Dance Recital

These sweet girls had been preparing for this for months.  They have worked really hard leading up to this.  It hasn't always been easy, but they were super excited! 

 My sweet Evie Kaye was her usual shy and reserved self and it took a bit for her to come out of her shell but I feel like this has been such a good experience for her and she has grown so much and we are so proud of her!   

My spunky Emma Ann, well, let's just say, the dance lessons were not  a breeze for her.  She was so excited about the lessons, but her strong willed self and her very demanding teacher did not fare so well together.  I must admit that all of the other girls in the class had been taking dance for years and really got it and knew just what to do.  It was a huge learning curve for her.  Everything was so new to her and anytime she didn't quite get something, she would either melt or get upset and then she very quickly was told to leave the class.  This broke this Momma's heart.  In one breath she was so excited for this, it was everything that she wanted, but also she was really struggling in the class.  I hated it for her but also hoped that this was helping her grow.  

Then came the rehearsal.  It was just a few hours before the actual event, and my sweet Evie Kaye did it, Yeah!  We were so proud of how far she came.  The little girl that used to would not leave my side, still hides behind my leg when meeting someone new and half the time didn't dance in class because she was too shy, did an amazing job on stage in front of hundreds of people! 

 And apparently, my little Me, Emma Ann, did not.  She actually stood on the stage during the rehearsal and did NOTHING!!!! The parents were not allowed into the rehearsal so as the show would be a surprise so I just found out afterwards.   I was so worried for her going into the actual recital.  I prayed so desperately for her to have the courage, patience and discipline to do her work on that stage.  The curtains raised, the music started and my little girl started to dance and did the whole thing.  I was so beside myself.  I had tears of pride and joy and love and relief pouring down my face.    

So when it was all said and done, I gave it a few days to let things settle and then we brought the subject of dance up again.  When asked if they wanted to do dance again after the Christmas break they both said No!  I was quite relieved to be honest.  I'm glad we stuck with it till the end, but thankful for them and myself not to be continuing on right now!

Their friends Honey and Joby came over to get ready at our house seeing that you could see the theatre from our kitchen window!  Here they are practicing their last song, Frozen of course!

My beautiful bumblebee and flower!

The Kiddos

I love these Kids!  So glad they love me!

She asked to lick the bowl, and she did!

Go Horsey!

This sweet, eclectic child of mine did not eat potatoes of any kind (except chips!)  for the longest time.  He was over 3 before he would eat french fries and only occasionally and only if they were particular one's!  No one was more shocked and surprised than this Momma when he actually ate mashed potatoes AND liked them!!!!!!  He doesn't eat anything mashed!  Nothing!  Well except ice-cream!  So this was one proud Momma!  I even shed a few tears!!!!!  So much progress in this little one over the last year.  Opening up to so many new things, crossing lot's of bridges and overcoming so many obstacles has been so tough for him, but he has done it and we are so excited for him!

He even rolled his mashed potatoes into snowballs!

My singing girls!  They are always signing of God's goodness and it could not make me happier to hear their sweet songs of praise!

Ethan Jay made this wind sock at Sunday School and I just LOVE it!  I love this Bible verse and we have been memorizing it.  "Even the wind and waves obey Him."  Mark 4:14.  So simple but so powerful!

Another one of Ethan Jay's inventions!

Watch it fly!

Does anyone recognize Toothless?!?!

I'm never in pictures.  I'm not happy with my weight, I never fix my self and I wear grungy clothes around the house!  But these pictures, I adore!  This is me, this is what I do.  I love on babies and tend to babies and love every minute of it!  

My sweet hubby doing what he does best!  He is one good Dada!

Evie Kaye loving on her babies!  I love how she has them all arranged in a circle!

Baking one of Pioneer Woman's yummy treats.  English muffin's with peanut butter, apples and cinnamon!  

Delicious!

Another apple favorite, Apple Pie!

I love watching my little one's with dough.  There is nothing quite like it.  Passing down the art of baking is so fulfilling, it lot's of ways!

Yum!

Dance Revolution in the hallway!

Ethan Jay's decoration's that he hung all the way around his room!  He said they were pumpkins for his Halloween decorations.  Just a tad bit late y'all!

This kid cracks me up.  He was helping me make cole slaw.  He was shaking the dressing in the bottle.  Does anyone else do that.  I just love it when I go to make coleslaw and head to the fridge to find just a little mayo left in the jar!  Does that excite anyone else as much as me.  Just add a bit of apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper, love me some celery seeds, and just a wee pinch of sugar and give it a good shake!  Voila, no extra dirty dishes and you've practically cleaned out the jar for recycling!  And you must do this with a cabbage leaf hat for good luck!

Get ready to be dazzled by Ethan Jay's latest masterpiece!

That's right, a handy-dandy gorgeous fan!

Made with more of Momma's skewers!

He handcuffed himself with a rubber band and hobbled into the kitchen and said watch this trick.  I can get out all by myself!

Thinking about it!  I don't actually think he had this figured out ahead of time!

Getting there!

But had to sit down

And voila, He did it!

My sweet Evie Kaye.  Her heart is like no other!  She loves soooooo deeply!  She desperately loves the baby and adores all of her baby dolls and stuffed animals.  If she's not carting the baby around or following him around, she's got a few dolls or animals in tow.  Today, Duckie got to try on some shoes and wear them to swim!

Easton James ~ 6 months old!

This little 6 month old is very busy these days!  Starting to crawl and sitting up all at once.

He loves his toys.

And he found the stairs!

Mega, super loves a bath!

Super yummy foot!

Big Brother helping him drink some water from a bottle.

And getting into something else he shouldn't be in to!

Super excited about the puppies!

And nothing like a fresh from the bath baby who loves to blow bubbles.

He definitely won't be in this sweet cradle much longer.

And sitting up playing with toys!

Excuse the massive mess in the background!

Thanksgiving

You can't celebrate Thanksgiving without an Indian Headdress, which the kids loved making.  They even added some Native American Pictography to the bands which the kids thought was so cool!

Practicing some of our songs.

Love this!!! Practicing the taboo "10 little Indians" song and love to see them trying to get their fingers right as we sing the song!

And a yummy feast that I had to have my husband take the day off for!  Yes everyone else was happily at work for the day as we feasted on this scrumptiousness!

We of course had to have Andy and Amber join us!

He forgot to get on the Mayflower with the rest of the Pilgrims!

We also streamed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and watched it!  No one here has ever heard of it before and Andy and Amber were quite impressed with all of the floats.  

This picture is awfully blurry, but I just had to include it.  I love the expression on both of their faces!

And after the excitement of the parade and while I was cleaning up the dishes and getting dessert set out, this is what I found.  Three sweet siblings having fun, playing quietly in the girls room.  Sometimes they are so sweet together and I am ever so thankful for how close in age they are (the other 75 % of the time, not!)

We also made these beautiful "stained glass" leaves to decorate for fall. 

Can you take a wild guess at who was Mr. OCD and had to separate all of his tissue paper into separate leaves!?!?  Gotta love my Ethan Jay!

Oh, the coveted leftover turkey sandwich, how I love thee!

And my sweet, spunky, crazy Ethan Jay at it again.  He used more of my skewers and tape (I think I may be running low!) to make a fall wreath with leaves that he had collected from outside.

We proudly hung this beauty on our door!

I had some heat and serve rolls for dinner and then we reheated them later on as a light supper.  Well, they might have gotten a smidgen bit too crispy in the oven and they turned more like rocks!  The baby loved chewing on them too!

And the two big kids of the house were playing catch with one of them!

Never a dull moment and so very thankful for each and every one of them!