Happy Father's Day, Papa!

Happy Father's Day to a great Papa! One thing I love about Mother's Day is the homemade cards and gifts that the kids make at school, so I try to replicate that for CK. This year, I found a card that we printed off Pinterest, glued together so it made a kind of "Father's Day book" and the girls filled out. I printed a card for each of the girls and they sat down and filled out what he did to make them laugh, etc. It really was super cute and they had a great time filling out the cards for their Papa.

As far as a gift, we went with an old standby and headed to Orris, one of CK's favorite stores. A few weekends ago we'd all gone to the Columbia store and CK had picked out a few new shirts and shorts, so I wasn't sure about having the girls pick out clothes. Ironically, as we walked toward Orvis I jokingly told the girls that if we couldn't find something for their Papa, we could always get him a puppy! As we walked in, there were five labrador retrievers that volunteers were trying to get adopted. Of course, the girls were drawn to them like a moth to flame and all idea of finding a gift for their Papa went out the door. The dogs were all super sweet and one in particular was awesome and we all kind of fell in love and wanted to adopt her! Of course, we knew CK would freak out, as well as Buddy! Finally I got the girls to focus on looking for something for their Papa. They picked out a really great light turquoise linen shirt that we knew he would love. He has either the same or a very similar shirt in white and wears it often, so we figured it would be perfect. After finding the perfect shirt, we tested all of the aftershaves, since he uses their brand. We chose one that he's used before but isn't currently using. It smelled great! We paid, pet the dogs again and headed out for one other gift. CK loves Swedish Fish candies, which I love to buy him since it's one of the few candies I don't really like. We headed to Central Market and the girls filled a bag of Swedish Fish focusing on the green ones which are his favorite. Of course, the girls wanted to buy a bag of candies for themselves but I told them we were only buying for Father's Day. Olivia noticed the fresh flowers and we decide to pick out a bunch of roses, sunflowers and another bunch of blue flowers that we thought would go together well.

We went home and the girls picked out a gift bag where they added all the gifts. A few weeks ago, Sofia and I were out and picked up a building kit for an airplane and Mars Rover. I figured they could build them together and Sofia would likely want to put her Mars Rover with her "Space Shrine."

The next day, I woke up early to walk the dog and then drove to our favorite donut shop where I picked up donuts for everyone, picking out two of CK's favorites. Once I returned home, the girls were awake, so I got out a serving tray and the girls added CK's donuts on a plate and a cup of coffee along with a vase of the roses and we headed into the bedroom where CK was just waking up. After Meeting, we headed downtown to enjoy lunch at the Park City Club. We figured it would be a fun way to spend Father's Day given how fantastic the food was on Mother's Day. The girls loved coloring the Father's Day coloring pages before we headed to the buffet. The food was awesome, as usual and it was such a lovely afternoon.

We returned home and CK opened his cards and gifts from the girls. He loved everything and the shirt looked awesome on him. It was such a fun Father's Day celebrating a great Papa. The rest of the afternoon, we hung around the house, read, relaxed and played a few games of Candy Land. The perfect ending to a fun day.

Getting ready to deliver breakfast in bed to their Papa

Happy Father's Day, Papa!

Papa and his girls

A few family pictures

The girls coloring before getting our food from the buffet

Giving CK his gift and cards

The girls and their Papa

The Girls Piano Recital

Yesterday afternoon the girls had their summer piano recital which was also Olivia's very first time playing in front of a crowd. Several weeks ago Sofia picked out her recital piece, the Imperial March from Star Wars, which she has absolutely loved to practice and play and ended up memorizing her music. She got the opportunity to play it at school during the last days of school when each of the classes got to show off their talent. She was super excited to play in front of her classmates and was so happy to announce that all the boys cheered when she started to play. She said they were ready for some frilly piano piece and were so excited when it "was something good." She became very comfortable playing it and it sounded awesome! Meanwhile, Mr. James our piano instructor had asked if we wanted Olivia to play in the recital and I asked him to suggest it to her, rather than ask since I figured she would shy away from playing in front of others. At first she said she couldn't do it but promised to play in the next piano recital. After about two weeks, she decided to play in the summer recital! I asked James what changed her mind and he said he told her she could pick whichever music she most liked and when she came across "Yankee Doodle Dandy" she said she wanted to play that in the recital. Plus, I think she heard how good Sofia sounded and probably didn't want to be left out of the experience.

