Good Job Daddy (and his helpers)!

When I found out that I was going to be out of town for school pictures, I might have panicked just a little bit. I know it doesn't REALLY matter what school pictures look like, but I want them to reflect what the girls look like on a day to day basis right now. For Lucy, that means pigtails.

The problem was that Brian doesn't do pigtails. He has pretty well mastered the ponytail, but that's where it stops. He kept avoiding my attempts to give him a lesson in pigtails before I left, so I wasn't sure what picture day hair would be.

As you can see, we had pigtails!!! And Bella has freshly combed hair with a matching bow. These are my favorite school pictures ever!

While a big thank you goes out to Brian for being the Mom and the Dad while I was gone, a big thank you goes out to Bella's and Lucy's teachers for doing their hair. Bella's teacher had an extra bow of her daughter's in her purse, and Lucy's teacher nailed the pigtails. Apparently a desperate dad face at 9:00 am on school picture day goes a long way! :)

An Evening Out

On birthdays in our little family of four, we always let the birthday girl (or boy- Brian!) pick where to go out to dinner. For my birthday, the choice was more about where the girls would be happy to eat and maybe, just maybe, allow for a somewhat peaceful dining experience!
We went to Olive Garden, and I took along my camera hoping to be able to walk around afterward at Utica and take some pictures of the girls. Bella fell asleep on the way there, and kept right on sleeping. Lucy was having fun being the center of attention for a while- can you tell?


This was Bella...she loves her accessories lately! She even insists on putting a headband on every night after her bath.
Dinner went pretty well, although it only took about 30 seconds after we sat down for a finger to get smashed in between chairs. That sent me flying back outside with a very sad 2 year old, but she got over if fast, and all was well after that!
The girls were looking down at something on the ground so I told them to keep their chins up while I took the picture. They really listened to that!
Bella kept finding places she wanted to pose for her picture. One time, it was in front of a trash can; another time, in front of the doors of Miss Jackson's. Below, Ann Taylor is in the background. She kept it well rounded.
And Lucy kept on keeping her chin up! What a pose!
Bella insisted on a picture with this statue.
Time to go home and have some cake!

The Kicking Daisies and the Dancing Princesses

Bella had her first soccer game this weekend. She knows most of the little girls on her team, the Kicking Daisies, already. She is having fun just being around her friends! This was the day her cleats arrived in the mail. She was so excited and left them on for quite a while!
Pretty cute! This is coming from the mom that never wanted to play soccer myself because I thought those socks were just too ugly. I was wrong- even those are cute on Bella. However, it was a little hard to put her in RED...on a Saturday...when OSU was playing. Is that why we lost?
Bella wasn't as aggressive as some of the girls, but that's okay with me. She scored one goal, and that was great! The woman yelling in the background is the coach for the other team. She liked to yell A LOT.
I didn't realize that holding hands would be part of the game, but it sure was. I'm liking soccer more and more now. Brian is the assistant coach and his job is mostly to coral the 3 little girls that aren't on the field. He's pretty good at that! The coach is a fraternity brother of Brian's. They don't yell AT ALL. :)

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Lucy has started ballet this year. Bella is still doing ballet too, and loving it. They both ask me all week when they get to go to ballet class again. Lucy was a little bit timid at first- she wanted to sit right next to me. (These pictures are from my phone, so not the best quality.)
Then, she got closer to the rest of the girls and really started getting the hang of it!
At one point, she even started dancing WITH the teacher, facing the rest of the class. I should have taken a picture of that before I went to put her back in her spot!
Finally, at the end of each class, these little 2 year olds each get to put on the princess crown and do some dancing in front of the class. Lucy loved it so much she wanted to take another turn! :)

First Day of Preschool

Bella and Lucy started preschool last Friday. This is Bella's 4th year there and Lucy's 2nd year. We LOVE our preschool, and it is so sad to think this is Bella's last year there. Next year, the girls won't be at the same school, or even start on the same day. Yes, they matched from head to toe. I need to soak up things like that while I can (am while they allow me to!). :)

I didn't even ask for them to turn around for the picture above- they just did! Lucy was pretty proud of her "pack pack" that was just like Bella's!

We dropped off Lucy first, then Bella, and I walked back by Lucy's class to check on her. She usually doesn't "catch" me doing this, but this time she did. I was afraid that could be bad, but she just smiled and waved and then we blew kisses. I miss them while they are at school, but I love knowing that they love being there.

It's Those Faces Again...

I don't know where this comes from, but it certainly is entertaining!

Too Few and Far Between

Once upon a time, approximately 3 years ago, Bella got a Dora popsicle from the ice cream truck. She still talks about it all of the time. ALL of the time!
It made her oh so happy!
So today, when we were sitting in the kitchen and heard the ice cream truck singing away outside, we were off! We were too late to catch it by foot, so off we went in the car (Daddy and Lucy were watching golf and napping...is there a difference in those two activities?). Anyway, Bella and I finally flagged the ice cream man down. She wanted another Dora popsicle.

That's the tradition, after all!

Sadly, the Dora popsicle was retired sometime in the past 3 years (or so the ice cream man said), so she choose Tweety Bird. I think he must be somewhat related to Dora...they both have those (slightly creepy) gumball eyes!
As a side note, Bella dressed herself in this purple batgirl shirt today. I told her we would have to wait until it got cold to wear it. Our high today was only 88, so I guess that counts.

We'll have to see if we can catch the ice cream truck again sometime before she turns 8.

Funny Girls

The girls were just being so funny today while we were out. I had to get some pictures with my phone. We had just been to the post office, as you may be able to tell from their Priority Mail stickers.
Bella was deciding what "face" (happy, REALLY happy, silly, angry, etc) to do, and Lucy was copying her. What actresses!

I can't look at that last one without laughing.