Dance, Dance, Dance

Leah had her first dance recital on Saturday. It was really cute to see the little kids do their routines. The recital itself was 3 hours and had a lot of their older kids and competition dancing routines. Caleb and Alissa did a really good job of sitting through it all considering the length. It started at 6 so it was late by the time it was over and past Alissa’s bedtime.

Leah did a really good job even if she had to watch the teacher a lot who was standing on the side of the stage (which explains why in all the pictures her head is looking to the side). She looked very beautiful up there to in her costumes. I have been debating on putting her in dance again only because she likes it but I wasn’t sure how much. However, at the recital I was able to see that she does really like it. She was so excited to watch the rest of the recital. I would have to go back and get her after her routine and she was practically running back to her seat to sit and watch everyone.

At the end of the recital, the handed out metals to everyone. Then they handed out other awards all to the competition kids. The little kids were in the front of the stage at first, but as they handed out the awards the bigger kids who got awards would come and stand in front. Every time that a bigger kid would stand in front of Leah, Leah would move to the side and stand in front beside them. It was cute; she wanted to be center stage.

I had sent Rod to get Leah some flowers. Don’t get me wrong, he did a great job and got her some really beautiful roses. However, I sent him with the intention of getting some really cheap little bouquet. When he came back with a dozen of beautiful roses, I couldn’t help, but wonder a couple of things. How much did you pay for those and when was the last time you got me roses! It turns out he got the roses for a great price and Leah loved them.

Leah's tap dancing routine.

The ballet routine lighting was a little darker and the pictures didn't turn out as well, but she really had some graceful moves!

Leah and her dozen roses.

Leah's Graduation

Today was a packed filled day. We had Leah's preschool graduation this evening. I can't believe that this school year is over already. It's going to be a big adjustment for Leah (and me) not seeing many of her friends on a weekly basis. The graduation ceremony was fun. The kids sang a few songs and then they handed out certificates. Leah was the only student with perfect attendance so she also got a certificate for that. After the ceremony, the hand refreshments and music for the kids to dance to. They had a great time.

Singing the Baby Bumblebee song

Leah gets her certificate.

Dance Party with her friends

Caleb's favorite part. Notice the cake, he already at a brownie and begged for a cookie. The cake was gone a few minutes later.

The graduation is how the day ended. They day began with Leah's 5 year check-up at 9:30. She did better than I thought that she would, but it was still pretty traumatic. She spent the entire appointment trying to negotiate her way out of having to get shots. Then, she was begging the nurse not to give her shots. But in the end, she ended up with 3 shots and a good bill of health. Then after nap and dinner, we had to make it to rehearsal for her dance recital, which started at 5:00. Luckily it was pretty timely and we were able to make it to the school with time to spare. The kids should sleep good tonight. Especially Alissa since she spent the whole evening walking around the church hall visiting everyone and seeing what she could get into.

Officially 5 years old!

This weekend was Leah's birthday party and Monday was her birthday. What a busy and fun filled few days we had around here.

The party Saturday turned out to be really good. It was the first party that I let Leah invite some of her friends. She invited 4 friends that she knew from school or dance class. She had her cousins and all of her friends and they all played together pretty well. The forecast said rain on Saturday during party time so we cleaned out the garage and had some of the party in there. The rain held off though until the very end of the party and by then over half the kids had gone home. It really was a blessing. I think that Leah had a wonderful time with all her friends because as last were leaving; she started to cry because her party was over. She asked me if they were all coming back the next day. She was sad that they weren’t, but after all the work I put into everything I think that I would rather wait an entire year until we do it again.

The Princess Cake

Cake time at the Party

Lots of Presents

There was lots of jumping earlier, but I guess it works as a good place to play barbie too!

