Finding Nemo!

I was at work a few weeks back when I got a text from Daniel containing this photo and him saying, "We need to fix the hole in our gate." 

This little guy made his way into our back yard therefore making his way into our lives.

Just by the photo, I immediately fell in love with him and so did Morgan. For whatever reason, Morgan has always loved cats and small dogs (poor Maggie). So it was instant love between these two.

 By the time I had gotten home that first day, Morgan had already named him and he was Nemo. 

 Nemo spent much of his time in Morgan's lap.

 That first night and every night he stayed with us, he slept in Morgan's room. Saying she loved it was an understatement.

 Our sweet Maggie is a lover of all people and animals (she even loves cats) and accepted Nemo into our family with open arms/paws.

Maggie let Nemo eat out of her bowl and even got to where she let Nemo eat first.

 She let him take over her bed and this wasn't a one time deal. 

 They were buds. Nemo loved Maggie and vice versa! 

Really, Nemo was a great fit for our family. He was great with the girls, he was great with Maggie, he was relatively calm considering he was only a puppy and he had a great temperament. He wasn't potty trained and still needed vaccinated and chipped and trained though.

I couldn't find him one day but eventually spotted him curled up next to Charlotte while she watched cartoons.

 Morgan said he looked like a roly poly when he slept because he was always curled up. 

To make a really long story only slightly long, I was at Starbucks one day when I saw some women who were obviously dog people. I asked them if they knew of anyone who wanted a dog. One lady said she would post his picture on Facebook and see if she could find him an owner. It ended up this lady helped us co-parent Nemo (she took him for a few nights and helped pay to get him vaccinated) and eventually found him an owner.

Nemo stayed with us for a couple of weeks. I do feel bad that we couldn't keep him but Daniel and my plates are already full. We feel content with our two girls and Maggie. We really don't need to add anything to that mix so we decided to not keep little Nemo.

It all worked out in the end though. Below is a picture the Starbucks lady sent us of Nemo with her dog. Ridiculously cute, right? 

Morgan's First Ballet Recital!

I've never been to a dance recital before and I have to say that it was amazing! I didn't always enjoy getting up early on Saturdays and taking Morgan to her ballet lessons but watching her on that stage and witnessing her so maturely perform a dance she had learned, was worth every second of the prior few months. It was a really good experience for her. She got to be a part of a rather big production and learn what goes on behind the scenes. 

Daniel and I took Morgan to a practice the night before her performance while another show was about to start and we noticed that people were lining up an hour before the show so we decided to get there early the next night.

We got in line an hour and a half before the show and were one of the first ones in line (Morgan had to be there an hour early anyway). 250 tickets were sold and it was a sold out show! People were waiting outside and not allowed in.

Since we were early, I snapped a quick photo of Morgan before she got into costume.

Morgan wasn't nervous at all and was excited for the night.

We scored front row seats! It was actually Daniel's idea to get their so early. I was proud of ourselves for pulling that off. It's rather unlike us. :)

 She's on the very left in the below two pictures.

 She was looking in the audience trying to find us. Daniel took a video of her performance and posted it on YouTube. You can see her give a thumbs up in the video after she finds us. So stinking cute!

 She's on the very right in the below two pictures.

 Third from the left below.

 Charlotte held flowers to give to sister. 

 Of course Aunt Dusty, Uncle Frank and Cousin Chase came to watch. They're so supportive! I felt horrible that I didn't invite my parents. We didn't find out what night she performed until a couple of weeks before and I was so wrapped up with everything that I just forgot to invite my parents! 

 I was blown away while watching her on stage. I really can't put into words how it felt to watch her perform. It felt like she had just arrived on this earth and here she was "all grown up" dancing on stage in front of a huge crowd and I was the lucky one who got to be her momma. I had no idea it would feel this way. We're so proud of her!

 We celebrated as a family with ice cream afterwards.

I will always fondly remember this experience and hope she does too.

End Of Year Awards!

Daniel and I got to attend Morgan's award ceremony at school. They each received their awards and then performed some songs for us.

 Morgan is with the principal of her school below holding her award.

 Their little songs were darling! I teared up. Of course.

 I tried getting a pic with my girl but it was too bright outside for her. 

She was trying though, lol.

Daniel and I are so proud of her. This year has been more than I expected in a lot of ways. I didn't realize it would be so much work for the parents! Morgan had lots of homework every night and she started the year not knowing a whole lot. She really had to start from scratch but now she can read and write and that's amazing! We're excited that she was only in Transitional Kindergarten and that she'll in a sense get to "repeat" this year. I think after Kindergarten she'll really be in the swing of things and ready to move on to bigger and better things. 

I'm excited to experience each year of school with this child of mine. I know soon enough she'll be venturing out into the world on her own so I want to cherish every moment I can before that happens.

Charlotte's First Movie!

Memorial Day Weekend, Morgan and I took Charlotte to see her very first movie in the theater.

 I loved watching her face as she entered the doors into the expansive theater. She had this look of "wow"!

Below she doesn't look happy but she was just taking it all in. 

 Just like her sister, she did great! We saw Rio 2. At one point I whispered to her and she loudly whispered, "Shhhhhhhhhhh......Mommy! Be quiet!"

Oy.

Time For Some Baseball!

Let the summer activities begin!

Thanks to the company I work for, we enjoyed another fun Grizzlies baseball game in the suite! I'm telling you the suite is the best way to go when you have really little ones.

I think Morgan looks so mature in the below picture. She was clapping and watching the game.

 Charlotte watched the game while sitting with her daddy below.

 Love these pictures of these two. Look how Charlotte put her arm around her daddy in the above picture. 

 Each suite has their own server so we ordered food and drinks (that were brought to our suite) so we never even had to leave the comforts of our seats.

 We went with my sister and her family, our friends Brent, Lainie, Jacob and Tammy too!

 

 The girls quickly got restless so I set them up with snacks and a movie inside. It was perfect because I was able to have a drink, watch the game (talk to my friends actually) and relax!

 We were shocked when Parker just walked into our room! What a treat! I felt pretty lucky to be enjoying all these luxuries for free. 

Look how happy Morgan looks below.

 It may be hard to see but Daniel took Morgan down to the field to run the bases. She's below in the very middle of this picture. She did a great job! She's actually a pretty good runner. 

 Uncle Frank was loving on his wittle boy!

This was a really fun day.