Arts and Crafts

Scary faces

They had so much fun painting. Izzy would paint her hand first then put her hand on the face to paint it. Paige loved this and asked if we could do it everyday, I told her that Mommy couldn't handle this mess every day!

Halloween 2009

Super Kids!

Paige (WonderWoman), Mia (Queen Vampire Zombie), Ella (Zombie Snow White)

Izzy's gymnastics class all dressed up

Paige before her gymnastics

This picture was too cute not to include

Trip to Texas

We had such a great time visiting our wonderful friends. As you can tell the kids didn't miss a beat. They had a great time playing together. Looking at these pictures makes me a little sad because we have so much fun with the Voltin's that it sucks they live so far away. I really miss you guys!

Paige and Mia racing to the trampoline

Noah pushing Izzy in the swing.

Hey Pam, this will be a great picture to dig out for their wedding!

We were lucky to be in town for Mia's big 4th birthday. It was a lot of fun and yummy cupcakes!

Pam and Ryan before the show

The main reason for us going out at this time was to take Paige to see Mamma Mia! She really loved the movie and Pam suggested that we come out to see the show. So of course we had to go, any small excuse to visit and we are there.

Paige and I before the show

Just incase you couldn't tell by that little face, she absolutely loved it! We will have to take her to some more live shows in the future. She really likes those musicals.

Thank you Voltin's for a great visit we loved seeing all of you. As always the trip was way too short. Will have to figure something out some time soon for a longer visit. We love you guys and miss you so very much!

Fire Station

Paige's class took their first field trip. We went to fire station #1. The firemen were great answer all of the kids silly questions. The kids had a great time. Her is Paige's class posing with one of the firemen. Oh, and the boy standing on Paige's left is her "Sam". He gave her a bracelet and necklace with a cute little card that he made for her, very sweet. I was able to meet him and his Mom. Just to let you know they both are good solid people for our Paige. ;)The silly face picture. If you look at the photo closely all of the kids making the same face are all Paige's friends. I wonder which one did the face first?!

Izzy is a rockstar!

Well Little Miss Izzy was rockin' out big time. I didn't get her best stuff but it is still fun to watch and listen to. She did all of this by herself. She also likes to stand up in front of the fireplace and turn on the light (like her spotlight) to belt out a few tunes. Her favorites are "ABCCC", "Itpsty Pitsy Spider" and "Random Loud Noises".

Her self titled ablum will be out in the spring.

Lots of Firsts

Paige had her first day of Kindergarten! She was super excited. Her teachers are Mrs. Asher and Mrs. Drake. She has a few kids in her class from last year so that was pretty exciting for her to see some of her old friends. Her old classroom is just across the hall, so every morning she stops in to say hi to her teachers from last year. We have definitely be blessed to find such a great school for our girls.

Izzy's first day of school was on Friday. I was surprised at how excited she was. She really wanted to go the first day that Paige did. Paige was really excited to drop Izzy off at her classroom too. Izzy's is a Parents Morning Out program at the same school Paige attends so I drop and pick them up at the same time and place, which is really nice. Izzy goes 2 days a week and that is plenty for me to get all of the things that I need to get done without kids hanging off of me. I am just really glad that they both enjoy it so much.

Izzy the little daredevil decided that she was a big enough girl to climb up this all by herself. I am not so sure that I am ok with this one, but Dad was just fine with it. Later, I told him that I wouldn't of let her do that. He said Oh! Look how proud she is of herself.

Paige's first soccer game. She played so well. She went after the ball and almost scored twice.

Look at her go! This was one of the almost scores. When she got to the goal she fell down. She also played goalie for a period. She saved 2 balls from being scored, but also found some time to pick the grass and check out the butterflies. We were really proud of our girls this week and all of the new things that they have accomplished. Next week homework for the first time!

Izzy's 2nd birthday party

My little girls is 2! Where did the time go? We decide to have a beach party for the birthday girl and it couldn't of worked out better. Sammies, cupcakes, beach toys and ocean what more do you need. We had a lot of fun! Happy birthday Izzy!

Sammy and Abi playing in their buckets

Grammie Bonnie and Colten enjoying some sun

The Mayer family joined us as well.

Mia's castle in the sand

and of course the birthday girl herself with big sister Paige. It was a great day and we were so happy that 3 of the grandparents were able to be here for the party. Grammies Debbie and Bonnie and Grandpa Ron

Long time no see

Well it has been a long time since I have blogged and I am sorry for that. I haven't been real good with taking pictures lately and we have had a lot of visitor. In June we had the Voltin family out for a nice but too short visit. Looking forward to our next visit!

