Julianna's 1st Ballet Recital

Julianna's very first dance recital was last Friday.  She has been going to class for months and the recital was finally here!  She got her costume weeks ago under strict instructions for it to hang in Mommy's closet.  Can't imagine why?  Finally on Thursday she got to wear it for dress rehearsal.

I had no idea how much goes into these things!  I was never a dancer (my sister was but I didn't pay that much attention).  When the teacher said they need to have their hair in a tight bun my stomach dropped.  What?  Have you seen Julianna's hair?  Wet hair and a LOT of hairspray worked like a charm.  She wouldn't take her hair down.

Friday night I think she was a little nervous but our neighbor was also in the recital so that helped.  She was excited to see Ella's costume.  Ella was very sweet and held Julianna's hand backstage.

The performance went well.  She smiled and did most of the right stuff.  They each had a partner that they danced around.  Julianna's was pretty clueless so Julianna kept telling her she was not doing it right.  But it was all as cute as you can imagine.  At some point they give out a video of the entire recital.  Parents are not allowed to take pictures or video.  It's awesome!  You can just focus on your kid and not getting the perfect picture.  However, I did take a video of the rehearsal.  It's a little crazy and the lighting on Julianna is not great.  I loaded it on my YouTube site.  She is in the back row first dancer on the left.  The one who keeps checking to see if she is on her green sticker.  We are very proud of our little ballerina and I am sure we have many, many, many more ballet recitals in our future

Thanksgiving

First I don't think I can talk about our Thanksgiving week with out saying WAR EAGLE! 

Around here the kids get out of school for the entire Thanksgiving week.  So I try to do fun stuff.  They always, always, always pick Chuck E Cheese.  We also went to a trampoline place called Champion Kids.  Grace was sliding down into a foam pit.  I can't believe what a little daredevil she is!

Finally on Wednesday Aunt Lyndsay came to visit.  She was up bright and early to run the Atlanta half marathon.  Of course that morning was the coldest day we have seen in a while!  25 degrees is not normal for us!  But Jake and I braved the cold to cheer Aunt Lyndsay to her finish.  We were very proud of her!

For Thanksgiving dinner we decided to split the meal with our neighbors.  It was so nice to pop down the street and only make half the meal!  And the kids played and had a great time.  Grace ate 3 helpings of corn, some turkey and kept coming back for a bite of roll.  She is just too cute! 

Finally to wrap up the weekend we went in search of the perfect tree.  3 Christmas tree lots later we found it.  Jake was so excited.  He loves to get the christmas tree!

Yesterday we decorated the tree.  Brian was a little late so I thought it would be a good time for a photo shoot.  Sometimes they just all smile at the same time and I catch it.  I love a cute pajama picture!

Jake's Thanksgiving Play

On more proud parent moment was added to the very long list on Thursday morning.  Jake's kindergarten class had their Thanksgiving play.  A couple weeks prior Jake came home with a note from his teacher saying she had selected Jake to be the narrator of the play and could we please practice with him.  We were very proud of him for being such an excellent reader.  Inside I was thinking lots of pressure!  This play was 5 pages long and he had most of the words!  Turkeys just had to say "gobble, gobble, gobble!"

Of course, we practiced at home and they practiced at school.  And on the day of the play he was awesome!  He read every word and didn't stumble over words or get flustered...as I would have!  It was lots of fun to watch all the kids do their part.  Jake's best bud, JP, was a pilgrim.  He was so cute saying "Land Ho!"

After the play they served refreshments.  The teacher made sure they knew to serve their parents first.  Jake picked up a donut and asked if I wanted it.  Then we went off to the school book fair so he could pick out some books for us to read.  Great day with Jake!

Santa!

Tuesday was our annual visit to see Santa.  Yes, it isn't even Thanksgiving yet but its never too early to get into the Christmas spirit.  After all, Julianna has been picking out all kinds of things to put on her Christmas list since the summer.  I hear "Mommy, can you please tell Santa I want this?" pretty much every time we go to a store.  Luckily she doesn't have Jake's razor sharp memory.

