Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Lyla's Spring Program was today and it was titled "The Rainbow and God's Promise."  It was so cute.  I loved watching Lyla sing and stand their with her friends.  She quickly spotted me in the crowd and sometimes between songs she would say "Mommy!"  I loved it!  

That morning as we were eating breakfast, Lyla performed one of the songs for me.  I loved my private performance!

Here they are walking in.  They all wore colors of the rainbow.  Lyla wore a light blue shirt.

I could not get good pictures for some reason.  They were all blurry, but you can still see the cuteness.  The songs they sang were:

My God is So Big

Rise and Shine

The Rainbow Song

His Banner Over Me is Love

Jesus, You Sure Know How to Color

Good, Better, Best

You Are So Good

Here is a short clip of "His Banner Over Me is Love."

They were so cute walking out and I love this song!

My little lunch date!  I took Lyla to Tijuana Flats to celebrate her first stage performance ever!!  The line was so long at the restaurant, but she did so good waiting.  I was so proud of her.

Yet Another Haircut

Lately every time I brush Lyla's hair she says "Ouch!" about 10 times, so I decided it was time for HAIRCUTS!  

Lyla sat in the big girls chair this time and she watched a Hello Kitty DVD.  She loves getting her haircut just like she loves going to the doctor, dentist, and swim lessons.  This girl is a pro at things like that.  

 Caroline, on the other hand, wrapped her legs and arms around me and I had to force her into the boat and strap her in.  They calmed her down by painting her nails with glitter.  This was her first time having her nails painted and she really enjoyed it. 

 She cried off and on during her haircut.  She watched a Barney DVD.  Here she is leaning over so she doesn't miss a second of Barney.

 Then she melted down at the end.  I have finally learned that you should also take pictures of crying and screaming if nothing else, just to show them later in life when their kids are doing it.  Plus we had to document everything for Dad while he was away.

 Lyla posing after her haircut.  I never could get one of Caroline afterwards.

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a fun Mother's Day weekend, except for Tommy being on the ship.  I really missed Tommy and wanted him here to celebrate Mother's Day with us, but I filled the weekend (or actually my friends did) with fun activities to keep us busy.  Saturday morning we went to the beach for their friends Ryan and Delany's birthday party.  It was a sharks and mermaids party, which was such a cute theme for a boy and girl.  The mother did a great job and had water games which included water balloons.  All of the kids loved popping the water balloons.  So much that I want to make a bunch and take the girls outside to play with them.  I always try so hard to get a picture of my two girls together, but the last thing Caroline wants to do is be still next to someone for a picture.  She was so cute though, that I had to post a picture even if she wasn't looking. 

Lyla playing in the sand.  It was an extremely windy day so playing in the sand wasn't easy.

Tommy told me before he left that a package would come, but not to open it until Mother's Day.  So when it came I gave it to Lyla and told her that Daddy said to hide it and give it to me for Mother's Day.  So Lyla did hide it and kept telling me not to go in her closet.  She asked every day after then when Mother's Day was (and we had at least two weeks to go).  Finally the day came, and Lyla brought the book to me in bed.  I flipped through it and nearly cried as it has pictures from the last four years, the entire time I've been a Mother.  

We skipped church on Mother's Day because one of my dear friends who is also a Navy wife with a deployed husband hosted a brunch and playdate for several of us Navy wive's whose husbands were also on the ship. Everyone brought a brunch dish to share and it was all so yummy!  It was a great way to spend the day. 

I am one proud mommy.  I am blessed with two sweet cute girls.

She's Crafty!

No, I'm not blogging about a Beastie Boys song, but my crafty little Lyla!  I've always had a hard time throwing stuff away, but now its really hard because Lyla says "Don't throw it away, I'll make it into a craft."  Yesterday she cut up and colored on a band aid box to keep me from throwing it away.  

Her rainbow made out of licorice and rolos at school.

Paper hats we made for her and her baby doll.  I love the internet because I really didn't know the best way to do this. 

Glueing bird and flower cut outs her Nana George sent her.

More cut outs from Nana. She glues anything that she gets.

