Juilliard's Knocking

Ok, the title may be a wee bit exaggerated, but nonetheless, I'm just as proud! 

I am so proud of Charlotte and her darling ballerina friends that performed their 1st ever "big" recital.....

Skidamarink

Here she is at dress rehearsal

After the dress rehearsal, we made sure to get home quickly, eat lunch and get a nap in before the show. After her nap, we had fun getting her ready. I slicked her hair back into a cute little bun and (her favorite part) she got to put some make-up on!

She performed wonderfully!

To her surprise, I had a bouquet of hot pink roses that matched her costume waiting for her when she was finished. 

My Haven

Everyone needs a place to go where they can relax, clear their mind, and be at total peace. 

For me, it is no further than my backyard and my birds. I could sit for hours just listening to them chirp and sing.  

I recently set up the bird feeders (pictured below) and have turned myself, Justin and Charlotte into avid bird watchers. We love to peer out of the back windows to see what birds are feeding. My very favorite bird has always been the female cardinal. I love her for her bright orange beak and brown/gray feathers, with hints of red in them. Two years ago, we were fortunate enough to have a family of cardinals nest outside of our kitchen window(here). Since then, we've seen many bird families come and go. 

Our feeders now include:

• Safflower -- for House Finches, Doves and Cardinals
• Peanuts -- for Blue Jays and Sparrows
• Wild Bird Seed -- for Sparrows
• Suet -- for Woodpeckers
• Apples -- for Mockingbirds (which they're not liking too much -- moving to grapes next)
• And just added a Mealworm feeder in hopes to attract more varieties of beautiful birds 

 p.s. the Safflower feeder above is the one that has a sun engraved on it. Charlotte picked it out at the store because it reminded her of the sun in the Tangled movie. She calls it her "tangled feeder".

Below are pics are our summer garden. 

It is PACKED! We are hoping for a lot of yummy veggies and pestos this summer.

Jalapenos

Eggplant

Basil, from my dear friend Heidi 

Garlic

and 10 tomato plants of different varieties

And, of course, my Don Featherstone Flamingos. Aren't they so cool!!

End of school activites

Wow, these days seem to be flying by! 

School is out, the pool is open and summer is here. I thought spring had snuck up on me, but summer really came up and bit me. The last few weeks, Charlotte and I finally got our flowers planted and actually designed a rose garden this year. Preferably we should have planted a few weeks earlier, but we're keeping our fingers crossed and giving our plants some extra TLC in hopes they'll make it through our Dallas heat. (pics to follow).

Also, we got to do something that I've wanted to do for a long time. I took her to the Dallas Children's Theater. It was our 1st time there and we saw, Giggle, Giggle, Quack. It was extremely cute and held her attention the whole time. I really enjoyed watching her excitement as she watched the actors perform. She knew it was a special thing for us to do, so she carefully chose the perfect outfit, jewelry and purse for the occasion. 

Splash Day at school during the last week
(A super cute picture, but the quality is poor because her teacher gave me this photo and I took a picture of the picture with my phone so that I could post it. I have got to get a scanner soon!!)

We had a few storms blow through Dallas a few weeks ago, so I went out and bought a lot of art supplies for Char to have fun with and to curve the rainy day blues. In other words..... to prevent from watching t.v. all day long, something that we had done too much of the day before.

And we were so excited to have Char's sweet friend Campbell come play. The girls changed probably 10 times into different outfits and had a blast in every one!

The same day, we were invited to a Princess Tea Party at Emily's house. These girls are the best of friends and always enjoy each other's company, especially when princess dresses and tiaras are included. Oh, the life of a 3 year old!

last day performance at Spanish school

Char's wonderful Spanish teachers that taught her not only spanish but self confidence too. She grew so much this year. We came a LONG way from hiding in the bathroom at the 1st of the school year (see here).