Jaida celebrated her 14th birthday while she was here and we were happy to celebrate with her!

Girls escape night out!!!

4th of July, we spent it at home bbq'ed and topped it off with some ice cream. The weather was so nice that we ate outside without melting or being eaten alive by bugs. Very nice day!

Grammie Debbie's visit, she took Izzy through gym and was able to watch Paige's class right after. I am not sure who had more fun in this class, Grammie or Izzy!

Trip to the aquarium. I must have forgot that I had the camera because this was the only picture that I took. It's a cute one!

Izzy girl!

Izzy enjoying one of Paige's cupcakes. She eats all of the frosting first ofcourse then the cake.

I love that frosted smile!
Strawberry picking with Paige's class. Izzy picked her first strawberry and stuck it straight in her mouth. She wasn't very happy with us when we would let her eat anymore until they were washed.

Playing out back. She wants to be a big girl, so no more baby swing!

Paige's April

Our little girl is 5! We let her decide where her birthday dinner would be and she chose Red Robin. She had a great time, they sang their birthday song and gave the girls balloons. Paige had a great night.

Look at the face, she is so happy!

These are the shoes that the Voltin's got her, I just had to share them because we can't get them off her feet. We got her a big girl scooter for her birthday. She is having a ball with it. Thank you everyone for all of the wonderful gifts that you gave her. She loves everything and has played with it all. Thank you, thank you!!!

So, Mike has been on leave and his goal is to teach Paige to ride her bike. We'll he has been successful! I can't wait for all of you to see her go, go, go! Oh, in the video this is her first day and the knee pads are from riding her scooter. Today after dinner she rode her bike all by herself from our house around the big loop in our neighborhood back home. We are so proud of our big girl!

Vacation to Black Mountain, NC

We had such a great time. We hiked everytime we got a chance to. Paige and Izzy did great. Izzy spent most of it in the backpack on Mike's back but she hung in well. Paige on the other hand hiked everything that we did. She was awesome. The first day we did a small hike of about 2.5 miles, second day we spent at the Biltmore walking around beautiful place, then a big hike of over 4 miles and a few small hike that I can't remember how long they were. The whole time Paige was right there beside us, complaining a little but she muscled through it. We are so proud

of her!!! In between we had some bad weather so we checking out Asheville and the small town of Black Mountain. The day in Blk Mtn was great the people were super nice and the town was very welcoming, we really liked it. I almost forgot to mention Zeke, he was in heaven I think. He loved being out in the woods off his leash exploring and splashing in any body of water that he could find. The trip was wonderful and we would mind going back again some day.

Field Trip, Grandparents' visit and present for Paige

Paige's class took a field trip to the Equine Country to learn about horses. Grammie Bonnie, Grandpa Ron, Izzy and myself join Paige and her class for this fun trip.

Here's Izzy getting as up and close to any of the horses that they had. She mostly like walking around in the rain.
Paige was able to brush and help clean the horses hoffs.

At the end of all the demonstration they were able to ride a horse if they wanted, Paige wanted! She absolutely loved it. They only thing that bummed her out was that she couldn't wear the pink helmet.

Picture with the grandparents that Izzy wasn't really into. She was ready for bed not for picture time.

This is Paige on her ride with the horse.This what Grammie Bonnie and Grandpa Ron got her for her birthday. We put it in her room and she loves playing it. It came with a little song book that she has been learning to play. She gets better and better, she is loves it.

DADDY!!!

Oh Happy Day!

Here we are waiting to see Dad after 7 long months. We were so excited! The wait wasn't that long, before we knew it they were tiny dots off in the distance.
Uncle Jeff took some time off work to come out for the homecoming too. He was a huge help for me so that I wasn't chasing after two very excited little girls by myself.

Yay, it's Daddy! Paige ran right up to him and jumped in his arms, Mike practically squeezed the guts out of her. Izzy was with Jeff but was leaning out of his arms to get to Dad, she just couldn't wait to get a hug from Dad too. It was a great day! We are so happy to have him home safe. Thank you everyone that have kept us in your prayers during this deployment we greatly appreciate all of your love and support.

March Visitors

At the beginning of March we had a few visitors. First my Mom came out to help me out with getting things ready for Mike's homecoming. She was such a big help, THANK YOU! I was even able to sneek away one day for a spa day, awesome! During her visit we had a visit from Uncle Tom, Auntie Val and Pat. This is their first visit out here and we definitely enjoyed having them. They also got to meet Izzy for the first time.

We took them to the beach, soccer and a few other fun things. Paige really enjoyed having everyone read to her. Thank you everyone for you visit, we definitely enjoyed seeing all of you.