Jazzle Dazzle Dance

 I love the difference in appearance and attitude with Hayley's two different costumes.  So sassy for the hip hop, and so sweet and innocent for the ballet.  Her poses that she made up herself make it even better.

(Yes, that is a picture of a picture.  Because what photographer doesn't sell you a CD of your pics these days?!  And I don't know why Blogger is cutting off the side of the picture when I publish it, but it is.  Just pretend, and trust me that it's a cute picture.)

Hayley ended up doing two dance classes this year since her friend Marissa was in hip hop, but I like the more traditional ballet, jazz, and tap class.  It ended up kind of being a lot, but she was a trooper about having dance twice a week.

She did great on all her dances, at all of her dance performances.

Hip Hop: Tonight, Tonight

Hip Hop: Baby, Tonight

Ballet/Jazz: Stuck Like Glue

Tap: Crazy Little Thing Called Love

The older she gets, the more fun it is to watch her dance. :)

May and June Catch Up

May and June are always crazy busy around our house, and this year was no exception.  Besides Jeremy's birthday, my birthday, multiple family members' birthdays, Jeremy and my ninth wedding anniversary, Mother's Day and Father's Day, we were able to fit in some other fun things too.

Like eating licorice:

Starting at the top left and moving clockwise, we have Jackson after I told him "no" to having a licorice, his huge grin when Daddy gave him one anyway, and the total "stink face" he gave me when I reminded him that I had said no.  Yeah, Dad is a pushover.

Jeremy got Hayley a motorcycle helmet so that she could ride on the motorcycle with him.  She really is smiling somewhere in there, I promise!

We also went to Valley Fair Mall and played in the splash fountain.  Or rather, Hayley played while Jackson ran away and laughed while I ran after him.  Stinker.  But how could I stay mad at this cute face?

And Hayley took a tumbling class with the neighborhood friends.

Kylie, Aisly, Hayley, Kaia, and Bailey

She's just about got that cartwheel down pat!

Still Here, Just Busy

I know, I know.  You haven't heard from me in months.  You were so worried.  Well, you can blame Blogger and their new updated setup, which I now have to pretty much re learn how to blog on.  Especially the pictures.  Ugh, Blogger.  Whatev.  Anyway, so yeah.  A post, but no pics.  Here's the happenings:

1. Hayley got her ears pierced.

For the longest time, Hayley was dead set against getting her ears pierced.  Then one random evening, she and Jackson and I were at the mall and there was a little girl getting hers done.  Hayley wanted to watch.  The little girl didn't even flinch.  Hayley asked the little girl how old she was.  She was five.  Hayley turned to me with a look of shock/almost embarrassment and said, "Mom, I want my ears pierced!  Today!  Right now!"  Wow.  Okay, so this was a big deal, and Jeremy and I had both been trying to convince her to do it for a while.  So I called Jeremy and asked if he was okay with us going through with it without him.  Well he was busy at work, and it got late, and we went home without any holes in ears, and Hayley was disappointed.  (Turned out Jer said he would have been fine with us doing it without him.  Hmmph.)  So the next day, Jeremy picked Hayley up from Kindergarten and TOOK HER TO GET HER EARS PIERCED WITHOUT ME!!  I got home and the entire thing was already done.  The ultimate girl rite of passage... gone through without the mother even present.  I really almost cried.  Especially when I asked if Jer if he took any video or pictures and the answer was no.  Ugh.  Eventually I decided to be a big kid about it, and not be mad at my husband for putting holes in our child without me, but rather be happy that he's the kind of hands on dad that is willing to take a little girl to the mall to get her ears pierced.  Plus, he reminded me that I get to have the period talk with her, and actually that's a bigger rite of passage.  Right.  Oh, joy.  BTW, after they pierced one ear, she totally started crying, flailing, and throwing a fit, and didn't want the other one done.  This is also pretty much how it went when we tried to change her earring after the six weeks.  Yeah, the piercing studs may be in for a while.  You know, until about the time of that period talk.

