Ice Skating Showcase

This past Saturday, the 19th was the Peaks Showcase.  Figure Skaters and Hockey Players were able to show off their skills in a recital type program.  Hailey and Addy were approached  by the LTS Coordinator asking them if they would like to perform.  Hailey was immediately excited. Addy, a little apprehensive.  After discussing it with them, they decided they wanted to do a duet performance.

We got together with a coach who met with them just twice during the week before the showcase to coreograph their routine.  I was worried it wouldn't be enough time, but they're 3 and 5... it's really no big deal. Their coach asked them what songs they liked. She started throwing out ideas like Disney songs, princess songs, etc.  Hailey looks at her and responds "I like Firework."  The coach looks at me and says "as in Katy Perry?"  It was a pretty funny moment. So, they ran with the idea and their coach was quite excited to put together a routine for such little girls to such a fun song.

These were some of the other little skaters that performed that day.

This is their coach Breanna. She was amazing.

The day came and they both informed me they wanted to curl their hair and put sparkles in it. :-)  I got them all dolled up and gathered all their 'stuff' and off to the rink we went.  We got there early so that they could run through their program one more time.  They were acting quite goofy and quite excited.  I ran up to the stands to grab my spot and find the best place to record (since Nate couldn't make it) and to find my friend Moana and her nieces who came to support the girls.  After getting all set, I ran back down to the Olympic Room to make sure the girls were set, then left them to their coach.

I went back up to the stands and took my place to record.  The time came and the announcer called their names. They were first to perform because they were the youngest of all the skaters.  Hailey of course skated right out there, all ready to go, but Addy froze.  I knew she would. Especially once everyone in the stands started cheering and whisteling.  Then everyone just waited and waited. The announcer had to call their names twice before they could get Addy on the ice. Then, her coach ended up having to stay on the ice with her the whole time. I still can't believe she actually did it. I'm so proud of her for that. They ended up having to cut off a few seconds of their act because Addy was so scared and skating so slow, but it still was absolutely darling. Hailey was a little champion out there. She loved every minute of performing in front of people and did great. 

After their program as I turned the camera off and they exited the ice, I suddenly hear someone SCREAM in the tunnel and I could tell that it was Addy.  I look over and see a coach standing up waving me to come saying "HURRY!" I left all my junk with Moana and took off for the tunnel. As I got to the bottom of the stairs by the front desk, I see one of the coaches carrying Addy quickly to me. My first thought was that she just got overly freaked out by the whole thing and bursted into tears. Then, I saw the blood.  The coach was holding Addy's hands together with her own and there was blood dripping through her fingers. At this time, I'm trying to process what's going on when all I hear Hailey saying is "it was an accident, i'm so sorry Addy". Addy's face went white and she kind of went into a little shock.  We covered her hand with towels and all the while the coach was telling me that they tripped after coming off the ice and Hailey stepped on Addy's hand with her skate blade. It sliced three of her fingers. Her pointer and ring fingers were cute pretty bad and her middle finger had a little cut on it. The other two fingers had an indention on her nail where the blade hit.  I've never really gotten weak at the sight of blood but there was so much that I thought I was going to puke for sure. I was pretty freaked out and Hailey was equally freaked out. Addy was in shock.  Luckily, my coach was there and she's also a nurse. She came into the bathroom to help me get her cleaned up and to take a closer look at it. She really helped Addy to calm down a lot and stay coherant.

It was such a traumatic experience for all of us but mostly Addy.  Poor thing didn't stop crying for two hours. She insisted on staying to watch the rest of the skaters but just layed in my lap with a constant stream of tears rolling down her face during the rest of the showcase. I could not believe how many people were so worried about her. Everyone kept coming to her asking how she was, trying to help her feel better. It was just so sad. She was in so much pain. When they had to go back out on the ice to recieve their medals, her coach just carried her so she wouldn't have to put her skates back on. 

Their medals they got were pretty awesome, I have to admit. I was quite impressed.

Addy at this point didn't want any pictures taken of her. :-(

We took the girls out for ice cream after and then to their cousins house to play a bit. We were trying to get her mind off her hand. At their cousins house, one of the bandaids came off and to look at it again made all  of us feel nauseous.  Addy still won't look at her fingers when the bandages are off. It freaks her out too much. I don't blame her. I can hardly keep my cool when looking at it.

She has been telling me she doesn't want to skate anymore (with good reason) but I know I have to force her back on the ice for her to not be afraid.  So, hopefully by tomorrow night, I can calm her down a bit before her testing lesson.

Preschool Graduate

Really? I have a Kindergartener??

This past week, Hailey graduated from Kindergarten.  Her school is pretty awesome and put together a pretty awesome graduation.  Hailey was very excited about it for a few weeks and the day had come.  I have to admit, she looked pretty adorable.

(my scanner decided to not work so I had to take a picture of a picture)

She was blessed to have some of the most amazing teachers this year. Yes, I say teachers as in plural because not only did she have academics at this school, she also was able to participate in other classes such as music (Miss Korbi), science (Miss Jimmie), cooking (Miss Robyn) and art (Miss Jessica).  Her academic and homeroom teacher was Miss Farrah and I was fortunate enough to become good friends with her over the course of the year, as well as some of her other teachers.  

I was very proud of Hailey this year. We recieved monthly progress reports and at the end of the year they did some testing and she just sailed right through everything.  She's always been a little smartypants, but our end of the year parent/teacher conference was just such a proud moment to see her progress through her teachers eyes.

The kids got to walk on a red carpet as their names were read. They also played the graduation march song and the kids all got to throw their caps when it was all done. So. Stinking. Cute.

I am very grateful for the opportunity we had this year to be able to send her to this school. I am also looking forward to watching Addy grow as well next year at the same school.

Not Normal...

When you think of little girls, you think flowers, hairstyles, dresses, shoes, barbies, dolls, etc. The list goes on, right? 

Do you ever think girls and bugs or girls and snakes or girls and dirt?  What about girls and worms??

My little Hailey has a serious obsession with all things gross. At least in my mind. She has several bug catchers which are usually my Tupperware which I end up having to throw away because the thought of putting food in them after a slimy creature just isn't right.  

Last Saturday was no different from the usual 'Hunt' for bugs as she calls it. They had helped Nate wash his car, then went around looking for bugs. While I sat with my lazy self and watched I enjoyed the moment and watched as my sweet little girls helped their daddy on a hot and sunny afternoon. I was enjoying my snapshots I was saving in my brain when Hailey came to me excited to show me her newest collection...

Yep. I was pretty disgusted. She went and got a container to put them in and made them a home with dirt, plant leaves and water. ICK! Silly girl.

I realize some people have differing opinions about washing your own car and how it might be bad for the environment. Well, how are you suppose to wash an OLD convertible that doesn't have a top at a car wash?  UH-HUH! Gotcha on that one!

So shoot us! We enjoy teaching our kids how to wash their own vehicle without them getting blasted to the wall by the force of the car wash wands. :-)

Also, this was the first time Nate has cleaned this car since he bought it 15 years ago.

He was pretty excited about it. Don't let this fool you. He has done quite a bit of work on this car. You can't really tell because it's old and looks pretty beat up, but the engine is all chromed out and many other things have taken a toll on the old wallet, if you know what I mean. Hopefully we can get it restored and lookin' good.

There was only one problem. When he tried to pull it back up into the driveway and into the garage, it wouldn't go. Yep, the transmission died. Lovely.

So, we had to park it on the side of our house, hope it wouldn't get ticketed and call a tow company to take it to a shop. At least I have my garage back... for a few days anyways.

