Preschool Graduation

Wow!  Look out world!  We have a preschool graduate on our hands! It was so cute to see Princess with her little class friends- some of which she has been with for 2 years.  And we have completely loved her teacher Miss A. 

Here is our teacher gift we made for her: 

They did a fun little program in the park.  Here they are lining up before it started: 

Class of 2013 and eventually- 2026!!  (Wow that feels forever far away!)

With her best friend K:

And yummy refreshments:

We are so proud of you Princess and your love for learning!

When we got home we had our second annual Welcome to Summer surprise.  With a few new and old favorite summer toys:

 Then the little kids took naps and Princess and I went outside to play and enjoy the warm weather.

And something else exciting happened on this day; Princess finally learned how to pump on a swing all by herself!! It was such a neat parenting moment to see her gain independence and see the joy on her face.   I guess once you graduate Preschool- you can do anything!

Tiny Dancer (And Lagoon!)

 

I was SO excited for Princess to turn 3 so she could go to dance!  We started with a city class that was great; until I saw the concert and noticed how the oldest dancers were still not that great of dancers.  I did some dance in my day and was on a competitive team that had a chance to dance at an LA Raider's game and for the Stadium of Fire.  So I knew that young girls even 8-10 (and ESPECIALLY 12-14 year-olds) could dance better.  Don't get me wrong- I don't want to be an over-bearing dance mom, but Princess liked dance and I wanted to give her the best opportunity to grow with it.  As soon as she says she doesn't want to do dance then that is totally fine, we will quit.  But I didn't want to waste time and money at mediocre dance places when I knew she could do more.  I know she was only 3, but that's just how we felt.

So we switched in January to another place.  In a lady's basement.  And it was cute. And fun. But I STILL wasn't impressed.  ESPECIALLY with the older girls on the supposed "Performance Team".  I wanted more for Princess.

So for her second year of dance I picked a local studio that had a reputation for winning.  And I KNEW it was the right place when we first stopped by.  The teacher asked Princess to do 1st Position (She only knew it as "Tinkerbell feet"), Releve`, Plie`, and a few other basic ballet steps.  She knew how to do all these things but didn't know the proper names for them.  So we luckily got a spot in the 4 year old class and it was amazing how quickly her dancing and knowledge of dance terms improved!  Again- not being a crazy dance mom, but I was finally satisfied with my daughter's dance instruction.  And it was still fun and cute.  But 3 and 4 year-olds ARE capable of learning the actual french names to dance steps!

At the end of the dance year (May 2013) the competition teams had a National Competition at Lagoon.  The younger classes were invited to perform too.  We signed Princess up and she had SO much fun on stage performing for hundreds of people!  Her team got 1st place scores.  This is her in the dressing room warming up.  I asked her to do her favorite move from her dance and this was it- her "donut":

Walking with her classmates through the crowds to the stage:

They performed to "Take to the Sky" from one of the Tinkerbell movies.  After that we had a family fun play day at Lagoon!

It was her first time at an amusement park and she absolutely LOVED it!  She didn't know roller-coasters could be that big!!  Official first ride:

She hardly went on any of the little kid rides- mom and dad convinced her to go on all the big rides!

She said she loved them- but didn't really want to ride them again!  Haha so I'm not sure is she truly loved them as much as she said she did.  I think she just enjoyed all the one on one time and attention with us. 

Poor Cupcake had to stay home with a babysitter, but we did bring Baby E.  I was surprised how well it went having a 2 month old at an amusement park all day.  The Artist and I switched off riding with Princess and taking care of Baby E.  She did great.  If you would have told me 5 years before that I would bring my 2 month old to an amusement park one day and actually have fun I NEVER would have believed you!  I remember struggling with just a short trip to the mall when Princess was a baby.  It made me glad I had advanced in my experience as a mom!

Our last ride of the day was the huge Ferris wheel.  It had been a fairly nice warm day but clouds were gathering and the temperature was dropping a bit.   We brought Baby E on for her first ride ever.  Well.  At the very top it was insanely windy and SO cold!  Poor baby just cried and cried and we were just hoping and praying to get down as soon as possible!  So for history's sake, here is a picture of you on your very first ride Baby E:

Later in May 2013- Dress rehearsal for the recital:

Class Picture.  Princess is middle row right in the middle:

Dance hair for the recital:

But to continue on with our dancer's story....  Last June (2013) Princess auditioned for a competition team for the next dance year.  She made it onto a great team full of little girls who have older sisters on all the best dance teams at the studio.  It has been so fun getting to know the other girls and their moms.  On March 1st this year (2014)  they got to perform in their very first dance competition.  Both of their dances won 1st place and one had a perfect score!  Out of 47 teams they took "Overall High Point" winner!  Which means they had the top score of the entire day!  Such an amazing feat for 5 and 6 year-olds at their first competition!  Princess was so excited.  They won a huge trophy for the studio and their teacher gave each of them their own trophy for doing so well!  We can't wait for the other 4 competitions coming up and hope we get to be a dance family for a few more years!

Cupcake is very excited to start dance in the fall since she just turned 3.  And you can bet- she will be starting at the right studio this time! ;)

March 2013

March was a big month for our family with Baby E arriving!  The first half of the month we spent getting ready for her. 

