Marissa's Day

I'm finally getting time to post Marissa's birthday pictures.  The day before her birthday, we went bowling as a family.  That is what she chose as her "party".  At the bowling alley~

Our beautiful girls~



Never take a ballerina bowling!  LOL

She was hillarious, and Ashley and I had a fun laughing at Bri's unique bowling style that she just "discovered" that day. 
The next day was Marissa's 12th birthday, and my parents joined us for a family party on the back deck.  Well, it was  a frozen strawberry cake (homemade), so we started out with the cake inside.~

A girl and her books......deliriously happy!

More books~

New American Girl doll~ Kit.  She also got the Kit movie, and some Kit clothes.

She had a happy, happy 2 days!  Growing up into such a young lady. 
Would you all pray for me?  I keep going to sleep fine, but waking up after 2 or 3 hours, and not able to go back to sleep the rest of the night.  I've done this 3 out of the last 5 nights.  The 2 nights in between, I've slept wonderfully out of sheer exhaustion.  I've been okay the other two days, but this morning I'm completely miserable.  There will definitely be a nap before I go out this afternoon! 
We spent a wonderful day in the mountains yesterday (Briana included), so I will be posting those pictures in a few days!

Busy Times and Big Changes

One time I said on here that life was swirly.  Well swirly has hit again!  What a week this has been.  Many good things, some nerve wracking things.  (is wracking with or without a "w"?
Wednesday was Marissa's 12th birthday!  Happy Birthday, beautiful daughter!  Unfortunately, I don't have time to do pictures today, but I will get them up for her next week.  The day before, for her family "party" we went bowling, and had a fun time.  Briana was here for 3 days, so she got to go with us, and it was hilarious and fun for us all.  On Wed. afternoon (her bday), my parents came, and we had cake and gifts.  Briana went back home with them Wed. night. 
The nerve wracking excitement comes in with Briana.  She is ummmm.....getting to know a guy.   : )  Since she lives away from home, we are having to do a spin on courtship.  Actually, at this point, we don't know if it will progress to anything more than friends.  She is not sure how she feels, but is interested.  I teasingly call it "not-dating".  ; )  They are in the same musical right now, and they talk a lot there.  The past 2  weeks, they have been on 2 not-dates.  LOL.  After one of their shows, they have been out to an early, in the daylight, she takes her own car dinner just as friends.  They have both said they just want to get to know each other better and see. 
James and I have done an awful LOT of praying over this.   Despite some obvious obstacles (one of which is that he wants to move back to NYC), we feel like God is in on it, even if they never progress past friends.  If this works out, it will be a God-thing.  The prayers that were answered to a T, make it obvious that God was involved.  Anyway, that's all I can say for now. 
We are on our way back to see her once again this afternoon. : )  Of course, I love seeing her.  I'm excited to be going to see her in Shenandoah again tonight for the 3rd time.  Tomorrow night, Briana, Ashley, my mom, and I are going back to the same theater to see Smoke on the Mountain, which is said to be a wonderful show.  Her not-date friend is one of the main characters, plus we just want to see it.  On Sunday, Briana will get to come back home with us for 5 days. 
I'd better finish packing!

Minuettes and Nature Walks

  We had a really fun Mother's Day weekend around here.  On Saturday morning, Marissa went to an American Girl birthday party.  They all dressed up in either their best dresses, or period costumes if they had them.  A dance instructor came and taught them a minuette, and they all brought home a little tea cup and saucer as their party favor.  Marissa won a prize for best costume.  : ) 
(For some reason, HSB is making all of my pictures look mosaic when I resized them today.  ugh)

Playing Ring Around The Rosies with their dolls.  : )

Dancing a Minuette~

A Happy Mother's Day
This is a new address book from Daniella~

A wonderful handmade card from Marissa (along with some yummy chocolates)~

I also got some cool glitter pens for scrapbooking from Ashley, the cd "The Blessing" by John Waller from Briana, and some perinnials for the backyard and a scented diffuser from James.  We went to the National Park (Great Smokies) for an easy nature walk by the river.  We had a wonderful time. 
Daniella in front of an old pioneer fireplace~

Camo tree  : ) ~

Lots of purple butterflies~


The trail has quite a few 3D plaques of the different leaves found on the trees on this trail.  The girls took their drawing pads and did rubbings of them.~




Crystal clear mountain water~


And to end a great day, Briana came home last night, and will be here until Wed. evening!
I hope all of you had a terrific Mother's Day!

