Preparing for Recital

 As we close out April, we are in full swing dance recital mode. The girls got to bring their costumes home last week. Our tickets for all the family are ordered. If not daily, at least several times a week, I get the question from one or the other "How many more days till my recital?!"

 Here they are with their costumes and here are both our young ladies practicing their recital dances during their dance classes. Thanks to all their teachers at The Studio for all their hard work and all they have taught our little dancers this year!

 They also have begun to watch other classes perform and other classes watch their class as well. They have also been practicing their finale.
                                

 Due to one outgrowing her ballet shoes and lost ballet shoes too, they now have new shoes for recital too. Thankful ballet shoes were on sale this past week! Here they are trying out some ballet moves in the shoe store mirror!

 

Here is a sneak peek of each of their costumes. I can't hardly believe how grown up they look in these pictures and that in just a few days, we are about to finish our 2nd and 3rd years of dance already!

 So, girls, in answer to your question, it is just 16 Days until your recital!

Family Time

 The rest of our week in North Carolina gave us a chance to see all the girls' living grandparents, great-grandparents and aunt and uncles (except Uncle Jared and Aunt Brooke who were out of town. We got time with Nana and Papa and Uncle Jason and Aunt Brittany for supper one evening.

 Bethany got to try some new things while down in NC like a bath in the sink and North Carolina strawberries.

 The big girls had fun feeding the fish at the pond with Daddy.

 Because we live as far away as we do and because the girls grow so quickly, I always try to get several pictures of the girls with the family when we visit. The added bonus this time was all the flowers and trees were in bloom too. Here are some of my favorites with Nana, Mimi and Grams.

 We got to spend a day with Mimi, Pop and Grams as well. The girls got to open their Easter surprises from Grams (they are enjoying their PJs already, Mimi and Grams, thanks!)

 We just enjoyed some time visiting together with Mimi, Pop and Grams. These girls got lots of snuggles, for sure!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   We also got to see Grandpa and Cici for a little while and had a good time visiting.

 

 Boom Boom Papa and Nanny Joyce surprised us and we got to see them as well. Boom Boom Papa was known as just Papa when I was little but now that our girls have come along Brent's Dad is Papa as well. So my Papa has become Boom Boom Papa because he has always taken each grandchild and now great grandchild and bounced them on his knee with a special little rhythm that begins with "A-boom, boom, boom"  so now "Boom-Boom Papa" he is to our girls.  As you can see, he has a good sense of humor too! Yes, that is Bekah's bow on top of his head.

 Ethan had a surprise for us too. Here he is in his stander. This was great to see him being able to be in the stander now and we were glad we got to see this in person and we were very proud of him. We were comparing how tall he and Brent are with him in his stander. We are also praying for him as he has another surgery coming up May 6th.

 On the last leg of our trip, we headed to see Brent's grandparents, Big Mama and Big Papa to our girls.

 Rachel was fascinated by their set of Lincoln Logs this trip and we spent a good amount of time building with these while we visited with Big Mama and Big Papa.

 Big Papa picked out a hat of his for each of the girls to try on and wear for a little while. They all had fun modeling his hats for us.

 We headed back up to Virginia through Greensboro on the last day of our trip and got to see Aunt Ashelyn one more time when we met for lunch. She took us to a yummy burger place where we ate outside and the kids had their own kid sized tables, and space to use sidewalk chalk all on the cement. It was great!

 We feel very blessed to be able to see all our family during our time down in North Carolina. We love each of you and are glad we got to see you all!

Sandcastles

While we were down in North Carolina, we did get a couple days at the beach. These girls did not care one bit that it was April. They went straight in the water! They would play a little bit and then ask for their coverup and then head right back out in the water.

This little one thought big seashells were fascinating to hold

She even enjoyed breakfast on the beach one morning and then was completely worn out from all the excitement.

 
 We did some looking for shells and sharks teeth too and actually found quite a few for April.
 
 
As the big girls are getting older, they are getting more interested in building sandcastles when we are at the beach. That is something I have always loved at the beach also so we had fun with building for the little while we were at the beach. When I was little we always went down to Topsail and it was really neat to watch my girls build sandcastles about 30 feet from where I built them as a child and to build with my own girls now!!

Here are some of their castles.

We built one very large castle...well, actually, they each had a castle side by side that was connected by a road they decided. Here they are working on their castles

Here is the finished big castle. We had so much fun working on this together!

These sisters had a fun time at the beach together. The picture on the left was this past week and the picture of the right was Bethany in the same onesie the last time we were at the beach in September. Amazing how fast they grow!
The one other thing they asked if we could do was go to the Fort Fisher Aquarium while we were down there. So we headed there for just a few hours one afternoon. This is one of their favorite things we do when we are down this way, and they had something new at the aquarium. The lorikeet exhibit had just opened this month. Lorikeets basically look like very small and very very colorful (and loud) parrots.

Bekah wanted to feed them the nectar on the ground but they would crawl up on your arm or shoulder if you stood with the nectar, as you can see with Rachel here.

As you can see Bethany was enthralled by them, though she didn't like it as much when they screeched!
 
Nana had sent the girls a little Easter treat in their cards so they were able to take their Easter money and each get a small stuffed animal and a book at the aquarium. They were thrilled about this! Thanks, Nana!
We rode the ferry since we were down by Fort Fisher, though the rain was moving in by then, the girls still had fun.

We enjoyed our little bit of beach time while we were down in NC!