2nd Grade Spring Concert

A few weeks ago Addison had her annual spring concert and art show. We had a fun family night going to see her perform. She was very into it! She loves putting on a show!

Sweet girls Addison and Chloe.

Reagan snuck in the picture.

She showed us her art on display.

Addison with her teacher, Mrs. Dunlap and her baby Addie.

Disney Surprise

We have known for several months now, that Tommy had a week long MARS Sales Convention at Disney's Yacht Club and Beach Resort in April. We hadn't really given any serious consideration to the girls and I tagging along until last Thursday. The weather here has been so BAD and Tommy has been traveling ALOT. The combination of those two things had me on the computer playing with flights. I was shocked to find a great deal on non-stop plane tickets to Orlando. There are never any decent price flights from here and non-stop flights are rare, so I knew it was meant to be.

Within 24 hours I had it all booked. Tommy took the girls to gymnastics Friday afternoon and I made the reservations. We leave in 17 days and as of last night, Mimi and Austin have decided to meet us there. We are so excited!

Tommy wanted to tell the girls in a fun way and I couldn't keep it secret for one second, so what you see is a surprise in a pinch....Mickey Mouse punched out of bread and cards printed from Daddy. Don't mind my leftover spaghetti.....not a meal I am proud to share on the internet, but I wanted to document the surprise!

Slices of Life

We had one warm day so far this "Spring". I think it might be the only day in a very cold, windy, wet month that we saw the sun and had decent temperatures at the same time. We spent the entire day playing outdoors.

Cool temperatures = Static hair

I went to a Bachelor final rose party. So fun!!! I hadn't seen a single episode, didn't even know who the Bachelor was, but since the final episode was 3 HOURS, I had plenty of time to get on board with the drama. It was a great night of laughter and fun with a great group of ladies.

Reagan and Olivia. This picture melts my heart. These two adore each other. This was on a warm day in an intense game of neighborhood kick-the-can. I don't fully understand the game, but the kids do. It spans the entire cul-de-sac, front and back yards (most homes here don't have fences) and kids ranging from 5 to 14 are usually involved. Reagan and Olivia are the youngest so we make them team up and stay together. They are adorable! In this picture they are "it" and on the hunt for the other kids.

Gracyn and Cody. He is her neighborhood and school buddy. They get sweeter together all the time. On this afternoon, he had come down to play with us and we walked the babies to the bus stop to get the big girls. 

Pictures don't do it justice, but this girl has a major black-eye! It happened on our warm day. We made our first trip to the park since winter. She was playing tag with her Daddy, running full speed ahead and collided with the rooftop of a small playground structure. She could run right under it last year, but I guess has grown. It turned red, then blue, then black, then green and now it is a lovely shade of yellow. We are just thankful that cut didn't break the skin and we didn't need stitches.

Let the orthodontic work begin. She has had 2 appointments of 4 to get an expander installed. Those teeth are growing in every which way but straight! 

Look at this cutie. She's quite the fashion diva! She put this outfit together one day and looked super cute. 

Daddy Daughter Dance

Tommy and the girls went to the 2nd Annual Daddy Daughter Dance at Lifetime Fitness. They transform the basketball courts into a magical ballroom. They have dinner, play games, do crafts an dance in the lights with music from a DJ. 

The girls and I love shopping for the dresses and then getting them dressed with perfect nails and hair, although this year, with Gracyn old enough to go, I felt like I might need a personal assistant to get them all ready! They wanted to get dressed perfectly and they didn't want Tommy to see them until they were all ready to go!

We got a few pictures here and then I followed them there so I could get a few more pictures before I got kicked out. I left from there with a few other Mamas of 3 girls and we took advantage of a night off with dinner and pedicures. The girls had a great night dancing with their Daddy and some of their best friends.  

Our big adventure when my Dad was in town was to head to Perfect North Slopes, about 45 minutes away from us in Indiana. In addition to adding another state to the list of places my girls have been to, we had a blast.

It never broke 30 degrees all day. It was cloudy, cold and windy with temps around 27 degrees, but that didn't slow us down. We had shopped the day before to get Dad and Melissa outfitted for winter and we were all well dressed for the cold. The temperatures actually didn't bother us at all.

My girls are adventurers and this was a great day for them. Those hills move FAST! I can't even begin to guess how fast you move down those slopes, but it is quick. 

We took turns riding down by ourselves, and all sorts of combinations of riders holding on to each other. By the end of the day, the bravest of the group (not me) were going down on their bellies. We went down over and over again. Riding the Magic Carpet back up to the top each time, was just as fun as the trips down.

We tubed for a couple of hours, then went into the lodge to get hot chocolate and a snack, after that we headed back out for a few more hours of fun,

Tommy lost his wedding ring somewhere in all the fun. Cold hands and gloves coming on and off is a bad situation for your rings. I have called them every few days in hopes it will turn up.

It's  not the mountains of Colorado, but it is close to home and such a fun way to spend a day. The only complaint was that we didn't get them over to the other side of the mountain to try skiing. I guess we will be headed back for that.

Outside

While my Dad and Melissa were here, we took advantage of a warm winter day and headed to the park. By warm, I mean 50 degrees with periods of sun....we take what we can get around here. Those of us who have (somewhat) acclimated to Ohio weather thought it was a great day. The Texans in the group may have been a little cold. Did I mention that we had to hurl our bread crumbs for the ducks, way out to the middle of the pond, because all the edges were frozen and the ducks couldn't get to us? Spring in just around the corner....I tell myself this daily!

Race Cars

Pappy and Melissa flew in from Texas last weekend. The girls couldn't wait for them to get here. They had The Web on their list of things to do during his visit. They wanted to play the games and drive the race cars. 

Gracyn had Gus, the class fish along for the ride.

Cute Reagan waiting to race.

Gracyn and Daddy! True to Daddy's usual driving form, their car won 2nd place.

Reagan and Melissa. They drove slow and careful and scored last in the pack. They got crashed into lots of times!

Addison and Pappy scored in the middle. Pappy was a tight squeeze in that car. Addison wanted to to go faster than allowed!

We finished the night with tons of games, winning around 1,000 tickets and Greater's Ice-Cream. Fun times.

Mother Daughter Tea Party

Last weekend, we went to the 2nd annual Mother Daughter Tea Party at the church where Gracyn goes to preschool. They put together such a fun night for Mamas and their girls. They do a quick devotional, have a light dinner and then the girls move through several stations of crafts and desserts. We love getting dressed up, spending the evening with close friends and seeing all the faces we know and love from our small-ish town. I knew my girls would not consider tea-sandwiches and fruit to be dinner, so our group started with an early dinner at Red Robin before we headed to the church. I called ahead for a table for 15, with 10 kids menus. You know they were excited for us to arrive!

My pretty girls all dressed up. They are always disappointed every year that I don't  wear a dress, but one can only dress up so much when it is 20 degrees outside and you don't want to spend all night freezing! I promised them I would wear all the dresses they want in the summer time!

A rare night of coordinating outfits and hair they let me fix!

Our best Ohio buddies! Olivia B., Olivia L., Reagan, Chloe, Faith, Addison, Brooke, Gracyn, Tessa, and Elle. Baby Sophie wouldn't get in the picture.

Addison and Chloe. 

Reagan and Olivia.

My girls. :)

Gracyn's best pre-school friends.

Decorating butterfly cupcakes. Can you tell it is a butterfly?

Craft time!

We painted their feet for one craft. That is probably a great craft idea, when you have one or two girls. Getting all mine painted and cleaned up was a little crazy!

Gracyn loves glitter!