Charming Charleston

In May my parents came out to visit their AZ home for a few weeks. It was fun to have them close and a treat that I got to fly to Charleston to visit Tiff for a couple of days while grandma and grandpa looked after my babes. I love Charleston - it really is so charming with its beautiful old classical architecture, historical waterfront homes with inviting verandas called piazzas that I'm sure could tell fascinating stories - you know -- if walls could talk :) It also has really fun markets, oh-so-yummy seafood restaurants, (my mouth is watering thinking of she-crab soup and dirty cheesecake). They've got great beaches, lush greenery, and a neighborhood pond with a resident alligator. But best-of-all and worst-of-all they have my sister. I love to visit but hate that she is soooo far away.

These are the piazzas. So pretty and also unique to the architecture of this area.

I got to go to one of Cole soccer games! He is darling and melts my heart with his baby-blues and when he dresses up so handsome for me and asks me if I can please stay one more day :)

Ok - this picture seriously makes me laugh everytime I look at it! I love it!

Cutie Chloe

So proud of Tiff and all that she has accomplished. She is a total rock star!
I tried to get her to go and pose by her sign but she wouldn't.

Magnolia Plantation

Self-portrait :)

Ashley's Dance Recital

"You can dance, you can Jive
Having the time of your life
Ooh see that girl, watch that scene
Diggin' the dancing queen..."

Ashley performed in two numbers at her dance recital this summer: A fun jazz routine to a remix of "My Boyfriend's Back" and a beautiful ballet routine to "Hallelujah". She did a great job and I even got teary-eyed watching her ballet. I had not seen it before because she wanted to surprise me. She loves to dance and was invited to be a part of the "Stars" performing group at her studio this year. They will dance for a few high school basketball game half-time shows, the AZ State Fair, a Christmas parade, the Ostrich Festival, a Phoenix Suns game, and Disneyland!

Here are a few pics I took of her in her costumes :)

Graduation Girl

Ashley Grace graduated from Kindergarten!

(yes, I am a little behind but I'll get to that later)

She had the cutest, sweetest, most wonderful teacher! We were so blessed to have
Mrs. Sanguigni and I could not have chosen a teacher who was more perfect for my Ash.
It was a wonderful year and she learned soooooo much! Oh I do really love Kindergarten.

(It is first grade that is hard for me -- all day -- I am not ready to give up my girlie all day. First grade always makes me cry - a lot. But I don't want to think about that right now. sniff)

These are some pics of her graduation program. It was darling. Mrs. Sanguigni taught her class sign language all year. As they learned to read a new word... they learned to sign it too. Ash can sign almost everything that she reads, it is amazing! For the program the children all signed the Louis Armstrong song, "What a Wonderful World", and also the John Lennon song, "Imagine." It was so sweet.

Here are a few more favorite Kindergarten memories that she enjoyed this year:

Doing homework with Cinnamon bear toast :)

Mother Goose Games: This was Jack and Jill went up the hill...

to fetch a pail of water

Putting Humpty Dumpty back together again

Class Valentine's party:

Musical Chairs

Teddy Graham math

Face Painting

Crafts

Decorating cookies

Ashley LOVED when it was her turn to bring the class teddy bear home for the weekend.
They played dress-up together and teddy was VERY loved.

Hooray! You become a member of the Letter-O-Saurus Club when you
can identify all your letters and their sounds.

A really wonderful year!