Nina Turns 12

Just typing that title, Nina Turns 12, it’s hard to believe!  Twelve years ago, everything most definitely changed in our lives.  From two married adults to a little family with a baby who definitely didn’t make that transition easy.  Twelve years later, not everything is easy, but Nina is truely a joy.  She is a fun companion to spend time with, she loves animals and loves her family, and she makes sure we’re never lacking in someone to talk to. 

Since we celebrated her birthday activity at Luzia, we just had a family celebration on her actual birthday.  As always, donuts were a must for the birthday breakfast, and she got to open a couple presents, then it was off to school.  Cayenne was too funny.  I think she believes that all presents are for her.  She loves to open presents, and I think she remembers Christmas when she opens presents and gets treats inside.  She kept stealing presents out of Nina’s pile on the floor and was trying to open them.  I actually had to move the pile off the floor or she would have opened them all.  Maybe the dog wrapping paper confused her.  :)

  

When Mark got home from work she got to open the rest of her presents, and we had her birthday dinner request which was chicken tenders and mac and cheese.  She requested a cholocate frog cake as well, so she polished off the evening with that.  Her friends at school made her feel special by decorating her locker and bringing her birthday treats, so by the end of the day she said it was one of the best birthdays ever!  Happy 12th birthday, Ninster!

 

Luzia

The days after Mother’s Day were nothing but rain.  Mark left for a work trip to Los Angeles early Monday morning, Lyla’s practices were canceled, and her ScrimmageFest was canceled, but one bright spot in our week was not going to get canceled with the rain.  For Nina’s birthday this year I had gotten tickets for us to see Cirque du Soleil’s current show, Luzia.  We were bummed that Mark was going to be out of town, but we were excited for a fun a girls’ night.  Nna invited her good friend, Grace, to join us, and we had a fun dinner at Bakers Crust Artisan Kitchen where Nina especially loved her special birthday dessert - chocolate lava cake!!  Then it was off to the show.

 

The evening was rainy and quite windy outside, but inside the Cirque du Soleil tent was warm and dazzling!

We had great seats - just seven rows from the stage, so we had a wonderful view of all the action!  I had to be careful when I used my camera (no flash and no distracting the performers), so I only used my “real camera” a couple times.  

   

We were blown away by how awesome the show was.  From the music to the acrobatics to the effects, it was just awesome! It was our first Cirque du Soleil show, and while I had heard how impressive they were, I couldn’t have been more impressed! All of the performers/acts were unique, but one of the more freaky (but cool) performers was the contortionist.  The girls had watched videos about this guy before we came to the show, so they had seen a little of what he was capable of, but it was still mind blowing that someone could make their body bend that way!!!!  

 

 

The show lasted a little over two hours, then we made our way back home.  Nina’s friend spent the night, and Nina said it was one of her favorite birthday activities ever. In fact, I think we had a couple girls who were ready to run off and join the circus after that night.  :) It was an awesome evening, and it’s so nice to have girls at this age.  They’re old enough to enjoy evenings like this as companions, their enthusiasm is contagious, and they are completely entranced by fascinating sights like the ones they saw.  I’m so glad we went and had this birthday memory for Nina. It was perfect for her.

 

 

Mother's Day 2018

I’ve been meaning to get this post up all week, but one thing got in front of another, and now I’ve got a couple posts waiting.  We had a great Mother’s Day the weekend before last.  Lyla had a game after church which brought an end to her spring season regular schedule.  The team had a ScrimmageFest to play in last weekend that got rained out, and they have a Memorial Day tournament this coming weekend in Maryland.  That will bring everything to a close for soccer this year.  It’s been a great group of girls and a great team.  Lyla has had a fun year!

 

Ryleigh also had a game that afternoon, so when games were done we all met up at the Williams house for dinner.  Mark, G, Pops, and Bo had a great meal for us.  They did all the food and clean-up, and we ladies got to kick back and relax!  We have an awesome mother to celebrate!  She’s a lot of fun, she does anything she can for her family, and she’s a great example to Shen and I as well as our girls.  We are so blessed to have such a great mother to celebrate on this special day.

We can’t discuss Mother’s Day without mentioning that Shenley became a mother again this year - this time to sweet little Cleo.  :)

This is now one of my favorite pictures - the best of everything on Mother’s Day!

Last Competition

Last weekend Nina’s cheer team finished up their season with their last competition down in Virginia Beach.  She and I went down the afternoon prior to the competition and stayed at Hartfield for the night.  We went out to a great little restaurnant in Urbanna for dinner then got some ice cream and settled in at the house for the night.  The competition location was about 1.5 hours from Hartfield, so she got all ready to go then we headed over to the Virginia Beach Convention Center.  The girls did a great job on their routine. They hit all their stuts and their tumbling and dancing looked awesome.  They didn’t win (and were heartbroken about it), but they should have been proud for doing their best and representing themselves well.  Good job, team Fearless! 

 

Dog Days

Cayenne lives a pretty good life I’d say.  She’s the baby of the family, completely, and she acts so human most of the time that I’m convinced she clearly doesn’t think she’s a dog.  She has her vices (her love of human food and whining), but she is such a good dog and so sweet.

She loves her routines. She still runs with the bike or takes long walks for exercise.  She loves to swim when she gets the chance, but more than anything, she loves to cuddle with her family.

  

She is also loves to play with her friends, and she had the chance for a week while we were watching Maggie for my parents.  I took a few opportunities over the days Maggie was here to take the dogs to the dog park to let them run and play.

   

  

They also got treated to a little “spa time” from Lyla.  :)

 

Maggie settled into the routine pretty well.  She followed Cayenne up to wake up the girls in the morning, and we took a lot of walks around the neighborhood.  

 

While Maggie is always a bit mellow (therefore making it hard to tell sometimes if she’s happy or not), we hope she had a good time at Camp Simpson!

 

Cayenne got to the dog park again and met a German Shorthaird Pointer. Those two were some of the fastest dogs I’ve seen!

 

Another exciting part of our week was meeting our newest cousin, Cleo.  Shen and G got this sweet little girl a week ago, and we got the chance to visit her yesterday.  We brought Cayenne over to meet her cousin, and the two got along great!  I think Cleo is going to be a great addition to the family.  She is very sweet, playful, and already seems to get along easily with anyone.  Obviously, we’re so happy that the Williams family to made the move to get a dog - family gatherings in the future should be lively to say the least!