A complete brag post-katie ru part one!

I now it is not right to brag.  I know people often criticize bloggers for "humble bragging" (that's a real term now).  But honestly the whole point of my blog is to journal about my kids.  For me.  I am honored that others read it. Blogging is not my job.  I am not trying to change the world.  I see this blog as a love letter to my kids. When I am gone someday, I want them to look to this place to see how much I loved them.  And I want them to know just how awesome I think they are. Because they are each uniquely awesome.

BUT they are not perfect. We are not perfect. Dave and I fight sometimes.  We probably should spend more time together and less time reading/watching TV/on the computer.  We yell at our kids from time to time.  And they sass back too. We've had ups and downs, blue times and anxious times in our house.  I don't write about those times because those are not the things I want my kids to remember (and for their privacy too).  I don't want them to remember when I was too hard on them about grades or when I took my own exhaustion out on them or Dave or when I worried too much. I want them to know how proud I am of them as human beings.  So, that is mostly what I write about.  I am not "humble bragging" ---I am straight up bragging because I love my kids.

So, let me brag about Miss Katie Ru for a while....

I have so much to say.  First of all this has been a stellar year for her.  I am SO SO SO SO SO glad that we gave her an extra year of kindergarten. It has become so clear to me this year what a gift that was. She has grown so much in her confidence and her focus and her maturity.

This month Kate has had lots of opportunities to showcase her growth.  First, she had a violin recital.  I deliberately chose to just watch and listen instead of video it because I wanted to be really present and have her see my face and not the back of my phone.  This is Kate's 3rd year taking violin at school and she likes it and wants to continue.  She rarely practices (which is not good) but that is because she is so busy with other things. I am actually surprised that she has stuck with violin.  She works so hard training for gymnastics that I did not think she would want to continue violin but she does. She has a natural knack for music and I would not be surprised if she learns more instruments at some point.

This is a photo of Kate and her violin teacher just before the concert. 

 And I know these are terrible quality but Dave took these from far away with his phone.

Next up was Kate's ballet recital.  Oh my.  She takes my breath away when I see her dance.  I love watching.  This was a tough year for ballet.  Kate does ballet at gymnastics on Mondays and then her actual ballet class is on Tuesday (right after violin). Then she has gymnastics on Wednesday and Friday nights.  It was too much.  I know that.  It breaks my own parenting rules.  BUT she really loves all of them and she has a knack for them too. This year there were many weeks she did not want to go to ballet.  And eventually she told me she wanted to quit ballet after her recital.  I get it and I support her but I am sad too. She loves to dance but she simply wants more free time and gymnastics is her first love right now.

So, this was her 6th ballet recital and her last (for a while). And yes, there are tons of photos.

Had to do a silly face one!

Some of these are from dress rehearsal:)

Harry was kind enough to take video.  Kate comes on stage right after the young man.




A few I- phone snappies after the performance...

I was going to try to fit the father-daughter dance, a poetry reading at Rice University and end of year awards in this post too but I exhausted myself.  So they will be in part 2!!!