End of the May

The end of May is always a very exciting time around here. We have dance recitals and gymnastics meets and music concerts and of course the end of the school year! May is very busy but I love it. It is the chaos before the calm.  This May was no exception. My parents celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary, Samuel had his last day of preschool and Annie and Elias had their final music concert. 

There was also a final orchestra concert in there too but apparently I have no photographic evidence of it. 

Bring on Summer!

Happy Mothers Day....and Anniversary

I am lucky enough that sometimes Brandon and I's wedding anniversary falls on Mothers Day as well. This year Brandon even had the day off making it extra special! Mothers day was so long ago now that I don't remember what I even did but I know it was glorious. I also managed to make both my mother and mother in law a homemade gift. I made my mom a shirt and Mim a sweatshirt. All the kids were well behaved for me and Uncle Jordan even pitched in a fed Mary a bottle. Here is to another year of killing this mother hood thing and a very happy 12th anniversary to Brandon!

Brandon and I were being silly and practicing our doe eyed selfie. I am so glad I became an adult before doe eyed selfies became a thing. 

Recital week!

Recital week is usually a crazy busy week filled with pictures, rehearsals and of course, the big recital! Brandon had already taken a ton of time off of work for various out of town trips and he really didn't have any more time to take. In addition to him not taking any days off, he was scheduled to work M-F. This only happens once every 7 weeks so of course it happened recital week! I was able to get babysitters for a few things,like pictures! Annie always has a blast doing those, her and Mirko even did an adorable duet one.

 Next up was 2 different recitals. One of them my dad took her to. The other one I tried really hard but found no help thus I had to take the boys and Mary with me. Thats right I had a 9 month old 2 year old, 4 year old and 6 year old...and they were supposed to sit still and quiet for 45 min. Since I am a seasoned mom, I knew the ONLY way this was happening was with snacks. Lots and lots of snacks. They ate an entire box of fruit snacks and a big bag of gold fish and drank 2 full bottles of water. They managed to stay quiet the entire time though.

 Finally it was time for the big recital. I always volunteer backstage at the recital. Annie started dance and had her first recital at 3 and there was no way I wasn't going to be there with her and I just never stopped. She doesn't talk to me much anymore backstage since she is too busy socializing, but I have met lots of other dance moms so its fun for all. Bonus, I get lots of fun behind the scene pictures!

Another year of dance is in the books!

Last Dance Competition

Our last dance competition was the Stars competition in Fargo. Much like the last one, we had to be at the arena by 7 but unlike like last time we didn't stay in a hotel. We woke up at the butt crack of dawn got Annie ready and busted our butts to get to the arena. Annie didn't feel well ( again) but we got her ready and she preformed her solo with no real issues. She was able to rest for a bit, found some of her teammates and was off socializing and feeling much better I suppose. Since we had so much time to kill and since the arena was so loud, I left Annie in the care of some other dance moms and walked around down town Fargo until I stumbled on Sandy's doughnuts. They were good, nothing amazing and to be totally honest I prefer hugos BUT I also kept it simple. They did have some crazy looking doughnuts that I bet were very yummy. Annie and I enjoyed our treat and then got ready for her duet. 

 After a long break it was time for Mirko and Annie to preform. They had gotten 1st at their other two competitions but there were 11 teams and they were competing in the Junior division which is a group older than the previous 2 competitions. When it was time for awards and they didn't get 4th, 3rd or 2nd I didn't think they placed. The judges gave a glowing review of the winning duet then called Annie and Mirko!! They went undefeated this season whoop whoop! To top it off they got another judges award! The judge told them they were so captivating, they better dance together until they are 30. Annie was happy to hear that!

We headed home very excited but very tired. Only 2 of us got to sleep . When we got home Mary and I hit the sunshine with the family and celebrated the end of a very crazy 5 months of gym and dance!