Taylor's Dance rehearsal and recital

First we had the dance rehearsal on Friday night and then we had the actual Recital on Sunday. I got out of class by going to the section on Saturday so I was able to be there for Taylor this year! She was such a big girl, definitely demonstrating more confidence and comfort with being on stage than last year. I think being good friends with the girls who were doing the dance with her helped immensely.

During the rehearsal I was able to get to know the stage mom who was helping with the girls backstage. I introduced her to Taylor and had Taylor see her and talk with her for a bit. On the day of the rehearsal when I had to drop her off backstage I think having Taylor already knowing who this woman was helped. As a reference, Taylor screamed and would not let daddy leave her side last year. After being plopped on stage in the dark while screaming, she proceeded to scream the entire dance. This year she gave me kisses goodbye and got right into coloring and doing stickers with the other girls. I could not have asked this mom to be any better! They had to wait for a little over an hour backstage until it was their dance so we, a few of us parents, were very nervous about how they'd come out on stage. They were awesome! They were smiling and doing almost all of the steps of the dance. I am so proud of my baby girl growing up so quickly.

DANCE REHEARSAL



Happy Tappin with Elmo girls


Taylor and daddy


Taylor and Rachel on stage


So giddy up there!


The girls


DANCE RECITAL

All the dancers from Webby Dance Company at the end of the performance

Father's Day Kiting Adventure

On this Father's Day weekend daddy wanted us to go watch him kiting so we packed up for a fun day at the beach. It was windier than we expected so Taylor and I made a make-shift tent with our umbrella and daddy's bags. We had a ton of fun! Taylor learned to make drip sand castles and was so good at it!

Daddy and his kite


Notice the hand on the hip...she poses now


Our set-up


She made this entire drip castle all by herself!


Her first attempt at standing on a kiting board...she loves it!


Helping daddy undo his kite...she's going to be ready in no time for this kiting thing!

Disney's California Adventure w/Mommy

Today may have been the last trip to Disneyland before our summer blockout begins so we took advantage of our free day and headed to California Adventure to see the new Ariel ride. We had so much fun! This was Taylor's first time back to Ca. Adv. since she went with her cousin 1 year ago. We, of course, headed to ARiel's ride first, then went on the Golden Zephyr, then watched the Bug's Life 3D movie (wow, that was a loud, somewhat scary but fun experience!), then last, Taylor had a blast in the water area in the Bug's Life. We finished our day watching a Mr. Incredible parade and eating Taylor's favorite, a soft pretzel with cheese dip. Mmmm.

On the tram


Finally, after an hour wait, we arrive at the Ariel ride!


Climbing in line for the Zephyr


On the Zephyr


One of my favorite pictures of Taylor...on the carousel


Getting ready for our crazy 3D Bug's Life experience!


In the water area...still somewhat dry


Not dry anymore!


So cute (this woke her up a bit and obviated the need for a nap)!


Yay! Pretzel time!


An unexpected parade by Mr. Incredible


Snacking at the picnic area (letting mommy rest her feet) before heading to the car for the drive home

Angel's Game with Daddy

Taylor and daddy went to an Angel's game tonight with Noah and Rawley. After the game they saw fireworks at Disneyland from the parking lot! That's all Taylor can keep talking about, well, in addition to the hot dog, nachos, and pretzel that daddy let her eat at the game. Haha! A fun (late) night with the boys.

Happy Girl


Rawley and Noah


Doesn't every kid have a picture like this?!


Goofy picture smile in front of the fire works


Cute


Finally, Taylor and Daddy, oh so cute!

High fever and Coordinating Dance Recital

Last night Taylor was up throughout the night with a 105 degree fever. She recently go ta cough/runny nose from kids at school but this fever was out of the blue. This seems to be a common occurence with her though; she gets high, high fevers when she gets sick. Her body goes into over drive trying to get rid of whatever virus is growing. AFter the cold rags and one round of medicine was not lowering her fever, we put her in a bath (she agreed) but once she felt how cold it was we had a very sad, tried, angry girl. AFter lots of screaming and crying (by both Taylor and mommy, the crying that is), I took her out and we put her in our bed so we could monitor her throughout the night. Daddy got on the computer and did some research to see if we had to take her in to the ER. Apparantly the height of the fever (under 106/107) is not a sign of how sever the sickness is. Basically we got the idea that we didn't have to worry; what you should look at more is the child's sick symptoms (lethargy, vomitting, coughing, etc.). The good thing was that Taylor was happy as can be when we'd wake her up to take her temperature...weird! Whenever I'd give her the cold rags she say "Oh, thanks mommy." It was so cute! So, are worries were alleviated and we all slept.

Taylor woke up with no fever at all but still had the cough/runny nose. I kept her home just to monitor her and let her rest before her Coordinating Rehearsal for her Dance Recital in two weeks. Woo hoo!

The Rehearsal was a success and we even went to Fro-Yo with her friends from school after. Below are some pics of the fun times.

Rachel and Taylor in awe watching the older dancers


The girls ready up on stage


Being silly out front of a nail salon, which they called the "nail doctor"


So interested in what's inside!

Hair cut

Today was quite the exciting day. As I was cleaning up Taylor's room last night I noticed a huge chunck of hair laying right by her garbage can. I picked it up and took it to her and asked her what it was. She put her head down and said "nothing" in a very guilty and afraid manner. Not wanting her to learn to lie to avoid punishment I told her she wasn't in trouble and to tell me what happened. I finally got it out of her that she cut her hair. We had a long talk about why that is not okay, what drawer in her room is all for cutting, and now we have to cut her hair even shorter to make it even. I think she got the point. :)

So...today we got her hair professionally cut for the first time. She wanted her hair long "like Rapunzel" so we compromised, she had to have it short in the front and she could keep it long in the back. We found a fun place to get it cut in El Segundo and made a fun day out of it. We're hoping that the fun event of cutting her hair professionally will show her that if she wants her hair cut, the fun times are at the salon, not with her own scissors in her room.

Here is the original "Taylor cut"


Waiting patiently


Here we go!


Beautiful

A beautiful evening at the beach

To end the weekend we headed to the beach to let Taylor get some energy out in the water. She is loving the ocean now-a-days and getting braver and braver. Hence, the life vest "just-in-case"!

From 2011_0605 beach evening

Our beauty!

From 2011_0605 beach evening

This is her new pose...where did she learn this?!


Bye-bye beach

Denver

BJ and I headed to Denver over Memorial Day weekend for my annual ABA conference. Taylor had a week full of fun with Nanny B and Papa Al in Sunol while BJ and I had such a fun time roaming the city of Denver and having fun just the two of us. We were able to stay out late, enjoy the night life on 16th street in Downtown Denver, ride pay-and-ride bikes around the town, and sample the many different amazingly good restaurants. Our favorite was the Mellow Mushroom. Mmmmm.

Below are pics to tell the story of our fun weekend.

Here is BJ on the pay-and-ride bikes. This was on our way to Cherry Creek in Denver to have lunch and visit the Botanical Gardens and other parks in the city.


Beautiful big parks all over the city


All the pics below are at the botanical gardens.

I LOVE the rocks that make up this walk...I want to do this for stepping stones around our house!


The Chinese Garden


The Victoran Secret Garden (BJ's favorite!)


So pretty...notice the rain clouds coming in!


This was in a tropical enclosure that was so amazingly humid and hot!


My favorite at a park right after we hid under a bus stop to get out of a thunder/hail storm!


Bye-Bye Denver. We'll miss you!!