Dance recital

Monday the girls had their dance recital. They were so cute! It was fun to watch them. Savannah was quite the performer and Paige actually danced (a little). Here are a few pictures from the big day and a couple of short video clips

Here they are with their flowers from their Dad.

Lydia turns 2!

Lydia turned 2 yesterday! To celebrate we had a party Sunday with grandparents, aunts/uncles, and cousins. Then on her birthday we just had a small family party. She was so cute and loved all her presents.

In this picture Lydia is wearing a shirt her Aunt Amy & Uncle Andrew got her. It says "I'm all smiles". I love it!

She also received a shirt from her Grandma & Grandpa Malan that says "Happy Day". It couldn't be more perfect.

Since she LOVES Dora she received several Dora presents- pajamas, dolls, movies, dishes, soccer ball, books, and this Dora Vanity that Jordan and Jenna gave her. All the presents were a hit!

I made her this little bunny for her birthday. I got the pattern at wee wonderfuls.

When we started singing Happy Birthday to Lydia she started singing. It was so cute! We were upset that we didn't record it, but I love this picture because you can tell she's singing. I tried to recapture the moment by making another cake for her real Birthday and we recorded singing Happy Birthday to her again, however she did not sing. Some moments can not be duplicated....However we did get this clip of her blowing out the candles. They appear to be trick ones, but they are not.

A few things about Lydia at this age.... She loves to talk. She babbled far more than our older girls, and now talks in complete sentences. She also loves to watch TV. I restrict her to 2 shows/day, or else she'd sit there like a zombie all day- these shows are almost always Dora. She likes to be read to (again Dora books) and loves music and dancing to music with her sisters.

Easter

We had a very busy and eventful Easter. Saturday was filled with egg coloring, egg hunts, and time with family. Sunday was filled with more egg hunts and a lot more time with lots of family and friends (my family and Dan's family). We started the morning out with Easter baskets, then we went to Dan's parents house. We went to church with his parents where my sister and brother in-law (Anne & Brian) blessed their new baby Sophia. Then we went back to his parents house where we had a large lunch with lots of family and friends. After that we went to my parents for a large dinner and another egg hunt with my family. Oh how I love living near so many family members, it made for a very special easter.

These are few of my favorite egg hunt pictures.

Savannah & Paige showing their Easter Eggs.

The single egg that Lydia colored.

Here are a few pictures we took before going to church. We were unable to get a good picture of all of us and it was even harder when we tried to get one of the kids alone. Oh well.

The Malan group after little Sophie was blessed.

A Green Tux

After I finished my little girls easter dresses I thought well I've got to do something for my boy. So this is what I came up with....
I laugh when I look at it because it is quite fancy, but it has to be to go with his sisters dresses. They might look like they are going to be in a wedding, but hey how long are they going to let me dress them like this or want to wear stuff like this anyway? I still might just leave the bow tie at home on Sunday. I used Burda pattern #9732 and the sage satin fabric from the girls dresses. The white shirt I got at Old Navy for $5- what a bargain!

Here he is, what a cute boy. I can't wait to take a picture of the kids all together in their Easter outfits.

Mystery Solved!

I have always thought Lydia looked the most like a Dana.... until today that is. I received an e-mail from Dan's cousin with a picture of his Grandma Alta Byrne Malan. She is the little one sitting on her mom's lap.

I saw this and I thought wow I've definitely seen this look before.

Yes, I definitely think she resembles little Alta Byrne Malan. And for the record when Dan
showed her the old picture of his grandma and asked her who it was she responded "Lydie".

Easter dresses

It has taken me about a month, but I have finally finished the girls' Easter dresses. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I went with making them more dressy since I could only get the girls to wear their Christmas dresses to church one time because they did not think they were not"fancy" enough. I figure they will probably only want dresses like these for a few more years so... fancy it is. I used Butterick pattern #3350 - I modified the neckline and added an overskirt and slip ruffle. The fabric is from Joann's Casa collection. It is a sage greenish satin with a sparkle organza.

Here are the girls in their dresses.

Pretty in Pink

Okay so we knew it would be a matter of time before the girls would want to do something "girly" to little Abe, however, we did not realize it would be this soon. When I was doing the dishes the other day Savannah said, "Mom, look Abe has a ring on like yours"

This is the ring she is referring to. One of Dan's patients (a jeweler) had made it for me. While Abe's ring is definitely fabulous- I believe I still prefer my own.

Poor little Abe! How will he ever tolerate living in a home full of girls. What will they do next?