2. Jackson is doing well in speech therapy, has a new bed, and has NO interest in the potty.

A few months ago, we had Jackson tested for a speech delay.  He qualified, and we now have a speech therapist that comes to our house about once a week.  Mostly his deal is that he isn't able to communicate all of the things that he is thinking as well as he should.  He mostly speaks single words and two word phrases, so we've been working on having him string more words together.  The plan is for him to keep working with the therapist, and possibly qualify for a free preschool through Granite School District for this next school year.  We'll see how it goes.  I can't believe we're thinking about preschool at all for him yet.  He just seems like he's still so young.  He also has a new big boy bed, which he mostly thinks is just for playing.  If you lay down on it though, he will come over and say "Shhh, shhh!" to you.  He also had a new potty chair.  At first he would just take out the little bowl part and wear it as a hat.  We've moved on to him being willing to sit on it when fully clothed, but he'll mostly just cry like you are torturing him if you try to get him to sit on it with his bare butt.  I know that I'm not supposed to compare them, but seriously, at this age with Hayley, we went on a vacation and the first thing she did in the hotel room was go in the bathroom, lock the door, and poop in the potty.  Heaven help me if I am still buying diapers when he is four years old...

3. Hayley fell off her bike.

 Hayley had been saving up her money and decided she wanted to buy a new bike.  She put her $40 toward it, and Mom and Dad covered the rest.  It was a bigger bike, which was great since her old one was getting too little for her long legs.  She liked that she could go fast.  Too fast, apparently, because on a trip around the block she lost control, flipped over the handlebars and broke her fall with her forehead, nose, lip, chin, hand, and knee.  Jeremy heard her crying from around the block, realized it was the "hurt" cry, and yelled inside to me "Incoming!" before she got home, so I saw her show up in our yard, looking pretty much like a zombie.  Poor kid.  Worst was as she was sitting with me and bleeding and crying she yelled, "I hate my new bike!  I just want to go return it and get my money back!  I'm never riding it again!"  She ended up being fine (no concussion), wanted to go back out and play an hour after it happened (she didn't), and you couldn't even see her huge goose egg when she was up on stage the next day for her dance concert (score!).  Dance concert pics and video will be in a separate post, because I don't have the energy to fight with Blogger tonight.

4. It's almost summer!

I say almost, because while I am actually done with my school year, I am subbing for a friend of mine who just had a baby.  It's been kind of fun because she teaches third grade and a few of the kids in her class are ones that I will be getting at the end of July.  We have been to Seven Peaks a few times already with our Passes of all Passes, Hayley started swimming lessons last week (she can dive and tread water in the deep now), and we have some plans to go to Cherry Hill, the crater in Midway, and to Disneyland in July to check out the new Carsland that opened!  Woohoo!  I'll try to be better about keeping you all updated on our Summer Adventures. :)

The Tulip Festival

Going the the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point every Spring has become a tradition for my mom and my kids and me.  As a nod to our heritage, we try to go on Dutch Day.

This year the weather was beautiful, even if some of the Dutchiness of the event was somewhat lacking. I miss the days of painting your own klompen clogs to take home as a souviner.

The tulips were pretty, but the wading stream, sand pit, and hedge maze were just as exciting for Hayley and Jackson.

I didn't remember to get a group shot until we were on our way out to the car, and outside of the gates of the garden, so the background isn't the best.  But everyone is looking in the general direction of the camera, which is like a small miracle around here. :)

Such a fun day at such a beautiful place with such great company.

I couldn't ask for more. :)

Easter 2012

After the fiasco that was the egg hunt the day before, we were ready for a more chill Easter morning.  We decided that the Easter Bunny wouldn't vist our house during the night, but rather the next morning when Hayley wasn't looking.  This turned out to be a great plan, and one that allowed us to sleep in, and for the kids to be dressed while looking for eggs and baskets, instead of in their jammies.

