Our Prince Has Come! Aidan's Summer 2013 Dance Show

Aidan,

You LOVE dancing and singing and screaming and bouncing.

Your stage debut last Christmas went...memorably. You kind of got stage fright and kind of didn't even come out on stage for one dance. But, we saw you rocking out off stage.

Even so, you had a blast and a lot of fun at that dance show, telling us how much fun it was.

 So, of course, we were excited that you wanted to take Miss Jessica's dance class at school again. You guys have been practicing your routines for months and last weekend was the big premiere: one night only!

You were adorable in your costume: the most handsome prince we've ever seen!

The audience was ready for the big show!

And then, it was your group's turn!

You took to the stage (success already!) And you took your starting position which apparently included a scowl/frumpy face for some reason. And then...no music...no music...oh no!

Okay, well, we were just happy you came out on stage. I didn't know how shuffling 6 3-year olds off the stage would go over with the talent. But moments later, you came back out again. Took your starting position. Held it. Scowled. Frumped.

 And then the music kicked in and you came to life, dancing your big heart out!

And you were Amazing! Watch it in HD here.

You hopped, you went up and down, you spun and spun and spun. You clapped. You were so proud and didn't want to leave the stage.

Your mother and I are so proud of you! Your sister was so excited to see you get down and boogie!

When they brought the cast back on stage, you were ready to do your dance again and got in your starting pose, and posed very well for some photos!

Then I told you the dance was over and you could come to us, you smiled and leaped off the stage into our arms!

We kissed you and hugged you and smothered you with love...don't worry, you deserved it!

You even won a trophy! (or is it a telescope?)

Our dancing prince, so handsome, so disciplined, so awesome!

p.s. when you watched yourself dancing on the video above, you couldn't help but start doing your dance again. You must have done it 4-5 more times that evening! The dance will continue!

8 months old and standing...and crawling...and chewing...and lovely

Julia, you are 8 months old and just the apple of our eyes.

You are such a happy little girl, and are already such your own person.

What's life like for you as an 8-month-old?

Well, you chew on just about everything, as your teeth are all trying to pop through all at once:

You've quickly gone from no teeth,

to two teeth...

to now three teeth!

You clap! (and LOVE to clap!)

You stand up wherever, and however, you can. Sometimes you get very creative in how you try to get to standing, too!

And sometimes you try standing during night or nap time. One night you were crying and crying away in your crib and we finally went in and found that you were "stuck" standing up!

And one nap time, your Mom came in and found you sleeping like this:

Was that a "fell asleep standing up and slid down?" Who knows?

You also LOVE your big brother. You play with him, you goof around with him, you LAUGH at his jokes. This is the best.

Oh, and, new as of last Thursday: you're officially crawling...when you want to! No need to roll where you want to go any more.

Oh, and now, since I took too long to write this post, you're trying to walk too! You can do it pretty well with some hand-holding, and you're even starting to use the walker!

You LOVE pulling on hair (whether it's mine or Pops' or our friend Oliver's or your brother's). Nothing will make you squeal quite like pulling someone else's hair!

You are now into FEEDING YOURSELF some finger foods! And you do it pretty well. But the dogs are ever hopeful that you'll toss them some. You're also very vocal too! A trait that really comes out when we sit down to eat.

Your sleep is really day to day...sometimes you sleep well. But now that you're cutting tooth #4, sleep is back to being pretty hard to come by.

You WAVE to your Mommy and Daddy, and light up when we enter a room.

You LOVE the baby in the mirror, and are even more fascinated by other real babies!

You are a cuddler. You are a giggler. You're a busy little girl, with busy little feet and legs. You are fearless (crawling straight for the sprinkler!)

You are a rock star.

You are love. 

You are 8 months old!