4th of July

We had such a fun, beautiful, HOT 4th of July this year!
Ready for the Bothell 4th of July parade...

Ella and Sophie...

 

After Lu napped at home we headed to the Magnusson's house on Lake Washington for a fun afternoon with friends!  Pretty much a dream day for my girls - playing with their best friends, digging in sand, floating on air mattresses, going kayaking, playing in sprinklers, and watching fireworks!

Couldn't resist putting Lu, Kaylee, and Nick in matching 4th of July diapers :)...

The girls watching their dads tubing behind the boat...

Typical kid chaos ;)...

The big girls (Sophie and Ella) stayed up for fireworks after the little ones went to sleep.
One of my favorite pictures from the night - Ella and Sophie with their sparklers on the dock...

So cool to walk out on the dock and see the firework show at Log Boom in one direction and the Sheridan Beach firework show in the other direction, plus all the other fireworks going off on the lake...

Ella's Dance Recital

Anyone who is ever around Ella knows that she really loves to dance.  Recital day might be her favorite day of the year because she gets to wear full makeup, a tutu, and dance on stage.  For being tentative and somewhat cautious about most things in life, she is full steam ahead when it comes to getting on a big stage to dance and has no hesitation at all.  I love that she feels confident and excited when she dances - it's fun to see your child really love something!  At her age, the 3-4 year old dances are pretty much the cutest thing ever because no matter what they do, it's sooo darling to see little ballerinas on stage! 

I love that she wanted me to take a million pictures of her doing different poses before we left for her dress rehearsal...

One of the perks of volunteering for the dress rehearsal was getting to be backstage and get a different view of the girls' dance...

 This dance class has been especially fun for Ella this year because she's gotten to do it with one of her best buddies, Sophie...

Little ballerinas waiting their turn to go on before the recital...

 

 

 Lucy is Ella's biggest fan - while waiting for Ella to come on, Lucy would yell out "Ewwa? Ewwa?" during all the other dances...

 Show time!

 So special to have my mom here for the recital! 

Ella's teacher, Miss Heather...

And for family members who would like to watch the entire dance, here it is ;)...