Christy's Birthday Re-Do

My friend Christy had a horrible 40th birthday last year, so her sister Kim decided to do a surprise birthday re-do day this year! It was a fun day of celebrating with her family and friends. Kim planned everything perfectly, and even made custom birthday hats.
We started off with bingo in the morning...

 Then we drove out to the wineries and had a delicious lunch.

 

 and did some wine tasting in the vineyards. Nori flew down from San Francisco so it was great to spend more time together.

 We ended the day with some fun crafting at an adorable shop in Old Town.

 We painted these cute signs!

It was a fun day to spend together, and a nice way to celebrate a birthday re-do!

Praise Him With Dancing 2015

Zoe has been busy preparing for the summer show. She's had long days of school, homework and rehearsals. I love show days and finally getting to see these numbers that the dancers have worked so hard on.
I got a few backstage shots throughout the day...

 

Mimi and Gramps came down to watch the afternoon show too. Joe ended up having to work late, so he came to the night show. I was working backstage so I wasn't able to get a picture of them.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any pictures from the audience, so I only have some side-stage shots I got while working backstage. Zoe was in 9 numbers this time around.

Her first time performing Hip Hop, which opened the show (You Can't Stop Me)...

Midnight Waltz - Ballet III-V...

Diamonds - Ballet II-III...

You Make Me Brave - Ballet IV-V...

Amazing Grace - Ballet III-IV...

What Do I Know of Holy - Jazz

Majestic - Leaps and Turns...

Beauty in the Breakdown (Homeless) - Adv. Ballet/Jazz...

This is such a beautiful performance piece, one of my all time favorites that she has ever done. It was a number that Nicole choreographed a couple of years ago after working in a homeless shelter and forming a partnership with a local group that helps transition the homeless into homes and jobs. It's a powerful piece and Zoe brought tears to my eyes.

They finished the show with Put It Together - Hip Hop Medley...

It was an awesome day of performances! After cleaning up, we headed to the studio for the cast party. One of the dad's borrowed a limo for the night, so some of the girls climbed in for a fun ride.

We had the cast party at the studio. It was a great night celebrating months of hard work! There are lots of changes happening at the studio...dancers leaving for college, going off to year round programs, traveling for missionary work, changing studios, changing dance goals and the studio taking a break from Nutcracker. We shall see how it all works out, but we're praying for a positive year and we're always thankful for this place and these friends.
 Zoe and Lindsay said a tearful goodbye as she heads off to Italy for 3 weeks!

Spirit Week!

Great Oak had their first spirit week of the year to celebrate the kickoff of football season!
Blue day...

 Jersey Day...

 Tacky tourist day...

 and of course, red day...This red wave is awesome!

Looks like it's going to be another fun year for the Wolfpack!

First Day of School 2015!

It was an early alarm for Miss Zoe this morning...we got a few pictures before leaving at 6:50am.

 Although not happy about the upcoming workload this year, she is glad to be heading back to see her friends and starting their Sophomore year. The first day is always a fun one, filled with alumni and a pep rally. She's looking forward to another good year in WSB too. I just wish these high school years weren't going by so fast!

 Cooper is off to 8th grade, his last year of middle school!

 He was happy with his schedule, except for his art elective, so we will see how that goes! He was looking forward to seeing a lot of his friends that he didn't get to see over the summer.

I'm praying for a great year for both of them. I know it will be a busy one!

Beach Day!

We've been dying to get back to the beach, and today was a perfect day!

 The weather was ideal, and we had a blast.

 Football in the sand...

 and hours in the water...

 We had to stop for SubZero for some dessert on the way home!

I love days like this!

Registration

It's that time of year again, and it gets earlier and earlier each year!

Cooper had his registration today. He got his schedule, books, and took yearbook pictures already. He is happy with his schedule, except for Art as his elective. Not sure how that one is going to work for him! His last year registering at VRMS. He is definitely ready to be done with middle school!

 Zoe had her registration this week too. She won't receive her actual schedule until the 2nd day of school, but she picked up her Sophomore GOHS gear, and took her picture too.

 Only one more week of summer left!

Weekend...

Finally it's here. This weekend has mostly been about trying to catch up! Since I went straight back to work after coming home from Miami, I feel like I haven't had the chance to get settled back in yet. I'm trying to enjoy some quiet mornings though, and love the beautiful skies we've had this week.

 I wanted to spend some quality time with the kids, so we took a hike in the hills behind our house...

 Zoe has wanted to start practicing driving. Since her permit test is only a few months away, I guess it's about time. I really can't believe she is old enough for this!! We went to the school parking lot and got going. They are in the middle of installing new solar/covered parking, so we had some construction fences to deal with, but she did great. Her parking needs some work, but it was a good first lesson! She really wants to go out with Gramps, since is the calmest and best of us all, so hopefully they can do that soon!

As we were driving down the straightaway in the parking lot, I couldn't help but think that 10 years ago we were in the same spot, only I was teaching her to ride her bike without training wheels! How do they grow up so quicky?!