May 2013

May was a lot of fun for us. The weather was turning nicer, which in our house means a lot of outdoor time. It's usually plant the garden time which is tons of work but also therapeutic for me and beneficial for everyone. (partly that I get therapy yes and partly because we reap so much from the garden)

Zoey learned to walk in May. She was 9 months and 1 week. She has always been busy but she was my fastest walker. Not sure I was ready for it, but I didn't have much choice, we just adjusted for it.

Baylee had her first performance on the big stage at the college for her dance recital. I learned how to make origami flowers to give her something unique and original for walking across the stage which was by far my favorite part of the performance. She is full of personality and her little strut showed that embodied every part of her. Even sticking out her tongue at her dad while walking across the stage is so very much just "her".

After the performances, Baylee was asked to join the Petite company at her dance school. It is a competitive team. Due to their size, our area, etc, they only do three competitions a year(my wallet is glad for that for now). But it gets them into the swing of things. We were pretty proud of her especially since she has only been dancing for one year. At this point, she keeps up with the other girls who have all been dancing years longer than her. Her practices increased to 2 hours a week and she now gets jazz, poms, ballet and tap. She LOVES it. My little diva.

I feel like Tanner needs some face time here.....he's my little explorer. He can be found outside at pretty much any given point. Dirt is by far one of his best friends! He is forever keeping us laughing!

April 2013

Horribly failing at the blog right now since it's coming up on the end of August and I'm just getting to April....for real? Yep, that's how we roll these days! So you get highlights and lots of pictures!

April was home to loads of fun. It was spring break for public school, so we got to spend time with Izzy and Hannah. We went on an outlet shopping adventure, an outing to the nature center for a walk, and just got to spend some time together.

Baylee had a performance at the mall as a rehearsal for their upcoming recital.

The weather started becoming friendly and we got to spend time outside jumping (of course) and playing. This is where Baylee also sprained her ankle for the first time and had to take it easy. Tanner also received sympathetic ankle sprain and propped his up too.

Zoey was a speed crawler and started pulling up on things and standing without help. She also discovered at this point the availability of things to get into around here.

Tanner got to bam on the car and change brakes with Cody.....talk about little boy heaven!

Lilli turned 8....wow! 8!

Cody and I celebrated our 7th anniversary as well! :)

 I started jogging a few times a week. (who knew at this point, I actually wouldn't hate running and actually enjoy it?)

Looking back, mostly smiles a few angry faces from Zoey, Tanner does a few good ones as well.

Easter 2013

We joined the Easter celebration with Hannah, Izzy, Dan and Hannah's family. It was a fun filled day with many egg hunts and tasty food!

Baylee's Dance Recital finale

I think my movies are too big....so here's the finale walk for now. Which is my favorite. I love that she was the Baylee we know and stopped to make faces at dad for yelling out her name. Front row has it's advantages and disadvantages. So proud of our Miss Baylee Paige. 

March 2013

You will find pictures from March an assortment of chaos. 

Highlights:

-We had our biggest snow storm since we have been in Illinois(Happy Spring). built many snow features and I pelted Tanner in the mouth with a snowball while he was cackling one day, didn't mean to do that. and hit Baylee in face while doing some video. OOOPS! Bad aim.

-Tanner hurt his neck and got neck xrays...I'm sure there will be many of those in our future, he is adventurous

-Storytimes at the library

-Salt dough..ugh, messy

-Spring gingerbread boys (sugar overload)

-seed starters for the garden(epic failure, recovered by what we know best, starting them straight in the soil)

-cookie pops, masks, bird feeders oh my!

We tried to keep entertained. We taught Zoey to crawl through a box, now she knows what to do with a box whenever one is available. Life lesson for sure!

Easter will be added soon!

February

February in a flash:

We had more snow playing, more jumping, a family day of shopping, lunch and bowling, Valentine's celebrations and Cody's birthday. We made balloons since he hates the feel of real balloons. We got him his big fancy schmancy pilot's watch, which he is still so excited about almost 2 months later.

January

Yep, just doing this, better late than never?

In a nutshell....playing in the snow, jumping on the trampoline, makeup all around(continue to thank Aunt Faith for that one, haha) and a homemade Zoey sized bed.  Does the video make up for being so late? Probably not, but in my book, I just don't make time for the blog....working on that.