April Showers Bring May Flowers

Photo Shoot Sunday: Watch For Whomping Willows

Ethan loves Harry Potter. If ever there was an understatement, that would be it. Since the tender age of Five he has been obsessed with all things Potter. As we approach his eleventh birthday I know the one thing his young heart truly desires is, a letter from Hogwarts. Although he is most definitely muggle born, that hasn't stopped him from holding out hope.

So I was not the least bit surprised when I told Ethan to get in his favorite dress up that he chose Harry Potter. We have oh so many photos of him as Harry Potter. I love it. I wouldn't have it any other way.

(april 2010)

Anatomy of the Jump

Appparently jumping is hard work, as evidenced by Ryland's face. I just love these photos of him.

Flashback Friday: It Was A Scorcher

May is a fickle month around these parts. This year is no exception. One day it is sunny and warm the next day is a a gloomy, overcast day drizzling rain over everything. It feels very bipolar. I think we would all agree we would love to have a day warm enough to play in the water. A day like we had 2 years ago. May 17th, 2008 to be exact. It was crazy that we had a day warm enough smack dab in the middle of May to pull out the slippin slide. If you don't believe me that it is possible, here is proof.






Where is Evie Kitty you ask? Sitting in the shade on the grass, trying her darndest to touch it the least amount possible. Isn't she a cutie? Sitting there in all her eleven month old glory.

Maybe this post will help THIS month of May to get it's act together in time for Memorial Day weekend. I mean COME ON!

No Two Left Feet Here

This was Ally's first full year of dance. At eight years old this is sad, I know. It wasn't from not trying. When we lived in our Ogden house I signed her up for ballet and tap when she was around 4 years old. She was not ready. Then we started the process of moving into our new home. Once we were settled we tried a start up dance studio right here in our little town. That bombed out pretty quickly. It is pretty difficult to have a dance class with no teacher and two students. Finally, after three years of living here we found the studio for us. We love it. It is established, it is professional, it is amazing. On Monday we finally got our class dance pictures back. I opted to only post the ones with Ally instead of the whole class in the interest of their privacy.

This first one is her ballet costume. She danced to the song "Dance Your Dreams".

This is her tap costume. She danced to "Let's Tap Charlie Brown".

I can't wait to get the photos from the recital to show you. They won't be back til mid June though. We also can't wait for next year!

Wordless Wednesday: Bionicle Boy

(may 2008)

My New BFF

I would like you to meet my new best friend. After years of dreaming of getting a new DSLR Nate quietly worked on getting me one for my birthday this year. Fortunately for me he was generous enough to give it to me prior to the actual big day! Thanks Babe! I love it!

Celebration of Learning

Last week we had a couple of school programs to attend. First up was Ryland's Kindergarten program. I just love this program, every time. The kids are so cute. The photos of the actual program didn't turn out so hot so I will tell you some of the highlights:
-Ryland almost falling off the top row of the stand midsong
-Ryland getting all caught up in his tie while doing hand actions midsong
-Ryland looking completely zoned out while still singing his songs
- you get the idea, the kid was just stinking cute- midsong :)

Meet Mrs. Coburn. We love her. She is an amazing Kindergarten teacher. We love her. I wish all my kids could have Mrs. Coburn for Kindergarten. I did the dance of joy when I found out that Ryland was going to end up having her. Literally, I did. Right there in the kitchen. I remember because I was so happy. Did I mention that we love her?

Ryland and one of his best buddies, Daxton. They were in Mrs. Coburns class together this year. It was awesome to have such a great neighborhood friend in class too.

This is Ryland in his classroom seat. Doesn't he look pleasant and attentive? I AM SURE he is like this EVERY SINGLE DAY! I am sure.

Ally was super excited to get to see Mrs. Coburn again. Did I mention she was also Ally's Kindergarten teacher, back in the day? Here she is with her on the night of her program. Did I mention that we love Mrs. Coburn? Because we do, if I didn't mention it.

And here they are together the night of Ryland's. Hasn't she grown like a weed? Little stinker.

Ethan's program was very unique. All of the kids had to write and "publish" a science fiction book. When we entered the auditorium all of the lights were off. We are talking pitch black. They had 3 different spotlights that would turn on randomly and a fog machine going. Whenever one of the spotlights turned on a different kid would be standing there and they would read a synopsis of their book. It was very cool and very sci-fi. Here is Ethan, this was the best picture I could get that showed how it looked that night.

This is Ethan with his book. Adriessa snd the Ring Brawl. It's a very good book, if you can get past the part where they were snogging. :) Can't believe my ten year old is writing about snogging. If you don't know what it is you need to read Harry Potter. Again.

