Christmas Dance Performance

Tonight we had Baylee's dance performance. Her class danced to Frosty the Snowman. They did pretty well for not practicing the dance nearly as much as I would've thought and have been working more on competition routines.

 In case you can't tell as I didn't get as good of a video this time, Baylee is third from the left and ends in the very front. Her class got the same costumes as she had last year but in the way of the loaner Christmas costumes, this was a very good thing!

Note to all of my readers.....she has on more makeup than I do....it's a dance team law. Yes it is sometimes odd but it's the life of a dancer and this dance mom is going to have to deal!

Oh you want to see it? Well here you go.

Happy Christmas, we love you all!

2nd Half of July

We had the Bagelfest Parade. Baylee got to ride with her dance team again. She was sitting behind the banner and we couldn't see her well. We learned people just love Tanner and Zoey. They were throwing them hoards of candy and giving them things. Tanner would say thank you everytime and loved waving at people. Zoey had fun sitting in the road surrounded by candy being thrown to her.

There was lots of pool time for the kids and gardening and some canning. We also started with the kids learning how to shoot the .22 rifle. They both love it. Baylee already has her aim down and is quite spot on when she tries.

We had a playdate at the park with Izzy and Hannah. The kids had a blast. Sorry for overload of park pictures, I love park pictures. I can almost always get real smiles because they are having so much fun.

Please note: there are and will be in the future, pictures of Zoey that seem to have nothing going on. It would be documentation that I got a ponytail in long enough for a picture. She HATES, I mean HATES anything to be in her hair or to have her hair fixed. We have to be sneaky and usually have bribes for each hand when it's put in. One day maybe she will let me put fancy things in her hair, until then, she rocks her plain mullet!

Lilli's last week

We started off the week with a show at a library in Decatur. It was a live reading and performance of books. It was a lot of fun and the kids laughed. Zoey was being a crazy lady running around, of course. We then had a picnic at Hannah's mom's house and played in the yard for a while before heading home.

We then had our Dora's Pirate Adventure Play and party. Let me disclose how much I dislike Dora and shows. However, it was by far the best play for the little audiences performance yet. It was very interactive and the kids laughed, hollered, danced, clapped, etc throughout the entire show. It was sooooooo much fun. We then had a pirate party with 10 kids and 5 adults hanging out here. I had created an actual map of our yard for the kids to have a treasure hunt with a pirate prize such as a spy glass, a rubber pirate ducky,pirate mini beach ball or gold debloon awaiting them at each location. They were in teams and so there were 4 different maps so that they could go in different orders and race all over the yard but not have to have us adults split up to help too. The kids seemed to love it. We did a pirate sticker craft and had pirate masks for all of them. We had lunch and I had made homemade marshmallows cut into stars and dipped in chocolate and graham crackers. S'mores are never a disappointment. Hannah made little jello beaches. So of course, dessert was a grand slam as well. We all had a fantastic time and I cannot say how fun the play was.

We had dinner at the Compton's house one night. The treasure hunt had gone over so well, Izzy insisted that we have another one. Hannah set to work and got one together.

We ended the week again at the lake. It is always a great time. Then Sunday we had to return to St Louis to drop off Lilli to go back to Utah. We found an empty baggage claim area and played cars, and did the usually rounds on the escalators, elevators, stairs and watching security check points. It was a shorter stay due to Lilli's year round school that started. It's always sad to send her home not knowing when we will get to see her next.

 I need to throw in a section just about Lilli. I am so incredibly proud of her for going running with me and conquering her doubting thoughts of whether or not she could do it. She pushed and ran farther and in a shorter time most nights than the time before. Her face would light up like Christmas when I'd report when we stopped on how far we went and how long it took. Even the nights where we just went farther but made it home in the same amount of time, she knew to be very proud. We turned it into a very positive experience for her. I enjoyed having the time with just her and I to chat while we ran about everything under the sun. I had forgotten how quiet it is going by myself. It took a few runs to get used to it again. It was very fun running on nights around the 4th of July because we got firework shows that made the runs seem really short. We found beauty in all kinds of things while out there.

