Hanging with My Girls

We have had such a fun summer so far, and even though there are days where I desperately miss those 8:00 p.m. school year bedtimes, I've loved all these little every day adventures.  We've had lots of

SNUGGLES

CUPCAKES

 

SLEEPOVERS

PARK DATES

MOVIES

ELMWOOD PARK WATER SPOUTS (fully clothed, haha)

FUN FOOD

(Harper tries sushi for the first time)

 

SHOPPING

Daddy Daughter Royal Ball

Are you ready to see the sweetest thing you've ever seen?  (I wonder how many posts I've started that way.  But really.  This is the sweetest.)  Well, here you have it, my sweet little ladies loving all over their Dad.  We all love him big time. 

A few months ago, I saw Growing Up in the Valley advertising for a Daddy Daughter Royal Ball on the Friday before Father's Day.  These girls adore their dad (and as much as his friends tease him about needing a boy, Sam is a total girl dad), so I knew they would all enjoy a special evening out together.  When I told Harper and Willa Kate about the event, Harper went over the moon thinking she was going to get to "marry her Daddy."  Seriously.  I told you this was the sweetest post ever!

Well, you can't go to a "wedding" without a "wedding dress" so Harper had me on the lookout for a big, white wedding dress for her.  I ended up finding these sweet flower girl dresses from Burlington Coat Factory, and they were only $11 each!  They were on clearance, so they were each a little big, but I figured Harper would appreciate the extra length, since she's obsessed with ultra long maxi dresses.  I had one other dress for each girl (purple for Harper, yellow for Willa), but there was no selling them on anything but their "wedding dresses."

 

 

This week has been so, so crazy.  We didn't get back from Virginia Beach until Monday night, I worked Tuesday, and then early Wednesday morning, I left for Raleigh for work meetings that weren't set to finish up until 2:00 on Friday.  Well, my meetings ended up going over, and I literally pulled in the driveway as this beautiful trio was walking out to load up.  I would start tearing up on the ride home, thinking I was going to miss seeing them.  I am so, so grateful I made it, and super thankful for Kasey on days like today.  She watched the girls while Sam worked, and made it a fun day for them by giving them manicures and  pedicures and sweet little hairstyles. 

While Sam took the girls into the Royal Ball, I went across the street and enjoyed a quiet dinner in the Market by myself.   After such a full, nonstop week, it felt so good to just relax a bit.  The girls enjoyed their pictures and dancing with their dad, but after a few hours, they walked across the street to join me for some food. 

With all the fun we like to have and all the places we try to go, I often think these girls don't know how lucky they are.  But, really, the best gift I could ever give these children of mine was Sam as their dad.  Lucky him.  Lucky them.  Lucky us. 

Party at the Taubman

You've heard me say a billion times that the Roanoke Valley is a great place to raise a family. Make this a billion and one. We finally got to visit the Taubman Museum of Art downtown, and it's a gem. Add it to the "cool/educational/inexpensive things to do with your kids" list.

Now that Harper is in kindergarten, we are getting the tour of Roanoke County birthday party venues. Bowling alleys, trampoline parks, Chuck E. Cheese, the Green Ridge Rec Center (where we had Harper's 5th Birthday). She's been invited to a lot of classmates' birthday parties (many of them invite the whole class), and she feels that it's very important that she go support her friends. When I was a terrible, disorganized mom that RSVP-ed to a girls party and then wrote down the wrong date, Harp was heartbroken, but not because she was upset she missed out, but because she didn't want her friend to feel like she wasn't important to her. That girl feels everything big, and I'm proud of her for becoming more sensitive to how others may feel in response to our choices. So, now we are going to every birthday she's invited to. Haha.  Aaaand, I humbly and sincerely apologized about a hundred times.  Sweet girl is getting pretty good at forgiving, too. 

Harper and her dear friend Ella

Lila and Reagan

Her classmate Delaney's invitation came home, and we've been so excited (yes, I said we) to go to our first "art party."  About eight kids from Harper's class were there, and it was the perfect place for some exploring, crafty five and six year olds.  The kids all got to create art aprons with fabric markers while donning colorful berets.  And then they were able to wear their aprons while painting their own canvas.  The party then moved to the Art Venture activity area, where Harper loved the huge pile of Magnatiles. 

I so enjoyed getting to spend more time with Harper's little friends (there is no substitute for knowing her classmates by name), but she just wanted to hang with mama.  I kept asking if she wanted to go off with Ella, or put on a play with Cohen, but she just kept repeating that she wanted to play with me.  I love this little window of time we're afforded as mothers.  This sweet spot where our children are developing new relationships outside our family, yet still think we are the coolest people on the planet.  So, so precious. 

Big Lick Kid Festival

Sam has been out of town for his annual guys' golf trip for the last few days, which means two things. 

1. I secretly hurry and import a bunch of house stuff and rearrange the furniture hoping he won't notice.
2. I forget that two kids in busy public places usually constitutes an imminent "walk of shame" and decide to take the girls to something fun around Roanoke.

For this particular weekend, it was the Big Lick Kid's Festival.  I know, it's the most redneck name ever, but it was actually in downtown Roanoke and had lots of fun things for the girlies.  They enjoyed petting the animals, eating the carnival-esque foods, and trying to wander in two separate directions at the same time to panic their mom.  :)

One of the included activities was a climbing wall.  Harper saw it early in our time there, but I told her I wasn't sure that she was old enough to do it.  After walking by it a few times, she decided she wanted to try it, so we picked the shortest line, and waited the 30 minutes for her to take a turn.  Well, we figured out why it was the shortest line-- because it was the most difficult route.  So, there was my four year old in a maxi dress trying to work her way up the rock wall.  That perfectly sums her up, adventure and frill, all in one package. 

Salem Christmas Parade 2014

Brrr.... here's some fun from our visit to Salem for their annual Christmas Parade.  It was fun running into the Fertittas, and eating with the Phillips and Quesenberry families afterward to thaw out.  Here are some pics from our Friday night.

And a little video of the parade going by!