Dancing A to Z 2009

Emily's dance recital was Friday night. She's worked hard all year for this night!!! Plus Friday was the last day of school so we were extra excited.

I splurged and bought myself one of those little video cameras that plugs right in to the USB port!!! There is a learning curve, but I think it's pretty good.

This is a video of the ballet Hoedown. I never realized that video takes forever to load!! I will try and get her other 2 songs up, but thought you might enjoy this first one.

She did so awesome. It's fun to watch her enjoy it so much. She received an award for perfect attendance and was quite proud!!

Carter was really good and even helped me take some pics!
Casey was quite enthralled.
My little Dancer Girl!!!

When did this happen??

When did this cute, sweet, funny little girl of mine get so big?

Summertime Fun

Summer here we come!!!!!!!





Just for clarification. She is saying, "Mom, don't you dare put me on May!!!" (May is her month on our family calendar and this year she had some doozies!! *smile*

All by Myself

I had a day off during the week this week with Casey. We were supposed to be packing the camper so we can go camping for Memorial Day Weekend.

I was giving Casey some breakfast and we were watching a cartoon. A perfect lazy morning since I didn't have to be anywhere.

I turn around and there he is in front of me and says "I'm ready to go Mom." He'd put "his" socks and shoes on All By Himself. What a big boy!! So we headed outside to get busy!


I can't believe he's 3 already and constantly telling me he's not a baby!!

Casey, sorry to break it to you, but you'll always be Moma's baby!

Randomness

For the sake of being random.....



(Wow what a mushroom!!!)

Our new 4-wheeler!! Supposedly mine....we'll see.

Happy Tuesday!!!!

Mother's Day Gifts....

You know how you're not "supposed" to get appliances for a present and be happy about it???


Well, whoever says this is WRONG!!!!!!



I got a new front load washer and dryer for mother's day!! I love it!! It makes washing clothes FUN!! If a chore can be fun, go for it!!! It's even fun to watch it wash!!

The first thing I washed was a comforter!!

I am so excited!! And I just can't hide it!!!!

Pioneer Girl

Emily's class has been reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and studying pioneers in Iowa History for a month now. The big culmination to all their hard work finally arrived. They got to have an entire Pioneer Day. They could come dressed as pioneers, bring lunches in sacks, baskets, tin pails, etc. wrapped in wax paper with string, no conveniences. They were kept busy playing pioneer games at recess, making a nine patch quilt from wrapping paper, dipping candles and suffering pioneer punishments.

Emily had to read The Long Winter and do an oral and written report on it and make a poster from a scene in the book. Emily was so excited and interested in this project, I found I could check out the Little House on The Prairie TV seasons at the Library and we watched some at home too.

To get an outfit for the day, we borrowed from three different people, but managed to get an authentic looking outfit.

So here's my little pioneer girl heading off to school...










She even wanted to walk to school!!! Because that's what the pioneers did. Now if I could only get her to help clean.....hmmm... I'll have to work on that!!!


Happy Friday Friends!!

bloom where you are planted

Casey and Lucille and I went to several Mennonite Greenhouses near here last week for flowers for Memorial Day pots, gardens, etc...It was close to Mother's Day and we went just because we wanted to.

In amongst the potted plants we found this robin's nest with several eggs waiting to be born. It's real.

Bloom where you are planted just seemed to fit.

Rain

Five for Friday...

My Emily.

My Emily is now ten years old. Double Digits. Wow. That seems sooo old. She's still my sweet, caring, smart, beautiful, LITTLE girl!
My Emily opened a 10th Birthday Savenger Hunt Extravaganza.
My Emily was sent all over the yard and house for a 1/2 an hour and then opened a note that said to ask mom for her GPS so the hunt could finally begin and she was so excited she started jumping up and down!
My Emily tries very hard to figure mom's GPS out with help from Dad. Mom's GPS is really cool, but a bit complicated.
My Emily opened her very own GPS so she won't have to complain about Dad taking Mom's away from her when we go geocaching. My Emily is very interested in hiking and finding treasure so this is the perfect gift for my big 10 year old.
My Emily chose to eat Valentine's Chicken on the birthday plate for her birthday dinner and she blew a candle out in the chicken since we hadn't made cake yet.

My sweet Emily wanted to help make her birthday cake(s). We made chocolate lava cakes. Let me tell you right now they were AWESOME!!! So awesome, I forgot to take a picture. No really, we made about 17 individual little cakes and with Lucille's help, we just got them each out and on plates with ice cream for everyone and I forgot to take a picture of all the yumminess!!! I'll include the recipe later if you like...
My Emily wanted to go swimming for her birthday party! That's also one of her favorite things. So we went to the W aquatic center at our local college.
My Emily also wanted to go on a treasure hunt for her party! It really was a Birthday Extravaganza!! So Al "placed" a geocache for the party full of beaded necklaces and they went geocaching with Emily's new GPS and mine. We walked and searched in one of Al's aunt's yards... It was fun!

My Emily blows out 10 candles on her Lava Birthday Cake!! Have I mentioned that I can't believe she is 10? Double digits?? I have? Oh sorry.
It doesn't seem that long ago that I held my baby girl for the first time and brought her home and tried to figure everything out. I've got a few things going right, but I'm still trying to figure out the rest as we go along! I hope she doesn't mind that I'm just winging it...

She's about perfect, so we must be doing something right!!

My Emily.