjoyed a little mother/son bonding time at a PTA sponsored bowling event last weekend. Our team made our own tie dyed shirts which was a first for me and so much fun. The afternoon of bowling was equally as fun and we can’t wait for next year!

holden

*****

The weeks are simply flying by. Aside from these activities, they are both doing after school activities and their weekly religious education classes. Spring Break is on the horizon and that just means one thing…..Summer is not too far behind!

As mentioned in my last post, our summer is going to be filled with events leading up to the marriage of my brother-in-law to his precious finace in late July so we have all that goodness waiting for us on the books, as well.

Feeling so grateful for our busy calendar.

Have a beautiful day, friends!

XOXO

Crunch Time

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Well, the last of our December weekend commitments have taken place and now I need to focus on baking, wrapping, delivering and enjoying.

Elliott had her Winter dance recital yesterday afternoon and we went to see The Nutcracker last night. This was our second year attending and I can tell that it would be something that I’d be so sad to miss each year. I love starting new traditions….thanks again Gramma for starting this special holiday habit!

weekend1

{post recital}

Elliott did a jazz/hip hop number to a spunky Jingle Bells tune. Gramma and I were the backstage mamas for the show and had 20 6-9 year olds to account for. Fortunately they are a little more self sufficient than the 4-6 year olds we attended to last year! Our girls danced 22nd so there was a lot of waiting around before they hit the stage. They did so well, though, and Elliott already has her trophy sitting proudly up on her desk surrounded by the others.

weekend2

{just a walkway was between us and the stage!}

Yesterday was Elliott’s special day and this morning we got to see Holden and his fellow 5 year old Sunday School friends sing “Soon and Very Soon” this morning at the end of mass. So precious….

He presented us with a special ornament for the tree after class. We were thrilled to have his sweet shepherd face on our ornament this year since last year there was a mix up with the packages and we got some other little boy’s ornament and were never able to get our hands on his.

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{these are the ornaments that I will cherish forever}

After church we went to take this boy to get a haircut! It had been six months since his mop had seen scissors…

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Just in time for Santa’s visit in about a week.

I have been looking forward to baking this week, but it’s a short week as far as school is concerned as the kids’ last day is Wednesday! There are two class parties, one Religious Ed party, teacher gifts and school staff gifts I need to get ready so I decided to get a start on the baked goods this afternoon. I pinned these Oreo lumps of coal and whipped up a batch this afternoon. Easiest things ever….I will definitely be making another batch with some peppermint Jo Jo’s from Trader Joe’s tomorrow! I bagged up about 5 pieces per person which I think is plenty to go along with the peppermint sugar cookie bars I plan to make tomorrow.

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{one package Oreos, 5 cups mini marshmallows, 4 tbsp. butter…process the whole package of Oreos into a fine powder. melt the butter and marshmallows in a sauce pan until blended. mix the marshmallow mixture into the Oreo mixture and spread into an 8X8 dish lined with parchment and sprayed with Pam. let sit for 10-20 minutes before cutting}

It’s also Gaudete Sunday ~ the third Sunday of advent…

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{rejoice!}

While our three candles were burning bright, I tried another Pinterest recipe, Lasagna Soup. The weather cooperated and it was the perfect night for this soup…

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{stir the ricotta/parmesan mixture and basil into the soup for out-of-this-world flavor!}

I will definitely be making this again for Christmas Eve with some crusty bread on the side for dipping.

*****

I hope that you had a beautiful weekend doing all things holiday. I definitely stared at Elliott and Holden a lot and thanked God for giving them to us and bringing them home safely each day.

Prayers for Newtown and our broken world going up again tonight…..

Have a blessed week, friends!

XOXO

Messy Bun

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Yesterday was one of those moments as a parent that I will never forget…

I had to take Holden to LA and sat in traffic on a Friday afternoon for nearly 3 hours. Meanwhile Elliott had an on stage dress rehearsal…fortunately Jay had the day off and my mother-in-law is here so the two of them got her in full costume, make-up and a “messy bun” on the left side. Apparently there were lots of tears when doing the bun ~ it wasn’t messy enough. Miss Mechelle said it had to be messy, so that is how it needed to be!

We got to the high school auditorium just minutes before they went on stage to rehearse. Needless to say my nerves were frazzled and I was stressed out.

But, she looked ADORABLE. Better than any hair or make-up I would have done.