So off to Phipps Plaza we went.  Jake spent hours on his list for Santa.  I told him he could only ask for a couple things so he had to figure out what he wanted most.  So he wrote just 3 things on his list when we got there.  I don't even know what one of them was (Santa might have tough time with it).  But he is playing basketball so he asked for a hoop.  Julianna said "I just want a dollhouse."  Easy!  However when we were leaving the Santa area she found the dollhouse of her dreams.  If you look closely you will see it is the display window at Tiffany's.  She was oohing and ahhing over the dollhouse and even called Jake over to see it.  Funny I just see big fat gorgeous diamonds but she sees the most beautiful dollhouse.

When we were waiting in line I could kind of see the writing on the wall with Grace.  We got closer and her little arms got tighter and tighter around my neck.  I tried to pull her off to get a picture (Yes! I would have been totally fine with a crying picture) but it was NOT happening.  She is a strong little thing!  So...I made my mom, who constantly nags me about being in the pictures, a happy camper.

Then Grace and I made a quick exit and Jake and Julianna went over their lists with Santa.  I asked Jake what they talked about.  "Well, my list of course."  So I asked what Santa said about his list.  "Santa said okay...so that means he is going to make me everything right?"  Good grief!

Happy Halloween!

It was a very fun week for the McNeely family.  We started the season off with a visit to the pumpkin patch. Grace enjoyed the pumpkins the most I think.  She kept hugging the pumpkins and trying to pick them up.  They each wanted their own pumpkin so we managed to find 3 perfect pumpkins.

Nana came to visit on Tuesday.  All the kids were very excited to see her.  Lots of fun was packed into her 3 days visit and I think she had a fun time (with the exception of the stomach bug she and Julianna picked up).  Sorry about that Nana!  The first night we carved pumpkins.  Can you believe Nana has never carved a pumpkin?  And for her first one Julianna chose Jasmine.  It turned out great!  The picture is blurry and not so great but Julianna was thrilled!

Wednesday night was our annual Trunk or Treat at church.  I have no idea how we would have handled it without her!  We each took a kid and around we went to the various trunks.  Grace caught on quickly and held her little hand out, took the candy and dropped it in her bag.  She was very pleased with herself!  But I managed to get Julianna smiling with Nana and its definitely on my list of favorite pictures ever!

Thursday, Julianna and Nana were out with the stomach bug but Julianna rallied for some trick or treating.  Nothing was going to stop her from running around the neighborhood, getting candy with her buddies Lily and Hadley! In typical boy style, Jake ran around the neighborhood and was finished in record time.

It was a great night!  And thank you so much for coming to visit Nana!  Happy Halloween from Captain America, Snow White and Minnie Mouse!

I had to post this video of Grace.  She is definitely following in Julianna's footsteps as a little Southern girl.  She LOVES grits.  This is her eating grits...and hamming it up for the camera.

Auburn Homecoming

We are back from our yearly adventure to the Auburn Homecoming game.  It was a little crazy with three kids but we survived.  We started the day off with a trip to the bookstore and then went to get some Toomer's Lemonade.  Jake said it was yummy, just how he remembered it.  Next stop was the School of Accounting tailgate.  We loaded up on juice and food and saw a couple old teachers.  Jake and Julianna were surprised that Mommy and Daddy had teachers.

Since Jake has outgrown his Auburn jersey Brian decided to special order one for him.  It's going to say McNeely and the number 64 (Brian's football number).  Jake will love it!  We can't wait to get it.  After ordering that we were off to the game, finally.  The first quarter went well.  Second quarter went downhill.  Grace was not having fun, which meant Brian and I were not having fun.  18 months is not a great age...they don't quite understand how the whole bribing things works.  You know Daddy buys you a huge sno-cone and you be good until its done and then he buys you something else.  So we left at halftime.

Once we got home I asked Jake and Julianna what their favorite part of Auburn was.  Jake said "Everything!" and Julianna said "you know those orange people with the hats? I liked them the best."  She meant the band.

