The Newest Ballerina | Week In Pictures

I love this picture of Hannah eagerly awaiting the start of her first ballet class.  She's been looking forward to this day for months!  We signed Hannah up for Gymnastics and Ballet this summer through the Park and Rec department.  She started Gymnastics last week (and rocked the balance beam) but she was really excited about her new ballet shoes and leotard.

The class was filled with happy and excited little girls and the instructor was great.  We left the class on a great note... Until a we got about a mile down the road and I noticed my check engine light was on.

Now I didn't talk much about this online, but a month ago the same light came on as I was dropping the kiddos off at the babysitter.  I was going to spend the whole day by myself and was only a few miles from her house.  I figured I'd make it.  

Then the car died and smoke started pouring out of the engine.  Turns out I effectively killed my minivan and the repair bill would almost completely deplete our emergency fund.  

I cussed a lot that week.

So when I saw that (effing) light come back on I pulled over immediately.  

I called the mechanic and told them to expect us (yay for 30 day warrenties!!) and called AAA to get towed.  Then we waited in the (hot.) car for Chris to rescue us and for the tow truck to arrive.  Hannah and I snapped this picture while we waited.  William took advantage of the early nap time and quickly passed out.  It turns out we have another large repair bill coming our way.  JOY!

30 minutes later Chris showed up with cold drinks and cheeseburgers and made the kids VERY happy while we transferred car seats and gave directions to the tow man.

William has been going to Gymboree for a year now, and he really enjoys it.  He's selective about which activities he participates in - he won't sit quietly while the teacher introduces the theme of the week, but loves parachute time and always drags me underneath it with him.  I love that he wants to share that moment with me each week.  His giggle is infectious and it's always the highlight of my day.

William takes a solid 2-3 hour nap each afternoon, but Hannah rarely naps nowadays.  Instead she loves to make art in the afternoon.  This is an example of one of her collages.  (I'm really proud of her for coming up with this idea on her own.  She's done it with lots of different characters and it's always really cute and creative.)  

She picks out a picture from a coloring book - in this case the castle - colors it and cuts it out with scissors, then she glues it to a blank piece of art paper and creates her own background.  Cute, right?

She's also really into Legos.  We put together this Lego Friend's set earlier this week.  (Andrea's Mountain Hut #41031 - retired)  Sadly, Hannah is completely against creatively building with her pieces and insists on following the directions (which requires mom's help).  Hopefully soon she'll give free form legos a try.  Don't tell Hannah, but the baby got her a Lego's Junior set as part of her hospital big sister gift.  I'm hoping it'll help the transition and give her something new to do during quiet time when I'm busy with a newborn.

I also (FINALLY) started getting caught up with YouTube vlogs.  I posted Hannah's Reaction when we told her about the baby, and on Thursday I posted the gender reveal.  Links below if you haven't watched these yet: