Summer Fun

Wow what a summer trip we had. The girls and I left on June 24 and didn't return until Aug 5. We started off from home and drove to Arkansas. We visited with my parents for a few days before the girls and I went our separate ways for 2 weeks. I flew to Texas to visit with the Voltin's, the girls off to Washington to visit Mike's family. This was Izzy's first trip out there and her first time meeting a lot of family.

This is a picture of most of Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Ron's grandkids.

While they were there I was in Texas to help with their newest arrival baby Hope. As with every trip with the Voltin's it went way too fast. I would add a picture from my trip but the only picture that I took there was of Pam and Hope and Pam had just woke up. I won't plaster that picture all over the internet for you! ;)

After 2 weeks I flew up to WA to meet up with my girls. I was greeted at the airport with big hugs, flowers and a cute little balloon. Our time in WA and OR was filled with visit with family and Izzy's 3rd birthday party.

Great Grandpa Ralph and Great Grandma Dee with the girls

Izzy's party was fun to plan. We had all of her favorite things Phineas and Ferb, pizza and cupcakes. It was so great to have so many family members at her party and for me to be able see all of them too. 

The only bummer about this party was it was soo cold that day in the park. Who knew that a party in July you would need to bundle up for. The day did get warmer and the kids were able to go back to the park to swim at the pool together. Happy 3rd Birthday Izzy girl!

After that we headed back to Arkansas to have a real visit with my parents, sister and nephews. Izzy also lucked out because she was given another party to celebrate with all of them and again with her pals Phineas and Ferb. 

Izzy wanted a water day so we spent the entire day out in the pool and slip-n-slide. All of the kids loved it. 

Poor Kody! The kids were having a great time chasing him down and tackling him in the pool. We decided to leave AR a little sooner than we planned but we decided to bring everyone with us but my sister Michelle because she had to work, boohiss for Michelle to our next stop. At the last minute we decided to take a trip to Nashville which was on our way home any way. We stayed their for just 2 days but it was a lot of fun for the kiddos. Before we arrived we did some searching to find what we wanted to do in such a short amount of time. The kids all vote for the Adventure Space Center and the Duck boat Tour, so that is what we did. 

This them at the Space Center. Below is the super crew just before we took our tour of Nashville. Both of the girls and Konan got to drive it while it was in the water. They really had a great time.

Izzy's Dance

Izzy's end of the year dance performance. She had a lot of fun and Paige was a great supporter too. She was cheering and really proud of Izzy at the end. It was very cute!

They were supposed to be picking up their bear's but Izzy was just hanging out. She did pick it up for the next song. She did really well, especially being in front of all of the people. It was a packed house!

Gymnastics Expeditions!

We had a very busy weekend last weekend. We did the Run for the Warriors, unit picnic and Izzy's gym expo on Sat, then Paige's gym expo and a friends b-day on Sun. Needless to say I was exhausted and so were the kiddos. I tried adding video but it wouldn't load so this is what you get from both of the girls are the pictures that I managed to get.

Little Miss. Izzy right before she started. 

This was hilarious! She bowed instead of putting her hands up and saying TADA!

Paige bounced a few times then flipped under the bar feet coming up and over. I hope that makes sense to everyone.

She received a medal and a trophy. The trophy was for doing this for 3 years, she was really proud of that. She has made a lot of progress in the last 3 years and she really loves it. Next year she has been invited to join their Petite Performers. So we will be spending more time at the gym. 

We are super proud of both of our little gymnast!

Run for the Warriors

She was a warrior that day. She ran, walked, sprinted and whined but she made it all on her own for the full 5k. She even pushed the jogging stroller for a little bit. I told her she can hold on and it would be easier. I hand it over to her and she starts sprinting. Everyone around us started laughing because she was just complaining about her legs hurting. Crazy kid!

We are so proud of her!

You got to love that smile on her face! 

After it was all over she said that she will never ever do a 5k again. Never say never!

