Ballet Lessons

Today was Kami and her good friend Reese's first ballet lesson. The lessons are held on Tuesday mornings from 11-11:30 at the Grand Rapids School of Ballet located at 341 Ellsworth, Grand Rapids MI 49503. Miss Jennifer is the instructor of the 12 little ballerinas. Here are some photos and video clips for you to enjoy. I'll try to point out which one is Kami. Kami's good friend Reese is also in the pics and videos since they are taking the class together.

Kami is the second ballerina from the left. Reese is the ballerina between the girl in black and the other girl in dark pink. Here they are doing some barr work (waving at themselves at the big mirror across the room). There is no sound since I shot this through the glass door/windows in the hallway.

This video shows up as a black screen - just press play and the video will begin. Kami and Reese are next to each other (to the left of the girl in dark pink). The group is learning the "first position" with their feet - heels together with toes separated to form a "v" shape.

The class allows for family/visitors to watch the girls during class on the 3rd (Oct 7) and 6th (Oct 28) class. Please feel free to come watch our little ballerina learn ballet.

PATIO!

Before
During
After
The girls hand prints in the wet concrete

For years our heavily shaded back yard has been somewhat of an eyesore due to its inability to grow grass resulting in a lot of dirt and mud. After having a small stump ground out a few months ago we finally decided to add-on to our small brick patio with a concrete patio. The girls and I had an absolute blast watching the concrete guy dig out the area for the patio, pour and spread the concrete and then add our own personal "touch" to the almost completed patio. Here are some before and after pics.

Family Face Painting

Our summer has been full of various activities, including picnics and festivals. One of the most popular things to do at these fun events that our girls just love is face painting. Tonight we decided that grilling out at home with friends was a perfect excuse to try some homemade face painting. I pulled out the WASHABLE Crayola paints, brushes and spread newspaper over the kitchen floor and let the fun begin. Rian loves to have butterflies painted on her and she does a great job sitting still. Kami did a great job painting balloons on her daddy's face! After Rian was done getting painted on she wanted to try painting on someone. I was her first victim! After wiping globs of paint off my eye lashes, Kami declared that Rian had painted fireworks on my left cheek. Daddy also got some "fireworks" painted on his cheek. Both girls became adorable kittens (or lions) after a few whiskers were added to their cheeks. We had a lot of fun doing this as a family and it washed off easily in the tub!

Huge Sale

For any of you moms out there looking for a great place to sell your gently used children's stuff (clothing, furniture, toys...) or for those looking to buy some of these items check out this site - westmichiganmomsale.com. The date for the next sale is Saturday, September 27 from 9am-3pm. Follow the link above for directions and additional information.