She has been relentless in practicing this dance at home. We downloaded the song to our iTunes library, I videoed her in class and she has been perfecting her moves for weeks now. I love that she loves dance. This will be her first hip hop/jazz routine as she just this year transitioned over from 2 years of ballet, tap and jazz. She is very sassy and enjoys the upbeat tempo of the music more in this genre. I admire her for wanting to try different styles of dance to find her comfort zone, although she isn’t quite ready to try my favorite, lyrical. “The music makes me sad”, she says. I know the more she dances she will understand the beauty of these {sad songs} and may want to tryout this style, but for now I am more than thrilled, over the moon, ecstatic the she is attacking hip hop and jazz and owning the stage. I could NOT be more proud and she hasn’t even performed yet!

Today is her big recital and I cannot wait to be screaming for her out in the audience…yes, I am one of {those} mamas!

You take your messy bun and go get ’em, Elliott!

We love you, sequins and all!

XO

Trophy

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Our little tapper/ballerina performed in her third recital yesterday.

Each time she becomes more confident & more graceful.

As I was spraying up stray hairs, resecurring bobby pins and retouching lip liner & sparkly gloss, she kept saying, “C’mon, I need to go backstage!”

{sorry for the teeny tiny picture…I snagged it off Facebook [thanks, Julianne!] and can’t get it sized any bigger, but you get an idea of how darling she looked}

She’s so proud of her trophies. The first one broke 4 hours after she got it, was repaired and is now broken again. The second one crashed and burned last week, but so far this one is still standing. We’ll get the other two patched up and display all three {high} up away from little 4-year old boy hands.

She may be proud of her plastic trophies, but we’re even more proud of the tiny dancer she’s become.

Here’s to many more toe taps, shuffle steps, jazz hands, grand jetés, pliés, chassés, pas de bourrées and hopefully trophies that stay in one piece.

Better Than Bieber

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What’s better than spending a Friday night with your girlfriends dancing to Justin Bieber?

Doing it with your daddy…

Their first Father/Daughter dance.

So sweet….

We had a last minute wardrobe change, but I think this little get-up is certainly perfect for a {Hollywood Night on the Red Carpet}

Bow: Gymboree

Leotard: FREE from her dance studio!

Pettiskirt: Costco via Gramma

Sweater: Nordstrom via Lola

Zebra rosette: Yours truly

Tights: Target

Gold glitter shoes: Target {$3.24!}

Up On The Housetop

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We were up bright and early today for Elliott’s holiday dance recital.

They have 3 shows throughout the day and why do we always get the early one at 9am?

This time I did things differently and didn’t stress…we used the foam rollers and I put them in her hair before she went to bed last night and I skipped the mascara because we already determined that 5-year olds and mascara don’t mix.

She did a tap number to “Up On The Housetop”. I won’t bore you with a gazillion and one pics, but here is a cute one of her on stage:

Last night at the dress rehearsal her teacher, Miss Sandra, told me “she’s a natural”. Awwwww….yes, I am a proud mama!

{Plus look at the precision here…she’s right on count with the leader girl! OK, done bragging!}

The whole show was DARLING. The 3-year olds are too much….I almost pee in my pants from laughter because they really are too precious ~ each one doin’ their own thing.

Jay and I agreed that our fave {aside of UOTH, of course} was the lyrical piece….Jay will admit that he loves to watch lyrical. When I am glued to So You Think You Can Dance, I always joke with him, “Here’s a lyrical routine.”

Is 40 too old to learn lyrical? Maybe that can be my goal for 2011.

Hmmmmm. That wouldn’t be pretty.

Maybe I should just stick to half marathons.

Getting back to our superstar…here she is receiving her trophy from Miss Erin:

And here she is with a special guest:

Our tiny dancer:

{Please pardon the Starbucks trash}

We’re so proud of you, Elliott!

We sure think you can dance!

XOXO

5-Year Olds And Mascara Don’t Mix

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Yesterday was Elliott’s first dance recital.

Another big milestone. I’ve been excited about it ever since I ordered her costume in February!

Her little class was assigned to the 9:00am show ~ yes, 9am on a Saturday! That translates to getting up real early which for me is fine because I do it every morning, but for a 5-year old who went to bed at 11pm the night before….it’s not fine.

She had an 8:30 check-in so I worked the timeline backwards in my head and decided she needed to be up around 6am. I know, I’m overly conservative with stuff like this. I don’t like to rush so I figured I needed plenty of time to curl her hair, apply her “make-up”, make sure all the ducks were in a row before I dropped her off with the backstage “babysitter” (who she later told me was Grandma Jean).

Needless to say, she was less than thrilled by her 6:15am wake-up call (I let her sleep in!).