Paper flowers we made with paper and pipe cleaners.  Lyla loves the cartoon Caillou and on one episode he and his mom made these, so guess what we had to do too?

President's hat she made at preschool.  She told me she was President Obama.  I've never seen him wear this particular hat, but maybe he does.

Sock flowers made from mismatched or too small socks.  She loves to watch Noodle and Doodle, which is where this craft idea came from.  

Mommy & daughter easter crafts.  We used almost an entire bag of cotton balls.  If we make this again, I will use little plates.  Lesson learned.

Not really a craft, but her teacher sent me this picture of them doing a number matching game the week of Easter.  

 Her teacher sent me this one too.  They did "under the table coloring" the week they learned the letter U. 

Her nana sent her this Easter cross.  All the colors are foam stickers and you had to match them up and stick them on the cross.  I was making breakfast and she wanted to do this.  I told her "after breakfast" but she said she could do it all by herself.  She was right, she did do it all by herself.  She is so smart.  

Lyla does such wonderful crafts everyday at home and at school and I wish I could keep every single one of them but there is not enough room.  She loves to cut, glue, color, paint and do stickers.  I can't tell you how many glue sticks she has gone through.  I just love to see what she will come up with next.

Getting into the swim of things!

We started ISR swim lessons last week from Ms. Trisha.  Lyla took these lessons last year when she was three and I wished I had started her sooner, when she was one.  She loved it last year, so this year I put Caroline in at 16 months old for the first time and Lyla did two weeks of refresher lessons.  The first week Caroline screamed through her lessons so I didn't take many pictures.  However, this week was a totally different story.  She now loves Ms. Trisha, is enjoying the water, and swimming like the cutest little fish.  She loves swimming to the steps and standing up, but doesn't enjoy swimming to the wall very much.  

 Here is Lyla getting ready for her lesson.  She and Trisha are great friends.  

We call this Lyla's starfish float.  The idea is that they swim towards the edge of the pool, and when they need a breath, the turn over and float, then continue swimming to the edge.  

Muffins with Mom

This morning, Lyla's preschool class invited the mom's to join them for "Muffins with Mom."  I was so excited about this morning and got a sitter for Caroline so I could focus on Lyla.  I knew she had worked so hard getting ready for that day, and wanted to devote those 30 minutes just to her.  The first thing they did was run into the hallway saying, "Mom, mom!" and she grabbed my hand and led me in to my chair and she pulled my chair out for me to sit in.  It was so precious.  Then we sat and looked at the beautiful thoughtful gifts she had made for me.  Below she is holding the potholder with her name and handprint on it.  I don't think I'll use this because I don't want a lasagna stain on that precious handprint.  

The other gifts were a vase with foam flowers and one flower has her Fall picture on it.  Then I got a Mother's Day prayer card with her Spring picture on it.  

Then the kids sat on the carpet and sang the cutest little song about Mom's.  

After the song, Ms. Mary Kay read the fill in the blanks the kids helped with.  Lyla's answers were pretty funny.  

Then they came back to the tables for some hugs and breakfast.  It was such a fun morning.  I appreciate her teachers helping her with all of this.  It means so much to me.  

Tea Time!

Look at this cutie that I got to have tea with.  Some of my mommy friends and I got sitters for our babies, and took our big girls out for tea.  We went to the this little tea place at the Beach.  It was so cute, and luckily we had our own little private room, because the girls weren't quiet or perfectly behaved, but overall we had a good time with our little sweeties.  One of the mommies brought these cute tea hats and a butterfly craft for the girls.  Then the lady at the tea place brought them cute little scarves.  It was truly a traditional tea.  

This is such a sweet picture of Lyla

Me and my sweet girl

The girls decorating their butterflies

Here's the whole crew.  These are my best friends in Jacksonville and I don't know what I would do without them.  They are great friends and wonderful mothers, and not to mention some of the strongest people I know.  They are also my workout and running buddies.  We run races, do pull ups, push ups, and so many other fun things together.  Our husbands think we are a crazy bunch of women but we actually enjoy running together at 5:30AM on a Saturday morning.  Our girls are also BFF's and love each other so much.