Reese's Dance Recital

We are making progress!  This time around at Reese's Dance Recital she actually put on some of the costumes & walked around in a circle :)  She didn't really dance, but it's still progress!  Last time she sat on my lap for the whole thing.  She is such a performer at home-she loves to dance & sing for us.  She just gets a little nervous with a room full of strangers- go figure?!

Reese & Daddy enjoying their little picnic after the recital.  She is such a Daddy's girl & she has him wrapped around her little finger!  Love you Reesie Roo!

Adee the Ballerina

Adee & her ballet teacher: Miss Jennie Wood

Adee is such a fun dancer to watch. She is very expressive & dramatic, not to mention so cute!

Averee the Ballerina

 Averee loves ballet...and she is really good at it.  Her long term goal is to be on pointe shoes, and she can't wait! :)

 Look at that form!

Here is Averee and her ballet teacher Miss Jennie Wood.  Averee adores her & thinks its so cool that they both have curly hair ;)

Reese at dance...sort of

Reese is in a cute little dance class called 'Two Much Fun'. They get to dress up for each song, swirl and twirl till their hearts content, then end it all with a tea party and snacks. So cute! She even has several friends in the class which makes it all the more fun. They don't like parents to come in the class cuz it is too distracting to the little dancers. So each semester they have a 'recital' for the parents to come watch and take pictures. We were excited to see our little ballerina do her thing...but she wouldn't! She absolutely refused to dress up or dance. She just kept saying 'no'. I think she got stage fright with all the parents and siblings there. Oh well, at least she still enjoyed the tea party at the end :)

Nutcracker Dance Recital

Averee's school dance class performed The Nutcracker. They did a great job & it was fun to watch. Averee was one of the sugar plum fairies. She was so excited for us to FINALLY see her perform after all the weeks of practice! Way to go Ave!!

Dance Dance Dance

Averee had a class dance recital. She takes dance at school & her class performed a recital for all the parents. They did a great job & it was quite entertaining. Averee has taken dance since she was 2 and you could tell she had more experience than most of the other kids in her class. She is a beautiful and graceful dancer...love you Ave!

Tutu's & new shoes...

Adelyn was SO excited for her dance recital this year. She just could not wait to get up on the big stage & do her thang! She did an awesome job & we are so proud of her. Here are the highlights:

Alright Alright- Geez!

So, after a much deserved tongue lashing from Christan... I am finally doing a legitimate update-with pictures & everything! :0)

These last few months have been full of milestones, birthdays, recitals, & graduations...here are the highlights:

We started the year off with a major milestone- Averee lost her first tooth! Oh the drama! It was loose for weeks & hanging by a thread for days but she wouldn't let us get near her. She was pretty freaked about the whole thing. It doesn't help that Danny kept suggesting things like tying a string around it & to the door, you know all those horrific schemes that grown ups love to tease kids about. Anyway-finally one night after dinner (she was getting tired of not being able to eat anything) she agreed to let me just wiggle the tooth a little to see how loose is was. Well, the next thing we know-POP- her tooth came right out. We were both surprised- I started laughing & she started crying. :0) I really wasn't trying to pull it out-honest. It took awhile to calm her down- (which is why she looks so puffy in the picture) she said she didn't like how it felt or the blood in her mouth. But once she remembered the blessed Tooth Fairy would visit, she settled down. I would like to say the next tooth was less dramatic- but this is Averee we are talking about here. The drama continues...

In March, Averee turned the ripe old age of 6! Crazy huh? I can't believe my little princess is already 6! She had a party with all the girls from school- they made personal pizzas, decorated cupcakes, & played games. Man was she spoiled this year-she has Little Pet Shops & Barbies coming out her ears! In April, our little Adee Patty turned 4. What a cutie! After seeing Averee's festivities- she just had to invite all the girls from her preschool class. They had so much fun- they decorated princess crowns & cupcakes, & played games. And just like Averee- she was totally spoiled too! As for Owen, his major milestone has been potty training. I am proud to say that we are past that hurdle-other than he still wears a diaper at nite-but otherwise he is totally potty trained. Even poop. HOORAY! :0) Way to go OJO! He also got to go on his first Fathers & Sons campout. Danny said he did great & almost slept thru the nite. He was so super excited to go camping with Daddy & Papa. I just love that pic of them in the sleeping bag together-too cute!

This just might be the cutest picture EVER! :0)

The girls have been taking ballet for a few years now & love it. They were so excited for their recital & couldn't wait to dance for us on the 'big stage'. Since this was Adee's first recital Averee was giving her all sorts of advice & insider info. Pretty funny-but she really is a great big sister. She even told me not to worry about Adee because she would take care of her backstage. :0) They both performed great-Adee was one of the few little girls who remembered the moves & stayed on time. As for Averee- I was really impressed to see how much she had progressed from last year-she seemed much more graceful & coordinated-thank goodness! :0)

Averee with her two best friends from school-they are also in our ward. Very convenient. And yes- she is a head taller than them. :0)Averee's Kindergarten Graduation was so funny. Kids just crack me up. Each child was dressed up as something they want to be when they grow up- Averee was a nurse & she delivered her lines perfectly. I was super impressed by all the songs they had memorized. She has learned a ton this year-especially reading & writing. She loves to read to Owen & Adee-so cute! Watch out 1st grade-here she comes! Adee & Mrs. Nobis Adelyn graduated from preschool this month as well- can't believe the school year is over. It has flown by. Adee has learned & grown up so much. The program was so cute- they sang all their songs-really quietly-but they sang. :0) Adee was one of the only kids that didn't need help with her lines. She even announced that "No, I don't need help..." and continued on with her part. Too funny. She still has another year of preschool before she moves on to the big leagues-Kindergarten. Which she can't wait for- she really wants to ride the bus with Averee & have recess like the big kids. Oh, the joys of childhood! :0)

