back in the pool

what a great weekend!!  on thursday we had an early breakfast at my mom and dad's house before max's ISR lesson.  then we laid pretty low for the rest of the day.

friday morning, we went to my friend christina's house for a playdate with evelyn and everett!!  then max and i met up with roger for ISR.

week 3 is down - ms. kari said max has the swim-float-swim sequence down, she is just working with him on doing the roll-back on his own (he's trying to push for a longer swim, but it's good because he's a strong swimmer) and quieting his float.  we're so proud of our little fishy!!!  

after ISR, we rejoined the playdate - christina filled up the pool for the kiddos!!

then she made a delicious quesadilla lunch!

ok, so ella and i had a delicious quesadilla lunch.  max literally drank his salsa.

home for naps, then the cotters came over for dinner!

jack and ella in coordinating princess shoes.  :-)

all of the kids quieted down for the 'letter factory'

saturday morning, up for an early run in sabino canyon.  then home and off to the farmer's market to meet up with jenny, colin, jack and josie again!  i love the fact that max's new found excitement about a princess heel and necklace was inspired by jack, not ella.  :-)

after the farmer's market, we spent a relaxing morning at the pool.  

my parents came over in the afternoon so roger and i could go out.  we went to verizon to get a new phone (yay, my 4 year old iPhone was getting pretty sad), then did a little bit of shopping before meeting his boss and wife and some friends at north (one of our faves) for dinner and drinks.  LOVED my time out with my amazing hubby!!

fairytale ending

we had a super relaxing weekend (roger, aren't you proud??) - highlighted by movie night on saturday and then food truck round-up in civano for dinner.  it was the perfect sunday night dinner to take a long walk to a park, get dinner out of various food trucks, and then grab cups of gelato for the walk home.  

second (and last) week of ella's fairytale workshop!!  monday was 'belle' day so she got to dance in a long yellow tutu.  :-)

apparently she learned there was a move in ballet that lets her hop around the dance studio.  this is clearly her favorite.  

yesterday ella accompanied max and me to ISR.  she did a great job cheering him on during his lesson.  after it was over, she asked if she could help me get him dry and back into his clothes.
me:  thanks for helping, ella.  i'm going to dry him off and then can you please hand me his diaper and then his shorts and shirt?
ella:  yeah.  i know.  i've got this under control.

today's ballet theme was the 'nutcracker,' and she even got to keep her tiara and tutu!  i arrived back at the studio when they were in the middle of their craft time.  she was working hard on her picture frame and turned to her teacher, ms. carrie, and said "look what i'm capable of!"  haha.

a little blurry, but great leap, els!!!

she loved her ballet workshop and starts ballet and tap combo in a few weeks!

pizza/pool party

fun day yesterday - playdate with the kids' friends, evelyn and everett at our house.  then they joined us, along with alora and charlotte for dinner at peter piper!

goofing around with my fave girl.  

yay, peter piper!

dinner with her girls

max and alora putting in some teamwork to drive the car

this morning, my parents came over and we took a very quick trip to the zoo.  first up was the train!

the conductor saw my dad sitting on the bench and gave the grumpy man a free ride.  and his own train car!

then we all accompanied max to ISR - week 2 is done!!

here's a quick video - ms. kari gives him gentle cues to do his roll-overs and she also said that he is sustaining his own float (she just has her hands there for safety).  go max!!

shake and bake

pics from the 'run with the roosters'

yeah.  we know we're dorks.  

so this week it's been dance (that's the 'shake' part of the title) and one day of 'creation station' - where the kids made little snacks with various ingredients (the 'bake' part of the title).  day 1 (of 4) of ella's fairy tale ballet workshop was 'cinderella.'

they are learning technical ballet moves, having story time and snacks and then they do a little craft - it's adorable!

demonstrating a 'demi plie' when we got home.

tuesday was 'creation station' - she had a great time, made and ate some yummy food, and decorated her own chef's hat and apron!

today, after an appointment with the allergist (required annually), it was back to day 2 of her fairy tale workshop - aurora day!

after a lengthy debate with her ballet teacher about where the tutu should sit on her.  

practicing her 'tandeau.'  

tonight, my parents came over - we had a great time with you both - thanks for dinner, playing with us on the playground and reading our bedtime stories to us!!  :-)

els is loving ballet and meanwhile max has been doing amazing in ISR (he's doing his roll backs and floating on his own!), rog is on business in albequerque (we miss him!!), and i, clearly, have crap in my camera lens.  maybe i should do some shopping for a new camera while daddy is a state away and can't get too mad at me right now...

there's an acronym for that

...and our week just got crazier.  of course.  it's how we roll.  :-)

wednesday - fun day of VBS/ISR, then roger had an HOA meeting at night.  so the kids and i headed to the playground behind the clubhouse so we could walk home with him.

thursday - more VBS/ISR.  also received official pathology results back for roger and the nodule was free of any cancer.  yay!!!!!!!  so so so grateful and relieved and happy.  had just gotten the kids down for their naps when i got a call from rog - his incision split!!!  :-(  thank goodness his co-worker was amazing and even drove him to the emergency room at UMC so he wouldn't have to take an ambulance and waited with him in the ER until my mom could come over and stay with the kids, so my dad could come with me to the hospital.  all turned out okay!!

friday - early morning photo shoot at reid park - hands down, easiest person i have ever shot - and it was her first birthday!  :-)  meanwhile, roger took els to VBS and then we both took max to ISR.  still trying to get some good underwater shots, but here is max swimming back and forth between me and his teacher, ms. kari:

ms. kari has also started him on rolling onto his back and floating.  :-)  he did great his first week!!!  after naps, we went to the VBS closing ceremony which included 5 bouncy houses, a train ride, hot dogs, popcorn and snow cones, followed by a short performance by the kids.  

els did so well at her performance!

saturday - farmer's market, story time at the U of A bookstore, lunch at frog & firkin on campus, poppie and gigi's for dinner - phew!  when we got to my parents' house, we mentioned that max was wearing one of his superhero capes and put the other one on bob-o.  sooo...gigi made a cape just for bob-o!!  

she used one of the extra panels from my tinker bell 1/2 marathon tutu, then sewed on a fish and the letter 'B.'  so amazing and adorable!!  thanks, gigi!!!

sunday - alarm went off at 3am, and out the door i went to meet the girls for 'run with the roosters' at old tucson - a hilly 5-miler that started at 5:05 a.m.  hopefully pictures are forthcoming, but i finished in 46:35:00 (a 9:19 pace!!) and placed 127/384.  very happy with that!  after breakfast with the girls, we ran some errands and relaxed (yay!) for the rest of the day.