Ballet!

This year we only had one ballerina.  Ellie chose cheer, and opted out of ballet.  But you already knew that.
We were so excited to see Mary Claire in her beautiful blue costume dancing away!  Thankfully we got to see her at dress rehearsal the night before the performance, because we didn't get to see the real thing.  Poor MC came down with a nasty stomach bug as she was finishing t-ball Saturday morning.  Robbie thought it may have been lack of water, but throwing up turned into throwing up with a fever.  Boo.

But, like I said, thank goodness for dress rehearsal!!  I love the way Briarwood does their spring performance.  Friday night the sweet little ballerinas do their entire show with mamas and daddies snapping cameras, videoing, and flashing those cell phones to their hearts' contents.  Don't even think about bringing any of those electronics to Saturday's performance.  No sir.  The only videoing going on is the professional videographer whose DVD you can buy.  I always thought it was a bit much, but realized the first year how wonderful watching the show was.  You know, just sitting and watching.  Not dodging multiple parents to get one good look at my child, not making sure the battery on the video camera is charged, not angling for that perfect shot.  
This year I have a whole new appreciation for dress rehearsal, as that's the only show we saw.  And it was precious.  Just precious.  The theme was 'All the Children of the World,' so the ballerinas appropriately sang 'Jesus Loves the Little Children' to start the show.

Then MC's class represented Brazil with their dance.  Loved it!

And of course, Audrey was there, too!  (Last year, her mom and I decided God really wanted them to be friends when He put them in the same class at preschool, then put them in the same ballet class.  We had never even discussed ballet!)

God also knew that MC would not be at her performance the next day, and gave Robbie and I the idea to go ahead and take pictures that night.  :)

 

 

 As always, we got a great picture of the three kids together...

 Sweet Sister Love

We are so proud of how hard Mary Claire has worked in ballet this year.  It was quite evident in her performance!  (Her costume was pretty cute, too!)

Add-Ons

Me to Mary Claire: Grandmama bought you a new dress!  It's so cute!
MC: Does it have buttons?
Me: Nope
MC: Snaps?
Me: Nope
MC: Zippers?
Me: Nope
MC: Then I'm in!

Uncle Greg!

Because I'm a blog stalker reader and love to peruse Facebook, I noticed today is 'National Sibling Day.'  Who knew?!  The crazy thing is that I actually got to spend part of this special day with my brother!  I have four brothers, one of whom happened to be making his way to Texas to live with one of my stepsisters while he goes to culinary school.  (Yes, I also have two stepsisters.  I'm not kidding when I say I need to dedicate an entire post to a detailed family tree.)

Last week when Mom left I couldn't be too very sad because I knew Greg's visit was only a couple of days away.  Mom left Saturday, Greg got here Monday for dinner.  I fretted over what to cook, where to take him to eat, which night to take him, what kind of coffee I had, and all of the usual things I worry about.  The worrying was totally pointless for two reasons.  One, Greg is the easiest-going person ever, and was excited to see his nieces and nephew, not about what was for dinner.  The other reason is that Robert got sick with some random stomach funk (throwing up, fever, you know...the fun stuff) meaning we couldn't go out Monday night, and had to cancel the babysitter we'd gotten for Tuesday night so we could take Greg downtown.

Instead, Greg made handmade marshmallows with the girls,

built a fort with MC (complete with a microwave! I laughed so hard when I saw Greg with a beer in one hand and a pink microwave!  Yes, the fort had been disassembled by picture-taking time, but the micro was still close by, and it begged to be in the pic...),

played with American Girl dolls with MC,

took pictures of Robert (apparently Robert has a side job that I don't know about because he constantly on the phone, and it's always very serious),

all while letting me play with different lenses from his camera!  (I'll spare you the pictures of our kitchen cabinets and Tank that I took on eighteen different settings each.)

Having Greg here was so much fun!  I hate that Robert got sick, but I'm happy we got to stay home and just visit.  And don't worry, I did manage to take Greg on a quick trip to Steel City Pops in Homewood.  Divine.

For the next couple of nights Greg will be in New Orleans, then will make the final drive of his long trek and end up in San Antonio!  I'm so proud of him for knowing that he wants to go to culinary school, even though he has a degree in mechanical engineering.  He tried it, didn't love it, so now Greg is going to do something he has always had a passion for...cooking!  (And hopefully he'll meet a sweet southern girl, but I didn't say that.)

Thanks so much, Greg, for including us on your trip down South.  I love watching you play with my chickies, love eating your yummy cooking, and love that you're my sibling!! :)

Play Ball!

Mary Claire had her first T-Ball game Saturday.  This girl amazes us.  Nothing phases our MC (well, except buttons).  The moment t-ball was mentioned, she was in.  Since I have never played any sort of sport, Robbie is in charge of the whole thing.  And he's been perfect!

Because these chickies are only four, their daddies are on the field with them during the game.  Be still.  My heart.  It's precious!

Here's MC's first at-bat...

(her ballet teacher would be pleased that her feet are in a nice first position!)

There she goes!!

So proud!  All of us had the best time screaming for our girl as she ran the bases to home plate!

