My Tiny Dancer

I am still working on downloading the pictures and videos that will help me tell the story of our recent Smoky Mountain getaway. Until I'm finished with that I thought I'd catch up on a couple of my favorite subjects over the next couple of days. 

I'm going to start with some stories about and pictures of my favorite little girl in the world, Aria Nicole. 

Back near the end of July, Paula was going through an especially stressful time at her job. I wanted to give her something to smile about in the middle of her week so I arranged a surprise. 

I took my wife to lunch at our favorite lunch spot in Bowling Green, The Lunch Pail. I had Brandi, and Aria meet us there. Paula had a lot of fun with Aria and I took one of my favorite Aria pictures of the year. 

Like mostly all little girls these days, my granddaughter is obsessed with anything and everything that has to do with Disney's animated mega-hit, Frozen. 

At a friend's birthday party in late August Aria got to meet Anna and Elsa in person. While they are actually two local young ladies who are playing the characters; but that didn't make any difference to my granddaughter. You can't see her face but just from her body language you can tell she's fascinated with the royalty from Arendalle. 

  
At almost 2 1/2 years old my granddaughter is growing and changing every day. She's well on her way to becoming a "big girl" and not needing to wear diapers any more. 

Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds too. It's to the point that if she's around and you don't say what you don't want her to repeat. 

When she comes to visit us her favorite activity is to sit and play games on the IPad with her Nana. 

She's very good at matching shapes and colors and even knows some numbers and letters. 

On Grandparents day a couple of weeks ago after having lunch at Cracker Barrel we went to the park here in Smiths Grove and played in the sand for a while. 

Although she is becoming even more and more imaginative in her play there is no doubt that one of her favorite activities is helping in the kitchen.  She's always ready to help when she visits her "Aunt Jackie".

At the end of August, during a Sunday afternoon visit, she helped her Papa make a batch of her mama's favorite snack, brownies.

I've saved my favorite pictures for last. 

For a while now I've been encouraging Aria to be creative by singing songs and playing the ukulele with her. I think a love for the creative arts is an important thing for her to have in her life. 

That's why I am so overjoyed that Brandi has now enrolled Aria in dance class. Yes, my precious little girl has become a ballerina.

To say she's enjoying herself at this new activity is an understatement. Here's a gallery of pictures from her first couple of classes. The look on her face says it all. 

So there you have the latest on what's happening with my granddaughter. I haven't seen her in a while but plan on rectifying that very soon. 

Also, on October 4, Paula and I will get the privilege of going with Aria and her mama & daddy to Nashville to see the newest Disney On Ice show based on Frozen. 

I can't wait to be able to show you the pictures of my tiny dancer on what promises to be a very special day.