As for me (sorry no fat prego pics) I am 30, flirty & thriving! (That is a line from 13 going on 30-cute movie!) I am still in the Primary Presidency & really liking that- although it has been a challenge. I have met some great people in our ward & made some lifelong friends. In fact we all got together & had a sleepover with all our daughters while our husbands & sons were at the Father's & Sons Campout. What a hilarious nite-I haven't laughed that hard in awhile. I was starting to worry I might go into labor! We get together once a month to scrapbook which has been fun & we are even learning to digital scrapbook together. I am loving that. Although I think I will still do it both ways just cuz I like the hands-on of regular scrapping. Now we are just on the count down for baby sister to get here. 4 weeks or less (I am hoping for more like 2 weeks!) but we will just have to wait & see. As for names it is still between Reese & Quincee, so I guess we will just have to wait & see what she looks like. I will keep you posted on that exciting news...

Well, that has been the first half of our year in a nutshell- hope it didn't bore you to death! :0)

P.S. Thanks Christan for reminding me that no one really wants to read my ramblings-they just want to see pics of my adorable children! :0)

an update...finally!

Wow-where does the time go? Seriously! I don't even have a good excuse for not updating for so long. I haven't been too busy or anything like that-life just gets away from you sometimes ya know? Then before you know it you haven't updated your blog for like 3 weeks! So what have I been up to? Let's see...
At the beginning of May I had the opportunity to go up to the BYU Womens Conference with almost all my sister-in-laws. It was awesome! We had such a great time. It was great to spend time with these ladies that I love & admire without the interuptions of husbands or kids. You get to know each other on a different level & I have learned so much from them. I am very blessed to have the great in-laws that I have. The conference was amazing-the first day was a little overwhelming cuz there are just so many great classes to try to choose from. Then that night they had a concert for us with a lot of the well known LDS artists. We were laughing & dancing one minute then crying & feeling the spirit the next-it was great! We even got to hear from President Monson-he was the last speaker the last day. What a blessing! As soon as he walked in it was dead silent-you could have heard a pin drop. And there were like 30,000 chatty women there in the Marriot Center! After a few moments of silence someone started singing 'We Thank Thee o God for our Prophet' & everyone joined in. The spirit was so strong-I don't think there was a dry eye in the place. He said some of the same things he said in general conference-but more geared toward all us women. So awesome! On the way home we stopped at Thanksgiving Point to see all the flowers since it was during their Tulip Festival. It was so gorgeous! We had too much fun making our way thru the garden & seeing all the amazing things they have done there with flowers. I definately recommend it! We are going to make the conference trip a tradition every year-can't wait till next time!
Later that next week I got to see a few friends from out of town-love ya Jennie & Carly! It was so good to see these ladies & their sweet little ones- Jacob & Claire. It made me realize just how much I have missed them. We have been friends since middle school & I love that we can always just pick up where we left off. So good to see you guys! Love ya!
Then of course we have had the usual end of year recitals & graduations to attend. I can't believe Averee will be in Kindergarten next year! She can't wait-she actually thought that she would get to go as soon as she turned 5. She was more than a little dissapointed to found out she had to wait till the fall! The girls have loved their dance classes. Averee is getting better all the time. I think Adee justs like to wear all the different costumes! Here are a few pics from Adelyn & Averee's dance recitals...

This was Adee's favorite costume of the day-what a diva!What a poser!

We got to have a litte tea party together after Adee's recital-she even served us cookies!

Of course Averee is the tall one wearing blue in the middle-look at those nobby knees! Can't imagine where she got those chicken legs from! :0)

Averee was so excited for her dance recital-I think mostly cuz she knew she would get a lot of flowers! She did such a great job-we were so proud of her!

Well, the only other thing I can think of is that we got rid of our dog Sammy. FINALLY! I tried it for a year & just couldn't take it anymore. It is like having another kid! A 'kid' that chews on EVERYTHING (he ruined a couch & more toys than I can count!), barks at EVERYTHING (especially at nite!) & constantly digs up your garden! It was time for him to go & I feel really good about the home we found for him. The kids don't even seem to care so far-I think they were sick of Sammy jumping on them, barking, & leaving 'presents' in the lawn. I will miss my 'floor cleaner' though! He always kept the food under the table cleaned up!

I think that is about it for now. We are headed to Lake Powell tomorrow so I am sure I will have some pics to share next week. Have a good one!

'Tiny' dancer...

Averee loves dance! Every morning she asks if she gets to go to dance today. During Parent's Day about a month ago, we were able to sit in on her class to take pictures & video. I love this picture...for several reasons. First, I love that she is a head taller than the other girls in the class. Get used to it girl! Second, look at that form! The whole time you could tell how hard she was concentrating on doing the moves just right. She practices all the time at home & she is always correcting Adee on the proper way to do a Sashay (sp?). Such a funny girl! And third, I love that she loves it! She has a perma grin thru the whole class. What a joy to find something that we love to do. Keep it up Averee!