Dance! Edee, Dance!

After three long hours in the car we made it just in time for Eden's recital. I signed up to be the backstage mom and I am still recovering from that nonsense....Anywho....Here are some backstage photos...(Due to all the adorableness, it is impossible for me to make these pictures smaller)

The four hour ordeal just about sucked the life out of me, but it was so worth it to see Eden do her ballet performance to "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" at the end of the song, all the dads went up to carry the girls off the stage...so adorable! I didn't get very good pictures of them on stage due to the "no flash" rule, which Jessica R. totally disregarded, so she probably has better pictures than me.

And I'm telling ya, when it comes to hip shakin' my kid totally rocks!!!!! During the "hippy hippy shake" tap dance she stole the show with those hips. What can I say, the latin blood is some powerful stuff.

Overall it was a long night but I know Eden felt like a superstar. She had lots of fans there, besides me, Aric and Maya...my mom, my sister and four of her cousins came to support her. Plus there were other families there that we know and love so it was a great experience for her.

Sooooo Busy...Sooooo Worth It!!!

What's a girl to do when one of her dearest and oldest friends is getting married to a guy who also happens to be a dear old friend, and those dear old friends have no budget, no resources and no time (because she is working full time and a single mom, and he is working full time and a single dad)....

Well I'll tell you what she does...she offers her services and great taste and plans the best wedding she can for her dear old friends!

So this is why I have been off my A game when it comes to blogging.

I have been making invitations and editing pictures...

I have been shopping for stuff to make these centerpieces...

I have been sewing ties that look like this...

I have been getting manicures and pedicures...

I have been fixing little girls hair....

I have been making wedding play lists, buying guest books, finding punch recipes, finding table clothes, looking for dresses and picture frames. Oh and getting lost trying to find the bakery and safely bringing the cake to the reception. Not too mention taking hundreds of pictures!

All of this crazy, for this incredible moment.

Besides being there for Becca and Sam, the best part of the whole thing was being able to finally reconnect with my other dear old friend, Kylene.

The time just flew by, and at 3:00pm we were back on the road to make the 3+ hour drive back so that we would be here in time for Eden's much awaited dance recital.

I'm not sure how I get myself wrapped up in these major, time sucking adventures, but I can't complain. My life is certainly full and my husband is ridiculously patient. Thankfully things have calmed down. Only Edee's pre-school graduation and Maya's end of the year party to go....Oh and the Liberty Lake garage sale! Okay so one more week of crazy.

Jessica in Real Life

So I got tagged by my blog friend Mahina to do 10 pics of what my life is like right now...

The rules are as follows...You must take ten pictures of the following things right away without straightening or cleaning. And then tag five other lucky souls.

Totally scary! But here it goes...

1. The fridge. For some reason it doesn't look that bad, or maybe it does...depends on if you like mystery containers and limp lettuce that you can't see. Actually if you look closely you can see my famous green bags from my HSN post.

2. The closet. Umm... Aric's office is in our closet because I'd rather loose closet space than a whole room. Don't even feel bad for him, he has a window for crying out loud! The only bad part is that I have to rotate my clothes and shoes out every season. I store them under my bed in storage bins.

3. The kitchen sink. I totally took this picture right away because I knew it didn't look too bad.

4. The toilet. It's usually clean, but only because I have girls and the only boy in this house does not want to face the serious consequences of peeing all over my seats.

5. Favorite shoes. These are my new shoes. I just got them for my friends wedding. I have been looking for months for the perfect white patent leather summer heels and I finally found them! Thank you Macy's shoe lady who let me in on the secret that they would 25 bucks cheaper if I bought them the next day!

6. Favorite Room. So I kinda broke the rules on this one. I had to make the costumes for Eden's recital and they had consumed my front room and kitchen. Once I bagged them and gave them to the girls I took another picture. I love this room because it's the first thing people see when they walk into my home and it represents us well. The colors, the art, the decorations...It is also usually the cleanest room in my house. That's really why it's my favorite.

7. What my kids are doing right now. Playing in the basement with Barbies, I'm not sure why...they haven't played with them for months. But they are getting along and that is all that really matters.

8. Laundry. Here it is. As real as it gets.

9. Self-Portrait. Me talking on the phone to Amy. I'm only dressed semi-nice because I went to the temple. I am not good at taking self-portraits...so cheesy.

10. Dream Vacation. Any vacation with Aric, without kids, is a dream vacation. This was our most recent, we went to Maui and it was FABULOUS!!!!!

So there you have it. And now I tag...drum roll please...Jessica, Amy, Liz (calibosmom) , Meghann, and Penny. You're it!

A Star is Born!

Introducing Maya as "Sir Field Mouse" in the Second Grade production of "Save the Plants"

The backstage, pre-show jitters.

The Performance

The Adoring Audience

The Star with her fans

(This is Mrs. Spear, the best teacher ever!)

