What a weekend!

Bear with me...I have a  "few" pictures to share! :) Lainey had her first dance competition of the season on Saturday. They did great! The girls had so much fun; they loved all the excitement and energy surrounding the event!

Lainey before dance #1 at her competition...she's in her "I Wanna Rock" costume. :) 

with Lauren

with Morgan

flexible Punky

on stage

The group before their "Big in Japan" performance.

on stage

awards

The two girls just decided to do the entire group routine as a duet outside of the coliseum. Ha! 

Hehe. Cute Lainey booty.

Lainey with Reid...and their stuffed animals.

AND, to top off the weekend, we went to see Lainey's artwork featured at "Arts in the Square" in Frisco! So proud of her! 

She said that she used cups for the artwork. Quite modern, wouldn't you say? :)

The Baders joined us...Lainey and Kaitlyn got matching face paint! :)

What a weekend! A fun, busy, exciting weekend!

School Friends

I feel blessed and thankful that our kids have each made great friendships at school thus far. Lainey loves the kids in her Kindergarten class; seriously, they are so cute. I love the kids in her Kindergarten class. A mom from Lainey's class sent me the first two pictures of her and her friends, and the mom of one of Walker's classmate's sent me the third picture. :) I am grateful to both of them!

Lainey's most talked-about friends in her class: Faith, Chloe, and Lily.

Dancing. Or jumping. Maybe a little of both.

Hm. Which one of these is not like the others....? Yep. Walker is the only kid not looking at the camera! Stinker. And yes, he totally planned it. He knew exactly where he was supposed to look for the picture. I recently read a quote that seems to describe him and his...um..."quirky" personality. Dr. Seuss said, "Why fit in when you were born to stand out?" I think I'm just going to start looking at him in this way. And hoping that each unique facet of his personality (stubborn, strong-willed, sweet, temperamental, emotional, silly, kind-hearted) will benefit him in the long run! (P.S. - We are wearing hats that the kids made us. This morning was "Muffins with Mom" and we were so excited to wear our gorgeous hats!)

Lainey's Kindergarten Class

Lainey's teacher is so wonderful...she sent us these pictures this week, and I think they're so cute!

Practicing writing numbers...not sure what Miss Sassy Pants is doing there with her arms crossed. ;)

AND, on Friday, Lainey read a book to her class! It was called Little Racoon's Big Question. :) So cute! No idea what the book is about. 

SAND

Has anyone played with this kinetic sand from Brookstone? It's so cool. Almost unreal. Anyway, Walker got a little for Christmas and Emmy gave us a bunch of it last week. Yay for us! I love this particular type of sand because it doesn't make a giant mess and it picks up like Play-Doh. Sort of. This quality makes it (relatively) easy to clean up. :) The kids love it. We've been making it our nightly after-dinner ritual...we are ready for summer evenings! 

We had a sandbox at our old house. We do not have one at this house, and I kinda miss it! I'm glad we have this kinetic sand to play with here because it basically serves the same purpose as regular sand...there's just less of it and it doesn't hold its shape quite as well as regular sand. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with sand. I love it and its endless possibilities for creative play, yet I cannot stand the mess it makes. It ranks right up there with glitter and sprinkles in the list of things that I dread bringing out and then cleaning up. :) But, the kids love it, so I try to remember that it's just a mess and it can be cleaned. I have to tell myself this a lot. ;)

"How-To" By Lainey

So, Miss Lainey has watched a YouTube video or two, mostly "how-tos" explaining how to make Rainbow Loom bracelets and how to style her doll's hair. Well, this has carried over into her regular life. Anytime she begins a project - whether it be a crafty project, a bracelet, a hairstyle…anything…she narrates it, as one would do when narrating a how-to video. (She'll also sometimes speak as if she's a teacher…teaching her "students" how to do something.) It's sort of hilarious to observe. She happily talks to herself, narrating the steps as she goes along, admitting her mistakes when she makes one, and acknowledging that she does it one way but someone else might do it another way. 

