Christmas choir part 2

This is Adaline's favorite song to sing...

Christmas choir part 1

I will admit that my Type A personality has been a bit tested with choir, but seeing Adaline walk down the aisle in her choir robe warmed my heart. If I am able to upload a few of the videos, you will no doubt get a kick out of the kids and their lack of interest in singing - but aren't they darn cute?! :)

Princess Party Part 1

I realize I have not been a good poster on Adaline's blog lately, but I knew the grandparents would start to complain if I didn't post birthday pictures soon! :)

Adaline decided she wanted to have a Princess Party for her fourth birthday, and we had such fun listening to her describe what she wanted. I don't know if we ultimately did all she planned in her mind, but she seemed to have a grand time! We had all sorts of outdoor games planned, but the weather report called for rain - so the day before the party, I made all sorts of changes to the event so it could be moved inside. The good news is that there was no rain - and everyone still seemed to have fun inside.

Here are the pictures from the arrival time at the party...

The girls had a chance to get their nails painted by Auntie Mary and Mimi. If they were particularly girly, they also had the chance to get glitter on their cheeks!

Princesses Amari, Adaline and Elizabeth

Two of Adaline's all-time favorite people, Ms. Cori and Ms. Erin, were kind enough to come and help out with the festivities. It was such a blessing to have them there to help keep the kids excited! Here Ms. Cori is helping Caroline decorate her princess hat.

Princess Elizabeth

Princess Katie

Princesses Keira and Elizabeth

Princess Lillian

King Bryan helped the girls put Cinderella in her castle - with their eyes closed! :)

Princess Katie went first...

After everyone arrived, King Bryan announced "hear ye, hear ye - the time for the Princess Parade has come!" All the princesses followed the king in to the house to the music of "Bippity Boppity Boo!"

Princess Parade

Well, the princess parade fell apart while I was videotaping - but here is what I caught. They were very cute...

Last Day of School 2009

Today is Adaline's last day as an Older Toddler. Mommy is trying not to cry - we love, love, love Adaline's teachers and will be so very sad to not have them next year. Adaline has been with Elaine since she was a baby and has been with Cori for two years... Elaine, Cori, and Daphne have been a great team and have really helped Adaline grow and develop this year. What a blessing they are!

Adaline Dancing at AthFest

Adaline is the little one with the pink hat on (second from the left) - we hope she is only a groupie at this age and not later in life. :)

Art Gallery

Adaline made an art gallery recently, and here are the fruits of her labor. :)

Ballet class 2

My ballet teacher, Alice DePass, is the woman standing against the wall in a black shirt. I feel like I have come full circle with Adaline taking ballet from Alice! :)

A quick video of her walking on her toes.

Ballet class1

Not the most exciting clip from ballet class - but the little girl next to Adaline is pretty funny to watch. :)

Dress Rehersal for Ballet Performance

Part of the reason I have been slow to post pictures is because Adaline has been keeping us very busy! This weekend is her ballet performance - yes, three year olds apparently are in ballet performances these days. The instructor (who was my teacher!) must have figured out the money she could make off including little ones...

Last night was the rehersal, and I am posting the video of Adaline's class. She is in the front row on the far left. Her tutu is low in the front due to her belly and high in the back due to her bottom. :) Very cute. I still wonder if make-up, dippity do, and a costume are necessary for three year olds... Enjoy!

Painting Easter Eggs

I didn't realize when I bought the Paas Easter Egg kit that I was buying one that included painting (one of Adaline's favorite things to do...) - but lucky us! The box for glitter eggs included a paintbrush and lots of paint colors. Adaline was so excited to paint eggs - and we plan to do more painting before Sunday!

BreastFest

Any time there is a "jumpy thing" (aka Moonwalk) available and all funds raised benefit a good nonprofit, Adaline is happy to participate! And since BreastFest helps raise money to fight breast cancer, Bryan and I were more than happy to take Adaline for a fun afternoon of kid-friendly activities.

They had face painting, kid-friendly bands, a jumpy thing, and chocolate covered marshmellows! What more could you want in an afternoon? :)

Needless to say, Adaline had lots of fun. She woke up the next morning wanting to know when we could go back to the jumpy thing - and was devastated to learn it was a one-day event. There's always next year!!

Watering the Jellybeans

Once again, we planted jelly beans the week before Easter (thanks, Lux family!). With the magic of Easter, the jelly beans will bloom into lollipops on Easter morning - so Adaline eagerly planted her 10 jelly beans. Here she is watering them!

Riding around

Adaline loves riding around on her bicycle and big wheel. Here she is on her bike. We had just gotten home from ballet, put out some birdseed, and then she wanted to ride her bike. What a little cutie. :)

Fruit Salad Dance

Last Sunday, Adaline helped make salads for our dinner - and she danced around the kitchen telling me she had made a yummy fruit salad. After enjoying her dancing, I finally smartened up and caught a minute of it on the video camera. Enjoy!

Snow!!

Around lunchtime on Sunday, ice began to fall from the sky - and it quickly turned to snow. Adaline enjoyed running around before naptime in her church dress in the snow.

By the time she got up from her nap, the snow flakes had grown in size and no more ice was falling. Bryan and I were reminded of the snowfall in Sapporo, Japan - the flakes were huge!

We got all bundled up and went out for some fun in the snow. Bryan loved wearing the boots Stephen gave him!

An attempt at a snowman... Our neighbors across the street did a much better job than we did!

We decided to make an Irish snowman. :)

Adaline added the necklace.

I hate to say it, but we are ready for another snowfall like this one - it was beautiful and a wonderful family day. I will wait until another post to complain about the power going off - and the fact that today is Friday and we still have no phone service!!!

It tickles...

Adaline was fascinated by the snow as it started to fall... She loved how it tickled her face.

I love the snow!

On Sunday, we received almost 6 1/2 inches of snow in Athens - the most since the 80's!! I will let Adaline tell you below what she thought of the snowfall...

It's so beautiful!

My postings are all out of order... Here is Adaline saying "It's so Beautiful" about the amazing dollhouse Sharon gave her for Christmas. A little backstory - my poppa made me a dollhouse that I loved. It was nice and simple - four rooms - and I spent hours playing with it.

Sharon took that dollhouse and made it spectacular!!! She handpainted it, laid shingles on the roof one-by-one, installed chair rails and crown molding, crocheted rugs - you name it, she did it, and it is truly amazing. Adaline was - and is - completely in love with it. Pictures to follow.

The Super Bowl

In honor of the Super Bowl, we had a picnic with completely unhealthy foods in the den! :) It was great fun, and Adaline loved eating loaded potatoes and buffalo wings - she wants to know when we will have another Super Bowl party!

Ballet!

I know, I know - I have been awful about posting. Please forgive me! Life occasionally gets in the way of doing things we want to do.

Life has been so busy since we returned from Ireland - it feels like this is the first weekend we have been able to do what needs to be done... We have signed Adaline up for ballet, and she LOVES it! These pictures are from her first class.
Adaline is the one on the far left (above) - they are walking into class for the first time.

The class is "Fairy Princess Ballet" - so here Adaline is putting on the princess dress and crown to walk across the room on her tippy-toes.
My teacher, Alice Depass, is along the right-hand side of this picture. She taught Adaline today, and it felt like life had come full circle... :)