(This is Tia Evelynne, my sister)

(These are the cousins and the sister)

Hanging with her co-stars, post show

Anyone that knows our family very well, knows that Maya is kind of shy. Having Eden as a little sister doesn't help in that department. Eden will do almost anything Maya tells her to. For example if Maya wants a sticker at Target she has Eden ask the the lady at the register. If she wants a snack at some one's house she'll have Eden do the asking. It takes Maya a long time to feel comfortable with people and I totally respect that so I don't push her too much.

Well, I was so excited and so nervous for Maya when I found out she was going to have a rather big part in the play. She practiced and had her lines memorized very quickly. As the night of the play grew closer I was shocked at how surprisingly calm Maya was. The big night arrived and Maya was amazing! She spoke clearly and loud and sang her little heart out. The best part was how great she felt about herself. She said she "felt her face getting hot" and that she "got kinda sweaty". But you couldn't even tell. Aric and I are incredibly proud of her. As a parent there is nothing more rewarding than watching your child grow and develop their sense of self. It was not easy for Maya to get up there and perform but she battled her insecurities and conquered her fear. That's my girl!

Eden's Tag

My friend Kara Barnett tagged me to do six things about Eden. So here it goes.

1. Eden sings. She makes up words if she doesn't know the song. She will sing/talk like "do I have to go to bed?" or "what is for dinner?" She is a good singer and beats all of us at High School Musical Sing Star. Even though she doesn't know the words she hums in perfect pitch. The funniest thing ever is to listen to Eden sing while she is listening to her MP3 player. (By the way, this song that is playing, read my mind by the Killers is one of her favorite songs)

2. Eden's favorite foods are quesadillas and yogurt. She also loves to eat at Subway, she prefers it over McDonalds. For some reason she thinks McDonalds is "germy".

3. Eden isn't afraid of much, except for animals, bugs and especially worms.

4. Eden has her finger on the pulse of fashion...four year old fashion that is. Her outfits totally reflect her personality.

5. Eden has to snuggle with me every morning, in my bed, before she starts her day. So that means if I am up and going before she is, I have to climb back into bed and snuggle her for a few minutes. The funny thing is she comes in with her eyes almost closed, pretending like she is sleep walking.

6. Eden is the funniest kid. She makes up knock-knock jokes. She talks with her hands and her hips. She thinks she is a teenager. Her famous phrase is "Just to tell ya...."

(I took these pictures earlier today, after Eden went to her friend, Jane's, princess birthday party. As we pulled into the garage Eden saw her umbrella and wanted to show me how princesses walk in the rain. People were driving by and waving at her. I had to document these moments, they were just too precious.)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Somehow it's the end of May and so far this year I have only experienced the warmth of the sun for like seven days...yup, out of almost FIVE monts I have felt warm for only SEVEN days! Three days ago we had the air conditioning on. Today I wore my wool coat to take Eden to dance class. Eden asked me the other day if Heavenly Father was playing a trick on us. I told her that I wasn't sure. Here it is almost summer and we still haven't had spring! AHHHH! Needless to say this weather has put me in a fowl mood. So yesterday these are some of the things that made me smile even though it was grey, wet and gloomy.

Eden got herself ready for pre-school. Here she is decked out in her rain gear.

Cute kid jumping in puddles...so adorable...even if it is almost Memorial Day weekend.

I don't have a picture of this, but I had to mention it because it made me chuckle. Eden was trying to help Maya with her homework. (double digit subtraction...borrowing) Although it was sweet, Maya was not appreciating the help and was totally about to loose it with Edee. So I asked Aric to find something to do with Edes to keep her busy. Eden wanted to play UNO. She was very excited to play because she is really good at it and totally beats us. She calls herself "The Reverse-r". She couldn't wait to play and Aric was taking too long to get ready.

Eden says "C'mon dad are you ready yet!?"

Aric says "Hold on Edee, let me go potty first."

This cracks me up mainly because I love that Aric used the word "potty" without trying to be funny. Ten years ago I can assure you that word never came out of his mouth, but now after having two little girls it's just part of his vocabulary.

And lastly...when I picked up Maya after school, I over heard her telling Eden that I looked like I was on "What Not to Wear". (This is their favorite show, it is on from 3pm-4pm so that is what they watch after school. I have no idea why they love it so much...) So when I asked why she would say that, she said it was because I was wearing a nice jacket and looked dressed up.

I realized that Sunday is really the only day I actually dress up and it's usually a skirt or dress. And on any other given day I look like this....workout pants, boring shirt and sweatshirt/fleece.

For obvious reasons, I don't really have any pictures of in my "uniform", but I did manage to find this one.

Well today I looked like this. I can hear the cat calls through cyberspace...

I had to run some errands that involved the mall, I've been feeling sorta frumpy lately so I decided to kick it up a notch. I even wore stylish earings. I have to admit it did make me feel better about myself but it takes too much work to look cute everyday. So today I'm back to my frumpy-ness...at least I'm wearing jeans instead of sweats.