The joys of parenting and the guilt of a mother...

I have tried to encourage one-on-one dates with my girls with both mom and dad. And since I will soon be having another baby, I wanted to make sure both girls felt like they were getting enough attention from us. So, Dave took Abby and I took Jeana and off we went. Jeana was partly wanting to go because she still had some birthday money burning a hole in her pocket and we learned from last years experience that if Abby tagged along, she would want the same thing-only the more expensive version (even with no tags showing). Alas, jeana found a wallet which she deemed perfect for the many upcoming trips. And we were on our way home. Jeana showed Abby her new treasure and the tears became and the, "that's not fare, I want one, I need one for our trip too, I have two dollars etc.................." it went on and on. She soon discovered that wasn't working and pulled the, "Mom, I just really want to spend time with you on a date with just me..." As much as I tried not to give in, a few extra chores later I caved and well, so much for bright ideas.

Baby announcement

We decided (okay let's be honest, Dave had nothing to do it, so I guess I decided...) to plan a themed dinner for my girls just for fun and well this is what I came up with...

Baby Corn

Baby Spinach Salad

Baby Back Ribs

Babybel Cheese

And dinner wouldn't be complete w/o dessert--sugar babies!

Also included: Fortune Cookies--for added flare -- they required a small amount of surgery on my part and might need a closer eye for details--or simply watch the video!

Jeana and end of school year festivities

The school, with the help of a very talented music teacher, put on a second grade barnyard 'moosical.'  It was adorable and Jeana was so excited about it, she invited half the world!  There were a few kids from each of the four classes who had a speaking part and Jeana was ecstatic she was one of them.  She memorized her sentence and repeated it for weeks to get it just right, she was totally animated through the whole thing and even got lots of compliments from others around because of her dramatic animation (not realizing they were sitting next to her mom, but thanks!) Lucky for me, she was second from the left on the bottom and easy to record.  The classes were milkshake cows, goat chefs, clean pigs and she was a funky chicken.

Her school teacher also put together a "Dean's List" for the third quarter and then treated those who made the list to an afternoon of bowling.  Siblings were allowed to join in and I think Jeana loved it all besides the fact that Abby outscored her by almost double!

Jeana also had her dance recital.  She takes dance from a classical ballet studio and they always do a great job and stick to a theme for the year.  This year was Beatrix Potter.  Her class had country mice and city mice, she was a very cute country mouse and all the accessories are made my the studio manager...talk about a lot of work and talent!  Her friends Morgan and Rachael were also in her class this year which was great for carpooling!

Photos during the dance.

Jeana's Birthday

I have an eight year old! WOW!  Time does goes fast, but I don't think I could have asked for a sweeter one!

She started off her special day with breakfast in bed.  Growing up, we always got to choose a special cereal for our birthday, so I have kept up the tradition (only because my husband LOVES traditions...haha) So, when I asked Jeana what she wanted, she said, "the cereal with the pirate on the front and it's square and round." After much thought, I finally realized she meant Captain Crunch, and Captain Crunch is what she got!

She started out the morning opening a few presents.  The sad thing is, she usually sees what Abby asks for since Abby's is a few months before hers, and then requests the same things.  I guess it is nice for her to have her own, but kinda sad her creativity doesn't go far beyond Abby's preferences.  She wanted a newborn cabbage patch that is a surprise gender until opened, a zhu zhu pet, a create-your-own storybook, and as a mom it is always a great opportunity to sneak a few new clothes for the upcoming season and then they feel like they get to open more presents!

Sportin' her new shirt.

She wanted an all girl birthday party, so she invited over one family with a boy she likes to play with for pizza on her actual birthday so he could come celebrate too.

Jeana's Birthday Party

Jeana requested a nature party, but also wanted to do hair and nails.  Usually, I prefer to have a theme to go off of and with the combination, I was stumped.  Then, I talked to my mom and she suggested a "lady"bug party.  PERFECT!  It was the best of both worlds, so they were invited to enjoy a few things in nature, then get all dolled up like a 'lady.'  It was also good timing because my mom found some really cute ladybug party favors etc... I hadn't seen here--thank you mom for saving/creating a fun party, too bad you weren't closer to join in the festivities!

These were the best outfits we could come up with deemed worthy of a red and black themed party.

We had a few other things going on that day, so we did a little brunch and had mini pancakes, blueberry muffins and sausage biscuits with fruit and topped off with the oh-so-healthy-before-lunch cake and ice cream!  

My version of a tasty ladybug

She has a few friends with gluten allergies, so I was going to attempt an ice cream cake, well 9:30 the night before the party rolled around and I decided that sounded like too much work, so instead I made a gluten free cake and combined two cute cakes from a few ideas online.  I really love making fun birthday cakes, but when the clock strikes twelve and things aren't going so well, and the cake starts sinking, just freeze it--it will look great in pictures and that's all that matters, right?!  Besides the kids all opted for the cupcakes anyhow!

Our cute neighbor who is 12, volunteered to do the girls hair and nails...

The girls played a few fun 'bug' games

Ate yummy food

Chalked nice messages to Jeana

Got their hair fixed and helped Jeana open her presents!

It was a really fun party, but also nice to have over and we are definitely ready to just enjoy the summer!

Jeana's 1st Marathon

Jeana beat me--the first in our family to finish a marathon!  It was a cute program her school organized with all the second graders and the help of the gym teachers.  Over the course of several weeks, they would walk a mile during the school hours and then they were asked to walk or run an additional mile on their own time each week building up to the final mile that they finished downtown where the official marathon happens as well.  It is specifically designed for kids and their families and was really fun.  Jeana had been excited for weeks to run a race.

Here she is with her friends from school who also participated.

While we were waiting at the finish line for the runners, Abby was entertaining us.

Here is Jeana with her friends after the race sporting their medals.

Because the marathon is called the Flying Pig, the finish line reads, 'finish swine', Jeana is reinacting her crossing the finish line in slow motion.  It only took her 1:59:40 seconds to run a mile--GREAT TIME for a first race!  Jk we couldn't figure out what the timer was for, some previous race I'm sure.

Here is Jeana with the few other brave souls from her class willing to run in the rain.  There were severe thunderstorms the night before and an awfully wet morning we weren't sure if the race was going to be on, but by the time we got down to event, the rain stopped and the weather was pretty decent-not too cold.  Also, she is posing with her teacher.  She completely adores her teacher and held her hand the whole race.  Luckily, her teacher doesn't seem to mind the adoration.

Abby Oh Abby

Thanks to Uncle Dr. Nathan,  we have some really fun 'dress-up' glasses.  So, Abby was being silly one afternoon and put them on to help her read to me.  She is getting to be quite the reader!  Such a fun stage, but then again, every stage (so far) seems fun.
I really LOVE just having Abby around in the afternoons she it totally my little buddy.  I told her how sad I am going to be to not have our personal time next year when she is in school full day and I asked her what I should do, she turned to me and rolling her eyes said, "mom just have another baby!"  Well, that would be a solution, but so much for the sympathy I was looking for.