1964 Chevy Impala Convertible

To Boston and Back

Nate recently got a new assignment at work that required him to have some extensive training. To get this training, his work set up a two week trip for him to go to their headquarters right outside of Boston in a town called Hopkinton in Massachusetts.  As excited as we were for this little promotion, we also knew this would be really hard for us. You see, Nate has never left me here alone before. He's never had to travel without us. I have gone to see family before, leaving him here, but that's a little different. Since we've been married, we haven't been apart for more than 5 days.  This was something completely unfamiliar to us and I was really nervous about it. I don't do well by myself, especially being in the first trimester and SO SO SO sick.  Aside from my feelings, I knew the girls would have a really hard time with this.

The day came to take him to the airport and it was pretty awful. I cried. Yep, I did.  One of my best friends is an Army Wife and I don't know HOW in the heck she does it. She is a much stronger woman than I am, that's for sure.

We said our goodbyes and I drove away from the curb at the airport trying not to hit another car while staring in the rear view mirror. :-( So sad.

Every night while he was gone, we would Skype while I was getting the girls ready for bed so he could be a part of our nights just like usual. This really helped the girls a lot. They cried every time I had to turn Daddy off. 

While he was there, it was interesting for the first few days, then after that, he got pretty bored and lonely.  His day consist of going to work, going out to a restaurant by himself for dinner, then headed to the hotel where he would hit the hotel gym, then watch sports till he fell asleep. BORING! It got old pretty quick.

Meanwhile, we were here just doing the usual... but without him.

His first weekend there, he headed to Cooperstown, NY which was 3.5 hours away, but he had nothing better to do. The reason for this destination was because of the Baseball Hall of Fame. If you know Nate, you know he has a deep passion for baseball and softball. He absolutely loved it.

The next day, he went to the New England Aquarium in Boston. He gets in free with his work ID Tag, so he figured he might as well. He Skyped us while he was there and showed the girls some of the cool things he got to see. The girls loved it but were also sad they weren't there with him.  

After the aquarium, he went over to Fenway Park to take the tour and again, soak up some baseball knowledge.  Again, he absolutely loved it. Anyone who loves baseball also loves the movie Field of Dreams. This was one of my deciding factors of loving Nate when I found out we both had the same favorite movie. It's true. Nate said the red seat in the picture below is the seat that the longest home run occurred. The guy sitting in it was asleep when it hit. :-)

After another long week at work and boring hotel gym workouts, he was excited to pick up his brother Adam who flew into Boston to spend the weekend with him.  Adam has been to Boston before so he knew some of the 'touristy' things to do. Nate was intrigued by the architecture and the changes over the years.

Check out the size of the book Adam is holding. HOLY COW!

The weekend with Adam came to an end and it was time to head to the airport.  The girls and I were so excited to pick him up that night that we kept looking at the clock all day.  We got to the airport early and while I was thinking of what I was going to do to keep the girls content for 45 minutes before Nate got in, we saw a huge group of people with banners waiting for their military hero to come home.  I was super excited and explained to the girls what was going on, so they were eager to watch as well. It was a sweet homecoming and entertaining for us as well. Next, it was time to wait for Daddy. Luckily his plane landed a bit early. As soon as Hailey saw him, she just burst into a sprint. She jumped in her arms and cautious Addy stayed by my side and yelled "DADDY!" We all hugged A LOT. Hailey would not let go of Nate. She had her monkey arms and legs wrapped around him and there was no chance of prying her from her grip.

The next day was a treat for us. Nate showered us with presents he brought home from his trip and took us out to breakfast. He had the day off since he had been gone for so long. After breakfast we just hung out at home together for a while and the girls played with their new gifts. One thing he brought home was a snow globe for each of the girls. They LOVED them. Hailey was holding hers outside and accidentally dropped it and it shattered. She immediately covered her face and just bawled her little eyes out. She gets very sentimental about those kinds of things. Nate assured her that it was OK and once we got all the glass off, she could still have it. 

That afternoon, we took the girls swimming at Nate's parents and they couldn't get enough of their daddy. Addy was exhausted and zonked out while watching TV with Nate. 

Nate brought us all hoodies and the girls have not stopped wearing them since. They even asked if they could wear them to bed.

