Reading!

As Ben says, she gives "new meaning to the exclamation point." :) That word she keeps leading off with is "Look!" Ha! She has such passion. 

I do think that Kindergarten is taking its toll on Lainey. Tonight she told me, "I'm just so tired I'm gonna fall apart." :)

Recent Happenings

1. My dad purchased this fancy trailer (and it is fancy!) for the boys and their newly-acquired hunting lease. I guess you can say "acquired" in this sense even though it's just a lease. Anyway. The smell inside the trailer immediately took me back to my childhood...one summer we spent some time in one of those trailers during a summer vacation. Fun memories. The smell is interesting...not good or bad... but I found it funny that it jogged my memory so quickly. 

We took the kids to the Stars game on Saturday night. They had fun for the first period and a half, then they (mostly Walker) got antsy and wanted to go home. However, they did pretty well for the time that we were there! I'm sure that the hot dogs, nachos, sodas, popcorn, and cotton candy didn't hurt, either...

A sweet moment, going up the escalator.

And this is Walker and his dance moves.

He has a good leg hold. Even with two suckers in his mouth. ;)

This girl learned how to do a back walkover! I tried to get it on video but she kept falling. She did a couple good ones and then that was it...she was done. :) However, I'm confident that she'll get it again soon. This girl does NOT give up. I just want to keep her little head safe in the meantime. :)

And here's a hawk. I think. He's big and didn't seem all that scared of us...he was very handsome!

Fall Festival

Headed OUT the door to the elementary school's Fall Festival on Friday night! (Side note - it's so hard for us not to say "festeder" when we say "festival." That's what Lainey called it when she was little. So to us, all "festivals" are "festeders.")

Not gonna lie...Walker strikes a pretty good pose...

Lainey hops on one foot a lot. And Walker follows suit (when he feels like it).

And she is always leaping. Always. 

Hi, Buddy. Putting on your own shoes. Love it.

  

Hi, Ella!

Lainey would love to be able to do a "scorpion" hold. That's where you pull your foot back behind your head...ouch. At this point, Lainey still just pulls her foot to the side and reaches it to touch her head!

a little ring toss

I LOVE Walker's face in this picture. They have just boarded the train and this little guy is SO excited.

"Choo-choo! Choo-choo!"

SO happy. And you know this boy is pretty hot/cold when it comes to situations. Rarely is he "just right." Just glad that he was happy for this experience! The Fall Festival was so much fun...the kids had a great time and I loved seeing Lainey's classmates and teachers. I love her school! It all came to a screeching halt around 7:15 p.m. when Walker didn't win a prize for a game (and rightfully so...he wasn't successful at knocking down these bowling pin things). An all-out fit in the middle of the festival sealed the deal for us. Time to head home! :) 

Dancerella

There's a video called Bella Dancerella that teaches kids the basic positions in ballet. I think one of my nieces had it as a child...anyway, for some reason, that term "Dancerella" has stuck with me and I call Lainey that all the time. It fits her, I think! 

I think she's almost got it...she is sooooooo flexible!

She makes it look easy. :)

Toes to forehead.

Toes to nose.

And she's getting stronger!

And, she can use a box as a prop!

There's a performance on Lainey's recital video titled "When the Chips Are Down" and Lainey constantly replaces "chips" with "chimps." As in "When the Chimps Are Down." And she sings the song with such passion that I just can't correct her. And her singing voice is slightly less than beautiful...making the whole thing even funnier. I love her sweet little self!

True talent, I tell ya.

And seriously. This is Lainey when she was 11 months old. Who can resist those legs!!! I LOVE THEM.

This is Lainey's friend Jacob from school. His mom is her teacher. And these two play "chase" on the playground. As in, Lainey chases him and he LOVES it. Lainey's teacher even said that he begs her to chase him...he puts his hands together and everything! Hilarious. Or a sign of what to expect in the future. :)

This and That

 Lainey wakes up and dances. In her room, straight out of bed, in her jammies. I caught her doing this just before school. :) 

And this is just funny. Lainey saw this sign outside a bathroom at the library. She said, very matter-of-factly, "No smoke-blowers." (She calls cigarettes "smoke-blowers" and I just can't seem to bring myself to correct her.)

And this boy is obsessed with riding his tricycle. He always rides it barefoot, and he always insists on racing anyone and everyone. And he gets very disappointed when he doesn't win. (He's not a very good sport. He's a terrible loser!) It cracks me up when he rides it inside the house, though...he always piles all of his blankies in the back and zooms around, happy as can be. :) Usually he has that pacifier in his mouth, too, which makes it even funnier!

Dance Party

Lainey's Dance Team came over to par-tay last Sunday...as I mentioned in a previous post, it was C-R-A-Z-Y. A bomb went off in our house. However...it was all worth it. The kids had SO much fun and the clean-up process gave me an opportunity to reorganize some things! And most of y'all know I love a good project. Anyway - here are a few pictures of Lainey from the party. I didn't get as many as I wanted to; it was just too crazy and I was too distracted. :)

Faith, Peyton, Sofia, and a Lainey with a crazy smile.

Lainey and her "Buddy" Eva. I had Lainey dressed in a different outfit but apparently, at some point during the party, she changed into a pink and green tutu and a red shirt. Ha!