Ballet Love

For months and months Avery has been asking for ballet classes. Our dear friend's daughter Anna has taken local rec ballet classes and the teacher was so highly recommended by them. I was so excited that she could finally sign up, the classes finally start at age 3. We went to the shoe store to buy some ballet shoes and literally as soon as she put them on she started "dancing" around. At the first class she was so good, she got right into the mix and really participated so much more than I thought she would. She loved it and I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the entire 45 minutes. In fact hours after the class when she was talking about it she said "you were smiling at me" and I said "yes I was, I was so proud of you". The pictures don't do it justice but it really was so much fun. There are 9 classes and parents are only allowed at the first and last class, so there won't be more ballet pix until the end of August. Teacher Angie was just great with the girls, she is very fun but also makes them mind her. Getting 10 3-4year olds into a straight line behind her requires great patience. I am sure they will have it all figured out in a week or 2.

Movie Night

This weekend we decided to let Avery stay up late so that we could have a movie night at home. We watched Toy Story 2 which came highly recommended to us and Avery loved it. She had to go potty twice but she wouldn't budge until the movie was paused. We had popcorn and M & M's and Avery really liked Woody. We are planning to take her to the theater the weekend of her birthday to see Toy Story 3. **note: I had no idea just how much pink there is in our living room until I saw this picture and now I look around and all I see is pink. When did this happen?

Grandpa and NanaLin Came to Visit

We had the great pleasure of seeing Grandpa and NanaLin over this past week. They were on a whirlwind Southwest trip and we were lucky to have them come through LA twice during their trip. They had the privilege of going to Friday at the US Open at Pebble Beach and spent the surrounding days, including Father's Day, with us. We went to the Getty, Yogurtland, La Grande Orange and Venice Beach and Jon and I got a date night too! We had tons of fun. There are not many pictures but here are 2 from the Getty. We love any time we get to spend with these 2 special people in our lives.

Goodbye Oskar

After much talk over the past year or so, our neighbors have taken the plunge and moved out of their place and to Chicago to give the city a good try for a year. Oskar recently had a little brother, Lukas, so the 4 of them are off to Germany for the summer and then back to Chicago. We are going to miss them all so much and really hope this adventure leads only to good things for everyone. They are coming back in January so we will look forward to seeing them then. Their last interaction was so great, with lots of laughter. We watched the truck out our window and went into their apartment when it was nearly empty to help Avery understand that they were leaving for good. I thought she understood but then I stopped in there a few days later to check on something for Marisa and Avery was in the hallway in her stroller and she said "I want to see Oskar." :(
Included are some of my favorite pix of them from the past 3 years. They have grown up so much!

August 2009

April 2009

November 2008

July 2008

Elmo Live Again

Last May we went to Elmo Live with our dear friends, Deirdre, Ella and Charlotte. This time we brought along Daddy, which was most definitely a mistake. He will now compare funerals, religious services, and traffic jams to whether or not they were worse than Elmo live. He is not a fan of elmo live but Avery did enjoy it. And we enjoyed being with our friends immensely.