Sorry there are not the usual amount of pictures.  Our friend Jarrod usually goes and he didn't this year (and we could have used the help!).  But there are lots of pictures from other recent events.  Jake had an alphabet parade at school.  He chose to be M for man.  He looked adorable.  I started asking what he wanted to use as his costume.  He said "No no no.  I will discuss this with Daddy.  You know he is the man."  So they put together his outfit with the tie, blackberry on his hip, coffee mug and notebook.  So cute!

We have been having lots of fun.  Now we are looking forward to a visit from Nana in a couple weeks.  She is coming for Halloween!

Julianna's 1st Day of School

Following in her brother's footsteps Julianna is going to be a Chimp this year.  She couldn't wait to reunite with her friends after a long summer.  Before her first day we had a girls morning out.  Julianna got her hair cut, we did a little shopping and had some lunch.  The hairdresser braided her hair and put glitter in it.  She loved it!

Julianna also started taking ballet.  She is adorable in her pink leotard and tights.  Somehow we get taht curly hair in a bun.  She is going to have her first ballet recital in December and we can't wait!

Finally her first day of school came along.  She chose her outfit and got to wear her new shoes that light up.  And off to chimp school we went!

 
Grace also started her Parent's Morning out program.  So she needed to have first day pictures as well...

My two beautiful girls ready for school!

Wesley's 1st Birthday

A couple weeks ago Wesley turned 1!  We drove up to Nashville for his birthday party.  The kids were pretty excited to celebrate with Wesley and the rest of the family.  Grandma, Poppy and Aunt Lyndsay finally got there and the fun began!

Grandma brought presents (Grace enjoyed her goggles).   Poor Grandma had a hurt knee but we had lots of fun anyway.  Climbing all over her and running around.

Wesley and Grace played together for a while. 

Finally it was party time and you know what that means!  Cake!

Happy Birthday Wesley!  We had such a fun time!  Hope you got lots offun presents! 

Jake Goes to Kindergarten

Ok, it's been a while.  Forgive me.  But I must go back in time and talk about our KINDERGARTNER!  I don't think a day went by all summer that Jake did not talk about starting Kindergarten.  He was so excited, mostly about riding the school bus.  There are two other kids starting kindergarten in our neighborhood and Jake was VERY excited to learn his friend JP would be in his class.  Yeah! 

The day before school starts kindergartners get to do a practice bus ride with a parent.  Nothing I wanted to do more at 7:10am than ride the bus.  Let me tell you the school bus has not changed a bit.  But Jake loved it so that's all that mattered. 

The first day of school arrived and Jake woke up bright and early (5AM!).  He got ready in his favorite red shirt and new Captain America shoes and off we all went to the bus stop.  His friends JP and Ella were just as excited to start school.

The bus came and Jake hopped on the bus without even looking back. Definitely a bittersweet moment for this mom!  Turning to leave all I could think was in 4 years I would be standing in this very spot sending all three of my babies off to school.  Sounds like a long time away but I know it will pass in a blink. 

That afternoon the girls and I trudged back up to the bus stop.  Jake jumped off the bus full of smiles.  Of course, he had the best day!  He told me he would love to go back every day.

Nana Was Here!

Nana came for a visit on Wednesday.  The kids were anxiously awaiting her arrival.  Chuck E. Cheese's was our first stop.  There are tons of things to do in Atlanta but Chuck E Cheezits is always at the top of the list. They had lots of fun showing Nana their favorite games and rides.  Nana might have even played a few games herself!

 
The next day we were off to the zoo.  Another kid favorite.  I do love our zoo, it's not terribly big and the whole thing is in the shade.  It's just a wonderful place to take the kids.  We saw tons of animals, they all seemed to be out.  Jake read all the animals off to us, his reading ability is amazing!  Of course, riding the carousel was the highlight.  It was Grace's first ride.  She loved it.  Just smiled the entire time.

