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! 

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!

Turtle Back Zoo with Mya

 I miss Bryn now that she is in full-day school, but it's fun to have a little more time with sweet Mya. We had a fun morning at the Turtle Back Zoo the other day. I only took pictures of the bird area since that was Mya's favorite part...

 Selfie with the pretty birds

August Pics

 I'm behind on updating this little online journal of ours! It's already October, but here are a few snapshots from August that I want to remember...

 Tatey Boy loves the swings!

 And Brynnie Girl loves a good pose!

 The girls thought it would be so funny if we made our own paper bibs to match Tate at lunchtime. 

 Ponies ponies ponies! All day every day! Both girls are so into it and it's adorable to watch them playing "Ponyville" together.

 The cutest moment of the month may have been the day that Josh randomly got home from work early and spent the evening with the kids in the backyard building forts for the ninja turtles (Josh's old ninja turtles that he grew up with).

 New Jersey weather can be a bit extreme from time to time. This rainstorm was crazy!

 This is a familiar site. Mya loves to check out "big kid" books from the library like Bryn and "read" them to herself. 

 One of Tate's favorite activities is opening and emptying drawers.

 Most weekend nights are spent park-hopping. 

 Tate loves eating dirt. It's kind of a problem. 

 Curious George!

  Bryn is the sweetest note writer.

"Dear Mom and Dad, I want you to know how much I love you! And that day by day I work very hard to make you happy. I sure love you. Love, Bryn"

Tate's first play date. I was dying. 

We'll end with these two little faces :)

Mya Turns Three!

Our sweet Mya turned three years old on June 26th. She is the kindest, sweetest little girl and we love her so much. She gives the best hugs, loves to snuggle up and read, can draw for hours, has the best laugh, and gets surprisingly loud and sassy when she belts out pop songs or Disney love songs. 

 She wanted a "bright pink cake with bright purple frosting". Cakes are really not my thing, and all that bright purple food coloring gave the frosting a really strong taste. Oops. We kept this cake for Mya, but I ended up making a basic chocolate sheet cake as a back-up since cake #1 was kind of a flop!

 Mya is super into princesses and barbies lately, so this was the dream gift for her. 

(I scored this set for half off at Target a few months ago and have been giddy for Mya to finally get it! Her reaction was kind of anti-climatic, but she has played with these barbies nonstop since her birthday. Success!)

 Jake and Tyra's family joined us for dinner and cake and ice cream. Mya loves her cousins!

Our ward was having a movie night that night, so we ended Mya's birthday with the outdoor movie. It was a great day celebrating our favorite three year old!