Good job kiddo!

Finally!!!

After 3 weeks of it being super lose it finally came out 3 nights ago. The tooth fairy came and took the tooth while dropping off .50. Thank you tooth fairy for not having the night off again because there was a very excited little girl in my room the next morning. Now, Izzy is wonder when she is going to lose hers.

Paige is 6!

Birthday girl Paige! Her big day was on a Wed so we 

had her open all of her gifts from family and a special dinner. Sat would be her party with all of her friends. She had a really good day. Dad called to talk to her at school that was really great. Unfortunately, the playground was a little cooler than Dad so she only talked to him for a little bit. 

She got quite the loot. I was able to talk to the Grandma's before they got gift so that we could all get her American Girl doll stuff. Dad and I got her the doll which she named Megan. The Grandma's got her everything that you could possible want for your doll. She loves everything. Papa Mike had already bought his gift so we were too late getting him in on the plan but him and Gramma Kathi got her a camera that she is excited to use.

For dinner she chose her new favorite restaurant (thanks Uncle Jeff) Hakata a hibacti grill. Uncle Jeff joined us for dinner to help Paige celebrate. We bought him dinner but both the girls went home with 20's. He spoils them! These are the fun hats that they use for birthday's . I wish that I got a better picture of the girls in these because they were hilarious! 

These are Paige's friends that joined her for her party at Classic gymnastics. The kids played hard and had lots of fun. We had pizza and cupcakes, Paige's menu and the pizza had to come from Credo's. Any where else would of been gross. 

 Happy Birthday Paige! We love you kid!

Thank you to everyone that helped her celebrate another year.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone! Here are my two stinkers getting ready to dash for some eggs. As you can see they have already spotted some because neither one was looking at the camera. Turkeys!!! They have bug catchers because the eggs looked like little bugs, just incase you were wondering.

Izzy found her first egg on the stairs while Paige made her mad dash to the trampoline. They had a great time wandering the yard for all of the eggs. Afterwards we played in the yard because it was such a beautiful day. It is really nice to be outside in some nice weather since it seemed like such a long winter.

Hope that everyone had a Happy Easter and that the Easter bunny was good to all of you. 

New York

Pam and I took a 5 day trip to NYC for a little RnR from the kiddos. I never really thought that I would like NYC but I really did. I would never want to live there but wouldn't mind visiting again. Walking every where was awesome, here in NC you definitely don't walk anywhere. The museums, so many museums, we went to the American Museum of Natural History and didn't even really scratch the surface. It was an amazing place a definite stop on any future trips with kiddos.

Central Park, diamond in a concrete jungle. If I lived in NYC this would be a daily visit. We couldn't of asked for a nicer day, beautiful skies and the temp was perfect for walking all day. We grabbed some lunch from a cart and headed into the park found a bench and chowed down. We ate right next to this little lake and enjoyed watching the people attempting to row boats. One trio that went by had one person napping on the back, one rowing and the other person on the front looking absolutely terrified, quite comical.

A visit to the WTC was a must for me. I just wanted to be there, I didn't need anything more than this church, St. Paul's Chapel. The church is right in the vicinity of the WTC, it served as a place for the police, fireman, and volunteers to take naps, get medical help, pray and anything else they may have needed during such a crazy time. This pew was one that they rested on, all of the scratch are from their work belts because they didn't want to take them off just incase they need to rush back out to help. These men and women are absolutely amazing and deserve every bit of praise they have received.
I can't remember which Latter Co. this is but it is the one right next to the WTC, they were the first responders on that day. This a very very large memorial to all of people lost that day.
Ok, on a brighter note! We saw some awesome shows while we were they as you can see one was Wicked and the other was A Little Nights Music. They were both incredible! So much fun!

