Dance Recital Practice

Before their actual dance recital they have a dress rehearsal in the studio where they get to wear their costumes and make-up. I think one of Tori's favorite parts of the recital is getting to wear make-up. She talked about it for days and she constantly wanted to put on more lipstick.

In the picture above from left to right starting at the top row:

Tori, RoWan, Claire,

Grace, Megan, Kiley,

Bella, Siri, Laila

In the picture below their teacher Miss Megan posed with them. Tori absolutely loves and her and she is a really sweet teacher.

Above are all the girls from her class that also go to church with us:

Tori, Megan, Claire, RoWan, Siri and Megan's older sister Anne.

Below are Tori and Megan and Tori and Siri.

Last Day of Preschool

I can't believe Tori is finished with preschool and the next step is kindergarten! She absolutely loved every minute of preschool and always wanted to know why she couldn't go everyday. Below are pictures of Tori on their last day of preschool - they do a really fun picnic at the park where the get to release the butterflies that they have watched grow from caterpillars (I know, very symbolic :)).

Above: Tori and Mrs. Tomas

Below: Tori and Mrs. Jensen

Below: Tori and Mrs. Beckler

Tori eating her lunch with Siri.

I love the faces in these pictures - Tori was having so much fun with the parachute and she was giggling so hard.

Tori loved releasing her butterfly, but then spent the rest of her time at the park with her friends trying to recapture the the butterflies that they had just let go.

Preschool Graduation

Here are a few pictures from Tori's preschool "Participation Celebration" (aka graduation). I worried a bit about what preschool to have her go to since some of her friends went to another one across town, but I am so glad that she went to this preschool. The teachers were wonderful and suited her very well. She loved all the friends she made and misses it a ton now that it's summer. They sang some cute songs and did some plays as part of the graduation. Tori was so excited - especially to do her part in the 3 Little Pigs play (she was the narrator).

As all the kids walked out to receive their certificates the teachers read off what they said they wanted to be when they grew up. Tori said astronaut (she changes what she wants to be every so often, but astronaut is what she always comes back to).

Above is a picture of everyone holding their certificates and below is a picture of the cupcakes with all the kids' names on them and Tori smiling with her cupcake.

Below is a short clip of the video of Tori's preschool graduation. I think it was Tori's favorite part of the graduation - she thought it was really fun to sing the song and do the actions. It's called "Rainbow Love" (sounds like anyone of the songs I can vaguely remember singing in elementary school).

Fun in the Kitchen

These are pictures of Tori and James in the kitchen in our place during John's away rotation. There wasn't much to do there inside the house, so they made their own fun. James just started emptying my cupboards and then Tori came in and joined in the fun - it's neat to watch them both help the other discover fun things to do. They were having so much fun together and dinner was so much easier to make that I really didn't mind the mess or the racket. I just love anytime when Tori and James are actually playing together. Tori waited so long to have a sibling, so it just melts my heart when they are smiling and laughing together.

11 Months Old

Our little boy is almost 1! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. He is still my sweet little guy. He's great at giving hugs now, which just melts my heart. He is pulling up to stand and cruising everywhere. He is so tall that he is getting into so much more stuff than Tori ever did. He loves all his toys especially the big pretend kitchen and any kind of telephone. He holds the phone up to his ear now when he talks and says something that sounds very vaguely like "Hi ya dada". As he keeps getting older him and Tori are having fun playing more and more together. Their favorite game is to chase each other and laugh.

He likes to play with books - we're just working on actually liking us reading the books to him.

Below is a picture of Tori in our Des Moines house playing with our first batch of homemade play doh. We missed our friends a ton but during John's rotation in Des Moines we had a lot fun exploring new parks and mall play areas and we made sure to go to Costco as much as we could.

Sorry this video is very long, it's just some cute video of James crawling around playing with a phone. I like how you can hear Tori reading all by herself. I love that she loves reading and has gotten really good at it. She just eats them up and loves spending a bunch of time reading.

VA trip 3

Tori and her cousin Audrey had a blast together in VA. They got to have a sleepover, did painting together, went to parks and all sorts of fun stuff. It was wonderful that they got along so well - it was just sad that the time went by so fast.

These are some pictures of the kids at a really cool park. I have no idea who the little blond boy is in the picture above he just liked the plane too and was playing on it when I took the picture.

Grandma Margie set up an adorable little "tea-party" with apple juice and fruit and crackers and cucumbers for the girls and they thought it was the greatest thing in the world. Especially pouring their own drinks. It was so cute to see them giggling and having so much fun!

Below is Uncle Ryan with James.

We all went bowling together and had a great time. Tori really loved it since we had bumpers this time. She even got a spare all by herself! I was quite proud of myself too since the last time I had been bowling I was pregnant with James and scored a 40 something and this time I actually scored above 100 (no, my lane did not have bumpers).

Below is just a cute video of Audrey and Tori dancing together in the tutu's Grandma got for them. Sorry about the camera moving all over - I was holding James while taking the video.

VA trip 2

One of my favorite places to visit when I go home - the National Mall in DC. It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time. Above Tori is doing her impression of the Washington Monument.

We loved the Natural History Museum with it's butterfly exhibit and Tori loved the precious jewels exhibit and getting to see the Hope Diamond. Her first comment when she saw the diamond was, "That's a small diamond." I pity her future husband. :)

James liked eating the tickets to the butterfly exhibit and Tori was determined to get one to land on her finger. They really were beautiful.

My childhood favorite was always the Air and Space Museum. Tori was excited to go there, too, since she says she wants to be an astronaut when she grows up.

Above is how James spent most of his time at the Air and Space Museum.

Above Tori is flying around on her Grandma plane. Below we are all riding the carousel on the mall. It's a pretty fast carousel and it was quite a long ride - fun way to end the afternoon.

Virginia Trip 1

Our first two days in Virginia visiting Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Ryan, Aunt Amber and cousin Audrey were filled with fun. First we took the kids to a farm near my parents house that let you see a bunch of animals, take a wagon ride, play on tractors and had a fun playground. It felt quite warm but we all had a bunch of fun.

James really liked the tractors!

Our next day Grandma took us shopping at the mall. She took all the grandkids to the Disney store while I looked at shoes (lots of fun for everyone).

Here are Tori, Audrey and James in front of the Disney store with big smiles (since Grandma let them each pick out one thing - well, she picked out the football for James :)).

In their mall by the play area and food court there is a little train that you can ride on. It doesn't have a track and the driver just drives it around wherever he wants dodging people in the food court and in front of the movie theater. He started doing a "figure 8" at one point and Tori still talks about how the train in VA had a crazy driver. James had so much fun it was adorable. He had a huge grin on his face and he made everyone we drove pass smile. He was so upset when it was all done that he just balled and I had to pry his hands from the train.

James cheered up quickly when we showed him the play area. He just loves mall play areas and gets really excited when he sees one. It's a bit of a challenge keeping him from getting trampled when they're crowded, though.

Tori and Audrey sliding together. They were such good playmates and got along wonderfully.