Example. When styling her doll's hair, she might say, "First, you get this piece of hair and take it over to this side. It's okay if it’s longer than the other pieces. It'll be okay. Then, you do this. Oops…mine is is a little sideways…but that's okay if yours does that, too." She'll talk to herself throughout the whole project, narrating the steps for an invisible audience. Cracks. Me. Up. And I love that she gives herself permission to make mistakes. Her brother could learn a thing or two from her. :) 

You're a remarkable young lady, Miss Lainey. I LOVE YOU and your creative spirit!

Spring Break Randomness

Our Spring Break has consisted of a variety of things! We spent the pretty days outside with friends at parks and kid-friendly restaurants, we also spent some time swimming at the gym in their indoor pool, we visited with Emmy and Tuck one day (and swam in their hot tub), we ran errands, we ate terribly unhealthy food, we partied down off Greenville Avenue in the rain for St. Paddy's Day (at a family-friendly party!), we went to the gym so I could get a daily dose of sanity, and we experienced the range in weather conditions. As is Texas. :)

Sweet girls: Ainsley, Nora, and Lainey

Fierce boys: Gage and Wyatt

Grumpy boy: Walker (I've just decided that this boy feels things intensely. He's either happy or sad or excited or bored…rarely is he a "content happy camper." He's also informed me that he's "allergic" to "apples" and "spaghetti" but apparently what he's allergic to changes from day to day. Sigh…)

And, funny story -- Lainey and Walker got these little candy gumball machines from a store, and when their candy ran out, Lainey said, "Oh, Walker. To get more candy, we need to go to China." :) HA! Technically, the candy was produced in Canada but the gumball machine was made in China. :) 

This Spring Break also brought with it the loss of Ben's grandmother, Big Yiyia (Georgia, Mary's mom). She passed away on Wednesday evening (March 12th). Although it was expected, it was just sad and hard for all of us who loved her. As Mary aptly put it, "It's just hard to lose a mama." I would agree. Big Yiyia brought a smile to the face of everyone who knew her, she could keep up with the jokesters in the family, she was always eager to get out and do things, she loved movies, cooking, and playing cards, and she loved her family and would do anything for them. Anything. We will miss you, Big Yiyia, and the impact you had on our lives will not be forgotten!

Yesterday, Ben left with his family for Corpus Christi for Big Yiyia's funeral. I stayed behind with the kids. They were sad little people when Ben left! They made him these "balloon animals" and wrote notes and drew him pictures. (Lainey's actually gotten quite good at making these "balloon animals" - more like "balloon sculptures" - and tying them herself! And she can also braid hair! Major milestones, in my opinion!) And Walker offered to give him two of his Hot Wheels that he didn't play with anymore. :) Haha!

And, we had a major thunderstorm yesterday. During which Lainey danced and sang outside. She is one of a kind, I tell you. :) She embraces life and all that it has to offer!

Walker's First (Independently-Drawn) Family Picture

There we are! And "Yiyia because Yiyia comes to our house." I love our "little tiny circle dog" and the "Hot Wheels car with a horn" (which was really not supposed to be a horn but Walker bumped my hand when I was drawing the car…and, to make lemonade out of lemons, we turned it into a horn).  Lainey's only complaint about this picture is that she's smaller than Walker. :)

And I love that he still falls asleep like this…except this was at 5:30 p.m. Not the best time for a nap. We had been swimming…an activity that always wears him out. A couple of things resulted from this nap: 1) He was still awake at 10: 39 p.m. and 2) I think he peed on the couch. (This picture was taken from above…me behind the couch…which is why he looks a little sideways!).

