Dance Videos

Okay so I realized when I posted the video of Isa that I never posted the summer videos of the girls dance class. So here are so much too late videos of the girls first dance class. I am so proud of the improvement they have made from this first class this past year. Hopefully I will remember to take my camera to dance next week and capture a few videos of the girls but lately I have half a brain thanks to the never ending drama around here so we will see. 

my niece

Okay so I have to brag for a second. And because I have no blood relation to this adorable thing I feel it is totally fine. Isn't this the most scrumptious little girl. this little cutie just melts me, I love her. It maybe because she is a mini of her adorable mama and I love my sis. But seriously her smile lights up a room and her laugh is contagious. The girls love her and Brian I think is surprised how much he loves having her around. and the photo is of both my little adopted darlings i watch. that day i had them both was crazy fun but made me realize twins could kill a mom with business and moments that melt her. sarah you are amazing to watch do it with such grace. So yeah for cousins in which this week we hit 32!!!!

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for Brian

Brian never gets to come to dance class so i took this little short video to Brighten busy weeks. We will try to get a good layla one tomorrow! This is their solo moment for the day. We LOVE the girls teacher. She is really teaching them great new moves. It is fun to watch them really learning to dance. Isa is so stinking sweet she is so timid but cute when she dances!

My secret photographer

 So Isa has taken to stealing my camera and taking photos of herself. It is getting a little crazy. Every couple days when I go to load a photo up pops a bunch of her and things around the house. But she is a funny little girl with an additive smile. She is getting really bossy but this make you totally melt. That is the way with kids. The more they drive you nuts the more they remind you that you love them. They were designed that way I swear to keep mama half way sane!

Pumpkins!

After Layla's party and seeing how EASY the pumpkin decorating was as apposed to carving I thought we might take a stab at that this year. The girls love to carve pumpkins but cry when we have to throw them away. And with the cold coming they would only last a week or two. And no one sees our pumpkins here. There are NO TRICK OR TREATERS at our complex. So lighting pumpkins at night would be for no one. But these little things can come in the house if they want. For now they are outside and enjoying the sunny 70 degree weather while it still lasts. So here is our take on pumpkins this year. Try it once and you will so be hooked!  

 For Layla this is a pretty good smile. As for Isa can you tell she is turning into a mini model. Her smile is so natural and stinking adorable all the time. I love her. You can totally tell who takes after mom and unfortunately dad. But hey Layla used to be the natural and took by far the best photos when Mare took them so here is to hoping her photos change over the next few months. (hopefully NOT years!)

I really love this picture. i almost want to edit it and then make it our christmas card. It is so my girls to a tee! And you like the decorations, my mom likes to shop for my house when I am not around and then decorate it and surprise me. I think I am starting to become her hobby to keep from going crazy with all the business and drama around her. But you know I don't mind because it saves me money and makes it look like I am a bigger decorator than I care to put the effort toward! Yeah for mamas!

My cowgirl

Layla saw that I posted photos of Isa's costume and insisted that I post hers. There isn't a proper photo since this top one doesn't show all the way down and by the end of the party when we got the group photo she had untucked her shirt from her very snazzy belt, but they will have to do.

Working on her witch took up a good chunk of the party. Which by the way was a huge success. It was SO FUN! and you know I am not so much dreaded having to pull off two more this year. I think they will be fun. Now I just have to come up with "holiday" not merely christmas games for the next one. I guess it will be a lot of snowman and singing about sledding. 

The small class Yes everyone is here.... there are now only nine!

The girls. The middle one totally reminds me of my best friend Mary and I am guessing you can figure out which one is my sister! It makes me laugh to see these three. They are all super divas!

She's off to see the wizard

the wonderful wizard of Oz.... and isn't she so stinking cute! For years we have tried to convince her to be Dorothy but this year she just so happened to see it in a halloween costume magazine and wanted it on her own. It was not hard at all to make and it should last FOREVER. I also made it so I could extend it about 2 to 3 sizes larger so they can wear it over and over again or taller kids can borrow it. But I absolutely love it and most importantly SHE loves it!

Costumes, Costumes, Costumes, get them while their hot

Okay so this year is the very first year I have made all our costumes from scratch. Now Layla's ended up costing me only a couple dollars less then the one at the store. But it is SO MUCH CUTER! and Isa's is stinking cute and was only about 3 dollars. Now I am working on mine and it will come to about 80 cents! I know amazing isn't it! And Brian is going to cost about 6 bucks. So I am really glad that instead of spending a 100 dollars on all four or so I am getting away with about 27. I am proud. I will post photos ASAP when I get them loaded.

