GO LIVIE!!!

As I write this I am loading up the car for Nationals. I am SO excited about this and so proud that my baby is going. :) Brian will be leaving later on today and meet us up in Branson (hopefully) in time to see her first dance. She finishes up tomorrow morning.

Love you, baby! You are going to do AWESOME! You have worked so hard and have such a great attitude towards the other dancers... We are so proud of you!

If you read this today, please leave a 'good luck' comment for Liv!

Holiday Cookout

We had our family cookout tonight because it was the only night over the holiday weekend we could all get together. (Don't you just love children's holiday decorations?) Olivia kept asking for everyone to come jump with her on the trampoline...Uncle JJ caved...and brought Cooper. That baby laughed and laughed! Then Auntie joined in.




And this shot is for my mother in law...who wanted to see her son do something on the trampoline other than sit! :)

More of 'Pooh' at 9 months

'Pooh', as Bella affectionately calls him, needed a few more 9 month pictures and we were able to squeeze in a little photo shoot yesterday afternoon. Have I said before how much I could just eat this kid up? Enough said.

Guess how we spent our 4th of July...

You guessed it! We got a trampoline! We had been saying we were going to do it, and decided today would be a great day to put it together. We put the girls in the pool outside and got to work. We had asked around to see how hard these things were to assemble...and I must say, we didn't think it was nearly as hard as we were told! Well...the enclosure was a tad more difficult than we thought, but as a whole, we were pleasantly surprised.





So, of course we had to try it out afterwards! Bella was still napping, but we had a great time with Olivia. Once Bella woke up, she took a little bit to warm up to the idea...but she came around.




And here is the most embarassing picture on this blog...but I had to add it to show my kids I got to play too...I'd like to think Brian just snapped the camera a little late/early because I refuse to believe that I can no longer do this! :)

A Ring Day for Me!

We went shopping Monday to just 'look' at anniversary bands (it is our 10th this year--can you believe it???). Well, of course we found a FANTASTIC deal on one and went ahead and purchased it right then. I had it sized and it was to be picked up today.

All day I was so excited to get my band. I kept thinking about if I should start wearing it now...or wait until October (I know, I'm pretty anal about that stuff), but my sister said it would be silly to wait...so I decided I could start wearing it now.

Well, as I was getting dressed for an ordering session I had today at the studio, I went looking for a different necklace in an old jewelry box that I rarely get into. A thought crossed my mind...I wonder if I would find my 'lost' ring in here. I decided I would worry about that someday when I was cleaning out that jewelry box and continued looking for a necklace.

A little background on my 'lost' ring... On my first Mother's Day after each of the girls were born, Brian has given me a ring with their birthstones in them. My plan is to someday give them to them (unless I change my mind...ha!). Well, after having my topaz ring only 2 weeks, I misplaced it after a shower. I never knew if it went down the drain, or if it was swept up in laundry...but it was just gone. We had suspected Olivia of taking it and playing with it, but it never turned up. I had hoped someday when we moved out of this house it would show up, but figued it was gone for good.

Well...fast forward to today. While I was going through the old jewelry box, I looked through one of the drawers and THERE IT WAS! I couldn't believe it! It was in the bracelet drawer of the box--that tells me Olivia DID move it (because I would never put a ring in the bracelet drawer--think I'm a little OCD?? I figure she tried to help me and put it up for me, but since I never use that box, I haven't found it before.

So, tonight I am wearing 2 more rings than I did when I started the day. Isn't that exciting? :)

Here's a picture of my new anniversary band... Kinda spiffy, huh? I figure I've earned it (ha!!)

bloggin' 'bout the frog...

Why it is that my girls find creatures in my yard, I will never know! My dogs have found all kinds of things, but we have learned to expect that...especially from Star. But the girls? They don't even like bugs and such... But tonight Olivia ran inside and said she had caught a frog and needed a jar. If her jar didn't have a lid her "plans would be RUINED!". (sound like a Disney film?)

So, I found a plastic cup and the lid (amazing in itself) and by the time I went outside, Olivia had the 'frog' in the cup (yes, it was really a toad). He was jumping high to get out and she was squealing for us not to let it happen. She put grass inside for him and then wanted to bring it in. I said NO WAY (partly because I did not want one more 'thing' in the house, and partly because I knew he would die in that small cup). Brian and I told her it had to be released when it was bath time. She agreed.




When it was time to come inside, Brian took Olivia down the street to the creek to put it near the water. Olivia placed him in the water and he jumped right back out. Brian said it was funny.

And what was Isabella doing during all of this??? Staying away from him...she kept saying "I don't like it!"

Toothless

Well, you might have noticed in the previous post that Olivia is missing ANOTHER tooth! Yep, she now has a big hole where her top left tooth used to be. It is a pretty big hole, too! She pulled it right before rehearsal last Saturday. When Auntie found out about it, she called Olivia to ask if she would wait to give it to the Tooth Fairy so she could make her a tooth pillow. Olivia said sure.

Well, the day of the recital was pretty crazy for Emily too and it did not get finished. So, Olivia decided that night to make her own little pocket for the Tooth Fairy. She created it herself and only asked for help with the stapler when attaching the little pocket. Isn't it cute?



