Riley in February

After blogging about Gavin's fun times in February, I wanted to at least share a few pictures of Little Sis.  She's getting so big, slowly maturing and learning to deal with her emotions better. We love her big!

She has such a great smile, and grows more beautiful everyday.

For her Valentine's party, she once again wanted to sleep in curlers and she was very impressed with how it turned out.  Haha!  She couldn't stop looking at herself in the mirror that morning.

I had fun at her school party, but I couldn't help but hold back tears, knowing it was my last time watching one of our babies exchanging valentines with their preschool friends.  So bittersweet.

For the second year in a row, Gavin happened to be on break for Riley's party and went with me as my special helper.

Her love of playing dress-up and applying makeup just keeps growing, and she's getting really good at it!  There was a time when I was honestly nervous about not being 'girly' enough to raise a daughter.  Something tells me she's going to be teaching me more than I teach her.

Riley finished off February by being Special Person at preschool and celebrating her half birthday with Krispy Kreme donuts for her classmates.   

And....the biggest news of all from February!  Riley is officially pre-registered for kindergarten.  We go in a couple of weeks to take all the paperwork.  Not gonna lie...I'm NOT taking this all that well.  We're still 5 months away - I don't know how I'm going to make it through July.  :(  A very special phase of our life is almost over and I don't like that.

Second Grade Silliness

February was a fun month to be a second grader.  For the last few months, Gavin's been preparing for the second grade musical with his classmates.  I was so excited when I first read that there'd be a musical this year, way back in September.  When TREC came into play, it was actually one of the things I checked out first, because Gavin is out of the classroom every Tuesday and therefore misses music.  Not that I was expecting him to have a huge role in the musical, but I wanted to make sure he was able to practice and prepare with his fellow second graders.  

Well, the morning of the Granny Awards performance came and I couldn't wait to see him up there.  When we first were told the date and times of the musical, I asked Gavin if he wanted me to be there for both the daytime performance and the evening one, and he said yes, so of course, I made plans to be there.  Jarrod wasn't able to make it for the morning performance, but had plans to meet me at school that evening.  When I dropped Gavin off in the carline that morning, I commented that I would see him soon, and he looked back at me and said, 'You're just coming tonight with Dad, right?'  I reminded him that he said he wanted me to come to the morning performance, and he tried telling me he didn't need me to come anymore.  I just smiled and apologized, telling him I was still planning to be there.  

I was SO proud of Gavin.  He didn't have a part, so to speak, but seeing him in the front row was so amazing.  In true Gavin fashion, he was rather reserved, not exactly singing and dancing like some of his classmates, but he was up there, and he was being brave and not looking at all nervous.  There was a time when being on that stage for Rise and Shine would bring him to tears, but he was awesome.  Perhaps someday he will be more into being on stage in front of his peers and you'll be able to see him mouth moving or his body movements a little more exaggerated, but for now, I was just so proud to see him up there and being confident.

You can watch some clips of the musical on our YouTube site.  www.youtube.com/mrspate22

After the morning performance, Riley and I came home for a bit and then headed back up to school for the second grade Valentine's Day party. It was meant to be a bit low key, but it, of course, was a little chaotic - what do you expect though with 25 7-8 year olds, the day before February break, all sugared up? :)

Treston's mom, Jen, was at the party and we snapped some pictures of the boys and of ourselves with our sons.  These two have been in the same class every year we've been at Elm Tree.  They have such a great friendship, and I wish we'd spent more time together outside of school.  Now that the rezoning of the schools has happened, we're pretty sure we won't be at the same school next year, and I have promised Gavin that we'll do all we can to make sure he still maintains his friendship with Treston.  He's such a good friend to Gav.

And, of course, we headed back to school later that night for the evening performance.  Jarrod and Riley killed time waiting for it to start by doing a bit of dancing.  Melt my heart.

I didn't have the greatest seat to snap pics at the evening performance, but was able to get a few before it all started.

And one afterwards with one of his classmates, Parker.

After the busy day, we were very excited for a week of relaxation.  I'm going to miss our year round breaks so much next year!  We didn't do too much during our February break.  We visited Amazeum, did some shopping, and hit up High Rise for Elm Tree spirit day with Treston and a bunch of other boys.  It was great to have some quality time with him.

Jitterbug Fun

We've been so pleased with the Jitterbugs program at Riley's preschool.  For the amount of time they have with the kids each week and the cost of the program, the sure put on a fantastic show for the parents twice a year.  We'll miss Miss Nikki and the program when school is out in May.

Last month, Riley had her first performance of the year.  All the videos we took are uploaded on our YouTube page - www.youtube.com/mrspate22

Here are some pictures from the special day.  Riley loves to be on stage in front of everyone, and really enjoys getting flowers afterward and heading to dinner to celebrate her accomplishments.  Her pick, of course...and it's been Red Robin the last two times (the only times we ever eat at Red Robin it seems!)

Could she look any happier?

And this is what happens when I leave Gavin in charge of the camera for taking pictures while I take videos....

My goofball!

Thank you for bringing a smile to our faces, Riley.  We love watching you perform on stage and know we will get to watch you for many years to come - whether it be singing, dancing, or acting.  The stage is your home!

January Fun

In the spirit of getting back on track, here's a quick look at January!

Riley is definitely getting use out of her new salon area Santa brought her.  She loves to put on makeup by herself while sitting at her little vanity.  I love to sneak a peek in through the door and watch her without her knowing.  She is just so beautiful.

Riley also started gymnastic in January and is loving it so much.  I was hesitant to start her because it's a bit pricey, but I'm so glad we did.  She is having a blast and doing really well.  

Since she had just started gymnastics, it seemed to be perfect timing that Mara and Addie invited us to go to the Razorback women's gymnastic meet for American Girl day.  We had such a fun time (while the boys headed to lunch and the arcade.)

Addie had to teach Riley how to call the hogs....perhaps we should get some Razorback attire added to our wardrobe. ;)

Riley also had pajama day at school and discovered a new love of doing dishes.  It was a busy month for her!

Gavin hit a new milestone in January as he transitioned to a backless booster seat.  Carseat safety is a big thing for me, so this was a hard thing to accept, but it was time.

He also had his first TREC Showcase in January.  Gavin got accepted into the Gifted and Talented program back in October, and his Showcase night was for him to show us what he'd learned during the first unit, Strike It Rich.  He put together a powerpoint presentation all about money, and had a checkbook he'd created to show how he learned about deposits, withdraws, and balancing a checkbook.  He also printed his own money that he designed.  It  was really cool to see how much he learned, and he's thrilled to be in the Experimentality unit now learning about science.

There's something different about him lately that I just can't put my finger on, but it just reminds me that he's getting older.  {He is, after all, almost 8, which he likes to remind me frequently...}  He says things that just sound like a teenager, like responding to things he heard on TV with a 'Shut up!' 

Phoebe continues to work on learning her manners, and admittedly, I haven't been good about walking her and giving her the proper exercise she needs so we've been struggling a bit.  She's about 60lbs now, loving her bed still, and beginning to gain our trust enough to sleep in our room without her crate at night.

I love making memories with these goofballs.  As I blog this morning, I'm waiting for pre-registration for kindergarten to open up and it just baffles me that I'm gearing up to be an 'elementary school empty nester.'  I can't believe we're already at this point in our lives...So bittersweet.

I love them so much!