Dance Recital

Woohoo! Dance is over for a little while. We atleast get the summer off. I'm still not sure if we will continue to force the girls to go to dance classes. I get tired of pushing it and I said I was not going to make them go next year but after seeing the recital I'm changing my mind again. Lydia is so good. It makes me sick to let her quit. She loves to dance and she loves to watch people dance but she does not like wearing leotards and she HATES tights. To me that is just such a silly reason to let her quit. Surely she will out grow those things. She changes her mind all the time too. She really enjoys dance once she is there but it's all the whining that I have to put up with to get her there that I just don't know if I can handle. Lauren loves dressing up for dance but she picks up on her sisters negative attitude and then she joins in on the whining and I want to pull my hair out. Is is really worth it? Rafael really wants them to continue with dance even if it requires me dragging them there against their will. He regrets not sticking with a certain sport as a child and he doesn't want that to happen to his kids. It's hard for me too because I really believe that Lydia has a natural talent for dance and if she continues she could be really good. It's hard to just let that go. Lauren is still a little young but I know she certainly has a natural talent as a gymnast. She is fearless and loves to be active. Luckily that is something that I don't have to force. She would love to go to gymnastics everyday.
Well atleast I have a few months to decide what we will do about dance for next year.

Pistachio scare

Okay, this story is strange enough that I just have to share it. Rafael went to the grocery store the other day to pick up a couple of things. He took this opportunity to buy a few things that he likes and I never think to buy. One of those was a big bag of pistachios. The next day we got them out and although the kids were interested in what we were eating we could not talk any of them into to trying this mysterious green nut. Even Lydia refused and she usually eats anything and everything especially if we tell her it is good for her. The next day I packed a few containers of snacks to take for the kids during the girls dance classes. I packed a container of pistachios thinking if they were hungry enough maybe I could tempt them to try them. I know if they tried them they would love them. We got to dance and although I looked and looked in my car I could not find the pistachios anywhere and none of the kids knew where they disappeared to either. It's very odd that particular container disappeared but all the other snacks were just where I sat them. This morning I was on the phone with a good friend of mine and in the middle of our conversation I opened the back of my car to put some groceries in and there was the container of pistachios in the very back of my car. I was so surprised to see it back there that I actually said out loud "Oh there's my pistachios!" and then continued on with what I was saying. She stopped me and said "wait a second, did you say something about pistachios?" She then goes on to tell me that there has been a product recall on pistachios due to possible salmonella poisoning. (Thanks Sabrina!!!) Sure enough I go home and look it up and the pistachios we bought are on the list. Of course I have no idea if our pistachios are contaminated although Rafael was up with an upset stomach last night after eating a bowl of them and I read that in healthy adults salmonella could be nothing more than an upset stomach. However small children are not always so fortunate. Pretty scary! What a close call...sure is a lot of strange coincidences in this story huh? Of course I think that it's much more than just coincidence. Someone up there is looking out for us.

The Flood

Wow! It has not rained so much since 94. We had quite a downpour and then the rain just kept coming. Fortunately we didn't have any major issues at our house. Others we know were not so fortunate. My mom had to battle some water coming in her house but luckily she had my dad and all my brothers over to help fight off a major problem. Her furniture is probably ruined in her Den but the walls will probably dry out and not have to be replaced. A girl that I grew up with is a lot worse off. Check out this news article when you get a chance. http://www.rickeystokesnews.com/article.php/house-on-blackman-rd-has-about-two-feet-of-water-in-it-1642 It's crazy how quickly the water can rise in a flash flood! We drove around after the worse part of the storm had passed and we got some pictures around our neighborhood. Fortunately our pond has a really big spill way so the water never went over the road but it was crazy to see how much water was rushing out of the pond. Keep in mind the water level was about 2 feet over the top of the spill way. CRAZY!

5 Senses

I've been tagged- this one is called the 5 senses tag. You list 4 things you love, and one thing you hate, for each category. Then tag 5 people, leave them a note on their blog so they know. Also, let the person who tagged you know when you post yours. So here we go...
Smell-fresh laundry, baby lotion, homemade bread, roses Hate-dirty dish rags
Touch-soft skin, silky fabric, carpet, warm water Hate-raw meat
Sound-kids laughing, classical music, quiet, ocean Hate-screaming (especially the high pitched squeals my kids let out)
Taste-chocolate, pizza, bread, pickles Hate-anything fishy
Sight-my beautiful kids, flowers, waterfalls, mountains Hate-a messy room

Okay so I tag Courtney Vierra, Jenn Phipps, Jessica Nemnich, Sherie Dotson, and Nicole Ennis

Garrett Home!!!

Okay so Garrett's homecoming was not how we imagined it being. His plane did not get into Atlanta until midnight. First, there was a snow storm that his plane had to fly around and then North Korea threatened that they could not guarantee the safety of any plane flying near their air space so his plane had to go a different course again to avoid being close to N. Korea. That made him miss his flight to Atlanta. He then had to fly into LA and then to Atlanta. Luckily he was able to call my parents from Korea in time to stop us all from going up to Atlanta that morning. My poor parents had to drive to Atlanta that night though and pick him up and then drive home so they did not get in until about 4:00 am. We let them have a few hours to recover before we went over in the morning at about 9:30. It was so nice to see Garrett and to have him here in the USA. It is taking him a while to adjust. He is having a hard time sleeping at night since Russia is about 12 hours different from us. My mom and I went shopping with him yesterday to try and get him a more mature wardrobe (he left when he was 19, still a teenager, and now he is 21, a man). While we were shopping Garrett said when he hears strangers speaking English, his first thought is "Americans!" How funny! It may take him a while to get used to being home. We are sure loving it though!

Garrett's coming home

I am so excited my "baby" brother is coming home. He has been in Russia on a mission for our church for a little over two years. We are going up to Atlanta today to greet him at the airport. I can not wait to see him! I will be posting pictures soon of our reunion. :o)

Happy Birthday Lauren!!!

I have been intending to post this for a few weeks now. Better late than never! Lauren turned 4 on Valentine's day. We had a little family get together to celebrate her b-day. I try to do a big party for my kids every other year or so. The other birthdays we just celebrate with family. It is usually really low key but I had to up it just a notch this year for Lauren because she had been talking about her "birthday party" for atleast the last 6 months. She really wanted a Hello Kitty birthday party. She was so excited when she woke up from her nap and the house was all decorated. She loved all her gifts! She is also really good about sharing them with her big sister. What a fun day. I can't believe she is growing up so fast. She is such a tender hearted little girl. She is really such a joy to have in our family.