We start the month the same way...with a Quincy ensemble.
Jeremy helped the girls set up this tea party in the kitchen.
A trip to the New Orleans Children's museum. Ashlyn starts by building herself a fort.
They had some fun scientific games with levers and pulley's/
The girls spent the most time in the grocery store section. Quincy was so excited she was jumping up and down. They even got to use real registers that printed real paper.
A ride on Andrew Jackson's horse.
Puppet show.
One of Ashlyn's last dance practices before her dance revue.
A walk around the block - with wagons.
First swim meet, time trials.
Dancing with the young women at Conlin's wedding reception.
Beautiful Sunday attire.
We had to go to New Orleans for Ashlyn's dance dress rehearsal so we decided to make a morning of it and play at the trampoline park. It was Ellia's first time and she found some things she really enjoyed...plus our friends joined us so she got to play with Makayla, Alice and Peter.
Ashlyn found another place to build herself a fort.
Dance dress rehearsal. Jeremy is in Houston just overnight but he will miss the performance darn it!
Day of the dance Revue. Jeremy happened to get an earlier flight so we were trying to give him directions to the facility and get him a ticket in case he could just catch the performance. Ashlyn was really excited to be wearing makeup and although she was hesitant to curl her hair, she really liked it. When Ashlyn was ready I was helping Ellia and she said, "I look ridiculous compared to Ashlyn." So we curled her hair too. Then we picked up Makayla and left Quincy at their house and headed to the big show, hoping Jeremy would make it!
Jeremy was getting so close right before Ashlyn went on I was frantically texting him which door to enter and how to get past the ushers...I almost missed the dance myself! I had to run across the front row of parents filming as they were starting their dance, but I got most of it filmed. Jeremy ended up walking in right as the dance was ending...Ashlyn was still excited to see him and he got to see her all dressed up too. Ellia said she wants to do dance next year (just like I knew she would when she saw what the big production at the end was all about!)
The dance company did a rendition of the Little Mermaid and Ellia enjoyed taking lot's of pictures.
One day after Ellia was done at swim team she and Quincy played in the kitty pool, it was pretty fun to watch them both giggling and having fun.
Jeremy took the girls out for snowballs one night at Pelican Snowball.
She is getting so big. Scooter ride on the trace.
Here we go again...only this times things could get a little dangerous.
Ashlyn helped Quincy dress up one night and Quincy thought it was so fun. Ashlyn also keeps asking if Quincy can do dance next year, and even picked out the performance (from this year's recital) that she wants Quincy to be in, which entails dressing up like a frog.
Abita Springs Mystery house with friends.
Later they cooled off in the town plash pad, and we finished with snowballs at Bot and Nola's.
Quincy enjoying her time while the big girls have their swim class.
We went to a very fun pet shop party this month. Quincy and Ashlyn got to pick out a beany baby animal, name it, decorate a carrying case for it, pick out it's food, and take it to the vet. Super cute.
Happy Father's Day!
Sister love.
We did a little photo shoot with Ellia to make a Baptism announcement. She was pretty cooperative (except the time a bee flew by her) and we got some great pictures.
In the end it was one of the first shots we took that we ended up using.
There were a few silly moments too.
"Look out! Bee!"
Birthday party treats. They were supposed to look like fish swimming in water, I'm not sure anyone caught that though. Oh well, there was a yummy assortment.
Swim meet day.
The best part of the meet is snowballs with friends.
We decided to let Ellia open one present before her actual party...we thought it was appropriate for her mermaid theme.
A contract and special potion to "turn" the girls into mermaids while they were at the party.
The balloons are supposed to look like bubbles, but I chose not to use helium and there was a pleasant breeze that gave us some trouble.
This year I put Jeremy in charge of the games. It gave me a nice break and got him in the water! I think everyone had a lot of fun.
Quincy trying out the mermaid tail. Ellia was a pretty good sport about letting everyone try.
This girl's new accessory is her hat.
Jeremy found out about a horse farm opening in the paper. They were doing free carriage rides, and horse rides and showing off the facility in general. It was a lot of fun for the girls and we were able to talk to the owner about starting lessons this fall.
The entire property is very beautiful and the owner has a lot more hopes and plans for the place. I'm excited to see it succeed!
Happy Birthday Ellia! A remote control car was one of her first gifts, but later she mentioned she didn't get many toys. Which was probably true compared to other years. Aw, the joys of growing up and getting more practical gifts.
Mandeville First Baptist had an amazing FREE fourth of July celebration. There were bounce houses and other games, and all the carnival type goodies you could want, popcorn, pie, cotton candy, snowballs, and even free hot dogs and hamburgers. It didn't stop there, as the sun went down there was a nice band and of course fireworks. The only hard thing to come by were chairs. Once we had them we did NOT give them up. It was warm but not unbearable. The girls still probably had like 5 otter pops each.
Last chance for Chuck E. Cheese before school starts.
Ashlyn has a hard time listening during swim lessons, but no shortage of entertaining herself. She spends most of her time under water.
Making sure to stay in the kitchen with their late night snacks.
Getting ready to head West.
