Can you BELIEVE it is JUNE?

Can you believe that it is June 2016 already?  I sure can't!  What I can tell you is that I have had an amazing 2 weeks as a mother with my girls!! SO many fun memories with Isabella and Giselle to wrap up the 2016 school year!  Isabella will be starting 2nd grade next year and Giselle will be moving on to kindergarten.  AND they will get to take the same school bus together!!  Time flies when you have two little growing girls!

For starters, last week was Giselle's dance recital of the year.  She had been enrolled in Ms. Priscilla's School of Dance lessons for the year and they had their big finale at Mary Sears!  It was cute to see all of the little girls dolled up in their pink tutus!  Giselle really enjoyed herself and had BIG SMILES from ear to ear.  It warmed my heart to watch her perform.  What a HAM for the camera!  And I said my good-byes to Mary Sears Children's Academy.  Giselle has been attending the school since she was 3 months old and now at 5 1/2, we said our good-byes to our second family - our family that we have taken and loved both our children for 7 years now.

Isabella was enrolled in an 8 week chess program and just completed the championship last week.  She came home from school one day and told me she wanted to enroll in the chess club.  Isabella is my crafty, artsy, very creative little girl, so at first, I was surprised that she wanted to play chess.  After her first time at chess club, she fell in love.  And then mommy had an A HA moment.  This little girl loves math and anything challenging, of course she loves chess!  8 weeks later, she completed her chess championship, beat her instructor TWICE and earned a medal.  ATTA GIRL!!!  SUPER PROUD and she asked me if she could play and compete again next year.  Of course, darling.  Why not?

And lastly, today was Isabella's last day of first grade. SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER!!  Yeah!!!  I heard it was national donut day too, so before school, we whisked off to Dunkin Donuts and she got to pick out her favorite donuts. 

What an amazing last couple of weeks it has been!  I can't wait to see what summer has in store with these two girls!!!

Bubble Run FUN

This Memorial Day weekend, we started off by having a little family fitness fun!  Isabella and Giselle ran their very FIRST 5K race and it was a GOOD CLEAN RUN!  I am super proud of Isabella and Giselle for running for 3 miles.  They wore tutus and even had stick on tattoos. 

The event was a BUBBLE run at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet where they got to run through PINK, BLUE, YELLOW and GREEN Bubbles!!  Here are some pictures from our fun event together as a FAM!!! 

Butterfly Kisses: Daddy & Daughter Dance

Last Friday, April 22nd, 2016, Isabella had her very FIRST daddy and daughter dance at her school from 7 - 9 p.m.  Hard to believe they have daddy daughter dances in first grade!  I wanted Isabella to have a magical night with her daddy, so I painted her nails, curled her hair and even spruced on a little make-up.  Giselle was not too happy that she was not getting to go to a dance!

You can tell by the pictures that Isabella had a magical night with her daddy......

Spring Break 2016

Disney World was a BIG HIT with Giselle and Isabella!  They absolutely loved it!  First day was the Magic Kingdom park.  Isabella was super excited and Giselle didn’t quite know what to think of her first time (Isabella was the same way for her first time.) with all of the characters, rides and people!  They met Cinderella and Rapunzel at Princess Fairytale Hall.  Then they met Elsa and Anna from the movie Frozen.  We rode Peter Pan’s Flight ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World, Peter Pan’s Flight, Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid, Mad Tea Party, and Prince Charming Regal Carrousel.

We walked into Disney at 8 a.m. and stayed a little after 10 p.m.  4 character experiences, 8 rides, 3 parades (Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade, the Main Street Electrical Parade AND the water light show parade!) later, I say we did a pretty good job of making the most of our Disney experience.  I know two little girls who were exhausted at the end of the day.

The second day we spent at Animal Kingdom.  We ate lunch at the Rainforest Café, went on a Kilimanjaro Safaris, rode Kali River Rapids AND Isabella rode her VERY FIRST roller coaster!  Giselle really wanted to ride the roller coaster too, however she did not meet the height requirements.

After two magical days, we headed to Grandpa Dale and Grandma Chugs house in Venice where we stayed for a few days.  We had lunch on the pier one day and visited the beach and the next the girls went swimming with grandma and we headed out on the boat fishing.

