Austin Dances! --Powerhouse of Dance recital, June 2014

Austin has been taking dance class at PowerHouse of Dance for the last year. It's a Creative Movement class for 2 and 3 year olds that focuses on tumbling and being able to focus on moving certain parts of their bodies, etc. It's jumping and hopping around for toddlers, basically. He's been the only boy all year and has had a good time. Miss Laura, his teacher, is like Disney princess! She's so sweet and kind and smiley and has this long blonde hair. He loves Miss Laura. We decided to put him in the recital and it was a pretty successful situation!

The MC, playing the role of a professor. "PhD" is their big thing.

Here are some pictures of him performing. He's the only boy, center, in all black with a pink bow tie.

You'll see the video stop a few times as I'm also taking a few pictures. You'll also see him stop and point to the back, he spotted Gramps just off stage.

Recital 2014 from Sena Spofford on Vimeo.

When we walked out after he was done, we found lots of family (Seth's cousin's daughter performed that day too) so it was great to see that they all stayed for him!

Our two All Black Outfit Guys.

I wanted to get him something for the recital, but not a bouquet of flowers like little girls typically get. So, a wrapped Rescue Bot, it was! You can see how thrilled he was from his smile!!!

We then went to find some friends from class and pose them together. They wouldn't pose together, so this non-looking shot is the best we got.

Nonnie and Gramps got him a gift too, and he loves his Buzz Lightyear hat!

Clowning around a la Spofford Man Tradition

Here's his picture from the professional picture session they did. LOVE! I almost didn't get a copy of his individual picture. I was super sick with a stomach bug that day and it was all I could do to be upright. I decided I deserved a copy of this picture since I got out of the house and took him to dance that day. And now I'm SO glad I have it. It's awesome!

Next year, the plan is that Austin will move up to the Hip Hop Tots class and Graham will take Creative Movement. The classes are at the same time, so that will be a great hour for me! ;-) The recital, however, will probably be more than I bargained for. It was enough having Austin in costume, gift brought, getting pictures, etc. After the recital, we went to Liberty Burger with Nonnie and celebrated. Overall, it was a great day.

Cute Pic Post -- May 2014

May was an interesting month. It was full! Full of tile (we're working on getting our bathroom remodeled, and the tile selecting and quote-getting has been all-consuming), getting settled into our Home Group, finding a groove for us during the actual church service (all the details like where you normally park, where you normally sit--the balcony has become Our Spot, etc.), a Girls Night Away for me, a Garage Sale during Park Forest's Weekend of Sales, attending a Parenting Roundtable at The Village about technology (I am up for any and all parenting training, especially free ones!), Mother's Day, soccer, planning for summer, finishing school (teachers gifts!), our street's Block Party, a free photography class for me, going to the Drive-In, running in the morning, the Mascara Hunt of 2014, and a Georgia + boys photo session. Whew! I'm tired just having typed all that up!

Here's a stroll through our May...

my Frat-Tastic Men after church

Cutie PaTootie

One of our new favorite parks.

Fun Balloon Art at Mellow Mushroom

I love the men in this picture, but also: The Sky!

And the little one said "roll over!"

Just found them sitting up there!

In west Philly...

We started watching Rescue Bots and they love it.

Love sleeping pictures!

The weather was fairly nice all month so we got to get out and go to the neighborhood park!

The school had an End of Year Picnic at a park near the school.

This photo was not posed. ... Flirting already!?

Dinner at Nico's with friends:

It lives up to all the hype, plus some!

This little one is a crafty, climbing, scrapper! He pops those right out of the socket!

Love this brother shot!

We spent several full days in McKinney having a blast with friends.

Which is exhausting!

I often dress them alike accidentally!

The photographer was not a nice experience, but the picture turned out well!

Spent some much-needed alone time finishing up the book of Matthew by the lake. Water is my favorite. (Even though this lake is way low!)

My Free Photography Class 2014

I was recently able to take a photography class for free (someone posted about it in a Facebook group that I'm in--some friends of hers were hosting it) and I wanted to share my submissions with you. There were a few weeks I missed and didn't have anything to submit, but nonetheless, here's what I submitted for the following weeks:

"CLOSE" or "VERY FAR AWAY"

"PEOPLE" or "PORTRAIT"

"MOTION"

 "Just a photo you like" (this was the first week):

I loved this class. It was very laid-back, and wasn't just about using your camera in manual mode. I learned about things like that too, but I also learned about things like taking a picture both horizontal and vertical, the Rule of Thirds, being careful to watch lines/busyness in the background, etc. Things that will stick with me even if I'm just using my iPhone. I'd love to take another one soon and learn more! (I think they are offered at Brookhaven, so I might add that to my wish list. hint hint.)

Annual Cromwell Court Block Party, May 2014

This year was the 2nd Annual Cromwell Court Block Party. I had been wanting to have these every year since we moved in, but last year was our first year. The Smiths moved away a few months ago, so I asked the Lansdowns if they would be up for helping us host. I was fine with using our yard, our chairs/tables and grill and doing the cooking (Seth) and buying all the supplies, but knew that it wasn't feasible for us to purchase everything, so they chipped in some money and it worked out great! We provided drinks, burgers, hotdogs, brats, and the fixings. We also bought the plates and such. Everyone brought a dessert or a side plus a chair and everything turned out awesome!!

Seth has tried to convince me to change the date to earlier in May because of weather (it would be cooler) and holiday busyness, but I feel like it would be harder to get everyone together on a random Saturday night than on a Monday evening before people start work, even if it is a holiday. By 6pm on Memorial Day, most people are done with their weekend plans and are home. Since the party is in our front yard, there's no travel time to or from. And we have nearly everyone attend both of the last two years, so it's a good set-up, I think. AND the weather this time was absolutely perfect. It was warm, but not too warm, there was a slight breeze and flies, but no mosquitos!

My biggest regret is that I didn't get everyone to pose together in one group. We have new people on the street this year and I'd love to start having yearly group shots to see how people change year to year. Someone help me remember that for next year! I had set out more tables for food and that worked better than last year (I remembered wishing for more table space last year). I also hope to get some of those screen food tents for next year because we had plates sitting on top of the food because of the abundance of flies!

the whole crew

Grill Master 

Shannon and Theresa

Chad, Cory (the new guys, twins), Jaime 

I liked the light dots, but he's grouchy. 

David, Raymond, John with Evelyn in the background

Sweet Ms. Leatha Gordon

Rick and friend

I think he had about 7 mini cupcakes and a few bites of hotdog! 

Original Residents, Mrs. Nash and Ms. Gordon

To every single one of my neighbors who came... THANK YOU! For those who couldn't make it, you missed a great party, hope to see you next year!! I'm already looking forward to the next event!

ps. Shout-Out to my husband who takes such great care of our yard that it's always ready to host and to serve as a great backdrop for pictures!

pps. An article my neighbor wrote that I want to keep track of: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20140602-a-best-neighborhood-can-only-be-measured-in-personal-connections.ece