Today is Avery's last day of school and she starts summer camp on Monday. Her teachers sent her some pics from yesterday where she was washing the baby and practicing her Big Sister skills. She was so excited for this last day because we have a all school picnic after school closes at 12. This morning she was racing around the house screaming "I LOVE SCHOOL" and had to wear a fancy dress for the big picnic. Avery brought home a portfolio (which she calls a port-walio) that her teacher's put together. There were picture of her throughout the year and samples of all the work and lessons she had. It was so amazing to look through everything and see how much she has grown and learned. We had such a great year at MSW and are so thankful to them!
We celebrated Melissa graduating from UHS with a surprise BBQ at our house last night. We had her parent's and sister over along with my mom and Grammy. Melissa was SO surprised and touched. We are really going to miss her when she heads to school in the fall but will hopefully get some more time with her this summer. Avery led her into the backyard where we were all waiting - she practiced how she was going to answer the door and get her to us about 10 times and was really excited for the party all week. She helped Melissa open her presents (and then put the Disney lip gloss she had bought for Melissa which was BRIGHT BLUE on both Melissa and Valerie and wanted to give everyone makeovers which we were able to avoid) and pretty much made Melissa play with her all night. It was a great evening!!
We had a great Memorial Day weekend mostly hanging with family. Avery got to enjoy the splash pad at West Park a couple times (once in her clothes when we weren't planning on it and once in her bathing suit where she found a rock and reenacted The Little Mermaid channeling her inner Ariel). On Saturday morning Avery had her swimming lesson and ended up having a 1-on-1 class with Mr. Derek. She did awesome and got her first ribbon for mastering the Superman Glide - she was SO excited and proud of herself. We had brunch with Grammy afterwards who was able to see her get her ribbon. We also went to Conner Prairie with the Levinberg's - Avery loved dressing up, playing pretend and riding in the Hot Air Balloon. And we ended the weekend with a BBQ on Monday.
Avery had her big tap dance recital on Saturday night. We had the rehearsal that morning (that was the only video I got - She actually did much better during the night time performance but am waiting on the professional video for that one). She was pretty nervous but tried to be brave and ended up having a lot of fun running through the routine, dancing with her friends while the other performances rehearsed and at the end they practiced saying their name in the microphone. For the evening performance she LOVED the hair gel and make up we got to use to get ready for the show. The six little 3 years olds did great staying busy back stage (movies, coloring, dancing to frozen, eating non-messy snacks). The crowd adored them and they got so many cheers and laughs. One girl next to Avery danced out of her shoe and the other one had her hair bow fall out and she spent the last half of the dance standing on the stage crying. But Avery danced right through and did the routine the best I have ever seen her do it! And then she started consoling the crying girl as they walked off stage. After the show she got flowers from Uncle Cullen and after the family pics we ended the night with ice cream. We asked her if she wanted to do it again next year and she said "maybe" so we'll see what she decides. But it's been such a great experience for her and G to have their Wednesday dance nights together and she got to learn some new moves. It was a LONG concert but worth it to see her up on the stage doing her thing.
We started the weekend with Avery bringing me home some awesome Mother's Day gifts from school. I LOVE the answers she provided - some are way out there and some are so sweet. My favorite gift ever from her :) It was a pretty laid back weekend. On Friday, I got to hang out with some mom friends and we had a masseuse come and all got back rubs which was great! Although Avery insisted on coming up to the room with me and stared at my face in the hole for most of it chatting away. At end the, the masseuse let Avery get in the chair for a short massage and she loved it!! Saturday we had her swimming lesson and then went to KJ's college graduation party at UHS. Marija, Lila and Lena came and Avery loved running around with Lila. G let them climb into the open shelves in the lobby and they pretended to be dolphins (in the pics they said this is how dolphins smile). After Lila left Avery was the center of attention among all college kids and told me she never wanted to leave the party. On actual Mother's Day I slept in til 9 and got breakfast in bed. It was a "surprise" that Avery wanted to do but she also kept telling me about it all week. She was up at 6:30 begging to bring breakfast in and Hung said it was like taming a caged animal to get her to wait a couple hours but I appreciated the sleep! Then we had brunch at my mom's and spent the rest of the day lazing around. We ended the night making a chocolate cake. It was a lovely and relaxing weekend with my girl!
Gifts from Avery
Avery and Lila at the Graduation Party as Dolphins and in the photo booth