Hayley thought it was great to be the only one searching for eggs, since Jackson could have cared less.  He was pretty mad at Jeremy for forcing him to look for an egg.  But you know, sometimes there's nothing quite like some forced fun.

Hayley was even more excited when she realized that some of the eggs had coins in them instead of candy. (This was entirely intentional, since the girl had FIVE cavities last month when we went to the dentist.)  Jeremy said to that, "Wow, I wish the Easter Bunny would have come to my room and left me some money eggs."  To which I replied, "Really?  You want a whole dollar and 57 cents in change?  Because that can be arranged." :)

Later in the day, we headed to Grandma Heidi's and Grandpa Bob's, where both kids got another basket of loot from Grandma, and were able to search for more eggs out in the yard.

And good news!  No one got knocked over, Mom got some pictures, and everyone was happy.

Hayley was especially happy that Jackson liked the plastic eggs better than anything elst that was inside of them.

And this mom realized that really what do my kids need another egg hunt for anyway?

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

The Hunt and the Bunny

For the last few years, we've been attending the outdoor Easter Egg Hunt at the Fintess Center by our house.  It's free, and Hayley seems to like it, and it seemed to work out well.  This year, it was mostly just frustrating.  First off, they separate the kids by age, which is fine, but meant we had to split up.  I went to the younger field with Jackson, and Jer went with Hayley.  As people kept arriving, I realized that there were a lot more people at the hunt than there has been in previous years. " No problem," I thought, "this little kid field will still be pretty chill."  Yeah, not so much.  Despite multiple announcements for parents not to gather candy, but let the little kids do it, it was like a mob scene on the field.  I was actually following the rules, having my kid pick up the candy for himself.  He ended up with about four eggs.  Other kids had an entire basket of eggs and candy.  Honestly, that's not what makes me mad.  I mean, of course some kids will get more than others.  What makes me mad is that I know that most of those baskets were filled by parents.  So, #1 What exactly are you trying to teach your kid by ignoring the rules, and #2 Really, what 1-3 year old needs that much candy??

This kid was happy as can be with his four eggs.   

 Realizing Jackson's hunt was over, after, oh, two minutes, we headed over to look for Hayley and Jer.  Apparently it was even worse on their field, leading to a few more eggs and some candy for Hayley, but her being knocked to the ground by other kids in the process.  When I asked Jeremy if he took any pictures, he told me he was busy enough just trying to get her out of there alive.  I'm not sure exactly how much of that was actually an exageration.  I did take a picture and her loot when we got home.

At least I had the Bunny Breakfast to cheer me up.  Including this little boy who went right over to the bunny, and held his hands up like, "Okay, lift me up.  Let's do this!"  And even a smile for the camera!  I know, it's like a miracle, right?

Maybe Santa has a chance after all this coming Christmas. :)

The Last Snowstorm

With planning one last winter cabin trip during the first week of April, we knew we might be cutting it close on having any snow, so we were excited when we got there and still found a few inches on the roads and a good foot still on many of the snowmobile trails.  We made the most of it for the first two days and snowmobiled up a storm while hoping for another storm, but it didn't happen.  We even ended up having to hike out to get back down to the car. (Only 6/10 of a mile, no biggie.)

Hayley was bound and determined to have a fire and roast marshmallows, since we hadn't done either all winter.  She set out with her little spade shovel, digging out the fire pit and all the log seats around it.  It didn't take long before she solicited some help in her endeavor.  She and grandma dug, dug, dug for about two hours.

 

That night we all headed out to the fire.

It was really fun, and the perfect transition from winter at the cabin to spring.

 

The kids were in heaven having Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, and Dad there.

Such a perfect little fun family trip.

Made even better by hearing this from Jeremy a few days later:

"So Heather, what do you think about us buying a snowmobile?"

Looks like next winter may be just as fun. :)