Art Camp

Last week Big Sister went to Art Camp at our local art council.  She had a great time and came home at the end of the week with so many beautiful creations!  Her teacher was wonderful; while teaching them some basic techniques, she encouraged the kids to use their natural creativity, but didn't push for their projects to have a specific end result.  Big Sister's work falls more into the abstract art category :)

On Friday the kids had an Art Show to present all of their work from the week.  Big Sister is already looking forward to Art Camp next year!

receiving her certificate

she was proud of her work!

they sculpted and painted animal masks

Princess?

One night when we were getting the kids ready for bed, I did a bit of a double take when I looked into Big Sister's room.

At first glance, I thought that Big Sister was in her princess pajamas

and Little Bud was wearing the green shirt, but then I looked up and saw their

silly, smiling faces!  Big Sister once again dressed up Little Bud while

"helping" him get ready for bed!

silly kids!

Countdown to Summer Fun!

A few months ago we decided to plan another trip to Disney World.  We might be crazy, but we had such a fun time there last year.  We decided to let Big Sister in on the secret this time, but we wanted to tell her in a fun way.  After some consideration, we decided to make a paper chain to countdown to all of the "summer fun" we had planned.  I had the links for the chain prepared ahead of time, but we put it together as a family, talking about all of the fun things we had to look foward to.  The last link to the chain was decorated like Mickey Mouse and Big Sister caught on pretty quickly.  She said, "Is this for when we're going to BISNEY WORLD?????" (she still says "Disney" like "Bisney" just as she did when she was a toddler).  She was equally excited about all of the other fun events on her calendar.  VBS with her friends, Philip and Courtney's Wedding, Ballet Camp, Summer Blast!, Art Camp, and our trip to visit family and explore New Hampshire and Maine.  We've had fun counting down each week!

We made the chain back towards the end of May on a Saturday morning.

We had Mickey pancakes for breakfast :)

Family Wedding

A few weeks ago John's youngest brother Philip married his wonderful, long time girl friend, Courtney, in a beautiful ceremony.  John was one of the "best men", and Big Sister and Little Bud were quite the pair as flower girl and ring bearer.  Courtney is one of Big Sister's favorite people, so Big Sister has been so excited for their wedding ever since they announced their engagement this past winter.

John's grandparents came in town for the special occasion, and Big Sister and Little Bud couldn't wait to see Gigi and Papa Dean.  For weeks they wanted to know WHEN they were going to be here!

The wedding and all of the festivities were lovely.  Little Bud made it down the isle, but once he'd done his job, I had to whisk him away because he thought sitting still during the ceremony wasn't such a fun idea ;)  From what I hear, Big Sister did well during the ceremony.  She took her job of throwing out ALL of her flower petals very seriously!

Congrats Philip and Courtney!

headed out to the Bridesmaid Luncheon

The beautiful rehearsal dinner:

 .

Philip didn't want to dance with his mom, so instead she and his new mother-in-law

entertained us all with a silly dance :)

This little guy wasn't very interested in being in the pictures!

Princess Ballet Camp Beach Trip

This past week Big Sister attended a Princess Ballet Camp near Panama City. Grams graciously hosted us for the week (she's the one who told us about the camp), and Big Sister spent her mornings in the ballet studio and her afternoons at the beach.  Tough life, huh?  She loved the ballet camp, which was her first introduction into the world of dance.  In addition to learning the basics of ballet, they also completed several craft projects, and Big Sister made some new friends that she hopes to see again at camp next summer.  

Little Bud wasn't so sure about the beach; he wasn't a fan of the sand or the waves.  By the end of the week he seemed to tolerate both a bit more and a few times he even looked like he was having fun.

John came down on Friday after work and both of the kids were so happy to see him!  Big Sister had a blast with him on Saturday, playing in the waves, building castles and taking out the ocean kayak.  Little Bud even seemed to enjoy the beach more with Daddy around :)

On Sunday, Grams and Papa headed back home with both kids, so that John and I could enjoy a few days of rest and relaxation.  The beach is so much more relaxing (even if it's not quite as exciting!) without 2 kids to chase around!!  Thanks to Grams and Papa and Grammie and Papa Jack for taking such good care of Big Sister and Little Bud for us!  

Within 5 minutes of arriving at the beach, this girl was headed for the sand!

Aunt Jamie was a trooper and took both of the kids for a bike ride the first afternoon.

Aunt Jamie was a great help all week with both kids!  I tried to talk her into being our 

full time nanny, but for some reason she didn't seem interested ;)

ready for ballet camp!

he was a much bigger fan of the "baby pool" than the "beep" (his word for "beach")

Ballet Camp friends

Big Sister was able to do make a tie dye shirt in Seacrest Beach on Thursday afternoon

Pops!

She painted a beautiful seahorse at the craft tent in Seacrest on Friday afternoon

On Saturday morning we rode the bikes down to Rosemary Beach for breakfast

Daddy is WAY more fun than Mommy!