Dance Recital

Bryn and Mya had their dance recital in May and it was so fun to watch these two cuties on the stage. This was Bryn's second year of dance and Mya's first year. I was a bit nervous how Mya would do since she is so shy, but she did great! Both girls had such a good time and felt so fancy and special to be all dressed up and on stage in front of everyone.

 At the dress rehearsal

 Cuties!

At the end of her dance Mya had to go to the center of the stage on her own and wave and blow a little kiss. She was brave and it was so cute!

Bryn had a part of her dance where she and another girl went to the center of the stage and did a little dance on their own. She did great!

 Bowing in the finale

Flowers for the little dancers

 Days like this are so fun as a parent! 

Bring Your Child to Work Day

In April Bryn was so thrilled to take the train into New York City with Josh and attend "Bring Your Child to Work" day at Josh's company. She had been looking forward to this day for months and it did not disappoint! She loved meeting Josh's assistant and lots of his co-workers, and getting to see what her dad does at work all day. One of the assistants took lots of pictures (below), so it was fun for me to see what Bryn was up to...

 It was an Olympics themed day and they had a lot of fun activities and service projects. 

 Josh had fun leading one of the sessions.

 I reeeeeally want to know what Josh was talking about here :)

 Josh's company is located on Broadway, right in Time Square, so the view of NYC is fabulous.

 All the kids made these home-made lava lamps. 

 Ha ha! I get a feeling that this is what Bryn looks like at school most of the time!

 One of the service projects was putting together gift bags and cards for under-privileged children in NYC. 

 I spy "Brynlee Hawkins" on the screen.

Some of Josh's co-workers had to dress up as Olympic athletes, which Bryn thought was really funny.

I think Bryn will always remember this fun day in NYC at work with Josh. 

Bryn's 7th Birthday

Bryn turned 7 at the end of December and it was her "best birthday yet!" We normally do birthday parties every other year and it was her year for a party, but her birthday is a few days after Christmas and so planning a birthday party is never that appealing. So we made a deal: Instead of a party Bryn could have a special NYC day with Josh and get a Bitty Baby at the American Girl store on 5th Ave. Luckily, Bryn jumped at our proposal, so that's what we did...

The day before her birthday Josh and Bryn rode the train into New York City, spent over an hour at the American Girl store (all three floors of goodness!), got lunch at Shake Shack, and then rode the train home. Josh said Bryn was in heaven the entire time.

She had been saving up her money and anxiously awaiting the day she could get one of these dolls. Dreams come true!

So, so giddy with her new doll. She was killing us with her theatrics.

All set!

On her actual birthday we celebrated with her favorite pancake breakfast and a day full of playing with her Bitty Baby.

Happy Birthday to you!

 Bryn on her birthday, ages 1-6

 Oh, we love you, Bryn.

September in a Nutshell

There are so many deer in our neighborhood, but it's still exciting for the kids every time they see them. | Trying to soak up every bit of sunshine before the cold months come!

Poor Tate was a little sickie boy and had to do a nebulizer four times a day for about 2 weeks. Poor guy.

 The girls draw probably an average of two hours a day. Bryn's favorite thing to do is to draw ponies in different adventures. Her drawings are so fun!

 Proud little Mya with two of her drawings

 Tate spends most of his days scheming how he can crawl into the dishwasher. In this picture he has a cucumber slice in his mouth - a cucumber that he reached up and stole from Mya's lunch plate! | Tate got another hair cut to get rid of his straggly hairs. 

 I love my simple days at home with these three! Some moments are chaotic and messy and silly, but I love my job of mother and I love this stage of life. 

Back to School

School started for us New Jersey folk the day after Labor Day. We celebrated on the first day of school with our annual Back to School feast. It was such a great night as a family.

Our theme this year is "I can do all things through Christ" (from Philippians 4:13). I planned on making a painted sign with our theme, but things got crazy and so Bryn ended up helping me out with this sign. (She's got a few misspellings in her sign, but she literally whipped this sign out about five minutes before our meal. Thanks Bryn!)

I was in charge of preparing our "feast" and Josh was in charge of introducing our theme. He gave us a great message, encouraging us to center our lives on Christ. This year Josh and I really want our family to be even more Christ-centered. Life can be challenging - school, work, parenthood, and all the other big and small challenges - but we want our children to know that they can be strengthened in all circumstances by staying close to Jesus Christ. Through Christ, all our stresses, concerns, fears, and disappointments can be replaced with faith, hope, confidence, and happiness. The future is bright!

The girls were perfectly polite and behaved the entire night ;)

The good news: I made a cake that did not shrink up - a big success for me. 

The bad news: I forgot to buy the powdered sugar for the glaze, so this unfrosted cake is cracking me up in all these pictures. Oh well! We served it with ice cream and no one seemed to mind the missing glaze.

After dessert, Josh gave the girls Priesthood blessings, an annual tradition at the start of a school year. Josh specifically blessed Bryn that her speech issues can improve this year as she continues her speech therapy at school, and that Mya can have confidence and courage as she begins her new classes this year. Both girls felt so special getting a blessing from their dad.

Bryn on her first day of school. So far Bryn has absolutely loved first grade and her teacher Ms Testa.

 No normal poses or smiles for this girl.

Mya isn't doing preschool til next year, but she is taking a couple classes each week at the Rec center: Ballet/Tap dance, an art class, and a gym class. So far Mya is loving her classes. She is so excited to go to each class and she proudly gives us a report at the dinner table, sharing lengthy recaps of what she did in each class.  

 It's sometimes sad to see how quickly time goes by, but it's so fun to watch my children grow and experience new things. I sure love my little family!