In the past weeks they practiced regularly and got more and more comfortable with their music. Olivia had a habit of rushing through the first part and slowing down too much for the second part. Sofia was really good about working with her to get her timing right and she got it down just in time for the recital. As we drove to Metroplex Piano in Keller at 3:30 yesterday afternoon, we were wondering how Olivia would react once we stepped inside the room with all the parents and kids. She's much more shy than Sofia and doesn't normally like the spotlight on her, so we thought there might be a little stage fright. Sofia's first performance came with a serious case of stage fright and she tried to turn around and walk out as soon as we walked into the room! CK calmed her down and she's been fine every recital since then. I took a few photos of the girls by a beautiful (and very expensive) piano and then we all headed into the performance room. Sofia led the way and Olivia followed like a little duck. They both walked right up to James, were told were to sit and were completely fine! CK and I sat next to Stacy, Marco and Marco's aunt Dora and I sat with Patrina. As we parked Patrina and Victoria caught our attention and we'd completely forgotten that Mr. James is Victoria's piano instructor too! We haven't seen them in ages and it was so fun to see them and talk briefly. Sofia and Victoria gave each other a huge hug and Sofia immediately turned to me and asked when they could come over!

The recital started and Olivia was the second student to go following two guitar performances. It was soon her time and she approached the stage like a pro! I stood in the walkway to take pictures of her while CK stayed in his seat to record her play. She started "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and played it perfectly (to my non-professional ear). She kept the right cadence and it sounded great. She played with her little tongue sticking out most of the song, which I didn't notice until I watched her on the video this morning. She does that when she plays soccer too and I think it's what she does when she's concentrating. So cute! She finished and smiled as she walked back to her seat! So proud of her very first performance and how calm she was throughout! The next performer was Antonio who played "Orion the Hunter," which was a great piece of music and he played it really well! He sounded great! Then it was Victoria's turn and she played "When the Saints Go Marching In" and also did a great job. The students continued to play and got more and more complex as the students played. Soon it was Sofia's turn and she headed up onto the stage, sat down with her music and played her heart out. She really gets into the music with her whole body and she sounded great, especially on the professional piano. I tried to get pictures of her looking down at the keys and also reading her music, but it became clear that she'd memorized the music. She only looked up once or twice during the entire performance. She sounded awesome and did a great job!

At the end of the recital, James played the piano while his wife, Nancy, sang the song "How Far I'll Go" from the movie Moana, which is a beautiful song that they performed perfectly! It was fun to watch them perform and listen to James play and Nancy sing! After their performance, we took a group photo and then took a photo of the "Waldon Street Crew" with Mr. James. As we left, I asked the girls if they were nervous and Olivia said she was nervous the whole time until she was done and Sofia said she was nervous when she first took the stage, but was fine after that. Such a great performance from everyone and a fun afternoon. We headed home to host a party for Michelle, Jacob and Milani who are moving to San Francisco in two weeks.

Sofia and Olivi are ready to perform

The Recital program

Olivia ready to begin playing

There she goes!! She sounds great!

Antonio playing his piece

Victoria playing

Sofia getting ready to begin

Playing her piano piece

Love this picture of Sofia leaving the stage after her performance

James playing the piano while Nancy sings

Mr. James and all of his performing students

The Waldon Ct Crew!

Sofia's Saturn V Rocket

Since Sofia is so taken up with becoming an astronaut and space travel, CK bought her the Lego Saturn V rocket which has 1,969 (the year Apollo 11 landed on the moon) Lego pieces. He told her about it before it arrived and she kept looking on our porch to see if it had been delivered yet. She couldn't wait to get started on it. Finally, on June 7th, it arrived around 10am. She was SO excited and had to get started right away! She was so excited I could barely even take a picture of her and CK with the box!

The rocket was divided into 12 bags along with an instruction manual that was more like a book. She set up on our dining room table and started making her Lego rocket. She worked literally all day until we told her it was time for bed. By then she was well over halfway done and couldn't wait to finish. She woke up the nest morning and was completely done by lunchtime! CK took a picture of her as she finished each stage and she had one last section to do as he left for a work lunch. When he returned, she was done! It took her about nine hours and is an incredible piece of Lego magic! She is so proud of herself and loves it so much.

She tried to play with it a little bit but after one of the stages fell off and broke up, she fixed it and then took it to her bedroom where she cleared off her dresser to create a "space shrine" that includes the Saturn V rocket as well as every space-related book and toy she has. It's really pretty cool! The finished Saturn V is really a piece of art and very impressive. It's awesome that Sofia is still so drawn to becoming an astronaut and loves space "stuff" so much. Of course, it's been a great connection for her and CK as they spend hours bantering about each mission, who was on it, what happened, etc etc. It's amazing how much they both know and remember! Of course, they have watched Apollo 13 a few times as well as a series about the various missions to the moon. We can't wait to see what becomes of her space travel passion!

The Saturn V is here

CK and one very excited girl!

Showing Whitley and Olivia

Getting started

The first stage is done!

Checking out the instructions

Working away....

The second stage is done!

Getting close to done!

FINISHED!!

We are ready to go to the moon!

Sofia's "Space Shrine" in her bedroom