I'm a cluster blogger.

Enjoy posts April through May. If you want chronological order start down and scroll up.

Adelynne's last day of 1st grade.

Adelynne's last day of the 1st grade was May 25th. She almost didn't go because she came home with a fever and sore throat the day before. I actually took her late to school the last day because she still wasn't feeling well, but she didn't want to miss her last day. She was able to perk up after breakfast and an easy (rather than rushed) morning.

Look how long her hair has grown!

This was her first day of 1st grade. She has changed!

A close-up:

First day close-up:

Adelynne and her teacher Mrs. Tammy Younts. She was an AMAZING teacher and I am so grateful that Adelynne had her as her 1st grade teacher.

Adelynne doing her morning work with her class mates: L to R at the table: Ana, Itsuki, Adelynne, Spencer, Justice.

More of Adelynne's classmates: Marissa, Dana, Itsuki, Olivia, Jordan, Hassan. (The girl sitting at the other table looking on is Amina).

Floor time!

Blowing bubbles! Ana and Adelynne. These two girls have been best friends (BFF) all year long. Ana is the sweetest girl and we sure love her. Adelynne misses her so much with school being out!

Putting herself to sleep

I started a job at the YMCA working a shift two days a week from 2/3- 10 pm. Aurora doesn't always like to go to sleep without me around, so this is what Dustin has resorted to doing on those more difficult nights. He sets Aurora in our lazy boy, gives her a blanket, her baby dolls, and sometimes her bunny. She refuses to let Dustin hold her, and will in fact yell at him to get out of the chair so she can sit there. Dustin finds it quite humorous and took this picture. She sure is a good source of entertainment!

In May...

Monday, May 14th, our family plus Grandpa and Grandma Belt took a road trip to Evanston, Il. We all wanted to check out Northwestern University, and look around Evanston to scout out any potential places to rent. On our trip we discovered that NW is right on the beach of Lake Michigan. We decided to have some fun on our trip and play at the beach. The girls were SO happy. It was a beautiful day to picnic on the lake and play in the sand. The water was very cold, so no one was swimming, but we did at least stick our feet in the water. We mostly had fun with the sand. It really was a great day trip, and it made us all excited about our upcoming move.

Here is the beach that is on Northwestern campus. You can see Chicago in the distance. Isn't it awesome?! We played on the beach just over that rock divider.

And Adelynne lost a tooth! I helped it a little, but she was SO excited! The first thing she said after I pulled it out was, "I can't wait to show Grandpa Biggs so he can call me Toothless Goofus!"

I love that scrunchie face and her tongue sticking out!

The girl's castle/river creation.

David and Mable Belt at Lake Michigan.

In May...

Dustin graduated!! Dustin's wonderful parents came out to celebrate Dustin's achievement. They have been some of our biggest supporters throughout these last six years, and we are forever grateful. They have been saving to come out to Indiana for this exact reason, and it was a great joy to have them be here with us. Dustin's graduation ceremony was also on Mother's Day. So Happy Mother's Day to me! :)  I am a very proud wife. The ceremony was 3 hours long, we definitely should have left after Dustin was hooded, especially since he was at the beginning.

Dustin's wonderful parents. We were so glad to have them share this special day with us!

A hug from his mom.

I know, a pitiful amount of pictures taken on this day, but I just wanted to enjoy it. I never did take a "Mother's Day" photo with my girls either. But there's a picture of me from my Mother's Day 2012.

And a Dance Recital!

Here are the girls all dolled up for their dance recital. We are waiting impatiently for the recording to come in the mail. The girls did such a great job. Amy wanted to just do ballet this year, and although she was 2 weeks late to the class, she proved to learn very quickly and VERY well. She was the best dancer in her class! I was one proud mama, that's for sure. I really had a ton of fun doing the their hair and make-up. I probably did more make-up than I should have, but I loved it! Plus, good eye make-up is important for stage performances, right? The girls had a great time too. Adelynne's dance class was hip/hop and jazz combo. Her dance was done to the song from the movie Rio, "Fly like an Eagle." She did so well too. It was really great to see how much she had improved in her dance skills. She really loves dancing.

Back in April.... Amy had a birthday, what?!

Amy girl turned 5! FIVE!! It is so unbelievable to me that to this day when people ask how old she is I am still saying that she is 4 and then correcting myself. Since Amy had a big party last year, she didn't have one this year. She did have a sleep over though. Her best friend, Sabrina was supposed to come over, but she and her sisters got very sick and were not able to come. But our neighbor/friend, Clayton came over and spent the night and Amy was happy about that. But before the sleepover began, our favorite neighbors and dear friends, the Iddings family came over and had cake and ice-cream with us. Their son, Dylan is another of Amy's best friends. In fact Dylan and Amy have a bit of a crush on each other. :) The draw each other pictures all the time that have hearts all over them and a boy and a girl holding hands. It is pretty cute. We did celebrate Amy's birthday starting on Friday (for the sleep over), but also because Dustin was leaving town on Sunday, her actual birthday, for a week. (He went to a conference at Yale. On Saturday night I stayed up late and decorated the apartment so that when Amy woke up on her actual birthday it would still be special for her. Some of the decorations are still up. :) Amy picked out this cake. She wanted the cake with a crown and wand. She was VERY excited about her cake. Some things about Amy at 5 years old: - Her "nick name" is "Amy Girl." - She still loves princesses, fancy clothes, dress-ups, crowns, skirts, dresses, etc. - Favorite color: pink and yellow. But if choosing between the two, she will choose yellow. - Favorite food: macaroni and cheese. - Ariel is her favorite Disney Princess - chocolate is her favorite treat - Dylan and Sabrina are her best friends - Little Mermaid is her favorite movie (although she loves to watch Barbie movies a lot) - Loves the Bubble Guppies on Nick Jr. - A is her favorite letter. - Her favorite thing to do is watch TV - Hippo is still her favorite toy - She picks her nose a little too much - She only wants to do something when she wants to do it. Persuasion doesn't usually work. - She is very sensitive and will cry or have hurt feelings easily if someone gets upset with her. - She loves playing at friend's houses and is always grumpy when I come to get her. - She loves making people happy and she really is a sweet and loving child. She is shy about making new friends, but she is excited when she does make a new friend. Amy really brings a lot of fun and brightness to our home and our family. I often call her my sunshine girl because when she is happy she just lights up the room and brings a smile to my face. She loves to love on her baby sister. Aurora is not necessarily fond of all the love from Amy, but Amy still loves to cuddle her. Amy enjoys giving Adelynne hugs too, and wants so much to please those around her.

Back in April...

 Easter pictures! (April 8, 2012) Not a moment too soon, right? Adelynne and Amy are once again wearing the dresses that my mother made for my sister and I on an Easter long ago. And my mom made one for Aurora too so she could match. The girls are so darling in them, they look like princesses. When Adelynne put her dress on for the first time on Easter morning she declared, "I might actually like this one!" Ha! She has loved all of the dresses from her Grandma.

I love Aurora's face in this one:

(April 13th). I had to snap some pictures of Aurora in this outfit because its one of my favorites, and she won't be able to wear it much longer since she is growing so much. I wish she would keep the cute little headband on longer than 2 minutes because it completes her outfit so well, but she doesn't. At least she left it on for pictures.

Again, her cute little scrunchie face. Oh I love it so much!