welcome to our noisy life.

here's a five minute sample of our life soundtrack.  i love it.  but, boy do i look forward to my quiet mornings!

davis got a haircut.

wait, what?!  yes, you read it right.  davis got a haircut a few weeks ago.  i wish now i would have taken a picture of the mess it made on the salon floor.  here's a sneak peek from pajama day:

a shooting star

a star is born? not just yet. a shooting star? a little more like it. blink, and you may miss her. look away, and she'll be gone in a flash. trying to take pictures? good luck! i've got blurs of tulle a plenty.

allison's big dance recital was a huge hit! wonderful reviews! a sold out performance of parents, brothers, aunts and grandmothers packed the theatre. and the performances continued at home after the recital and at the restaurant. thank goodness we had the back room to ourselves!! otherwise we would have missed davis' beat box, allison's breakdancing, the book of manners rap and this little light of mine.

davis held out until 5 o'clock. by then the attention on allison broke him and he needed affirmation that he has the no.1 boy of the day. even allison asked me right before bedtime, "is my big day over?" i told her it was and when i asked her if she was tired of all the attention being on her, she simply said, "jyeh."

i can confidently say that we caught her up on any attention she missed from years of not being the first to do anything. funny enough, the biggest treasure of the day were the painted, plastic punch flutes at the reception. don't sweat the small stuff? it's always the small stuff.

and of course you can see the entire performance here:

the belle of the ball

once a upon a time there was a little girl who took dance lessons. and one day her scatterbrained mommy rushed her to dance class after spending the day on a field trip with her older brother. when they were getting out of their long grey chariot, they saw other girls in pretty little costumes all running toward the dance school. the girl's mommy thought, "now why are all these girls dressed up? do we have a dress rehearsal tonight?"

"no." said another mommy. "tonight is picture night."

and the scatterbrained mommy thought, "no it's not. please no!!! i've spent all day running around with brother's class, i've forgotten that it's not just tuesday, but tuesday, april 12th!" there i've done it. i have put my older child's activities in front of the younger sibling and forgotten all about the baby. so much for fairness, balance and equal opportunity.

so in the next few crucial seconds, the other mommy told me, "you have 15 minutes! go home and put her in the costume." yes.....but......i live in boiling springs 9 miles away. okay! okay! kids get back in the car. to the other mommy - please tell miss beth i'll meet ya'll at the photography studio! and away we went....

now, all stories have a happy ending. it just takes a while for this one to get there.

you see, we got back home. grabbed the costume and decided to pop it on when we got back to the studio. the problem now was our long, grey chariot was showing there was on 5 miles left til midnight. i mean, empty tank. really? today? now? so we detour away from the dance school and photography studio to add just enough gasoline to the car to get us there and back. not a second or drop to spare!

as we pull up on the street alongside of the photography studio, we see a wave of pastel tulle and sparkly fluff coming down the sidewalk! hooray! we made it! now get inside and jump in this tutu!

all is well until i'm putting on allison's costume and look at her arms. the little ballerina still has a rub-on tattoo on each forearm from last week's kids festival at chick-fil-a. right smack dab in front in the middle.

"allison!" says miss beth, "come on! get in the front row and hold your arms like this....(like you're holding a heart in front of you)"

i shamefully hang my head down low, and look to all the other mommies who have so diligently applied light make-up to their ballerinas and combed, polished and glittered their hair saying, "i'm so sorry. i'm so sorry." because my little girl looks like the meanest ballerina on the block with her two fairy tattoos front & center.

is there a fairy godmother in this story? you bet. and her name is photoshop. thank you for photo editing software!! not just on my on behalf... but for all those other well-prepared mommies and well-polished ballerinas in our class. your group picture has been rescued!

but hey, i have to admit - allison's spit shine & polish didn't turn out half bad. bless her little heart.