A Month of Celebrations

Wow. I didn't make one blog entry in the entire month of May. That's definitely a first for me.

Luckily, I started this blog title on May 20, so it appears that I was a bit more on the ball than I have been. :)

May was a very busy month with LOTS of celebrating. So....this blog is appropriately named, and will cover everything from Mother's Day, birthdays, end of school, ballet recitals, and more! Here we go!!

Colonial Day 2009Okay, this happened in April, actually. But, we'll include it anyway. Kendyll's Colonial Day at school was so much fun, and we all learned alot! One of my favorite events at Providence is their "living history days" for each grade. Each year, they learn a part of history throughout the school year by reading books written during that time period, or stories about people who lived in that era. (Which is why it's called "living history"...they learn about life by reading firsthand accounts instead of history textbooks full of facts and dates.) Along with that, is a day where everyone---including parents---live a day from that time period. All of the first graders, mothers, some dads, and teachers were all colonists for the day. Here is my little colonial girl (who decided she would be from Boston!)

And, here's colonial Mom:

I was the "candlemaker", where I taught the children to make hand-dipped candles for their colonial homes. They also visited the colonial kitchen and made butter, wrote a calligraphy letter, played colonial children's games, learned to spin cloth and handstitch embroidery. They learned about guns, the colonial period flags, the waltz, and even got to put their teachers in the guillotine for different crimes like forgetting to do their chores! This was truly a day meant for Kendyll, who loves to dress-up, pretend to be from a different time, and learn new things. (Plus, she got to wear a hooped petticoat...what is better than that?!)

Here is Kendyll with Mrs. T, her teacher. We were blessed with a perfect match for Kendyll this school year, and she misses her so much already:

Kendyll's Ballet Recital

As most of you already know, Kendyll was "made for the stage", as we say. She absolutely loves performing, especially in frilly costumes, while dancing ballet. So, even though it was not THAT fun to sit through two hours of other people's kids, it was still worth it for her 5 minutes of fame. :) Really...it melts my heart to watch my girls dance. And, that sounds so cheesy. But, it's true.
And, just a warning: Apparently, Kendyll "reapplied" her own lipstick a time or two...or three...backstage before her performance. So, some of these pictures make me laugh at the 'redness' of her lips. But, hey, that's half the fun, right?!

Here's our little family with our beautiful ballerina:
This is one of my very favorite Kendyll pictures ever. It is going on the wall! (as soon as I get around to doing that. :)
Here she is with her guests. Pops & Grandma with the Hawaiian lei flown in just the day before, thanks to Pops! She was so excited to receive it.

Cousin Sophie came along for the fun too...and made Kendyll feel like a true "superstar". :) And, Aunt Cassie, who was so sweet to spend her Sunday afternoon watching a whole bunch of other kids dance to classical music. :) Kendyll appreciated it!

And, of course the sister picture. They're already countless in their short number of years together. And, I love it every time!
Mothers Day 2009

I have to say this Mother's Day may have been my favorite in the eight year history of having this holiday to celebrate. Out of all the holidays, this one is very special to me...I guess it's because it's one that you "earn", or at least feel honored to be able to celebrate as a mom. So, this year, my girls (and my sweet husband), spent a lot of time planning and preparing for my special day. And, I truly felt so celebrated!

The night before Mother's Day, we went to Johnny Carino's for Italian food (where mothers got a 3-course dinner for FREE!), and the girls were giddy with excitement over their surprise coming the next day. At that point, I thought for sure I'd know the entire story by bedtime that evening. But, they kept it a surprise!

The next day, we went to lunch with Mark's family to Babe's (YUM!), and then home. They could hardly contain themselves by now. I was told that I had two hours to run errands or shop. Instead, I opted for a two hour nap upstairs in Kendyll's bed, while they prepared whatever it was that I had in store.

After two hours, I was woken up and escorted downstairs. My bedroom door was closed and the sign read "Jacobs Family Spa by Kendyll, Carlie, Abby Kate, and Daddy". I opened the door to find a real life spa in my own house! These two precious girls read me my itinerary...My spa itinerary included a bubble bath, manicure, pedicure, facial, and shoulder massage!!

Here they are posing by all of their hard work. It really was quite impressive in person!!

I began with my bubble bath, complete with music (Nichole Nordeman, of course), lots of candles, a magazine, chocolate covered strawberries, and peach iced tea. A fuzzy robe and slippers were waiting for me, and I was escorted to my manicure/pedicure chair, where my little stylists were waiting for me! (with my next favorite snack...chips and salsa!!)

Carlie gave me my manicure:and Kendyll gave me my pedicure: (and many of you saw the results for days after!) They picked a VERY dark color to paint my nails, which I wore solely because they loved it. :)

Here's their hard working Daddy, who had ALOT to do with all of this planning. :)
After my nail job, I got a fun mask (which ABby Kate thought was hilarious), and a shoulder massage by Daddy. I also got lots of fun cards...including one from baby #4, which was the funniest card of all.

It was such a fun day with my girls, and I told them it is now expected to be a tradition for years to come!! Thank you, Kendyll, Carlie, and Abby Kate for my treats, and especially for letting me be your mommy every day. I'm blessed.

And, that's where I'll leave off for now. I am now deciding to make this a multiple part update. I'm tired....blogger's tired....so we'll try again tomorrow!