First week of July

This week I began to slack on pictures a bit but we cashed in on summer reading prizes and got the Papa Murphy's pizza kits for the kids. They got to concoct those and we made tshirts for the 4th of July. They turned out so cute!

We did sand art, which was a blast. They did a great job and had some really pretty creations....until they had the bejeezus shaken out of them. Apparently that is just too much to resist. There was most likely more make up application involved. We cashed in on ice cream cones from Sonic as well. Lots of outdoors time at home that week.

This was hilarious. These three thought they were so big hanging out in the truck with their windows down. A few questions I had pertaining to this situation, why oh why was Tanner the chosen driver? Um safety is not a concern for him. And do they realize this will be the vehicle they will get when they are of driving age? So be nice to it! 

And of course the 4th of July.  We kicked off our day with Baylee riding with her Dance team in the Sullivan Parade. It was a scorcher but it was fun for her to do. Lilli thought the cannon that is on the town square was quite intriguing. This would be the first year we have gone for our own celebration instead of heading to the chaos of the airport and RK hangar. It was actually quite nice to be able to stay home. The boys put on quite the fireworks show and of course the ladies presented quite the delicious spread with festive shirts and activities for the littles. Lilli was excited we had 4 different festive desserts and definitely needed to try them all. I should add we were blessed with a beautiful sunset. I know there are so many pictures of the kids with sparklers but they were cackling and having loads of fun and I just loved all of the pictures for different reasons. We were two very worn out parents by the time we shut her down but such great memories were made.

We ended the week with a trip to the lake for some fun in the sun. We took a lunch of course. Anyone who has spent time swimming knows you always get so hungry being out there. They all loved the water and the sand.

The last week of June

The last week of June was a bit more calm and we spent more time around the house, which I actually enjoy doing. I have a lot of gardening to do during the summer and enjoy being outside.

I always try and stay home on dance days to give the girls some down time before they have to go show off :) Lots of pool time that day.

 Baylee had a mini camp at the Nature Center. We dropped her off and went and got drinks from Sonic and hit a thrift store.  We pulled out the paints and let the imaginations run wild.

After 10 days of convincing Lilli she really did want to go running with me, welp, she really did want to go running with me. She had high level of doubt for herself. She was a trooper and it was awesome to see her do what she didn't think she could. She even did sprints with me in the end. While there may have been a bit of complaining here and there and begging for a break, she never stopped running before our set mark for a break and she kept to her pace pretty well. She was beaming by the time we got done. Running at her pace was actually a nice break for me.

We had a dinner at Cracker Barrel with the Comptons. We were that crazy crowd in the corner with 5 kids and 4 adults. The kids had a great time out on the patio.

Friday, we had Hannah and Izzy over for craft day. We made flowerpots with foam flowers and decorated little handbags. Along with lunch, the kids got ice cream treats and played in the pool. What better way to cool off on a hot day. The chair setup in all of the pictures.....they were having a meeting. Not sure what went down in their meeting as it was top secret and was continuously moved but it was fun for them, they were even all "sleeping" at one point.

We ended the week/month with chores at home, cutting the lawn, etc. Baylee went running with Lilli and I. She was having a hard time keeping up and it rained on us. I ended up running the last 3/4 of a mile with Baylee on my back. It worked out to be perfect, Lilli and I have the same pace when Baylee is on my back, so it was a great work out for me that night. We threw in a fishing excursion for fun. There are a lot of pictures from that of Zoey....she was chaos on a pier to the point of I could not really fish, so I gave up. We made a good choice on where we went so at least she was blocked in. The fishing was not exciting but it's not always  about the catch. We got rained on a little but it's all in a days work!

First week with Lilli in June

We are going to take this slow as to not overwhelm with the oodles of pictures. 