The next day we took Nana to the Aquarium.  This is probably Julianna's favorite place.  She loves the sea otters.  She could really stand there for an hour and watch them.  Jake will not have that, he is always asking "what's next."  He could probably tour the entire place in 15 minutes.  But we enjoyed ourselves and finished the morning with the dolphin show (my personal favorite).  Now you have to go in 30 minutes early so I try to bring snacks but Grace is miserable for the entire 30 minutes.  But once that show starts all three kids are mesmerized.  Grace claps for the dolphins it is sooo cute!  On the way out Nana said they could pick out a souvenir.  Jake instantly picks a snow globe because he has "always wanted one."  Julianna heads straight for the pink stuffed dolphin then insists Grace also needs a pink dolphin.  So off we went with a snow globe and two pink dolphins.  Everyone was happy!

Yes, happy until we got home and Nana had to leave.  Jake cried.  Julianna cried.  Grace just waved and blew kisses.  We had such a fun time!  Nana come back SOON!

Beach Trip

Today we drove back from St. George Island.  If you remember last year we went there for our beach vacation and a hurricane ran us home.  This year, no hurricane but lots of rain.  We made it to the beach a couple times and swam in the pool, so the kids were happy.  

Jake and Julianna LOVED spending time with their cousins, John Payne and Kimsey Grace.  They shared a room and took turns sleeping on the air mattress.  Grace and Logan (just 2 weeks apart) terrorized each other.  Logan is very vocal and RUNS everywhere.  Grace has a little more chunk to carry so she isn't so quick but would snatch his toys and look totally sweet and innocent.  She was pretty happy chasing after him.  They even shared snacks on the beach.

In spite of the rain we managed to get to the beach three times.  Julianna was a little skittish at first but warmed up quicker than in past years.  Grace, however, showed no fear.  Would walk straight into the waves.  And let me tell you the waves were rough.  She just laughed and went further out.  Fell in the water came up sputtering but with a big smile.  

 Jake had lots of fun adding to his seashell collection.  Aunt Anna told him he could hear the ocean in this one...he was amazed.  He always has lots of fun at the beach jumping in the waves.  I asked what his favorite part of our beach vacation was he said "well, the beach of course!"

 

We also had to do our annual beach photo shoot.  We waited until the last day and it rained.  Of course.  But we got a few so this is the best.  Maybe someday my kids will all be willing to look at the camera and smile.  

Cincinnati Trip

I finally have a chance to update the blog.  It has been insane since school got out!  I posted some pictures from their school website.  Jake's teachers were obviously not as camera happy as Julianna's.  There are lots of little bunny pictures.  So check those out and sorry there are tons!

After school let out we were home for a couple days and headed to Ohio for a week.  Thankfully the 7 hours drive went fast and that DVD player was worth every penny!  Once we arrived we hit the ground running.  We headed to the zoo our first day.  They saw lots of animals we don't have here so that is neat.  Of course Jake and Julianna had to ride the train.

Now my kids say funny things all the time and I remember them about 50% of the time.  But we had two zingers back to back and I will never forget.  So, they have an animal called an Okapi, looks kind of like a horse but with zebra print legs and butt.  Jake was reading the signs and telling me it was from Africa (I think) and "its an o-ka-pee you know like an o-copy of a zebra."  Hilarious!  Then the very next animal is a rhino and it was just lazily hanging out in the pool.  He was pretty dirty.  Julianna looks at Grandma and says "Grandma he needs some soap in his bath."  I love my funny kids.

Then next day Brian flew in and we went to a Reds game (after buying Jake the appropriate hat and shirt).  I hadn't been to the new park and was so excited!  It really is a beautiful stadium.  And a great game!

Julianna also had her very first Skyline 3-way.  She liked it...didn't eat much but she liked it!

Let's see what else.  Oh we went to the butterfly museum.  The kids splashed around in the pool.  We saw my best friend Lisa and her kids.  Jake went bowling for the first time.  Then finally Aunt Shana brought Wesley.  He is such a doll.  Julianna was all over him...probably a nice break for Grace.

Then our last day we celebrated Poppy's 60th birthday.  We all met at our favorite, Montgomery Inn and had a small celebration.  There was cake and balloons (because Poppy had to have a baseball balloon!) and presents!  We had a great time.  Sadly we had to leave the next morning but summer is a busy time and lots of fun to be had!  Thanks for letting us invade for a week Grandma and Poppy!  See you next year!