Dancin', Spinnin', Jumpin', and Singin'

Things are not slowing down around here any.  Two days after Daniella's recital, we made another trip to my parents' house and spent 3 nights.  The purpose of the trip was to see Briana in her recital, but we went a couple of days early to visit and so James could go take pictures at dress rehearsal. 
  The theme of the show was "All We Need is Love", set in the 60's.  Most of the drama was centered around a young man being drafted to the war.  If you see an older couple in any pictures, they are the young couple today.  It continually flashed back and forth between 60's and present day.  Most of the dances except the ballet were done to 60's music. 
These pointe dresses were actually green.  Bri is 2nd from the left.~




Ballet~


This picture makes me laugh~

Modern~
Briana is in the center.
Jazz. She's middle of the front row~

Musical Theater~


She called this dress her rug. Singing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.~


"Let It Be"~



 
It was a great show.   It was very refreshing.  As you all know, this is the first year Briana has been in this theater and in their dance program.  Did you notice the jazz costumes?  Their bodies are fully covered.  This is the first time Bri has been able to dance jazz since she was about 7 because the studio here had very skimpy (as in bikini outfits...literally) costumes, and did very provocative dances.  We had none of that in this studio, so she was able to participate.  It was so nice to sit through a recital and not have to sit through, or get up and walk out of dances.  They did 4 performances in 3 days.  I only got to go to one of them, because we had to get back home for a fund raising dinner with Ashley.
The recital was on the same stage as all of the professional musicals, so Shenandoah was off for a week for the recital tech and dress rehearsals.  It was back up and going yesterday, though.  She is just over half way through with Shenandoah performances.  Nineteen down, seventeen to go!  We'll be going to see it again (for the 3rd time) in 10 days.  Go, go, go is the theme for us this spring!  : )

A Month of Daniella

April was a busy month, and an exciting one for Miss Daniella.  Most people dread April 15th  : ) , but at our house we celebrate!
   April 15 was Daniella's 7th Adoption Day.  We always let them pick out a treat for the day, and she chose a chocolate cake this year.  She had an idea to decorate it, and did it herself, with a little help from Marissa.


One week later, we celebrated her 8th birthday.



Briana and my parents joined the party via Skype.  Daniella even posed to have her picture made with Briana.  : )

Silly String fun~


Afterwards, we went to the Track and rode a few rides.




Then this past Sunday on the 26th, Daniella had her first ballet recital, which is more praise dance than classical ballet.

Relaxing....and Not

Well, actually, the "and not" came first.  I'm still struggling health wise, although, I did have a good day on Wednesday.  This morning was hectic packing everyone up for an overnight stay at my parents' house.  About 2:00, we made the 2 hour drive over.  I was stressed, extremely tired, and not feeling so well by the time we got here.  But, after getting in and eating some chocolate chip cookies my mom had just made : )  I started feeling more rested and less stressed.  Briana had to leave for a class about 45 min. after we came in (she just walked in the door as I'm typing : ) ).  So, while Ashley and my dad went for a walk, and James and my mom played Wii with Marissa and Daniella, I spent a good 1/2 hour in wonderful relaxation.  I layed out in the lounge chair on the dock on my mom and dad's lake.  I sat in the sun, listening to the wind in the trees, mourning doves, other birds singing their little hearts out, bumble bees, and geese honking.  The only other sounds were the occasional sound of a lawn mower way off in the distance, and the occasional sounds of the girls' laughter coming through the open window. 
Tomorrow at 1:00, a couple from our church is driving over, and James and I are meeting them for dessert.  At 2:00, the couple and I are meeting Ashley at the theater, and watching Briana in Shenandoah!  It was originally supposed to be a day trip for me and 2 other ladies, but one had to cancel.  We already had the tickets, so the trip got changed to all of this! 
After the show is over, all of us but Ashley will be headed back home.  Ashley is going to stay here with Briana until Wed. 
I'm so excited to go see Briana's show again.  This will be my 2nd time.  You just can't see it all in one show.  And, besides, when it's your daughter, you have to see it more than once.....okay.....I've got tickets to see another 2 times after this!  Maybe 4 times will be enough.  LOL. 
Wishing everyone as beautiful of a weekend as we are having here!