Blessed

** Warning- long post, full of pictures!! Proceed with caution!**

One of my favorite songs kind of sums of how I feel right now... what a great weekend!

Blessed - Martina McBride
I get kissed by the sun
Each morning
Put my feet on a hardwood floor
I get to hear my children laughing
Down the hall through the
Bedroom door
Sometimes I sit on my
Front porch swing
Just soaking up the day
I think to myself, I think to myself
This world is a beautiful place

I have been blessed
And I feel like I’ve found my way
I thank God for all I’ve been given

At the end of every day
I have been blessed
With so much more than I deserve
To be here with the ones
That love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed

Across a crowded room,
I know you know what I’m thinking
By the way I look at you
And when we’re lying in the quiet and
No words have to be said
I think to myself, I think to myself
This love is a beautiful gift

This week was fantastic! My husband celebrated his birthday and had lots of fun. It was nice to see him relaxing and soaking up some time with the kiddos on his special day.

Hubby and his favorite birthday cake... chocolate, chocolate chip! Puddin said, "YUMMMM!"

We grilled out for his birthday dinner and just had a relaxing- chore free day. Price*less!

Hubby and co. relaxing in the pool!

blowing out his candle and making a wish

Monkey See digging in...

Monkey Do cheesin for the camera- again!

Bud and hubby before opening presents!

Bud decided he loves ice cream!

Daisy said she'll stick with the chocolate cake!

Today was a whirlwind, but good kind of day too.
After church we raced home to prepare the kids for a babysitter. Puddin had her annual dance recital today so we had to drive to Nashville, and be on time.
Thankfully, we made it! The other kids were excited to spend time with the babysitter too!!!
Puddin danced so beautifully! And, Hubby even danced too! What a special Father's day gift! The school decided to have the girls and daddies have a special dance in the recital, it was so, so precious! They danced to My Girl.

How appropriate!
And yes, I cried.

It was so special to me, I can only imagine how special it made Puddin feel!!

Just the look on her face when she saw her daddy heading on to the stage was worth a million dollars!

warming up before the show...

one last practice!

My Girl

March of the Daddies!

**tears**

The big lift!

2nd number~ Rockin Robin!... very cute!

curtain call

I also got to spend some time with my step dad since he spent his Father's day at a dance recital in Nashville- God love him!

And I was able to talk to my daddy on the phone. Not as good as in person but I was so grateful that I was able to spend a little time with him last weekend instead.

Now, my sweet family is sleeping and I just feel BLESSED beyond measure.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. James 1:17

Do You Wanna Dance?

For as long as I can remember I knew if I had a little girl I would put her in dance class. It's something I always wanted to do but never was able to until I was older, and then, it kind of fizzled for me. I was in the basic class when all of my friends had danced forever. Anyway, I admit, I'm putting my own dreams on my child. For now at least. If there comes a day that she no longer wishes to dance then we won't go. But for now it's something she loves.

And let me say, there are many days I reconsider my whole "mydaughterisgoingtotakedanceidea".

Bud and Daisy in Mommy's lap while Puddin is in dance class.

Monkey See and Monkey Do wrestling on the floor of the foyer.


Mommy trying to carry on a conversation.

Like when it's cold. Or raining. Or I'm pregnant and have morning sickness (which I am not and do not have right now). Or I'm towing 2 extra kiddos in with me. Or I'm towing in 4 extra kids with me. Yeah- it's a lot of work.

I always wonder what we look like to other people....
Now I know.

Recently Kate captured some of our dance day moments. Mind you we have to wait 45 minutes in a foyer of an old home where her dance class is located. 45 minutes with two 2 year olds and 2 infants can seem like an eternity some days. Other days it goes quickly.

Monkey Do

Monkey See

On this particular day the parents could go back to the studio to observe- so I really wasn't going to miss it.

This shot shows mommy holding Bud in a sling, Daisy in my left arm, Monkey Do in my lap and Monkey See hanging on my back all while holding the video camera in my right hand... yes, I am a multi-tasker!! Funny- now that I see it, it makes me a little tired. But at the time I was just in the moment and it's a normal part if our day so I didn't really think about it.

Anyway, I did it all so I could see this...

And this!!
If you ask me, it was all worth it!

Sugar Plum Fairies

As promised, here is Puddin's Sugar Plum Fairy ballet performance from this weekend. She is the one staring out with her hands up to her mouth... she had just called out, "DAD!" in the darkness. She was very concerned that she couldn't see us in our seats and was trying to find us!
She is on the back row toward the right of the screen.



And the finale...



Thank you Alyson for posting these on You Tube!

Dance, Puddin, Dance!

What a fun day we had yesterday! We went to Puddin's dance recital, Dance Across America, in Nashville. She had so much fun! And, she did a super job!
All of the little girls in her class are just precious and they all seemed to really enjoy dancing on the "big stage".

Here are a few pics of before the show...

The tap routine was to the song, "New York, New York" and the ballet dance was to "Sugar Plum Fairies"
I have a short video of the ballet routine but can't figure out how to get it online. Another mommy from the class has posted the New York routine on YouTube...
Puddin is third from the left... her hands never go up in the air until the end!
If I can figure out how to get a video on You Tube I'll post the Sugar Plum Fairies later.