Then we went to his classroon and watched a very entertaining video his class made about science. Out in the hallway they had tables set up with their science projects, etc.

No function is complete without mom attempting a photo. Isn't this a cute little shot of the kids? Wish Ryland was smiling, but hey 3 outta 4 ain't bad.

Photo Shoot Sunday: One Year Ago Today, Minus A Day

It is crazy what a year does, isn't it? My sweet little Cincess is growing like a weed right before my very eyes. I love these photos of her. She is so bright and cheerful. I love her little red sandals, her red toenail polish, her happy little cherry dress and of course the excitement about life written across her face. Love it, love her.






(may 2009)

Bittersweet

Ally's hair is a lot like mine, in the sense that it takes FOREVER to grow. I almost feel like I have to literally pull my hair to get it to grow. Hers is the same. She has thin, super fine hair, just like mine as a child. It also won't hold a curl from a curling iron to save it's life. My hair is now thick and stubborn. It still won't hold a curl. I hardly ever bother curling Ally's hair with a curling iron, it simply won't hold and her hair gets damaged the second we put the curling iron on it. Which leads us to today. Back in January my sweet niece came and babysat our kids so Nate and I could go out. When we got home we were greeted with a VERY curly Ally. Through the curls the damage was very evident. I wasn't surprised when they told me that it took them hours to get the curls to hold. My heart sank. I didn't have the heart for days to tell Ally that her hair was damaged beyond repair. Not that we didn't try. We did numerous treatments, we trimmed it just a bit and tried to be ever so gentle with it. Why didn't we just cut it? Well, after weeks of trying to salvage it we decided to hold off cutting it until her Ballet recital in May was over. That way she could have her hair the same as the rest of her class. It was a long three months. Eash time I combed through her hair and fistfuls broke off I wanted to reach for the scissors and take care of it myself. Well, with the recital behind us now (pictures to come later), today was the day. To say that she wasn't excited is an understatement. While I was glad to be rid of the damaged hair I will admit that I have been dreading this day just as much as she. One of my absolute favorite things to do with Ally's hair is to put it in pig tails. I just love it and it says little girl to me so much. I am sad to think that by the time her hair is long enough to do it again, she won't let me. All of our years of waiting for her golden tresses to actually amount to something, gone.

Can you see how excited she is about being in the chair?

But wait, what's this? A smile. I think she is definitely okay with the after. Especially now that she has her glasses back on and can actually see how cute it looks.

I just love these next few pictures. I love the happiness I see in her face. Longer hair or not, she is just a cute little thing.


Look how healthy it is! Love the shine. Totally worth the cut. I will admit, she got to keep more length than I thought she would. We thought for sure it would be up to her chin. Good thing I didn't take the scissors to it myself, I would have just stopped short of scalping her. That's why you leave it to the professionals.


We were super excited to get home and see that it would still go into a VERY SHORT ponytail. Hurray! Maybe those pig tails aren't as far off as I thought.

Flashback Friday: Entrepreneur

Ally's been blessed with an amazing entrepreneurial streak. She gets it from her father, definitely not me. So today I thought I would show some of Ally's past business attempts. I am sure over the summer we will see some of these businesses return.

First up, the famous Lemonade Stand. This particular attempt she was quite successful in hiring some employees. Don't worry, they each walked away with a portion of the profits. One thing about Ally, she is an equal opportunity employer.
(september 2009)


When we first moved here, Ally noticed that everyone was putting in yards. What does everyone who lives in our neighborhood need? Rocks for the drainage ditch of course! (um yeah, we are rural, no silly sidewalks, and curb and gutters for us.) So she recruited her neighbor friend Taylor. Of course they had really thought this one through, they needed to provide something really special, not just any old rocks. So, they got out the sidewalk chalk and started coloring the rocks. Wanna know where they found the rocks? Our drainage ditch.
(may 2008)

Seems like a pretty good deal to me. They sold some to Daddy and Steve from across the street.


Let's take a closer look at her latest entrepreneurial endeavor.

SOLD! I would pay $10.00 to have my entire house cleaned for me.

Don't ask me where she got those phone numbers, hopefully they aren't someone's real numbers. If so, SORRY!

I love how she keeps putting on there, We're at your service!

With this economy it is no wonder that her prices are starting to go up.

She certainly offers a full complement of services, house cleaning, lawn care, babysitting, car washing. What a talented girl we have on our hands.

A look at her entire "billboard".

I think she secretly can't wait til she is old enough to start babysitting, since that's where the "real" money is. Keep at it sis, one day you will be like Bill Gates and then mom really can afford to pay someone $10.00 to clean my house.