Dance, Ugly Cries and T Turns 39!

I ugly cried in front of my class after receiving this card from a student's family.  They also brought me sushi for lunch and roses.  

Genevieve enjoyed her first dance class.  

Last weekend we visited T's parents to celebrate his 39th birthday.  

Aunt Shirley was there too.  

Caroline and Aunt Katie came too.  

The cake was fabulous.

Clearly the party then got pretty crazy.

Photo credit:  Papi

That's his knee.

There was swimming.  

Papi did his usual swinging.  

It was a great weekend.  

Happy Birthday to my sweet man.  

Back from a Long Hiatus!

My lack of writing is directly correlated to my school work load.  After 8 years out of the classroom, I feel like I'm 22 again trying to figure it all out.

Except this time I actually know how to teach, not like my 22 year old goofball self.  The grading, the planning, and managing my time are keeping me busy.  

So let's see.

We went to church.  

G liked her dress.

Last Sunday after her post mass nap, we went to a splash pad.  

She was just a little bit excited.  

I decided to join in the fun.  It was HOT.

Yesterday we left Genevieve at our house with Abby and Papi so we could have a fun little overnighter in Chicago to celebrate T's final year in his 30s.

Our first stop was to see my tiny bestie Kate and her precious baby, Eloise.

The happy family of 3.  

I love that Scott is like 15" taller than Kate.  

Check out that face.  

I fulfilled my obligation with a ridiculous gift in the form of a marabou feather headband.

So practical.  

She's like a tiny and fluffy pink baby bird!

Trinity held a 3 month old baby for the first time since, well, we had a 3 month old baby.  

I got my groove back too.

That feeling.

There's nothing like it.  

She typically prefers her mama, but she tolerated her mama's giant lady friend for short bits of time.  

We left that little bundle of sweetness and checked in at the Hotel Allegro, a new spot for us.

We had to shuffle around the bed to navigate the room, which is pretty typical in Chicago.    

Trinity liked the cucumber infused water and peach and pomegranate infused teas.  

His face here kills me.

After check in, we walked straight to Sprinkles.  I have eaten 3 cupcakes since yesterday at 4:00.

We got my favorite banana with dark chocolate icing, and then another banana with vanilla icing, a vanilla cupcake and a seasonal green tea cupcake with lavender buttercream icing.  That one was supposed to help me get me Zen on.  

Mission accomplished.

We picked up some birthday gifts for my main man at his mother ship, Patagonia.  

Then it was off to my own mother ship, TB.

T snapped this after we left laughing our tails off over the customers that were inside.

When we walked in I saw my beloved candle and this woman standing near me started in about candles.  She was a primo name dropper.  "My son's mother in law knew Tory's family when they lived in London, and I think she fashioned these candles after candles that you can buy in London."

So you sorta know Tory Burch?

Great.

On to the 2nd floor.  Now when you shop they offer you a beverage.  Trinity took a seat and immediately started chugging down water after his cupcake.  There was a crew that resembled folks at a Nascar race in the shoe department.  There were 4 men hanging all over this gorgeous velvet couch with Coronas in hand. The female shopper with them had a Corona in her hand as well, and I heard her say, "just keep those Coronas coming!"  It was like they were in their basement wearing Earnhardt flame resistant jumpsuits.  That poor salesgirl.  I think they probably went through a case of beer on those fools and she probably bought a pair of rubber flip flops.  

Back to uppity snootiness.  I then heard another woman say to a salesman, "I'm going to try on a bunch of clothes and I need you to get my daughter (about age 5) an iPad right now."

Well, clearly TB employees aim to please because that brat was soon playing games and her mother was in a dressing room trying on clothes in sizes that wouldn't fit her left calf.

Ah, it was quite the experience.

I bought nothing and left thanking the Lord that I don't work retail.  

We saw this creepy pink whale outside of Vineyard Vines.

I was even more dismayed that I was sort of dressed like the whale.  

We dined at The Hubbard Inn.

Ironically, I met Kate's husband there for the first time there when they were dating.

Trinity has better legs than I do.  

The next morning we visited the Garfield Park Conservatory.  It was about 10x the size of the one we have in Indy.  

This wall and fountain were so gorgeous!

Thank you to Abby and Papi for keeping our girl happy as can be!  

A Visit with Caroline

Genevieve went home with my parents on Saturday after her dance orientation.  She spent a lot of time in her playhouse, which is a tiny version of my childhood home.

Finny the kitty made a good playmate.  

There was plenty of blue tutu wearing.  

Mom and Dad took Genevieve down to Newburgh for the night to see Uncle Chip, Aunt Katie, and Cousin Caroline.  

They lounged on Frankie's bed.  

My sister bought my child more tiny crap.  

Genevieve gave Caroline quite the send off to school on Monday morning.  

What?

Caroline won't be back before I leave?

I'm so glad she had such a fun weekend.  

1st Full Week of School 2015

Well, I officially have a battle on my hands each morning with my precious daughter.  She no longer wants to wear pants or shorts of any sort.  She only wants dresses and skirts, but of course, she has particular ones that she will only wear.  

My first full week at school went well.  The honeymoon period is over, so they are now showing themselves to be quite chatty.  I can handle that, as long as they are kind to each other.  We just have to work on a little more self control with talking.

On Friday evening we met our friends, the Newtons, at the new LDS Temple in Carmel.  It is the only temple in Indiana.  It was fascinating to see and interesting to learn a bit about a different religion.  

On Saturday we had Genevieve's orientation for her new dance career.  She will be taking a toddler tap/ballet combination class once a week.  Here she checked out her classroom, complete with mirrors and tiny little barres.  

Then it was time to be fitted for shoes.

She was very patient.

Then she got to tapping like Mr. Bojangles.

Next up was the leotard.

We tried one on for size.

I want purple!!!!!

 Yes, purple.  

Yes, I still want purple.  

And we have purchased purple.

It was not removed.  

That's G, Copper, Todd and one foolish mother with a plastic bag full of $85 worth of dance attire.  

Then we met princesses.

Her teacher, Katie, was quite lovely. 

We took a sleigh ride with Anna, 

 and then ended the party with Elsa and a stop at Petunia, the Flying Cupcake truck.  

We still have 3 weeks until her first class, so I'll be fighting a daily battle over wearing that lavender tutu.