Gabi Dance

Gabriella has been taking a ballet/tap class for 2.5-4 year olds at the New York Performing Arts Center in Washingtonville, NY. The teachers, Jackie, and Cyrena, are so absolutely wonderful with the girls and I am thrilled with the whole program. She tells me every week that she doesn't know how to dance and is hesitant to go in but the second she is with Miss Jackie, all hesitance disappears and she joins her friends. During the last 5-10 minutes of every class, they let us come in to the studio for a mini performance (either tap, ballet, or some gymnastics).
For the first few times very few of the girls actually participated or did much that resembled what the teachers were doing, but that has been getting better every week. Gabriella is becoming such a little ham, and we often see evidence of what she does in dance when we're at home. She is absolutely and completely adorable!



Click the picture for the google album of all her cuteness!

Halloween 2010

We had such a grand time celebrating Halloween in the Hudson Valley this year. Both kids were supremely excited and ready to jump in with both feet! Gabriella wanted to be a monkey, and Tomas wanted to be a Power Ranger, so there was no theme to go with this year. Oh, well (I'm too pregnant to be very interested in dressing up anyway).

We took a trip to Lawrence Farms to pick out some perfect pumpkins and it was a supremely beautiful day with some breathtaking views and great friends. Peter carved one of the pumpkins with the kids. I'm glad I caught it all on camera...some of my favorite shots are in that series.

Our jack-o-lantern unfortunately wilted well before Halloween actually arrived, thanks to some wet and warm weather, but it was fun to make anyway. The rest of the pumpkins continued to adorn the porch (and still do).

Gabriella and Tomas each had their individual ways to celebrate the holiday during the week before. Gabriella got to be a monkey at both dance and gymnastics, and it was great! She wore her costume the whole time at both places, despite the fact that it was a pretty sweaty affair. I may be biased, but she was the cutest one there both times. Tomas had a Halloween parade, activities, and a pumpkin run at school. It was great! He never left his mask on for long, but he was still the most convincing Power Ranger ever!

Halloween trick-or-treating was COLD! We made it around the block, but both kids were ready to be done by that time. They both enjoy giving out candy just as much as getting it...yippee! For now, I still hear "Can I get a treat from my bucket?" on a daily basis. I'll be excited when all that sugary goodness is gone...thank goodness there wasn't too much of it!!!

The link below will take you to the Google Album for the pics of every detail!