Memorial Day in H-town

We spent the long weekend at my parents house.  A great time was had by all, as we honored Memorial Day, which was particularly special this year because my brother.in.law, Nick, deployed Saturday for Afghanistan.  An added bonus was being with Uncle Stone for his birthday!

Avery poolside


Lots of water-sliding...

Uncle Stone's birthday dinner landed us at The Blue Nile for Ethiopian food (my favorite!), which Kylie quietly referred to "as piles of poop."

I'm still working on my adeptness with indoor lighting...bear with me!

Monday found our brood at the Rainforest Cafe, a great adventure for the girls!  Thanks, Mom & Dad, for a lovely weekend :)

Erin
In addition to running the girls around, playdates, and flirting with homeschool, I am attempting to grow my photography skills!  Slowly but surely...thus far I have taken one evening class in Dallas and several online tutorials. I have also started learning a new editing software. We shall see where I end up...hopefully not too frustrated ; )

Philip
As always, Phil has a lot of irons in the fire.  He has been out of town at least once a month since the beginning of the year.  This weekend he'll be in LA again for The Great American Pitchfest.  The filming of The Savior is steadily approaching as the funds come in and we are all excited about that!

Kylie & Avery
Kylie will have her first t-ball practice this Friday, with games carrying us through mid-July.  She will also start her first round of swimming lessons this month!  We've transformed the formal living room into a "school room".  Ultimately it's a good designated learning spot, reading, crafts, etc. Although Kylie was less than thrilled when I first moved all the furniture around, she is now in the habit of asking nearly every kid she meets, "What does your dining room look like?"  We are working our way through an English reading curriculum that seems to suit Ky very well and I'm teetering with starting her on some basic Hebrew in the near future.  Avery is ever-chipper and happy just to be included in whatever "my sister, Kylie" is doing!

Four Years Young

Kylie turned 4 last week!  I can't believe we're already at four, and yes, I'm sure I'll still be saying that at 20, 30, and beyond.  She decided the agenda for the day:  early morning zoo, followed by gymnastics, lunch, and backyard pool time.  Then, a few days later we celebrated with friends and family.

 She chose a Hello Kitty theme for her party.   It was a great day, with fun had by all!

Here are a few of the highlights...

Sisters at the zoo

Hangin' with the giraffes

Hello Kitty Cake

Pizza

Pinata

Merry-go-round

Presents

Eating cake...

and then eating her neighbor's cake!

And of course, lots of love from Mom & Dad!

Lately...

Things around here lately have just been going along as usual - although our "usual" is usually a little offbeat!

We went to Oklahoma for a week in April.  Philip had a script in the Bare Bones Film Festival - you can read more about that here.  The girls and I spent our days catching up with dear friends & family.

We even hit Tulsa's Rose Garden before we left town!

When we got back home, Kylie's school had a "Donuts with Dad" day...aren't they so cute?

 

 And Avery has really started earning her keep around here...

in fact, she is apparently working so hard that she can't even stay awake through dinner!

That's all for now, folks!  Hope this little update finds each of you well.
Love,
The Dorrs