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Eva was quite excited to see her Daddy on the

evening news. She was not so excited to have

to be watching the news at first. She did not

understand why we couldn't just watch Disney!

She didn't mind once Todd was on screen.

Summertime fun... Ice Skating!

While ice skating for El's birthday I noticed a flyer for Summer Blitz Lessons. Eva skated for the first time at El's party and also loved it. El is always asking to go skating and I thought this would be a great summer activity. It was a week of daily lessons and then as much open skate time as you wanted. The ages were listed as 6 and up. Eva is 5. I called and they said she could try it and if it worked out, no problem. Well... it didn't work out so well. She was in tears in the first five minutes. So the rest of the week while El was in lessons I was skating with Eva. Here is a video from one of our days.

We had to dress warmly to skate. We spent from two to three hours there each day. It would take me at least two hours to thaw back out. We got some pretty funny looks when we went out to lunch. We were at Chipolte and sitting outside. As you know we are hitting the 100 degree mark each day. At this point it was well into the 90's. I am quite comfortably enjoying my lunch in a fleece jacket and Ugg boots. It was amusing to see the questions in peoples eyes as they looked us over! Only one person questioned me about it all week.

Chuck E. Cheese

We spent one afternoon this summer enjoying all the Chuck E. Cheese has to offer.

Or as El says, Chuckie Cheese.

El did alright . Plenty of tickets to spend!

Eva is ready for some more coins!

They both had fun and so did I. I am so happy that the food has improved greatly from the earlier days!

Happy Father's Day to my DAD!!

Here is a big hug for my Dad!!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

This young guy is my Daddy.

And this is guy who taught him how to be a Grampa.

My Great Grampa Sprinkle.

First he found a beautiful bride!

And 32 years later he is a Grampa!

And now I am off to start my married life.

And more grandbabies!
First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Pa pushing a baby carriage!
What would he do with a grandson?
I don't know.

But I know he will anything for El!

El learns to start a campfire.

And now we have Eva!

Will she steal his heart like El did?

She stole both their hearts!

It is so fun to watch the girls learn all the things from Pa that he taught me. I wonder if they will have to change car tires and oil??? I have to admit the tire changing did come in handy more than once!

Happy Father's Day Dad.

Thank you for all the life lessons. I know you didn't think I was listening half the time. And I wasn't. But I did hear you. I have learned by your example. From you I have learned to be honest, hard-working, kind, and ambitious. And I will work hard to pass these lessons on to the next generation.

I Love You!

Austin Children's Museum

Another summer activity was visiting the Austin Children's Museum. It is no comparison to the Houston Children's Museum, but we still managed to have fun. I took a lot of video but for some reason it will not upload correctly. Eva had two favorite areas. 1) Pictured below is a Mexican area. She loved making the pretend tortillas! 2) There was a veterinary area with stuffed animals, she doctored them for a very long time.

Sister love.

Happy Birthday El!!!

My baby turned 12!

How is that even possible? She has grown into such a lovely, kind, smart, and beautiful young lady. I am always so proud of you, El.

El's birthday always seems to take on a life of it's own. No longer the two hour party... her celebration now goes on for days!

This year started with El wanting to make her own birthday cake. She is addicted to Cake Boss. So we went off and bought some fondant icing and gum paste so she could put to use what she had learned from Buddy. This is the end result. I am impressed Kiddo!

On her big day, all girls started out with Mani-Pedi's.

I assume the boys were napping for this portion of the festivities.

Phase two was Eva's gift to El... a trip to Build-a-Bear!

Hmmm, can anyone say shyster?

In her defense, she did see an owl (El likes owls) about a month earlier and thought El would like it for her birthday. However, when the big day came the owls were already discontinued. El found a wolf which also supported the WWF so she was happy. Eva found a pink bunny.

Stuff it.

Clean it.

And make it your own!

Next on the agenda... Presents!!!

Gramma Pat and Pa sent an envelope for Eva as well.

She was pleased and impatiently waited all day to be able to open it. As soon as we said it was time to open she zipped right over and opened her envelope.

She was delighted to find Five dollars!

A few minutes later El opened her envelope to find $100.

Eva immediately exclaimed, "What?! And I only got five dollars?"

Eva and I had a private conversation after that:)

El had plenty of help opening the rest of her gifts.

She appears quite happy with her Harry Potter extended edition.

"Need help Issy?"

Time for birthday wishes!!!

She huffed and she puffed... but no wish this time.

Twelve is a lot of candles!

Dinner at The Grove.

A couple days later she celebrated with her posse.

We started with a sleepover. The next day we went ice skating and then swimming at the lazy river.

Eva was a dolphin trainer.

At last... The End.

Eva Ballerina

Eva took a class called Ballerina Beauties. Each week they would act out a fairy tale using dance, most particularly, elements of ballet. She loved it! For the recital they learned a dance to the song "Love Potion #9". It was adorable! The pictures below are from her recital day as well as some from dress rehearsal.

Eva was first in line as the teacher walked the girls on stage. The only problem was... the other girls didn't follow! So there was Eva, alone on the stage in front of the whole audience. Now this is where I may have gotten so nervous I may have cried or left the stage. Eva, however, gave a big smile and waved to the crowd. The audience loved it!

Eva is ready for the next photo shoot.

Always some love for the sister!

Tall, skinny, and loves to be in front of the camera...

The motion they did during the line love potion #9 was an adorable little wiggle. She would get so excited when she did this that she would jump up and down afterward.

Eva dresses up... again!

Just another day in the life of a princess!

Eva loves the camera... and it seems to love her too.

joie de vivre!