Wizard of Oz

Norah took a one week musical theater class, and they performed pieces from The Wizard of Oz for their final show. They danced, acted, and even all had a solo part in singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Her presence in front of an audience and her clear and beautiful singing voice left me amazed and tearful. I couldn't have been more proud and thrilled with how hard she worked and how she enjoyed herself.

Blanket cast

Norah's crafted a cast and a cane for her knee. Ellie insisted on being in the photo.

Nine Years

Nine years ago today these two young kids got married. There is no one else I would rather do life with. We've been through a lot and it's not always easy, and it's certainly not perfect, but it's always worth it.

Sous chef

Norah had camp this afternoon and Ellie helped me cook. She took her job of picking the green tops off the grape tomatoes very seriously. Then, she helped me cut up the mozzarella for caprese salad. I showed her how to cut it into cubes, and every time she would make one, she would say, "See, a koob. Another koob."

Tiny footprints

These little wet footprints on our patio will forever remind me of our summer nights spent in the sprinkler, with the hose, or in the baby pool in our backyard.

Too Cool

The sun was in her eyes, so she improvised!

Backyard Castle

The girls have spent countless hours over the last three days working on building a castle in our backyard with Liam and Nathan, our neighbors. They collected sticks and made outlines of rooms on the ground, and used small wheelbarrows to make computers. Norah, Ellie and Mike are sitting in the "meeting room" in this picture. Ellie said "Dadddy, let's talk about stuff."

Homeade Salsa

I made salsa yesterday. Mike is pretty much a salsa connoisseur, so when he declared it delicious, it made my stinging fingers from the jalapeño (all night) worth it. I finally used rubbing alcohol and milk to make them feel better. Lesson learned!

The Noise Game

I have no idea how it was invented, or when we started playing it, but The Noise Game is a simple yet hilarious game where everyone gets in a circle and tries to make the others laugh by making the funniest noise. Here is Ellie fully enjoying her introduction to it.

Cousins visit

We got to visit with the Parks family the last few days. They came to our pool tonight to play and have dinner. Norah and Ellie were in heaven!

Arkansas vacation

"Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things."

Pickle

Pickle loves Thompson and I think the feeling is mutual.

Fishing

In the early morning and evening, there was fishing from the dock. Despite the photo, Norah was not afraid of, but loved, the worms. And Uncle Joe was pretty proud of his little catch.

Afternoon nap

There are no schedules at the lake house. Hence Ellie falling asleep on the couch in the midst of about 15 noisy people, right before dinner.

Baby Bridget

We met Liza and Joe's new baby, Bridget Murray Yoder, on this trip.  She was passed around often and handled it like a champ. 

She's also such a perfect baby genius; already knows how to throw balls. 

The Lake House

On the first day in Little Rock, after having a great dinner with my aunt Marjorie and my "Grandmama," we drove up to the lake house in Heber Springs even though we were exhausted from being up since 3AM.

Coming to this house never gets old and I've done it for 33 years.  The combination of my Aunt Sharla's good food, constant laughing, family memories and jokes, sunshine and boat rides creates something that is irreplaceable and so precious. My heart was so happy to see my girls enjoying this time with my family since we live so far away.

Arkansas Trip

The girls had their first plane trip (at least the first one Norah could remember) when we flew to Arkansas for our first summer vacation. Thank goodness for screen time when leaving at 5:30AM! It was a little dark on our first flight, but on the second one, both girls looked out the window and yelled "Wheee!" and "We are going sooooo fast!" as we took off. Overall, they were excellent little travelers.

Morning Practice July 14, 2015

 Ready and prepared for swim practice.

Piano

Norah has started taking group piano lessons. It's amazing to see how much she loves and enjoys music.

Selfie

"Norah, let's take a selfie!"

Lake Swim

On Saturday my friend Joy and I did the John L Shrum memorial lake swim at Chris Greene Lake. It was my first time swimming in open water and the distance was a mile. Although I was nervous, I was happy with my time of 28:16. Definitely planning to do it again next summer.

Ice Cream

We were in Charlottesville for the night on Friday and went to Fridays after Five. The girls enjoyed a rainbow sherbet ice cream cone (which is exactly what I used to get when I was little) while watching the street performers.

Bathing Beauties

We had our friends Brooke and Tyler come to the pool to play. The girls decided to lay out and dry off before we left!

Friends

The big girls were playing somewhere and I discovered these two in the bathroom playing in the water together.

Toes in the Tub

Fire and Water

We went to a fireman/firetruck themed birthday party this morning for our friend James. It was so cute! Norah had fun being "on fire" and then "put out".

Silly flag

Ellie discovered that she could reach Daddy's neck with her flag while he was driving home from the fireworks stand.

Fourth of July

We had a great Fourth of July celebrating with family and neighbors. We went to pick out fireworks, ate yummy food, and stayed up until "the midnight hour" (as Norah said) to watch fireworks.

Accessories

Work it, girl!