Masquerade Ball

All 5th and 8th graders attended a Masquerade Ball at Grace's school a couple weeks ago.  The fifth graders had been practicing for months.  They danced ballroom with various kids in their class and a couple with Dad or Mom.

Grace's mask and dance card

with Dad afterward

before the procession

The list of dances

It was a beautiful evening and the kids had a great time.

Flowers around my house

 Anniversary roses

 A tulip part of my handpicked bouquet from Isabel

She ran to give them to me

A bunch of flowers cupped in her precious little hands

"For you Mommy"

A tulip in full bloom in our backyard

~~~

Playdate with Isabel

I had a playdate with Isabel.  We did a few of her favorite things.

Tea anyone?

Everything was so lovely and only the finest would do

Then we played teacher

She is looking so smart in her teacher glasses with paper and pen

Grace for the day

I proclaim God's grace over you today

May His grace cover you with favor

surround you with love

heal what has been broken

restore what has been stolen

and give you peace

Craftiness on a snow day

Yesterday the kids had a snow day, so we got our craftiness on and made one of these.  I'm sure you've seen them around the web before.  I've wanted to do this for a long time and a snow day seemed like a good time to do it.


Hot glue some crayons to a white canvas.  (we painted white over this old canvas - and, yes, that is a paintbrush in the middle.)  It doesn't have to be perfect, unless you're one of those types that it does have to be perfect, in which case, take a deep breath.

 add a silly child

and start blow drying

and blow dry some more

and some more

until you have something like this:

Isabel added some sparkle to the right side which is hard to see in the pictures but very pretty.  Fun project.  I recommend it.

If you had a snow day too,

I hope you had a fun day!

Easter

Our Easter was full of eggs, bunnies, chocolate, and church.

Jesus rocks.

skiing

We did some skiing on Spring Break.

And some swimming.

Then we went skiing.

Isabel did a day in ski school since it was her first time.

Here she is showing me her ski pass.  So proud.

The next day we all skied together.

Isabel was a bit nervous riding up the gondola.  But she made it and everything was fine.

And I got to ski with this girl the whole morning.  She was awesome.

We ate a lot.  This was the view from the restaurant in our hotel.

I knew this hotel was for me when I walked in for breakfast and they had these HUGE gorgeous cups for coffee.  Ahhhh, I could really relax now.

Mike and Isabel enjoying the hot tub in the morning hours - because if we weren't skiing, then, of course, we were swimming, right?

Vail is amazing and one of my favorite places to be.  So glad we got to hang out there for a few days and relax.  We met people from all over the world and around the United States and heard many languages spoken.  It was a great time.