Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The End of June

Well, we spent Sat. the 22nd finally adding the finishing touches to the laundry room and Maggie/Paige's room.  And now (after about 3 months) I can finally put up the finished pictures.  I know you were all dying with anticipation.  
So here's the before picture of the girl's room:
and the final pictures:
 In the original picture, they had bunk beds, but since we were completely redoing everything, we took them down.  The above picture is Maggie's side of the room.  We added little shelves so she could put her "stuff" like her phone, books, scriptures, pictures and whatever else she wants up there, so it's not on the floor by her bed.  They each got new bedspreads; Maggie's is yellow and grey and Paige's is orange and grey.
 Paige's side
 We hung up pictures in white frames (except for their baptism picture because I had just bought new black frames just for those pictures.) and Maggie has a Young Women's print on her wall and Paige has "I am a Child of God" print on her wall.  Then they have their baby picture and their current picture up.  
 Looking into the room from the doorway.  We wanted bright and happy colors and I like how it turned out. 
 Maggie wanted to paint her mirror a bright color.  I loved how Paige was looking in the mirror, so I snapped a picture.  I think it's adorable.  
 Paige's side of the room with her cute pictures.  
Then we added the chalkboard picture frame so they could doodle on it.  
Maggie is still creating art to hang up above the dresser.  I'll have to post of picture of it when she gets it done.  
Here's the laundry room before (when I started):
And here is the final product:
 I love how it turned out!  I absolutely love the stripes!!  They are so fun!  And I love the colors.  I made the curtains and Garrett helped me staple material to these pieces of canvas for decorations! 
Lydia and Bella are patiently waiting for us to start their room now.  I hope I can get motivated again! :)

Now that Garrett's parents live here in Yamhill, we probably go see them about once a week.  We usually take turns hosting/making dinner.  The same day we finished the rooms, we went over to their house for dinner.  They just got a new hot tub and even though it was pretty hot out, we soaked in the hot tub.  They also have a lot of fruit trees, and the cherries were ripe and yummy.  So the kids picked and ate a lot of cherries!
 Picking cherries
 The new hot tub
 Loving the cherries!

 These were taken the next day, after church.  Garrett was playing race cars with Noah and Bella and it was fun to watch them play.  
 Paige and Lydia playing legos
 Then they started trying to get the cars to jump over the kids.  I love their faces.  
 Noah got so excited watching the cars jump over things!

 More practicing on the bikes...
 June 25th--Lydia rides her bike on her own!!!  
SHE DID IT!!
Look at that smile!
I was so proud of her!

Noah's 3rd birthday was coming up the following week.  His cousins were coming in a few days and would be here for his birthday.  Garrett had bought him a battery powered jeep for his birthday and decided to give him his present early, so that he could enjoy it without having to share it right away.  
 He LOVED it and was so excited to drive it!
 Of course, he really had no idea how to steer it, so it took awhile to get used to that.  
 The girls love it too.  They love to ride in it or drive it if they can get Noah out of the driver's seat.  
Notice the pink stroller in the back...

A couple of days later, we all went on a family bike ride, this time with Lydia riding her bike!  
Unfortunately, as we were headed home, Lydia got too close to a parked car.  Her handle bar hit the car and knocked the bike over.  She wasn't able to get her feet down quick enough to stop herself and she fell and hurt her ankle.  She was pretty upset and swore that she would never get back on her bike again.  Since we had company coming and then our big 3 week vacation,  we haven't had the chance to get her back on.  But, before summer is over, we'll have her riding again. (I hope anyways...she can be pretty stubborn when she wants.)