Birthday Party Fun

We attended my good friend's birthday party for her sweet twins in Dallas last weekend. Texas weather. I love you, yet you make me CRAZY. Hot cold hot cold hot cold. Last Saturday was really, really cold. I think it was around 45 degrees and it just felt cold. Anyway, the party was at a really fun venue (The Chicken Scratch/Foundry in Dallas) and Lainey made the most of the cold weather by dancing on the tables. Gotta love her. She and the one of the twins' cousins were "battling" on the picnic tables…and treating them as runways. One would walk/dance/strut down the table, then finish and point to the other one. It went on like this for a good 30-45 minutes, freezing weather and all. Walker even got in on the fun and he was hysterical. He knew how to get that camera on him…all he had to do was dance. :) 

She completely picks out her own clothes these days. And I do not fight her…it's just not something I really care all that much about, truth be told. I want her to feel confident in making those choices and I want her to feel comfortable in what she wears, and I am sure we'll have clothing battles in the future. Believe me. There will be battles with this one. :)

Lovely ash tray next to her. :)

And a video of one of the many performances. :)

A Little Recap of the Past Week

Lainey has choreographed her first dance. Involving friends Morgan and Ainsley, to Frozen's "Let it Go" for their elementary school's talent show. It is very specific and this is the most she's ever written. EVER. And bless her heart; this is only about the first ten seconds of the dance. At this rate, we'll have about a billion pages of choreography for their dance that will take place in May. At least she's not procrastinating!

And, here's my small friend Walker. He was "too tired to walk to the couch" so he was crawling on his belly and taking frequent breaks to melt down. Walkin' was just too much. (He desperately needed lunch…I kinda understand his dramatics.)

AND, Punky here won her second FISH award at school! (A FISH award is like a good citizenship award.) Neither Ben nor I could be there; thankfully, Bud and Yiyia were there to support her! And then her mom and dad sent dorky pictures to her teacher so she could show Lainey after the assembly. I LOVE her teacher. :)

By the way…the "Thanks for making good choices" line is a bit ironic. Lainey learned the "middle finger" at school recently. She said that showing your middle finger means "you don't like someone." I think she's done with the novelty of it…but who knows. She's also recently begun claiming that things "just pop" into her head and then "just pop" out of her mouth. Examples: "shut-up" (yes, she knows better), "fart market" (don't laugh - the idea just "popped" in her head), and she occasionally tests the waters with words like "butt" and "fart" (two of my least favorite words on the planet). However, I'm glad she's making good choices at school. :) 

It's our little joke that Daddy is the only one in the family to have "mad skills." Lainey was so excited to be invited into the club.

AND, this is what I did today! I substituted at Walker's preschool. I taught music! It was SO fun and my gosh, this little class (Walker's class) is just precious. They all gave me a hug before I left!!! SO sweet. Melted my heart!

And a little throwback… :) This was in December 2012…I think. :) Handsome, don't you think? I feel like they should be modeling in a L.L. Bean catalog. :) Love these two.

Mommy's Friends

In case my future kids ever wonder what I looked like and who I hung out with when they were little… :)

This is a very sweet, supportive, encouraging and positive group of women! I love them ALL! We met at our kids' preschool. Six of the eight of us in this picture have kids in the same class…three years running. :) LOVE!

Another night out… :) More friends! (We try to do this monthly; whoever comes comes, whoever can't can't! We just try to get everyone but it doesn't always work out that way!)

And our most recent get together. I look like a crazy awkward camo bookend. Ha! :) 

All Because We Lost a Sock

Walker came running - and I do mean running - into my room a couple of days ago screaming/crying, "MommyMommyMommyMommyMommyMommy!" I rushed out of the bathroom because I thought he had really hurt himself.

Not the case. He lost his sock in the couch.

And was very distraught about it. 

Life is hard.

***

And, as a side note, I'm happy to report that Walker has been binky-free since last Tuesday…two weeks! This was a BIG deal for us, as he (and we) has relied on that thing for comfort every single day since his birth. But we've done it! And he definitely asked for it for about four or five days…and the bowl of binkies is still sitting on top of the refrigerator…but we're over the hump. SO proud of you, Walker! It made me super sad but I'm glad we've surpassed this little milestone!