Mom Time!

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

• Philippians 2:3-4 •

My sweet mom came from Pennsylvania (Yardley, to be exact; about thirty minutes outside of Philadelphia) for a visit last week.  I was super-excited about five days of organizing the office, switching out the kids' closets from winter to summer clothes, and whatever sewing projects I could come up with!

Those plans got a little bit sidetracked because poor Mom started to feel bad the first night she was here.  We are pretty sure Alabama allergies attacked her.   Mom was so sick that I made her she went to the Doc-In-the-Box Thursday.  Two shots, an antibiotic, nose spray, and round of steroids later, Mom was feeling more like herself.  
If you have ever met Mom, though, you know that even severe sinus pains won't keep her down!  She managed to eat lunch with the El at school one day,

go with me to get Robert's hair cut, (yes, it's short.  And Jim Carey-ish.  But he's a boy, and it will grow.  And he's still so stinking cute!!)

and go to Mary Claire's first t-ball game!

Mom and I also took apart our kitchen table chairs and covered the seats in vinyl tablecloth material.  If anything makes Mom happy, it's taking something absolutely disgusting (the old chair covers) and making it clean!!  (New chair cover on the left, old on the right.)  Mom was upset that I didn't take a detailed 'before' picture of the chairs, but I just couldn't.  They were that gross.

The clothes mission was completed, too.  And in between all of our tasks, Mom managed to scrub anything she could find (sconces, mirrors, floors), all while rotating cups of cold water and mugs of hot tea on her cheeks to help her sinuses.  The woman is a cleaning machine with energy I wish I could harvest!

I love my mom!  I always tell her that I want to have a heart to serve others the way she does.  Mom is continuously blessing those around her, and this past week my family got to be blessed big time!  

New!

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 •

Every year I tell our kids that the whole reason we celebrate this special day is that Jesus took everything old (our sins, our failures, our doubts, our faith) and made a clean slate!

I think for this particular post I'll go one Little Latham at a time...
Ellie (or Ellis as some people at school still call her...love it!) is Jennifer Junior.  Just like I do, she worries about everything, loves everyone around her, and lives in her own little Ellie Land.  I love that she will wear anything I want her to, and is not at all concerned with appearances.  As she gets older, we see Ellie becoming more of her own person (not always agreeing with us, wanting 'alone time,' thinking everything should go her way), but that's okay.  We know that God is forming her in His own way and instead of squelching it, we have to listen to Him to give us direction on how to mold this precious girl!

Mary Claire is spunky.  She will not wear buttons (STILL...I've even asked if she had some kind of traumatic button experience, but got nothing) and wants to pick out her own outfit.  And I let her.  She loves school and loves her friends.  MC had her first playdate with her 'bff' from school, Audrey, and it was the best thing ever.  All I had to do was feed them a snack and clean up the playroom once Audrey left.  No intervening, no drama.  Perfect!

Robert is a mess.  But a loving little mess.  If the world around him is not going exactly his way, Robert can pitch a nice fit.  He loves to throw himself on the ground (in very cautiously, of course...he would never want to hurt himself!) and scream loudly.  Being in the stroller or being held are not his two favorite things.  He wants to be running freely everywhere!

With three Little Lathams, sometimes my days can be a handful!  I'm extremely thankful that Robbie works while I stay home with my chickies.  Honestly, though, there are times when I would love to put makeup on my freshly showered face, blow-dry my clean hair, and wear an ironed outfit with shoes other than Toms or tennies!  That's what church days are for, right?!

Hope you all had a fabulous, peaceful, blessings-filled Easter!

Lucky Daughters/Lucky Daddy

Sweet Robbie has taken the Sassy Sisters, each one alone, to a dance in the past two weeks.  Ellie's was a 'ball' for Girl Scouts, and Mary Claire's was a Father~Daughter Banquet.

The Girl Scout Sweetheart Ball was described by Robbie as 'a straight-up high school dance.'  He would know because not only did he go to several high school dances, but this particular shindig was at HIS high school!!  Word on the street is that Gangnam Style was played no less than three times, and Robbie had Ellie on the dance floor the whole time.  I love this man!!

Robert and MC were pretty excited about getting their picture taken.  You would think I never get the camera out.  

The Sassy Sisters made an appearance, too...

Less than a week later, Robbie got all dressed up again for MC.  This dance was at the church where Mary Claire takes ballet.  

When the 'couple' arrives at the church, they have a picture taken and eat a seated dinner.  Then they watch the ballerinas perform and end the evening with some slow dancing of their own.  Not quite Gangnam Style, but still so much fun and so special!

Ellie was playing golf with Granddaddy, so she wasn't a part of this photo session.  Fortunately (um, or maybe not), MC has enough sassiness for both of them...

Robert was there, too.  He loves getting his picture taken, but more than anything he loves to be held.  And he was not being held at this very moment.

I am so, so thankful for the way Robbie loves our girls.  He is showing them now the qualities they must find in a mate later in life.  He is showing Robert how to be a gentleman.  And Robbie is continuing to prove to me what an incredible spiritual leader he is in our home!