After we successfully, yet not painlessly, got all the rollers in, we applied a little Mac StudioFix:

…some eyeshadow and mascara:

With each cosmetic would come more pouting and whining.

Once everything but the lipstick was applied, I told her “Now whatever you do, don’t touch your face” and turned my back for 20 seconds to grab the hairspray.

Well, what do crazy tired, grumpy kids do?

RUB THEIR EYES.

RIGHT AFTER PSYCHO PAGEANT MAMA JUST APPLIED THE MASCARA!!

Seriously, I went into scary pageant mama mode for a brief sec and I am not at all proud…

I jumped up and down (apparently that was my first involuntary reaction) and yelled, “What are you doing? You just totally messed up your mascara!”

I know. I know. Terrible Mom award right there.

Well, that made her tear up and make things worse.

So, I took a deep breath, grabbed some Q-tips and went over and told her that I loved her and that we will just pile on the blush and lipstick last minute and everything will be OK.

Honestly, I felt so stupid by the way I reacted. Jay witnessed the whole thing. I SOOO could not be a pageant mom.

I just wanted everything to be PERFECT.

And it was…

{She’s 5th from the left}

Overwhelmed by the barrage of flowers:

After the show, our friends hosted a bbq for the dancers.

The tutus were traded for two-pieces for a dip in the jacuzzi:

…but not for long:

They even reapplied their make-up after the swim!

Here is a close-up of the trophy BEFORE it broke into 2 pieces ~ $15 down the drain.

…and here is one tuckered out, vampy make-up wearin’, lollipop eatin’, rainboot wearin’ ballerina.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day!

Matching

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Oh dear…

We had another case of “The FuNkY Ballerina” today.

Elliott was all dressed in her heart leotard and we were ready to go until she says, “It’s windy out today, so I need to wear tights!” Again, I explained that she really didn’t have any that matched her outfit and that she would be warm once she got into class. Well, 4 (almost 5) year olds have a different agenda…she shuffled through her sock drawer and pulled out a pair of tights and proclaimed, “These match because they also have hearts!”

And, well…yes they did, so this is how we ventured to class today:

Happy as a clam with her “matching” outfit, Twinkle Toes Skechers & honey nut Cheerios for snack!

All her classmates were in pastel pink leotards with little sheer pastel pink skirts, hair pulled back out of their faces, and then there was my Rainbow Bright holding her own out there amongst her peers. I got such a chuckle out of it.

This concoction later had an added dimension with a cheetah print hoodie. Wish I woulda had the Nikon handy then.

Looks like I need to find some neutral colored tights or hope that the soon-to-come warmer weather will discourage these Punky Brewster-esque moments…although I think it’s kinda cute.

Between Holden in his perpetual pajamas and Elliott in her spirited dance wear, I’m starting to think that they are both developing a sense of confidence at a young age and I can only see that as a positive thing.

Hoping you have a wacky, colorful, striped, full of character weekend ahead!

Band-aids, Ballet & Battlestar Galactica

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I took this picture to show off Miss Elliott’s new tap shoes.

She looked so darling in her new navy blue unitard with hot pink hearts, silver sparklies and cute little ruffled sleeves. Her shiny new tap shoes tied with a neat bow.

Then there is the band-aid on her knee!

The adhesive bandages that she wanted NOTHING to do with months ago are now flying off the medicine cabinet shelves. We had Curious George, Hello Kitty, Sesame Street and Disney Princess varieties and still, about 8 weeks ago, there were NO takers. Now we’re just down to the “adult”, plain, generic, boring skin-colored version and, still, those are seeing popularity. Any little itch, pain, scratch, dry skin, you name it….they need a band-aid.

The same thing goes for those temporary tattoos…one day she wanted not a thing to do with them and now she wants me to apply them weekly ~ and those things stay on FOREVER!

Maybe she’s watching too much Miami Ink. {wink}

Jay captured this picture last night at dance class.

It’s the quintessential dance pose, isn’t it?

(I thought this was taken during the ballet portion of her class, hence the “Ballet” in the post title. Somehow “Band-aids, Tap & Battlestar Galactica” doesn’t have the same ring to it, so I’ll leave it as is. Just wanted you all to know that I noticed this discrepancy) {my OCD coming out}

Today is Holden’s big outer space birthday party.

We are heading to another universe this afternoon for some space travel.

I’m glad the solar system is working in our favor right now and we have SUN! Hip hop hooray!

More cosmic photos to come……

Happy Weekend!

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