Dance Competition

The very first dance competition came and went. All of the planning, practicing, dancing, rehearsing, etc and it was great!!

Here are our girls dressed and ready to go!

My sweet girl . . . she and one other girl were chosen to go and receive the award/trophy if they won. She's my little rule follower and I love that her good deeds were recognized by her dance teacher. :)
The big moment!! Lining up to go out on stage!!

I don't have any pictures of the actual dance because you can get them disqualified if you're taking pictures and/or video during competition. They did AWESOME! We were so proud of our girls.

They had one more dance at this competition - their Lyrical number "Held" with all of the company dancers in all age groups. It's such a beautiful dance and it's so fun to see the little ones do these artistic moves.

They got a diamond first (which is based on number of points from the 3 judges) and they got 1st place in their age group for jazz and 4th place overall for their age group!!! Their age group was 5 - 12, I believe, which is amazing because they're only 5 and 6 year olds!

We're so proud of our Madelyn for all of her hard work and dedication.

Madelyn's Thank Yous

Madelyn wrote all of her own thank yous this year. She was so cute and had a special note for everyone. She even made them fancy! All on her own - she's so creative!

M intent for Maddie's party was to get a picture of everyone in front of the Jonas Brothers. Yah - that didn't happen . . . :)

Dylan and Landon's Birthday Party

We celebrated our cousins with slides and bounce houses! Dylan turned 6 and Landon turned 5. It's hard to believe they're so grown. All of our babies are going to school and getting so big . . .

Their birthday cakes (mommy made sure to make them each their own cakes :). Licking the icing off of their candles. . .
Ummmmm - rude - what did I ever do to you?! hahahahaha

Jason's nephew had his cake and ate it too! I think the cake won . . .

Our little Ava exhausted from the day . . .

Micah, too, was worn out!

After everyone left, Stephanie and I stayed with the kids and let them keep jumping and sliding with their cousins. What a day - happy birthday my sweet, sweet nephews.

Micah's First Tooth

My youngest yet - 4 months with her first tooth!

Just Because

. . .I think she's cute . . .

My Girls

My little matching Valentine's. :)

Madelyn's 6th Birthday Party

I need to update the blog per my husband's request. :)

My sweet Madelyn turned SIX this Valentine's Day!!! It was a big Jonas Brother's Birthday Bash.

The cake(s) - I found some online and tried to copy them. I had some cardboard guitars for the kids to decorate with stickers, markers, and jewels and used one of them as a template!

All of the kids. There were something like 20+ children in my house!!!
The Happy Birthday song and cake

My uncle and aunt, Tom and Debbie, came into town and joined in on the party. It was so very good to see them and catch up. We miss you already.

Winter Wonderland

The snow started at about 2:15 am - I was awake letting Brock outside as the very first big fluffy flakes started to fall . . . I was amazing to find out that Madelyn's school was still open. I got her ready for school and we headed out into the crazy, slushy, white mess . . .

The snow was so sticky - it stuck to every little branch - so beautiful.
Just a couple hours later the snow had not let up . . .

Our house - I never realized how big that tree was!

By lunch the school had called to say that we could pick up our children at any time . . .

As the snow fell it brought me back almost 6 years ago when I was in the hospital in labor with Madelyn. I had just started laboring and had no idea at the time that I had two more days of it. When she was born on February 14th, 2004, it looked just like this. It's hard to believe my baby girl is almost 6 years old.

Micah's First Cereal

The doctor gave us the go ahead to start solids! I had already purchased the Rice cereal in anticipation of him giving me the thumbs up! She has been waking up earlier than normal which is a combination of being ready for something more substantial and also her bottom teeth popping through!

Her first bite . . .

This stuff is GOOD!
A full, happy belly . . .
And the video . . .
Her first bite, she's not quite sure what to expect. . . She puts on her bitter beer face for the first couple bites and then, after that, she can't wait for every bite!

4 Month Check Up

I can't believe my baby girl is 4 months already! She's growing entirely too fast.

On our way out to her doctors appointment . . .

Just before her shots - she was NOT very happy after her shots . . .

Her stats:

Height: 24.5" / 60%

Weight: 14lb 10 oz / 45%

Head Circ: 41cm / 39%

Jude Thomas Oley

My precious nephew waited until I got back from my first business trip (away from my baby girl) to grace this world with his beautiful presence! He was due to arrive February 1st which was when I left for my trip. Like a good little boy, he waited as I asked!!

Jude was born on 2/4/2010 at 5:12 am. He was 8 lbs 5 oz and 20 1/4 inches long. He is just perfect in every way and we love him so much already!

Congratulations, Brian and Jessica!!