Come to find out, Liv is not the only toothless one in our family this week... I took Olivia back to the dentist for her teeth cleaning on Wednesday. I had talked to the dentist a few weeks ago at her exam about Isabella's tooth that has not come in yet and the big gap between her front teeth. She suggested I bring her during Liv's appointment and she would just look at her. After a quick check, the dentist seems to think that the baby tooth is not there at all! She said she'd never seen that before. The only way to know for sure is to do a panoramic x-ray, and they typically aren't done on children so small--because frankly, they can't sit still that long and they are scared of the machine clicking and buzzing around their head. Well, if the tooth is in fact NOT there at all, there is nothing we can do right now anyway. If the permanent tooth is not there behind it, we will be looking at braces to make room for some sort of fake tooth to be put in later in her life. Great. I guess we should start saving now. :)

I just hate that it is a front tooth instead of one in the back... So, as soon as she will tolerate the panoramic x-ray, we'll be doing that just to see what we are looking at in the future. Let's pray that permanent tooth is there!

We Are Family! (Recital Wrap-up)

Because Olivia is in the Company this year (the competing group), she had to be in BOTH dance recitals and finales. So, Saturday was an all day practice to prepare for the recitals. I was able to take a few pictures during the rehearsal (no cameras allowed during the recital itself. We purchased the DVD so if you want to see it, just ask!).

The first dance they did was Boogie Shoes and then the finale, We Are Family (they actually had a cute little dancing part in it--and Liv had her own little part where the others got to the side and all pointed at her 'wiggling'. She LOVED that part!) Then their group performed Walk the Dinoaur during the second recital, and the same part in the second finale. My mom came for both (well, about half-way through the second one she took Isabella home because that poor baby had HAD IT), and my sister came for the first half of the first recital.

I have to say I really did enjoy the day. I am really loving for her to be in dance. She has SUCH a stage presence. :) I can't WAIT for Nationals in 3 weeks!

Here are a few pictures from the rehearsal.


Olivia and Paige in their finale shirts


The whole finale group lined up practicing the bow...


Liv's group doing their finale dance


Olivia's 'wiggle'


...still wiggling...


Walk the Dinosaur from backstage...


Look at their jazz teacher, Ms. Jamie sitting by the curtain. She is so happy!


Their group afterwards...Olivia, Valerie, and Abbey on the back row. Caleb, Paige, and Kenny on the front.

We love you, Daddy!

This year, Father's Day is a little (well, ok, a lot) crazy for us. Olivia is in TWO dance recitals today...and had practice all afternoon yesterday. Talk about ruining a fun weekend, huh? :) (Well, it is still better than what 'I' got for Mother's Day--a sick house!)

I must say as well, that I am so blessed to have a husband that is as precious as mine! He has really had the bad end of the stick lately with me working so much! We talk often about how much time it is taking of me to get my business up and running and I absolutely hate that, but he is so understanding and that means the world to me. :) He is such a fun daddy with the girls, too. They love to rough-house with him, dance with him, go places with him... (of course, he is the fun dad that always drives with the sun roof open and his iPod blaring Hannah Montana or High School Musical!)

The girls got him a new wallet for Father's day--just what he requested. Of course it wasn't wrapped because he can never wait till the day of for a surprise. (on Mother's day, he even tried giving it to me early while he was sick! I said no.)


Isabella made him an adorable card at daycare and Liv has been working for DAYS on a card for him...we've yet to see it. But you KNOW it must be special! We went to Outback Friday night (since we knew today would be crazy)--and after all, what man doesn't want steak? LOL. Love you, honey!






Well, I'm off to get Liv's make up and costume on...

Weekend get away...

Each summer, we have a little weekend trip with my mom, sister, brother-in-law...and now, Cooper. This year's trip was to Hot Springs Village. It was a great two story condo tucked away in the wooded area of HSV. The first night (Thursday), was a 'girls' night (except Cooper, of course). We ate at a little Mexican restaurant in town (after realizing that the Fiesta Bowl was actually a BOWLING ALLEY... What a laugh WE got out of that one!). Then the next day, we took the kids swimming (because that is ALL they talked about the ENTIRE time! Even Bella kept saying 'poool!'). Here are a few shots from that little trip out...

And oh, by the way, Cooper is trying to crawl...



Liv learned how to swim without her floaties about an hour after this picture was taken. I realized she was swimming underwater with her goggles in the kiddie pool. I took her to the big one to try it out and she did it no problem. I was so proud of her! She wasn't scared at all!





I had the hardest time getting a good shot of Bella. She kept turning away when she saw my camera... So these will have to do. :)




Then that evening (Friday), the guys came into town. We ate dinner and we pretty much crashed early. I was very exhausted...(Bella had been up since 4:30. Around 6:30 or so, mom got me up so I could be with her and she would not get quiet... After a VERY LONG and STRESSFUL week, that is NOT what I needed. I told Brian I had never been so glad to see him...LOL)

Then on Saturday, we spent most of the day (off and on--depending on naps) at the pool. Right before supper, Emily and I snuck off with the Cooper to get some cute shots of him for his 9 month pictures...and some special sweet ones of him with Emily. Here are a few that we got. Isn't he just the biggest ball of YUM?







Anyway, we had a great time. We even stayed up Saturday night playing Nerts and $100,000 Pyramid. It is kind of a tradition for us to play games while we're out. Not so sure the guys love it, but they do it anyway. :)