Also Layla had her first holiday party today. And after stressing for weeks about being the room parent and thinking I have made a huge mistake signing up for this when life is already crazy..... I am glad a did it. The kids had a blast and best of all I wasn't stressed. Everything went smooth. and absolutely no tears. And when you have a class fun of kindergardeners that is a big deal! Yeah for growing up and moving to the crazy stage of room parents, parent teacher conferences (next week), and pick up lines (the ones in cars with a million mini vans not the single life kind!)

cutie dog's birthday party

Today I attending a birthday party for a stuffed animhal also Layla is surfing in my kitchen. I don't know what I think about this but they are happy.

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I refuse

Since my children seem to find anything and everything in the world to argue over I refuse to break up their fights. Since I have taken this tactic they seem to fizzle out much faster. I am not going to make any kind of assumption that there are fewer fights, come on they are girls and DRAMATIC. But they are short lived and that is good enough for me. Especially on days like today when it is taking everything I have to keep upright and not climb back into bed. I don't know how kids do it. Isa is barking like she has croup once again and still is going strong. I simply have a sinus headache and just want to sleep. Oh to be an invincible kid again with energy to spare and a metabolism that is faster that humanly possible. Oh if only you could keep those traits as adults. But you can't so I get bigger thinking of working out and can't kick this cold. What is a girl to do, I guess i could sit and fold laundry! I'm off!

Layla and smiling

Layla had school pictures a few weeks ago and after figuring out what she was going to wear I helped her practice smiling. As you can tell it wasn't a natural thing for her. Trust me she gets this from her dad. You don't want to know how I got him to look so natural on our wedding photos. But all in all it is Layla and we love her despite the fact that (as she puts it) "she looses her smile!"

Here is our final photo that she took with mom's "now Layla you look like you have to poop, no that just makes you look mad, okay seriously kid look normal" echoing in her head. 

When I think of Layla and posed pictures I totally think of an old Friends episode with Chandler. If you have seen it you totally know what I am talking about! 

My day's with Isa

Since Layla is at kindergarten in the afternoon Isa and I get one and one time together. I am awful at barbies. Ask my best friend Mary, when we played we dressed them up fixed their houses, did their hair, and then we were done. My girls want to role play for hours and I am just terrible at it. However Isa has a love for board games. This is just one day with Isa. 

 Yes we played both of these

 Isa documented all our games and then decided to take photos and made it clear that I just look normal like I don't know she is there for the pictures. 

 I cheated for this one because I never have photos of me and thought since I actually brushed my teeth and had a good bra on now is my chance!

 I did do a good job being "normal" for a few shots!

 Isa also rearranges our halloween decorations about 4 times a day. 

 And I am not a big fan of these shows but you can only take so much Barbie and Hannah Montana so we are giving them a chance! 

Most days Isa and I watch the same movie, Oopsy does it! It is a carebear movie and those I could watch a dozen times.... makes me feel like a kid again!

Isa in a nutshell

I love my Isa but she is awful at helping out around here. This is the perfect description of her everyday when we get home and try walking in the door. She is forever too much of a girl to do any actual carrying into the house. And I have noticed that when we go places and it is just mom with her she will open a door. When dad is around she stands and waits knowing he is suppose to open the door. This is a blessing and a curse. For not it is annoying but when she dates it means there will be few that pass her standards which means less worry for us parents. 

Adventure Walk

The girls love to explore the world around them. They are facinated by the little parts of life that make everyday an adventure. Thus our walks outside have been renamed Adventure Walks. Saturday afternoon seems to creep up on us entirely too fast each week. And our grand plans for headed down town to Kaleidoscope or the City Market or Pumpkin Patch have all passed. So this week we decieded that no matter the heat that for some reason is still around we would take the girls someplace new. So it was off to the Shawnee Mission Park. The girls packed backpacks with a sack lunch and camera buddies and notepads. And we were off.

We took a nice 2 mile hike up by the lake and it was so beautiful and peaceful. But most of our fun was found just watching the girls explore the world. We taught biology lessons as we wondered around the small paths and the girls jotted down note after note, picture after picture. It was perfect.

After our walk we headed to a picnic table for a late lunch. We ate and talked and enjoyed just being together. On our way out we stopped by the park and spent another 45 minutes playing. I looked at the time and realized we only had an hour before our ward Oktoberfest started so instead of driving across town home and then back again we just hopped on over to Hen House. We picked up some food for the BBQ and spend another half hour wondering around the store as Brian raced the girls around in the cart. It is amazing how much time you can spend in the grocery store as long as your kids are in one of those totally monsterous completely embarrassing, terrible to drive car carts. But it was fun and do don't care how silly we look.

After that it was Oktoberfest full of good food and good company and then to sonic for dessert. I am in love with the half price cream slushes. I have to remind myself I am trying to get in shape everyday to keep from dashing over there for a quick fix every afternoon.

All in all it was a perfect day. There were still fights and the kids didn't go to bed like magic as we always hope for. But they were happy. We didn't spend a cent and the girls both explained.... "today was the best day ever!" So we are making our adventure walks a monthly tradition. No matter the season we are going to explore it all. And best is that we will do it together!