Fair Oaks Renaissance Faire

Yesterday, our friends invited us to go to the Fair Oaks Renaissance Faire with their family. The time of day wasn't ideal for the twins because of naps, so I just took Molly. I figured it would be right up her alley... and I was right. Our friends are really into the "Ren Faire" scene. In fact, they had a completely Renaissance themed wedding! So they had plenty of clothes to costume us up in. And when Christy realized that she didn't have a dress for Molly, she worked her tail off and sewed her one to wear (something I found out about after the fact). I can't believe what wonderful friends we have. Here we are in our garb.


And here's Molly and Christy's kids. These were three excited little girls! They looked so cute in the costumes!


The faire was a ton of fun. There were all kinds of performers from dancers to magicians to musicians to a pirate act with parrots that the kids LOVED!


Another highlight was a giant metal dragon sculpture that was on hydraulics and could move it's head & mouth AND breathe fire. The creators of this dragon let the girls actually climb into it and take it for a "test drive". Molly was a little timid of the dragon but surprised me when she climbed right in it!


It was such a fabulous time. Many of the people attending weren't in costumes, but it was so much fun to get dressed up and really get into it and be (as they called it) a "play-tron". I would definitely say that it's something that we'd love to do again and I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity to go. Thanks, Christy and Rik!

Dancing Through the Decades

Today was Molly's end of the year dance recital. The theme was "Dancing Through the Decades" and Molly's class was doing "At the Car Wash" from the 1970's. Their costumes were a beautiful blue with "car wash fringe" on the top. They were SO CUTE!


Steve's Uncle Fred and Aunt Nancy came to watch her performance again, which was so special! Molly loved having a big audience. And we got a babysitter for Garrett and Paige so we could ensure that it was Molly's special night and we weren't distracted!


Before the show the girls were VIBRATING with excitement. One of the other Mommy's bought a can of glitter spray and sprayed all the girls' hair and skin. Molly was so excited to be glittery.


Molly's class did so well, and I couldn't believe how happy and confident Molly was on stage. She wasn't nervous at all and was grinning from ear to ear the entire time. I was so proud of her! And their dance was EXTRA cute when one of the girls drove a Barbie car out on stage for the "car wash".


And here's Molly with her teacher, Miss Britney. She is wearing her Indian costume after performing the YMCA. Not only is she a fabulous teacher, but she's a fantastic dancer too!


It was such a fabulous night. Steve and Aunt Nancy each bought Molly and rose which she was THRILLED about. Our little girl is getting so grown up!

Summer fun...

Summer is in full force in the van Riessen household. The weather has heated up and we've been finding all kinds of ways to enjoy the sunny weather while trying to stay cool. There's been backyard picnics...


... and playing with the bubble machine.


There's been pool days with friends...


... and backyard play dates at friend's


Needless to say, this Mommy is doing everything she can to wear these kids out so we don't go crazy!


I'm enjoying the kids so much right now. It's been so nice to slow down a little and find more time for fun outings. Garrett and Paige are starting to listen more and more and it's becoming easier to take them places. Something tells me that this is going to be a FUN summer!

Sing Along with Garrett

As quiet as my two girls are, Garrett is the exact opposite. He talks ALL day. Sometimes it's just for the sake of talking. Sometimes it's words we don't want to hear like "MINE!" or "NO!". But a lot of the time he's singing. In fact, he literally sings himself (and Paige) to sleep at night and you can hear "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" through the monitor. So, at my mother's request, here's Garrett singing two of his favorite songs. Enjoy!

Twin pictures...

I've been working on getting things together for Garrett and Paige's new bedroom. We are planning on putting them into "big kid" beds when we get back from our trip in August. The new room is going to need some new wall art, and I just happened to have a credit for a new photo canvas that I need to use up. So I looked through my photo archives for a decent picture of the two of them together. I couldn't find a single one that was "canvas worthy". I realized that I've been so concerned about making sure they weren't always lumped together as twins, that I never purposely take their picture with one another. So yesterday they gave me a grand total of ten minutes to snap a few pictures. Here's what I came up with! Excuse the watermark... I was too lazy to remove it after posting these on my professional photo blog.

Be Refreshed

This weekend was our church's annual picnic at Folsom Lake, coined "Be Refreshed". Unfortunately, it was scheduled for immediately after church which is right when Garrett and Paige nap. We "considered" trying to push them through, but eventually decided that having two screaming miserable toddlers didn't sound very refreshing. So Steve stayed home and napped with the twins, while I took Molly to the lake. She wasn't about to miss out hanging with all of her little friends.


The church rented some boats and Molly was determined that I take her out on one. So we took a tandem kayak out on the lake. Before I know it, we gained a few more passengers. Molly loved having Mommy's play water chauffeur to her and her friends and I enjoyed the work out!


Great food. Great weather. Great friends. It couldn't have been a better afternoon and I really enjoyed spending some one on one time with Molly.

Roller Skating Divas

Today Molly's little friend, Keilani, had her 5th birthday party at the Roller King. I wasn't quite sure how that was going to work with a bunch of 4 and 5 year old kids, but it was so much fun! They started out with a little class & lesson on how to stop and get up if you fall. And they tighten up the wheels on their skates so they can pretty much "walk" on their skates. As they felt more comfortable, they loosened them little by little.


Molly tends to be a little timid when trying new things, and I was so proud of her. Not only did she totally participate in the class and try everything the teacher asked of them, but she really enjoyed herself. She was definitely careful and not taking any risks, but she kept at it. And when we were ready to leave, she didn't want to take her skates off and go. So I promised her we would go again.


The mommies also enjoyed donning some skates and getting out there for some exercise. A few of us were even saying that we need to do "Mom's Skate Night". But most of all, it was really special to watch Molly take on a new challenge and keep trying even though she was a little bit scared. I'm so proud of her!