On Sunday, the third week of June , we got to pick up Lilli to come stay for a while. The kids look so bored waiting because they are. The St Louis airport is only so big despite being an international airport. We do laps and ride escalators and walk stairs, ride elevators, watch people, play something we can find to play and still have time to wait. We all like to go pick up Lilli but Cody has to be there early to check in and walk to her gate with time to spare to get her from the plane. We know the St Louis airport like the back of our hands. But it's always worth it. 

Lilli jumped in immediately to our way of life....one of the first things she did once we got home was hold our 2 week old goat. They really are just fun to pick up when they are so small. We put her in a hip hop dance class this year while she was here. It part of the same time Baylee had dance team practice so it gave her a little something to do while waiting on Baylee's class to end. She seemed to have a blast and worked really hard at learning the moves. 

The next day, we had a space suit show at the library to attend. It was presented by an employee of the Planetarium and he brought along his fully authentic space suit. It was a little boring for Tanner and Zoey but Baylee, Lilli and I loved it. We then moved the party to the park for a picnic and playtime on the playground and in the fountain. 

Wednesday of that week was our infamous fashion show. The girls were hysterical with this event. Lilli did their makeup. I gave them access to my closet and my shoes. They put together their secret outfits while Tanner and I set up an audience and a runway. The videos are definitely a treasure. I had to announce but had no idea what was coming out. I was trying not to laugh and be stunned by what would come down the runway. It was a great time. They talked about for weeks. They then had a fashion show for their Barbies. And later that afternoon mud painted the shed and played with a toad. From fashion to frogs, they have it all covered. 

Thursday, we had a stay at home and chill day. The pool had to be cleaned and Tanner helped with the wagon. With all of the crazy, it was nice to have a relaxing day at home. (Fashion show required some recouping) 

Friday we all loaded up and hit the road with Hannah and Izzy for some garage sales. I love to shop other people's trash. I always find great things for very little money. The kids always find cheap toys or something that makes them happy as well. We ended with an suv full to the point of a new beanbag was hanging over the girls head in the back row. We had a little of everything in there. It was a blast. The kids even had a great time and were excited for their finds. Lilli over her Justin Beiber book specifically and Baylee loves her some boots. Tanner got a big super loud talking moving fire truck that launches nerf balls that scared the daylights out of us all when it started talking. We just thought it rolled, great deal, had no idea it could do all of that. That little boy's eyes told me he had won the lottery! That night we had the furry friends sleepover at the library where they drop off their animal for a sleepover party and have treats and then go back the next day and see the pictures of the trouble they have gotten into. They find it entertaining. 

Saturday started out being a nice day. We had some incredible thunderstorms move in that flooded our yard and the fields all around us. Out by where our driveway meets the road, the water was up to my knees. It was all trying to rush into the waterway and in the process started washing out the sides of the waterway. It was by far the most water at once that we have gotten yet. Luckily it just flooded the yard and didn't make it up the slight hill the house sits on. It would be the first of 2 of these we got this summer. 

It was a busy week. We are go go go in the summer and if we aren't on the go, you can find us outside if it's a decent day. Love me some summer time! (As I write this wrapped in a blanket mid November) Happy summery thoughts!

First half of June

From strawberry picking and ice cream, puppet show and a fiesta at the library, a Pinocchio play and party with lots of friends over to simple fun in the sun, we started the summer off with a bang. Pictures tell best these days.

We also discovered Zoey's love for playing in and eating dirt. Baylee conquered riding her bike on her own. Not many sidewalks to attempt to ride on here....hasn't been on the top of our list of things to do until this summer to do it before Lilli came. We beat the time limit, just barely.

We also got a new baby goat on June 2. Helping deliver a baby goat was a new thing for me. I sat out there with him for about the first 2 hours to make sure Big Mama was a good mom and let him eat and all that. His name is James. For you star trek fans....we now have James and Tiberius. We are sort of hoping for another boy to be Kirk in the spring. If you also do not know, I named the goat Tiberius so that none of my future children(when prego with unnamed unidentified Zoey) could be named that. Cody loves that name, I gave it to a goat so it can't be used by our family. I was dodging a bullet for my kids so to speak. So I stuck to it when naming the goats to appease the trekky in him.