May 2021

 Ivy's escape room birthday party.

Celebrating Toni and Will at their super fun wedding.

YES, we are back.  Went to the movies for the first time in over a year.

Loved having Grandma down for the week.

Snow cone treats after soccer practice.

Skylar Academic Award

 Think she may of had a record this year with 3, yes let me repeat, 3 Academic Awards.  

Dance Recital 2021

 The lights turned back on the stage this year and we couldn't of been happier.  After the pandemic cancelled the kids dance recital last year we were extremely excited that this year they were going to have one.  Yes it was outside and not in the beautiful theater, but the kids were so excited to perform they didn't care where it was. 

The Father/Daughter dance even came back this year.  They usually practice every Saturday for five months.  This year that had to learn via zoom and only had two in person rehearsals.  It didn't matter for Skylar and Jake as they killed it this year!

Dance Dad reunite.

No fancy costumes this year (which was kind of nice).  Just CDC Spirit Wear.  

  It has been such a weird year; first with zoom classes; class time cut down, and now having to wear a mask while they practice, we weren't sure what to expect when it comes to her dancing growth, but Skylar is really coming into her own. Since there was no recital last year, no viewing week, it has been over a year that we had seen Skylar dance and we couldn't be more proud of what we saw.  She is becoming quite the little dancer.

 

Our pretty ballerina.  We usually don't get to see her do ballet at the recital so it was nice this year to see her perform. 

In the same line as not seeing the kids perform forever, getting to see Madden left us speechless.  He killed it in a really fast tempo, hard hip hop routine and loved every second.  I love seeing how much he enjoys hip hop.  He even told me a few days before the recital, "Mom, I'm so excited for recital."  Which just melted my heart.  I hope he sticks with hip hop for a long time to come.

So proud of our 

Video highlights from the recital.

Skylar's 11th Birthday

 Someone is becoming a tween.  Our sweet baby girl turned 11 this week and I just wish time would slow down.

We went back and forth on what to do for Skylar and Lucy's birthday.  We planned a stayaction but the weather didn't cooperate so we planned a last minute game night at our house for the girls with their friends.  We played blackjack, fibbage and hide and seek in the dark.  Girls requested chick fil-A for dinner and Handals ice cream cakes for dessert.

These girls have been so lucky being able to celebrate their birthday together for the past 4-5 years.

On Skylars actual birthday we celebrated just like we did Maddens.  She got to pick out her breakfast and dinner and dessert.  Sadly she requested donuts for breakfast but Mother's Day was the day before and donuts were on a major shortage so she had confetti mini pancakes.

Her dinner request was cheese tortellini's and Dad's homemade garlic bread.

Then a big bowl of mint chip ice cream to top off her big day.

Maybe because they are both getting older but these were two for the easiest and funniest birthdays they both had.  

April 2021

Dying easter eggs. 

Easter Sunday we kept it just the four of us.  We put on a egg hunt in the house which the kids loved.  We took them to a surprise brunch at the Sugar Factory.

Dad had the waffle chicken sandwich.

Too happy little buddies.

These two best friends have been training for the junior lifeguards swim test.  They practice 2 to 3 times a a week and I couldn't be more proud.

We have a soon to be 5th grade graduate in the house!

Madden's 9th Birthday

 Hard to believe our little guy is now 9 years old.  

His request for birthday breakfast was chocolate chip mini pancakes with nutella on the side.

Dad shot off a confetti cannon which Madden wasn't too thrilled about.

He requested to open up presents right when he got home from school.

Sushi dinner was a top priority for him.

And he kept it simple with just vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and whip cream.

Since Covid-19 kept Madden for having a real birthday celebration last year I told him we could throw him a big party with all this buddies.  I tried giving him ideas on what we could do, but in the end it just wanted to have a small sleepover with Skylar, Lennon, Sophie with a taco bar for dinner.

Too make is more special we had teepees brought in for the sleepover.

He got all the presents he requested.  The kids had the best time just running around the house, playing in the teepees, and playing on their ipads together.

All the kids stayed up to 11:00PM and were up at 6:00AM.  They had endless bowls of fruity pebbles and cinnamon toast crunch for breakfast and hung out until 11:00AM together.  In the end it was the easiest party I have ever done for him, and I think one of his most special.