We are all so happy to have Nate back. It's been the longest two weeks EVER.

Now, we feel complete again.

High Expectations

The older I get, the more I realize my expectations for things might be a little high. I tend to disappoint myself way too much by doing that.  Last month I turned 31. Yep. I'm old.  But i'm perfectly happy about it.

The thing that stinks is that birthdays don't seem like a big deal as it did when I was a kid, or teenager for that matter. Every year I end up disappointed with the fact that I am the only one that's REALLY excited about my birthday. Birthdays as an adult are kind of lame. Anyone else feel this way?  

Part of it is that when we were growing up, my mom went CRAZY on birthdays. We woke up to signs and balloons all over the house. We had what was called a 'Birthday Week'. This included the following:

favorite meals throughout the week

no chores for that week

shotgun everywhere we went (front seat in the car for those of you unfamiliar with the term)

favorite half gallon of ice cream 

favorite box of cereal (my mom never bought the sugar kind so that was exciting)

favorite activities throughout the week

etc.

Yeah, it was pretty sweet. We also had MILESTONE birthdays. So, on the bigger birthdays, there was something special like when we turned 8, 12, 16, 18.  

My brother Jared's birthday is on December 26th and I remember my mom wanting to make his day separate from Christmas so every year, she would stay up so late to take down most of the Christmas decorations and replace it with birthday stuff. I was always amazed the next morning to wake up to a complete transformation. For those of you who don't know my mom, you can see pictures here. She is the Christmas Nazi and goes CRAZY with decorating at Christmastime, so this was quite the transformation and dedication. 

My brother Damon and I have birthdays 3 days apart and she would make sure that our birthdays didn't mix so we had our OWN birthday and our OWN birthday week. She was amazing.

                                (don't make fun... this was my total 'ugly stage' in life)

You don't realize these things when you are younger, but when you are older, you suddenly see more clearly the sacrifices your parents made to make you happy and show you love. Thinking back on all those years with great birthdays, it makes me grateful to a mom who worked so hard to show us we were special.

Now, as an adult, I am grateful more than ever. And disappointed a little too, for the high expectations I have for my birthday and the disappointment that follows year after year. It's all part of growing up, I guess. And, i'm sure my mom's birthdays weren't anything exciting when we were growing up. 

The good news is that I can extend my energy to make my girls feel as special on THEIR day as my mom did on ours. 

So, thanks mom, for making such special memories from our childhood. They are remembered and they are definitely appreciated.

A Little Catch Up.. Cell Phone Style

This little guy has gotten plenty of loves from these girls. Hailey actually kind of looks like she could be his sister in that picture. They (Carmen & Ben) took off this past week for Oregon. I have a love/hate relationship with them. They are such a tease. They live here.. I love having them close... they leave. They live here... I love having them close... they leave. It's flat out RUDE! They know how to mess with a girls emotions.

We went to the mall one day last week and the girls were being pretty darn goofy.

Hard to imagine, I know. 

Hailey has been getting really good at putting her own hair in a pony tail.

Speaking of hair.

Last week, Hailey and her best little buddy Maya decided to play salon and give each other haircuts.

At first, I was pretty upset. Tears even. Mostly embarrassed that someone elses child was involved as well.

Then I remembered the day that I did that to my hair. I also quickly realized that it was bound to happen. Every little kid does it to some degree at some point in their life. So, after a few days of trying to figure out what to do about it, I ended up having to chop it off. Oh well. It is what it is. It's a cute summer cut for her.

Addy has this friend. This friend brings her treats to EVERY one of Hailey's soccer games. This friend has a sister on Hailey's team, therefor, Addy has become well acquainted with this friend.

This friend is a boy. His name is Aiden and he NEVER forgets treats for Addy.

Well, last week, he didn't bring her JUST a treat, but also a flower from his mom's yard. It was pretty darn cute. So, this is Addy's first flower from a boy and she absolutely LOVED it. She has kept it by her bed this whole week.