Summer is here!

 Summer means big brother and big sister are home to play and read with.

 Summer is the time to ditch the training wheels.  We had been trying to get Audrey to ride on 2 wheels all spring.  She is stubborn and wanted nothing to do with it.  Tita Angela to the rescue!  In just 2 days of having Tita Angela here Audrey was riding on her own WITHOUT training wheels!

 The kids favorite part of summer is the pool opening.  Check out this diva!

And this cutie!

Who is also silly and hides from the camera

 We ate on the terrace a lot this summer.

 Carter and Audrey did a lot of activities this summer.  That meant short breaks for lunch. This is from one of those lunch breaks.

Evelyn loves having them home in summer.  

 All the run around is also exhausting.  It's not very often I have 2 kiddos passed out anymore.

 Summer is when Sasha is always found on top of an air vent

Poor baby hates the heat

Ballet recital

The first weekend in June Audrey had her ballet recital.  I chaperoned her class again this year.  There's never a dull moment back stage and a few of the girls proved to be a handful.

 Audrey's class ready to rehearse.  They were the lucky recipients of the worst/ugliest costume.

 They also got to dance with a clashing umbrella.  A blue or pink one would have looked much better.

 It was hard to get pictures during rehearsal because the lighting wasn't great.  As you probably already guessed, they danced to Singing in the Rain.

 I managed to get a few cute ones.

 This was the first year they danced all over the stage and not just in a straight line.

After a successful rehearsal she was ready for the recital.

 This year she only had one dance.  It was the first year that ballet and tap are separate classes.  I made her choose between ballet and tumbling or ballet and tap.  She chose ballet and tumbling.

 Proud of my ballerina

 Tita Angela came to watch again.  Audrey loves the extra attention.

 We brought roses for our friends that also take at Peoria Ballet.  Here she is with Gloria who also brought a rose for Audrey.

 Lily and Audrey are the same age but Lily was in the Saturday class.  They are in the same Sunday school class at church.

 Audrey and her new friend Maya.

 Showtime!

 The lighting the night of the recital was better but I had a big head in the way of my pictures.

 My cutie!

 She did great!

 I caught the girls getting a group hug after the performance from their sweet teacher.

 I missed getting a picture of these two when Audrey gave her a rose.  Audrey and Kate have so much fun together.  I wish we could get these two together more often.

I couldn't have asked for a better person to chaperone with.  Aparna and I met through the Medical Alliance and she has turned into one of my good friends here.  We were lucky to share a table together backstage.

 We treated our ballerina to ice cream on the way home.

 Audrey requested a picture with all of her roses.

Summer parties

 School was out and we jumped into summer activities.  The day after school was out we had a play date at the park with some of our Medical Alliance play group friends.

 Carter and Audrey spent most of the time climbing on the web

 Audrey only goes about half way up when others are on on it.  The wiggling/shaking from others climbing make her nervous.

 Carter was all the way at the top several times that morning. I'll admit it makes me a little nervous to see him so high.

 Evelyn spent most of the time on the swings and slides.  Audrey was always offering to catch her.

 Group shot of some of the kiddos.

 We are building our medical family here in Peoria.  It was hard to coordinate call schedules but we finally made it work for our 3 families to get together.  These kiddos played so well together.  Once again, I managed to get a pic of the kids but never got one of the adults.

Last day of school

The end of May the kids had their last day of school.  It's hard to believe another year is done.  Carter had another fabulous teacher he was sad to say good-bye to.  The upside is he'll still have her for enrichment next year.

Carter's first and last day comparison.

 Audrey absolutely LOVED kindergarten and didn't want it to end. She came home so sad because it was over.

 Audrey's first and last day comparison

Love these 2 big kiddos!

Kindergarten had a promotion ceremony that morning.  They wrote what they loved best about kindergarten and it was read when they were called to receive their diploma.  Audrey was also awarded an Accelerated Reader award.

 Afterwards,we got to spend time with them on the playground.

 We went back to the classroom to celebrate with a pizza party.

Audrey with her amazing teacher, Mrs. Gunter.  She's due with her first baby in a few weeks.

 They let Evelyn join in the party

Proud of my big girl!

Carter with his buddies in the cafeteria

 That day happened to also be Chuck's birthday.  Yes, Evelyn is posing in front of his birthday dessert thinking she deserves the attention.

 She even helped blow out the candles.