and santa came!

santa came bearing all kinds of good stuff. trash trucks, barbie and princess dressing tables. fun fun fun.

yippee!

max he came! santa came! I'm so excited! they were beside themselves when they came down stairs this morning to discover that santa had come! the noises they heard last nite really were the reindeer on the roof!

the littlest angel.

well, this year she was determined to be an angel at the christmas pageant. never mind that she wasn't asked to be in it. she just crashed the party...

dance class and the swimming pool

ahh, it's been a busy summer. a shortened vacation due to mommy's illness and surgery, lots of classes - swimming, dance, and gymnastics. vacation bible school and soccer camp. and all Max got to do was tag-a-long.

today was the last day of dance class - ballet and tap. what a little ballerina we have. still dancing to her own drummer. she asks everyday if today is "the day" or dance day. now we'll have to wait a few weeks until our next class starts.

to beat the 100 degree heat we all headed to the pool to cool off and so mads could could show off her new skills as a swimmer...max just floated around minding his own business. we're headed back tomorrow.

Vacation Bible School.

The first time attendee of Vacation Bible School, Mads has actually picked up on a couple of things...

1. That when you tear your room apart enough that it looks like a tornado tore through it and you change your clothes in the process (mind you wearing everything backwards) and your mommy comes in and tells you in a stern voice to "CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM" your best line of defense is: "But Mommy, I'm so sorry, I'm just so sorry Mommy." But I will still trust in God, Mommy, I will still trust in God." I'm not clear what that has to do with having to clean up your room, but apparently she listened to some of the lessons!

2. That God lives in a tent in the backyard that is dangerous, but that he loves herself.

3. That snack time is her "flavorite" time.

Blue Twirly Dresses

This weekend we had a "come to mommy" experience. Madeline has now decided that she will only and I mean only, wear blue twirly dresses. Not just any blue dress. It has to be a blue dress that twirls. Unfortunately for us, we only have one blue twirly dress. Lots of pink ones, green ones, red ones, white ones, polka dot ones and flowered ones. But only one blue twirly dress hangs in our closet. You know - Cinderella only wears blue. So much for my work at keeping her away from the Disney machine.

She also must wear a crown in her hair - lucky for us that headbands with bows attached suffice for a crown.

But when you are a princess, you must wear blue twirly dresses.

I have a feeling that that one blue twirly dress is going to get pretty worn out.

Oh my, I'm tired already.

Dancing to her own drummer

Ah, at last. The first day of dance class. Mads has been waiting anxiously for this class to start for weeks. Everyday she asks if it is "dance class day". It finally arrived! Dapper dancers - she's learning tap and ballet, with ballet by far, being her favorite. She looked adorable in the her pink "dancing dress" and tights and ballet shoes. We had a bit of a battle getting them back off. Because when you're a ballerina you wear your tutu ALL of the time.

She has also decided that she is going to be a ballerina when she grows up. Of course, this changes daily. This weekend she was going to be a zombie. Go figure.

A sunny Sunday

A perfect day for a bike ride. This was Max's first time in the trailer. He was too little last summer - hard to believe. He was not too fond of his new helmet, even though it had little green martians on it. Mads is an old pro. She loves to go bike riding. We didn't get too far - only about 10 miles - but it was good to get moving.

Mads

Mads
Originally uploaded by juliepass.

Creepy, crawly bugs and frosting, too.

Max's First Birthday
Originally uploaded by juliepass

Ooh and aah. The first birthday has come and gone. Max was beside himself digging into his cake. He never gets to have that much fun! Mads assisted in ripping into the presents and smearing more cake on him! The kids loved to eat all the bugs off of the cake! While we can't believe he's already a year old, we are wondering when he'll stop screaming at the top of his lungs when he wants something!!

Our first day of summer.

May 22 and it's already our first day of summer vacation. School or "schoo" as Mads likes to call it ended yesterday and dance class, soccer camp, gymnastics and swim lessons don't start for another two weeks. It's a super windy day here and we're expecting some "torrential" rain in the next days, so we're going to enjoy the outdoors for awhile today. Get in a little running around the yard and planting some flowers. Mads loves to eat out on the deck with the mourning doves and gold finches. She likes to call herself princess morning morning dove this week.

Max is busy busy busy busy. Can't believe that he's already one! He's sporting a nice bruise on his nose from a fall, but he's such a little trooper. Pulling himself up, standing on his own two little feet and desperately trying to walk. He wants to chase Mads soooooooo badly. She doesn't know what she's in for!!!