Nutshell

Friday in a nutshell (as told in my FB status)

Exhausted after a full day of fun:
- Slappy Cakes (make your own pancake restaurant)
- Followed immediately by Playdate PDX
- Followed immediately by dance class
- Followed immediately by a playdate with Friend Elise & Nolan
- Finally ending with all three kids asleep at my house for the Gs' date night.

Thank goodness all three kids went to sleep without protest and were asleep by of 7:30.  My patience was wearing a bit thin and D was at motorcycle training, so it was a solo performance for me.  Avery didn't get a nap, so during the afternoon, any NI (Nolan Indiscretion - things like existing, breathing, touching anything, looking at anything, etc) set her off.

Dance, Dance, Dance

When we return from our trip to California, the new session of dance classes starts.  I've signed Avery up for three back-to-back classes.  I am not sure how that's going to go, but we're giving it a whirl.  Until Friday, I'd only signed up for two classes, Pre-Ballet and Terrific Twirling. However, today Miss Erika said that the hip hop class next session would be doing Michael Jackson and, well, I couldn't resist.   I'm thinking if Avery has a clothing change between each class, that should keep her enthusiasm up.  Of course, enthusiasm is not a weak point of Avery's, so maybe just showing up will be enough.

Denied

Our lottery application for the White House Easter Egg Roll was unsuccessful.  Such a bummer.  I didn't realize until we didn't get it how much I would have liked Avery to go.  My aunt has graciously offered to have an Easter Egg hunt in her condo for Avery on Easter, so that will still be tons of fun for Avery.  Plus, she'll still get to wear her adorable Easter dress (which she is head-over-heels in love with and asks to wear on a daily basis).

Strawberry season

And now I know what I will be doing during strawberry season: picking, then leathering (thanks to Lori for sharing that link via Google Reader).

I'm also looking forward to blueberry season since Avery just loves frozen blueberries.  I plan to freeze a lot of blueberries.

My favorite pictures of me & Mom and me & Dad

I saw these two pictures, which I have sitting in one of our guest rooms, as I was tidying up today.  I figured I'd scan and share.

My favorite picture of my me and my mom is more because the picture actually came out than because it's a good picture.  It was taken the summer between my sophomore and junior year in HS. I like it so much because it's amazing the picture has our faces in it.  We were walking along a rocky beach in Wales near our relatives' house.  There was a stone wall and we just set the (film) camera on the wall, set the self timer, and hoped to at least capture some part of our faces. I think we did quite well!

My favorite picture with my dad is of him and me in our backyard when I was 2 or 3.  I don't actually remember taking it. I'm not sure how old I was, but I remember my dad often working in the yard.

Maybe I'll upload them to FB and tag my parents.