Princess Camp

This week my little princess went to "Princess Camp".  She had SOOOO much fun!! She sang, she danced, she made crafts and adorable edible snacks. She had an all out blast!! Today she showed off some of what she learned during their performance!!

While she LOVES dance class, she gets shy when it's time to perform, so she showed off her "tude" and we saw quite a bit of her back, especially when she saw us pointing the camera her direction.

After receiving her princess crown for completing camp.

This summer's camp was based on "The Little Mermaid", today the girls were all awarded "Dinglehoppers", if you haven't seen the movie, you'll have no idea what that means. But they were thrilled and Kiki immediately starting using hers ;) (see the photo below)

Miss Amie and Miss Megan are the best!

My princess wasn't too fond of the way the crown felt on her head.

 

Ariel came to watch the girls perform! 

Reciting their "Princess Pledge"

We're in the "HOME" Stretch

It's been a year since Dz walked out of our arms and headed "home" to L@tvia and this week we FINALLYgot the news we've been waiting so long to hear!!

What is that news you ask?  

His family got the official referral to adopt him!!!!!! (click the link to read more)

If you're new to the adoption world let me break it down for you, this means Dz has been officially matched with the "P" family by the powers that be in L@tvia!!! Now they await their travel/court dates and my favorite L@tvian will be headed H.O.M.E. forever!! 

We're in the "HOME" stretch people!!!

Independance Day

Enjoy our 4th of July photo dump:)

We're hosting one of the adult chaperones who come to America with New Horizons for Children. Her name is Tanya and she's from Ukraine. My kids are in LOVE! They just adore her and so do we!

The cousins before the annual neighborhood parade!

Someone picked out his own decorations and attire this year! We call him "Mr. 4th of July"!

 They think they're pretty cool!

Bren finally got the nerve to try the waterslide. 

This is how you land at the bottom of the slide:)

Best buds for life!

Brennan and Gracie! He adores her and so do we! 

Some major cuteness!

Sparklers anyone?

Modeling for MaeLi Rose

This week Kaelyn and her cousin Maddie were asked to do another photoshoot for MaeLi Rose. They're getting ready to market their new Spring/Summer 2014 line and needed some models for the clothes! Both girls LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their MaeLi Rose clothes so they were excited to get another chance to model because it means more skirts, dresses and girlie clothes for them!

Okay, if we're being honest here, Kaelyn was not at all excited about taking the photos, in her words "Mom, I really like Miss Carrie's clothes, but I don't like taking pictures!" After a little chat in which mommy told her that Miss Carrie gives her the clothes as a thank you for modeling them she decided that though she didn't care for the actual picture taking she'd endure it and even smile, so that she could continue rocking the MaeLi Rose clothes!

I was secretly celebrating her choice! For one, the clothes are super cute and she gets oodles of new fancy clothes to wear for free and two we get free (adorable) photos of her and Maddie! I think it's a win-win for all involved! In fact, I'd even venture to say the girl's enjoyed themselves this time! They especially seemed to perk up when we told them we could give some of these photos to Papa Minas for Father's Day! It was an outdoor shoot, they've now met the designer several times and this time her sister (who they'd also met before) was the photographer and the girls seemed more at ease than last time in the studio. It was perfect, by the time they were clearly getting hot and tired, we were D.O.N.E. Then they (and Brennan and Micah I might add) were given a goodie bag full of yummy treats! Carrie knows how to take care of her models!! They were all thrilled!

Without further ado, my favorite photos from the shoot, in no particular order! If you're not their grandma/grandpa or aunt/uncle, feel free to skip this entire post:)

My cutie patootie niece Maddie.

Probably not he best for marketing the clothes, but this was one of my faves. 

Her favorite thing about her MaeLi Rose clothes?? Their twirlability (is that a word)? The moment she gets them on she runs to our room to watch herself as she twirls int the mirror.

These two have SO much fun together!! Their fun usually involves wrestling and giggling today it was whispering silly words to each other.  This is one of my faves from the shoot for sure!

Another favorite of mine.