Ben and Caroline's Blog

put on your dancing dress!

The teachers at school take pictures of the kids and upload them onto a shutterfly account for the parents to view. It is so fun to see them in action. Here is a selection.

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We are all very excited! I will post pictures and reports on Mark's first day of school and Emily's new year at end of week. Here they are on the way out the door. Whoo hoo!!

August has really flown by. Emily completed a two week session at Houston Swim Club. Thank you Grandma and Papa, it was a great birthday gift! Emily went in a non-swimmer and came out jumping in and swimming under water by herself. She even likes to dive for rings now. Emily's new skills have rubbed off on Mark. He now likes to dive in to the pool too. Although Mark will jump or dive off of just about anything... A pic of Emily's swim lesson.

Ben and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary and the kids helped me with a cake.

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Mimi took me and the kids and Will to the Aquarium yesterday. It was a lot of fun. Mark really liked all the fish and Emily loved the Carousel. They both loved the splash pad.

For some reason, they also have a white tiger that lives at the Aquarium. There is a photo op next to the tiger den. Here was one of my favorites.

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The fields and track by our house is the best place to play in the evening. Here is a video of Mark running the track. He actually ran a whole lap and then some (with breaks of course) before hitting the courts.

The tennis courts are great too because I can shut the gates and let them run free. The courts are so beat up that no one is ever playing tennis. Here are the kids working on their game.

We had Mark's 18 month well check last week. Everything looked great. He is 26 lbs and 10 ozs which puts him in the 70th percentile for weight. The first height measurement was 35 inches which puts him at 100th percentile for height, but then they did it again and he was 34 inches and that is the 85th percentile in height. I think he is somewhere in between.

Mark has started running around everywhere and getting into everything. Ben just installed a whole new round of baby proofing through out the house. I'm not sure if Mark just gets in to more than Emily did or if he just has more opportunities to sneak off with another toddler in the house to watch. Either way, we need more locks this time around.

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Emily's first week of Summer Dance Camp concluded on Friday with a special program for family and friends. Emily and the rest of her class did a great job. Caroline commented that she was very impressed with the instructors ability to get a group of 3 year olds this well choreographed in a single week. Emily loved the camp and will be headed back for a second week later this summer. Enjoy the video of the Fairy Princess Dancers!

Emily has dance camp this week at Houston Academy of Dance. It is 9-12 every day with an introduction to ballet, tap and jazz. They also have arts and crafts and snack time. Emily was so excited this morning and kept saying "we don't want to be late!". When I dropped her off she walked right in with a big smile, found her spot and said "bye mom". Success!! They have a little performance at the end of the week. Until then, here are some pictures.

A selection of pictures from this week and last week.

Picnic at the pool.

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I took the kids to Katy Mills outlet mall today. They had a lot of really great stuff. I packed the kids a little lunch and let them eat it in the dressing room while I tried on clothes. Went pretty well, think we made it out undetected...the lines I cross now... Then we headed over to the carousel. It is $2 a ride per kid but the lady gave me a "discount" and let both the kids on with the change I had. I think it was $1.95 total in small change. So that was really nice.

Then I took them over to the toddler play area. It was very nice and clean. Not very crowded at all. One boy ran in to Emily accidentally and she got upset. The mom came over to me immediately with her son, made him apologize. Ha! That would never happen at Memorial City Mall's play area.

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One of Emily's friends had a birthday party down in Galveston on Pirates Beach. Lots of friends, a bubble machine, beach balls, baby pools, slip n slide, a piñata and WATER BALLOONS!! Great party, the kids had a blast!

Trip to the farm. Emily, Mark and I had a great time with the family.

Picnic at the park.

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I am still working on editing the video of Emily's recital. Hope to get that up soon.

I took the kids to Austin on Monday to spend some time with Cassidy, Jack and Grandma at the lake house. It was a little chaotic with a 3 year old, two 1&1/2 year olds and a crazy shih-poo but we still had a great time. We went out for dinner Tuesday night to a place called Angels that has a park surrounded by lots of fun outdoor seating and live music. Here are some pictures.

This is Emily's last week of school and it has already been a full week. Here are some pictures.

We had a very nice Mother's day with both sets of grandparents but unfortunately I didn't get any photos.

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