If that were not enough, Dakota had her first dance recital with Dance Unlimited, which fell on Father's Day. She did a tap dance to "Happy Feet", and a sweet ballet number to "I want to write you a song." Everyone danced in the finale to "The Greatest Show," one of our favorite songs right now.
She did so well on stage, smiling and dancing, looking over to the side of the stage for the next moves. She heard Mimi's whistle when she walked on stage, and you could just see her scanning the crowd for us. I teared up a little, remembering how I loved to perform on stage, and seeing my daughter perform her ballet and tap routine. On our way to the recital, I couldn't put into words how proud I was of her. She listened as I told her I knew how hard she had worked on learning her dances, but there was no way she could comprehend how brave she was for wanting to get on stage and dance her heart out! Her family and friends cheering her on emphasized the support and love she has in her life; it's a beautiful reminder!
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| A snippet from rehearsal- so funny!!! |
To celebrate Papa's birthday, we flew to see Cali Gaga and Papa in Florida. And it was gorgeous there, as always. Even though our time is short, we got to see lots of family and have plenty of pool and beach relaxation time and eat amazing food. Uncle Drew made some BBQ ribs that were so delicious, and even brought a dessert they called Crack cake - it was addictive!!! The kids were spoiled with birthday presents galore and loved spying on Meeko and Missy, who unsuccessfully tried to hide all weekend. They were good sports.
Kota was battling an ear infection, which cut into some of our planned swimming time, and Mom battled some stomach issues, and then Dirk caught something on the tail end of our trip, so we were not our usual healthy happy selves for the entire trip. We powered through and had a fun bounce house outing instead of swimming.
We had the luxury of flying this trip, and the kids loved being in the airport. We bought them their own luggage with wheels, and they looked like such big kids wheeling it around. Kota loved her pink Shopkins luggage, and Dirky was team Paw Patrol. It was a huge help to not have to carry their things this year like pack mules. They did incredibly well on the flights, but the patience in waiting at the gates could use a little work. Because we were delayed for almost 2 hours, no amount of iPad bribing could have kept them from running up and down the length of our waiting area. Most of the other passengers were pretty lax, but I blame Southwest mostly for canceling that red eye flight home. Anyhow, aren't these just the two cutest travelers you have seen? 
Over Memorial Day weekend, we had a
fabulous time with our Manvel crew. The bond I have with these girls is
unbreakable! We rarely are able to get all of our families together, so it
was a special weekend we spent at Donnie and Sara's with Hillary and Chaz in
town!! Jolene was pretty preggers, and on bed rest, but still came out to chill
in the sun with us. Katy brought the boys and Miss Parker by for everyone to
meet and love on! We also met Elijah, Amber and Aaron's foster son, for the
first time, and he was such a cute little boy. Amber and Joe came in from Del
Rio with Jonah and Journey too. We had plenty of pool time and Donnie let the
kids play some front yard baseball, where the Marek boys clearly
dominated. I felt so recharged getting that time with my some of favorite
people on Earth. Looking back at these pictures, I feel like they just scream
summer!
We also came in for "Hero Fest" in Manvel and a Dalmolin cousin birthday party. I was amazed at how many heros and hero vehicles there were. Uncle Derek had helped put the event together! The Cajun army was there with one of their boats, the US Coast Guards brought a helicopter, and any kind city service vehicle you could imagine- police car, fire truck, ambulance, you name it. It was a toasty June day, but we were lucky to have snow cones to help cool off!
As I mentioned, we spent lots of time
eating cupcakes, and singing Happy Birthday this month. Here are some
highlights from our parties.
We played Bingo for Dirk's birthday at
our favorite place- Ben White Bingo Hall, and almost got asked to leave for
being so fun. Jeff came out too, and I thought for sure someone in our group would win... no such luck. But we always have fun regardless. Dirk made
me laugh so hard at our last Bingo date night I had tears streaming down my cheeks! I won a $50 pot, but ended up getting $20 in pull tabs and an entry into another drawing in August. So I brought home $1 and a piece of paper. It made us laugh so hard.
Gigi and Katy hid 4th of July necklaces and
flags for the kiddos at the cousin's birthday party.
The Paw Patrol Party at our house! Even
Miss Celi from school came to wish the kids a
Happy Birthday. I'm so glad Mimi got the video of us singing Happy
Birthday to Kota and Dirky.
It's crazy how quickly Dirky is becoming
more of a boy, and less of my baby boy. I also marvel at how sweet he can be in
one instant, and how challenging he is in the next. At night, he will
pull his little hands around my neck and try to have me snuggle up to
him. He'll hold my hands as he falls asleep to make sure I don't leave
him. If I'm wearing my hair in a ponytail or under a cap, he'll say
"Hair off," meaning pull my hair out of the ponytail or take my
hat off. Once I do, he'll say, "Hi Momma!" with a big smile, as if I
hadn't been there before - ha!! He usually wants Momma to "carry you"
from the car. In the morning when I say "Love you"
he'll scream back, "Love you!" even louder. If I ask him who has
a dirty diaper, he loves to blame Kota, who no longer wears diapers.
Some funny things Dirky says,
"More milkt" with a t sound on the end or at bedtime,
"More bookt." He will also roar like a dinosaur, and put
his hands up like he's about to pounce. We pretend that we are scared of
him. If he gets upset with us, for trying to put his shoes on, or change his
diaper when he doesn't want to, he'll be in mid-fit and then roar at us and it
takes everything we have to not laugh directly at him. He's in
the limits-testing stage, and has tried to hit both Dirk and I or kick. I
am starting to see the challenge of physically forcing him to do
something. He can put up quite the fight. Sometimes, I have to take a break and
try to coax him to put on his clothes another way, because the struggle to get
him to wear a shirt is real. If you see him wearing a pajama shirt, it's
on a day I didn't have the energy to battle.
I took this picture of my hand on his
shoulder to remind me years from now, that he was once small enough for my
entire palm to cover his shoulder. Even though I no longer see him as my
baby boy, he is still only 2 years old and needs my love, attention, and
patience as much now as he did as a baby. My friend Sara once told us she
was grieving the loss of her children, while they were still children. I
totally understand, because you feel like you and their Dad are the center of their world. When I
see this picture in the future, I know it will remind me of my role
at this stage in his life and how much I treasured these moments!
Kota has been my older role model when it
comes to all things, except eating. She is still my sensitive sweet girl,
but has been helping out so much more. Some of the funny things she says
right now.... she puts her milk in the "Refrigerate" and her concept
of time is not there yet. She said, "Noodles been kissing me all day
night." We have been letting her have more time on the iPad and
she loves a Youtube channel were Ryan, a blogger, plays with toys.
The other day we heard her say, "two thumbs up if you like this
video!" as we were recording her coming home from the YMCA. My
favorite thing has got to be at night, when we're done reading books. She will
ask me, "Can you read a story inside your mouth?" She wants me to
tell her a story basically, but the way she puts it just cracks me up!
Mom and Dad have had fun playing sand volleyball at Moontower every Monday! Our team did so much better this season and Dirk made us the best "Krispy Pop" trophies.
A few more pics to close out our
summer blog- It's been a fabulous past few months. I try to pinch myself
and soak up every memory. I know Mom and Dad will not be the center of their
world forever!
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