From there, we stopped in downtown Nashville.  Blondie loved all of the action and live music.  She was very curious about all the people, music and dancing! 

Lastly, we stopped at Lookout Mountain and Ruby Falls, located in Chattanooga, TN.  Ruby Falls is named one of the Ten Most Incredible Cave Waterfalls on Earth.  The highlight of the tour is the sparkling 145-foot underground waterfall.  The girls really enjoyed hiking underground and discovering the waterfall. 

This trip went by WAY TOO fast!  Road trips are the way to go and always prove to be adventurous! Giselle and Isabella really enjoyed their spring break and we made lots of magical memories together!

Isabella and Giselle are GOING TO......

Isabella and Giselle are heading out to Disney World and they don't even know it! SHHHHHH....it's a SURPRISE!!  I am beyond excited for them!  I CAN'T WAIT to see their eyes sparkle!  Isabella has been to Disney World when she was 6 years old with Grandpa Dale and Grandma Chug, however Giselle has NEVER been.  AND I have been hearing about it weekly from BLONDIE for almost 2 years now!
So I packed up the car and we are heading out on our adventure!  They keep asking me WHERE we are going and I keep telling them:  VACATION!  We are going on an ADVENTURE.  ENJOY and EMBRACE every moment!

They both secretly think we are heading back to ARUBA because I packed swim suits and sunscreen.  LITTLE do they know what AWAITS their little eyes and ears.......
First stop - NASHVILLE.  Awwwwwww yeah......my cowboy boots are packed : ) Next UP....Disney World for two days!  After that.....DRUM ROLL please......Grandpa Dale and Grandma Chugs house in Venice, also a surprise to the girls.  They are going to be ECSTATIC!  And I am secretly excited to see my parents too after 6 months of not seeing them! 

Big shout out to daddy....who made this magical experience even possible!  Who planned out everything from where we are eating, what we are going to do, to where we are staying (hey, I DID book Nashville!)   LOOK at these MAGICAL bands we get to wear - I am told they do everything from opening your hotel door to getting to the front of that line at DW! So thankful we are afforded the opportunity to go and make magical memories with our girls!  STAY TUNED........  IT'S GOING TO BE AN INCREDIBLE VACATION!

Easter Weekend

Did you all have a nice Easter weekend?  We did!  Isabella got to go on a glow in the dark Easter egg hunt at night, complete with a flashlight and lots of eggs!  On Saturday, we took the girls to Naperville where they participated in a Spring EGG-stravaganza with their cousin Tristan.  They completed crafts, games, saw the Easter bunny and went on an egg hunt!  Giselle fell in love with the Easter bunny this year.  When it was time for the Easter egg hunt, she ran past about 50 kids to be at the front of the line just to hold his hand.  I have never seen her run so fast in my life! And she gave him endless hugs.  It was cute to see.

On Sunday, the girls ventured out into the front yard and to their surprise, the Easter bunny left them eggs!  They ran around and filled their baskets.  Later that day, we colored Easter eggs together and then made deviled eggs for the very first time!  After that, Lynn, Tom, Ella and Mitch came over for barbeque pulled pork sandwiches, deviled eggs, baked beans, coleslaw and taco dip.  We stuffed ourselves and had a family friendly game of baseball in the yard.  Until next Easter.

Two Little Girls

Two little girls.  Two different schools.  Two completely different musicals.  This week we had the pleasure of attending two spring musicals for Giselle and Isabella!  At Mary Sears, Giselle performed in her spring musical singing several different Easter songs.  I cherished every moment and felt as if the musical flew by super fast.  This is Giselle's last year attending Mary Sears and this was her very last musical.  She has a dance recital in a few months and then she is done!  Giselle has attended Mary Sears since she was 3 months old, now she is 5 and she will be off to kindergarten this year!  Here is a video of her singing the Easter bunny song and also a photo of Giselle and Isabella after the musical.

Isabella performed at Schilling school in the musical "Circus, Circus."  It was cute to see 75 plus little first graders dressed as lions, acrobats, tight rope walkers, mice, elephants and vendors!  Miss Isabella was a CLOWN for the performance.  There were about five scenes to the performance and I was able to capture a video of Isabella singing "Sad Clown."  Isabella and Giselle did a great job!