That Saturday, we had big plans to get things accomplished.  I was frantically starting to work on Noah's birthday party--which was happening on Monday (ahhh!) and Garrett had a lot of work to do outside in the back yard.  Unfortunately, Garrett cut his thumb with a big survival knife while he was cutting branches off an old Christmas tree.  He came in the house bleeding everywhere, telling me I had to drive him to the ER.  So, we spent the next 2 hrs at the ER getting him stitched up.  
 This is how happy he was to be in the ER.  
 The pictures are pretty gross, so I'll just post the one.  He cut it pretty deep and severed a tendon.  They stitched it up and gave him pain meds, but told him that on Monday, he'd have to go have it looked at by a hand specialist to see if they could fix the tendon.  Long story short...all 3 specialists that he got names for were out on vacation on Monday and Tuesday.  So, he just let it heal up with out it getting fixed.  Hopefully it won't be a problem later on down the road.  So after we got home, I was working on the party and he napped.  His brother and his family had arrived the night before, so Garrett took the kiddos over to his parents house to see them while I worked on the party some more.  
The next day after church, we headed over to Yamhill again for a bbq and to see Josh and Tanya.  Garrett had bought a pool to take over there for the kids to swim because it was HOT! (and they don't have AC).  It was good to see Josh and Tanya again--the kids had so much fun together!
 Paige, Hannah, Lydia, Caleb, Bella, Maggie
 Baby Luke
 Hannah, Bella, Lydia and Caleb--Noah had no desire to get in the pool.  We think the kids were too rowdy for him.  
 Caleb jumping on Lydia and Maggie's legs
 Baby Luke
Bella, Paige, Hannah, Noah and Caleb
Meggin and her family were getting in really late that night.  
Noah's birthday next...

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Annual pictures and Dance Recitals

I like to get the kids' pictures taken every year on--or somewhat near their birthdays.  This year I was really late getting Bella's and Maggie's pictures.  Their birthdays are in April and here it was June.  So I took them plus Noah, whose birthday is in July, and focused on how ahead of schedule I was for Noah's pictures.  :)  Noah's pictures actually turned out quite cute considering how he wouldn't stand alone for the photographer without me.  I tried to hold his hand from a distance.  Luckily, we had the really good photographer at JCPenney's that can make any kid laugh. 
 Bella--my little sweetheart.
Cute Maggie
The photographer actually said to Maggie, "So your mom still makes you do this, huh?"
Am I the only one who makes their kids get annual pictures taken?  
Just so you know, she likes getting her picture taken every year.  :)

On the 19th, we had dress rehearsals for our dance recitals.  This year, they couldn't get all 3 of my kids into one recital.  So, we had to go to 2 rehearsals and 2 recitals.  I enjoy going though, so I didn't mind.  The theme for this year's recital was "Entertainment Tonight".  So all the music for the performances were from TV shows.  

Here are the girls during their performances.  
Paige
Paige is in tap and her dance was to the song "Happy Days" as in the old tv show Happy Days.  It was really cute.  Her good friend Brooke was in her class and performed with her.  Brooke is on the left and Paige is right in the middle.  
 Paige is 2nd from the right

This is her professional picture.  

Bella
Bella is in a class called Wiggles and Giggles.  It's pretty much an introduction to acrobatics/tumbling.  She really loves it though.  Her song was from the Muppets.  
 Bella is right in front--waiting for the music to start.
somersaults
more somersaults
bear walking?  
waiting for her turn
Final pose

Professional picture

Lydia
Lydia is in her second year of hip hop jazz.  Sadly enough this is her last year.  She doesn't want to do dance anymore.  She really likes to dance, but doesn't want to take classes anymore.  Her song was some song I've never heard of before from a show I've never heard of before.  Something like Keenan and Kel?  
 Lydia is in the back, 5th from the left
 2nd from left

Professional Picture

 I was trying to get pictures of the girls after their performances, but they were being so silly. 
 Paige and Brooke trying to lift one another
  Then they decided to lift up Bella.  
 Flowers from dad
Obviously, Paige and Bella were in the same show one night....
and Lydia was in the following night's show.  She was much more cooperative with pictures.  

On the day of Paige and Bella's performances, Lydia and Paige went to a Stake Activity Girl's Day activity.  This year instead of having it at our stake center, they went to Tillamook and did it all at the beach.  They had such a good time.  It was beach themed and they got leis and a t-shirt.  They played fun games at the beginning and were able to go to little classes on modesty and friendshipping (I think--can't remember what they told me) and got to do fun crafts like make friendship bracelets and other things.  I guess I should ask them tomorrow--anyways, the point is is that they went and really enjoyed their day.  I'm so grateful for the leaders who spend so much time planning fun and uplifting activities for our kids!