We also had a wonderful spa day, 5 hours of being pampered, enough said! On our last day we spent shopping getting all of those fun things for our families. For my girls I hit up FAO and The American Girls store and let me tell you, you should NEVER, never, never take a little girl into this store! Unless, you are planning on spending a fortune. I did get Mike a little something a t-shirt that says Captain Awesome, I am going to send it to him and hopefully he will take a picture of himself in it so I can share with all of you!

Well that was my glorious trip and I can't wait for the next Pam and Jennie adventure!

Mid-March Beach Day

The girls and I when to the beach on our first dry, not so cold, sunny day to play in the sand. We had a ton of fun racing down the empty beach, collecting shells and looking for sharks teeth.

They played so well together it blew my mind. Sharing without screaming at each other, what a concept!

Showing off their loot.

It's getting too heavy Mommy, please carry it for me and I did.

Getting blasted but still beautiful!

This is as close to the water as they got. It was way to cold to even let it touch your feet.

Mike's folks visit!

These pictures are a little out of order, I wasn't paying attention went adding them. The month of Feb was busy for us. Mike came home from a 5 week det, the next night his Mom and step-dad arrived for about a week. When they left a few days later his Dad came out. Crazy! It was fun though. We had a great time to visit with his parents. I am really glad that they came out. Plus, they were able to witness NC crazy, unpredictable weather!

Izzy working he magic for Dad at the park. Dad and Papa Mike took the girls bowling and to the park. I escaped for the day down to Hampstead for a girls afternoon. Yay, me! Opps, I mean I really missed them and wish I was there instead.

Paige after her spare! She is saying "what! I do that in my sleep"

We went to bed with flurries and woke up to this. The girls were very excited to get out there and play but Grammie was not. She did stay out there for a long time and did bring out all of the decorations for out snowman. We had a lot of fun playing, it was great the girls wore themselves out and took awesome naps!

Night before Papa Mike had to go home. Out of all of the picture that we took this is the only one that they are all smiling and not doing something silly.

This is the super sweet trampoline that Uncle Jeff got the girls for Christmas. Mike and Ron put it up while they were here visiting. The girls love it, as you can plainly see, it is a perfect size for us too.

Well this was our Feb in a nutshell. We had lots of fun doing all sorts of fun things. We even spend an evening hangout with friends down at the beach. The girls loved that because they have been asking to go pretty much since Christmas. Hopefully I can do a better job of posting for everyone and especially for my Mike. We love you and miss you!

Long time since I last posted

It has been a long time since I have updated this and filled everyone in on our lives. I think that I will start with Zeke since his picture is first. As you can plainly see Zeke is getting old and lazy. Not really, but for some crazy reason he really likes Izzy's chair. He only lays in her's! Zeke is a little slower these days but just as happy to see everyone as before.

Mike and his girls! I love Izzy's face, she was smiling in the picture just before this. The girls were having a good time helping Dad check out his new gear. It was like Christmas all over again for him. It doesn't take much to make him happy.

Izzy girl! What can I say, she is growing so much both physically and mentally. She is being to talk a lot but still not as much as Paige thank goodness. She is an adventurer, independent, and strong willed. She is a lot like both of us. Gymnastics and dance take up her time now but as soon as she is allowed she will be on the soccer field. Dad is very excited about that! She got a soccer ball and soccer gear for Christmas that she loved. She slept with the ball for a while until I had to put a stop to it. The ball is now downstairs ready for nice days outside.

Our little kindergartner! She is doing great in school, reading, writing and making friends. We got her first report card a few days ago, she got 3 in almost every area except for keeping her pie hole shut. As we always predicted, "She is a pleasure to have in class, she just talks too much." Other than school, she is also still doing gymnastics and playing soccer. Spring soccer will be starting here very soon. She is excited to see her soccer friends that she hasn't seen since the spring.

As for me, I am still busy stamping and shuttling the girls from place to place. Other than that no new news from Mike and I. As for the blog I will do my best to be a little better at updating this with all of our family adventures and missteps. See everyone soon!