Katherine danced in her third recital on May 20th. Happy Anniversary to us!
After a busy morning of soccer, she changed and we drove to the recital. She packed in a power nap on the way.
Then we came home and got her all dolled up for her big night.
Her wiggle during her figer pointing is the best part of her dance.
She's a natural in front of a camera.
This smile pose is one of my favorite parts of her dance.
Leslie sent me this pic from back stage. Apparently she and Brynn stood at the door and chatted to each other from across the hall while they waited fr their turn to dance.
Sweet girl rocked the stage during her dance. Near the end one of her friends didn't move to a new place like she was supposed to, and Katherine handled it like a champ. I could see her face get flustered for a second but it didn't phase her. Proud of her!
Papa always brings the prettiest flowers for his girl.
We gave her a pair of ballet earrings in lieu of flowers.
Katherine had a fun year dancing with her friend Mackenzie (and I had a fun year chatting with her mom during their class each week).
We took our little dancer out for a treat after her recital.
Katherine loves the stage and performing. I think dance might be an activity she sticks with long term. As much as she loves dancing, I sure love watching her do her thing!
Our Sweet Katherine Grace graduated from Pre K this year. My goodness, it was the most bittersweet thing to watch my baby close a chapter that has been a part of our lives for nine years. Nathan started at Community Preschool when he was three years old, and all four of the kids attended pre k there, and all four of them had wonderful, wonderful experiences. They made friends (and have kept many of them over the years), learned from the best teachers, grew in confidence and gained many skills. Truly, I'm so thankful we had the resources for each of the kids to get to attend.
I also realized how I've evolved as a mother over the years. When Nathan attended preschool, it was such a big part of our life. I intentionally sought out and fostered friendships, we played on the playground often after school, planned play dates, etc. I'm so grateful for that, but with Katherine I'm also thankful to be in a steady place in motherhood with many solid friendships, activities, and rhythms in our lives. Her pre k year seemed more of an extra than the main thing. Nothing wrong with that, just a different season of life.
My girl absolutely loved school. She was sad anytime she had to miss (even if we were doing something really cool, like being at Universal Studios). She adored, I mean adored her teachers. Thankfully, her favorite teacher attends our church and is in our Sunday school class, so she regularly still gets to hug her. She was also in class with her best friend Laura, and another good friend Avery. Throughout the year, our friendly, happy girl made even more friends, and became a leader in her class. She regularly came home sharing what she had learned that day or the fun activities she did. Her class visited the Baptist Village monthly and sang to the residents. They went to the pumpkin patch and the zoo, performed a Christmas program, had class parties, did science experiments and went on nature walks. It was such an enriching, sweet year for our soon to be Kindergartener. While I'm sad that my baby is growing up so fast (and her siblings aren't growing any more slowly), I'm always grateful for the front row seat I get to play in her life, watching her grow and mature into such a special girl. She is a treasure!
Her little graduation program was adorable.
She told me she had a surprise for me. She got to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.
They sang some of the songs they sing in class each day too.
Her smiles light up the world.
On To Kindergarten!!
Nathan found a Calico Critters Penguin Set and wanted to buy it for her for a graduation gift. Those two have the sweetest relationship.
She told me the other day, that she's glad she's not going to public school next year, because she doesn't want to be away from me all day, everyday. I feel the exact same. We'd miss each other too much. I'm looking forward to continuing to fuel her love of learning at home next year. Even though PreK was the absolute right place for her to be, we all still missed her on the three days a week she wasn't at home. We're excited to all be together next year!
I'll always remember the blessing that Community Preschool was for my babies and for me.
When we looked at prices of flights for our trip, we realized that flying to Orlando a day early had significant savings- more than the amount of an extra night at our resort. We booked that flight which gave us a free day after our five day passes for the parks had all been used. None of us minded an extra day to play and enjoy our resort.
That morning after we got ready, we explored City Walk for a bit. We had put off browsing a lot of shops or buying any souvenirs because we knew we'd have plenty of time on Friday to look around.
The kids had fun exploring the shops- and realizing how over priced everything is. Samuel really wanted to spend some of his money, but in the end, couldn't justify the prices of everything. I was proud of his decision making.
For lunch we surprised the kids with reservations at the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. The kids had asked a few times during our week if we could eat there.
They were pretty happy we said yes.
The theming was cute, the food was standard tourist food, and the overpriced milkshakes were fine. We paid for the experience, and it was a good one.
After lunch we walked back to our resort and spent the next few hours at the pool.
Katherine reminded us that she is a fish just like her brother, Samuel.
This girl does pretty awesome without any formal swim lessons.
We rode the water slide a few times, played ping pong, tossed around beachballs in the pool, and Matt and I even read a few chapters in our books. It was a needed time of relaxation after a full week.
That evening we explored our resort a bit more and ran into King Julian. I love the surprises at Universal. Samuel looked one more time at the gift shop at the resort for a souvenir also.
We ended the night with popcorn for dinner and a few episodes of Shark Tank.
The next morning our flight didn't leave out until 12:00 (thankfully I was able to reschedule the one we originally booked that flew out at 6:00am and had a layover). Since we had some time in the morning we rode the water taxi back to City Walk for one last vacation treat.
Then we packed up and ubered to the airport for our flight home.
The direct flights to and from Orlando certainly spoiled us, especially when we thought about the 20 hour drive we expeceted to have. Thank you for affordable flights!