Princess had her first sleepover at her friend K's house.  She was SO excited!

  The next day my fabulous friend J threw me a Diaper Shower.  Since it was my third baby girl I had most everything I needed- but you ALWAYS need more diapers and wipes!  So it was a really creative and fun get together with my family and friends.  Sadly we didn't get any pictures!!

 I got my hair done and snapped a picture at my last doctor's appointment.  I was so excited to be done with the weekly visits!  And just done being pregnant in general!

We got our new car all inspected and registered and official.  Here we are at lunch after dance class while waiting for our car to get done.  Cutie pie girls!

The rest of the month was spent getting used to life with a newborn!!  And also adjusting to being a family of 5!  Wow!

 Baby E had jaundice and we had to go to the hospital every 2-3 days to get her biliruben checked for the first 2 weeks.

 I felt like we were constantly at the hospital!  But she pulled through without the help of the specialized lights!  Hooray. And yes, laying them by the window really does work! 

Her first St. Patrick's Day:

The Artist was working crazy hours at this time so I was home with all 3 kids by myself for a good chunk of the day and evening.  Wow!  Talk about immersion by fire!  But we all adjusted just fine and found our new routines.  Dinner some nights was just a bowl of cereal or ordering pizza, but at least we ate!

I even was bold enough to take all three kiddos to the store all by MYSELF in the first few weeks!

  It was cake.  At least that time.  I can't same the same for now, 10 months later!  But I liked going out and it seemed like everyone was happy to get out too and usually behaved better than they did at home! 

Exploring the new Gordman's store:

Gettin' all cute to go out to the store: 

Getting three girls ready plus myself to go anywhere is a huge challenge!  Even now, 10 months later, I forget how much time I need to plan on for getting us all ready and out the door.  When Princess was a baby I LOVED planning out her little outfits.  Anytime she left the house she ALWAYS had matching headbands, bracelets, and socks/shoes- even her blanket would match her outfit.  These days we are lucky just to get Princesses hair brushed and have Cupcake in clothes (she likes to run around in her diaper at home).  And Baby E- well I can count on one hand the number of times she has worn a headband in her short little life of 10 months.  And for myself....  yeah.  I am lucky to get a shower once in a while!!  So you can imagine what a challenge Sunday mornings are especially!  But I know it won't be like this forever and I wouldn't trade in my three beautiful girls for anything!

Another part of adjusting to a newborn is family roles change.  Poor little Cupcake had some rough times adjusting to not being the baby anymore.   She loves her baby sister but wasn't super interested at first.  She was sad that Mommy could not hold her as much as she would like.  So often times she would just sit on the foot stool of the rocker to be close to me while I would feed Baby E.  Here she is watching Elmo and  cuddling her "Fwends" while she rocks on the foot stool of my rocking chair:

Big Sister Princess LOVED having a new baby sister.  She constantly asked to hold her and did a great job! 

Cupcake and Princess have learned they can be pretty fun playmates when they are in the mood.  They are so silly together sometimes!  I asked them to put the pillows and blankets away in the closet.  So of course, they had to put themselves in too:

Even though we have had (obvious) adjustments to a new baby girl we just love her and can't imagine our family without her!  Love you Baby E!

Valentine Creations

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays!  I had fun with making various things during the month of February 2013.  For Princesses school Valentine's I used an idea off of Pinterest.  We gave her classmates pencils with a note that said "Valentine you are just 'write' for me!'. 

I wanted to make them even "cutesier" but I was 9 months pregnant so it was good enough.

On the morning of Vday I made cinnamon rolls look like hearts. 

 Cute and sweet!  Yum!  I think I will make this a yearly tradition.

I did my very first Crafty Wood Cutout creation.  This is a new trend in Utah.  Wood cutouts that you paint and cover in scrapbook paper and glitter.  They are lots of fun and always have something cute for each season.  I made these 3 hearts on dowels. 

Not too shabby for my first time!  I think I will add some tulle or ribbon this year to add a finishing tough!

And this is just a random tidbit but my Scentsy warmer seemed to be in the Valentine mood too.  It was casting heart-shaped bits of light on the wall!

October's Overflow

So this was the rest of our October and all of our extra pictures:

We made cholesterol-free Halloween cupcakes for Daddy.  Despite the frosting that I screwed up, they actually were really good!

We watched the first snowfall of the year from our windows:

Princess had orange day at school.  We didn't have any orange clothing for her so we did orange accessories- necklaces, nails, hair bows, and socks!

My friend, Ashly, had a baby shower and I decorated for it.  The pictures didn't turn out so great but I thought it was pretty cute.  I hung baby clothes up like a clothes line:

 I also made made marshmallow pops and set the table up cute with decor and some of her maternity pictures:

We enjoyed the new playground in our community with our friends and loved the warm temperatures we had throughout the month! Cupcake learned how to sit on a swing all by herself!

She also learned to put herself in timeout, even if she doesn't need to be there.  She just walks over to the corner and sits down in time-out!

I did a Norwex party down in Payson.  It turned out to be right across the street from the new temple they are building there.  I totally forgot there was one there!  Pretty neat to see!

Princess is such a little artist, just like her Daddy.  Here is a cheerleader that she drew on her magnadoodle!