The morning of Leah’s birthday I heard her stirring and went in awoke her by singing happy birthday to her. She was so happy that it was her birthday and she was officially 5. She said mommy, I’m 5 now and I said yes you are getting bigger. It was funny because when she got up she looked in the full length mirror in her bedroom and said, “Yep, I am bigger”! She did have a fun filled birthday too. After lunch, we went to the park to play. I took them to a play ground at a nearby church which is open to the public and then we went to the city park too. The kids had a lot of fun and it was a sunny day, which was great.

Fun at the park!

Every time we are at this park, we have to go to the river and throw in some rocks!

Hey guys! I've got a rock too!

We were going to take Leah to McDonald’s for her birthday and let her play in the play place there, but she said, “I know, we can go to Chuck E. Cheese”. Rod and I couldn’t deny the birthday girl and figured it wouldn’t be too busy on a Monday night. It wasn’t too busy and the kids ended up having a good time. There were several play machines that were out of order, but they didn’t tell you until they ate your token, but the kids were happy to be at Chuck E. Cheese. They’d both been begging to go there recently. We didn’t want to eat at the Cheese so after a while of play, we left and I stopped at McDonald’s on the way home to pick up dinner. We ate at home and then opened presents. It was a fun filled day for sure.

More Cake!

And more presents!

Why?

Can someone tell me if there is a trigger in a child's brain that flips when they are 5 which cause them to ask why about everything? Leah will be turning 5 on Monday! I have to keep reminding myself that she really is going to be 5 and my baby is growing up too fast! Recently, I can tell that Leah has been maturing in a lot of ways. She is much more descriptive with her language and she is really starting to pick up on things that before she didn't notice. She is truly a little sponge. With this comes the dreaded 'why' questions. Within the last few weeks, it is constant. I try not to let it bother me since I know that she just wants to absorb everything, but it is so trying to my patience. And lets face it, not everything can easily be explained and when the answer to on why leads to a series of WHY?, then moms sometimes have to pull out the big guns - "Because I said so, that's why!" I never thought that I would say that, but never say never!



To add insult to injury, I think that Leah with all her 'why' questions may have caused Caleb's why trigger to set early. He has started to ask many more why questions, not as many as Leah, thankfully. However, he makes up for it with his 'what' questions. And those of you who know Caleb, know that he cannot be ignored. He will ask over and over and over until you respond. Even if he is making a comment, he will make it over and over until you respond.



In conclusion, even though I want to nourish little minds, my mind is on the verge of insanity!

A New Bike for Caleb

Last year Caleb had a three wheel bike and by the end of the summer he really wanted a bike like Leah’s. The reason that we hadn’t given in to his begging is because he couldn’t figure out how to pedal. We told him that once he figured out how to pedal that we would get him a bigger bike. This really wasn’t enough motivation to him.
This spring he was starting to pedal a little bit better and we started to put him on Leah’s bike just to see if he could do it. He couldn’t really pedal Leah’s bike yet, but he was at least able to pedal the three wheel bike some. It was really a struggle for him mostly because I think he just wanted us to push him.

A few weeks ago we finally gave in and bought him a bigger bike. He was so excited! However, he still couldn’t pedal. We don’t have a lot of smooth bike riding room at our house so I had been leaving the van out of the garage so that he had a little more room. After a few days with the bike, Caleb was finally starting to get a little better after Rod started working with him. He was still very slow and unsure and was getting stuck a lot. Recently, we went to Travis and Rachial’s house and we let the kids take their bikes. Their house has a great place to ride bikes since they live on a cul-de-sac. Caleb was very excited to ride with Hunter. It was a amazing that after just a short time there, he started getting really good. Wow, do kids pick up things fast. It was like something really clicked.

Now Caleb pretty much wants to ride his bike everyday. My van is rarely in the garage during the day. On the weekends when there aren’t any trucks out, I will take the kids over to the Copley’s trucking business drive that runs right on the other side of our house. It gives them a long road to ride up and down on. We are still working with Caleb on using his brakes, but other than that, he’s got it down pat.

By the way, he’s a typical boy and has decided that his bike is really a motorcycle. If we call it a bike when he’s in this mindset, he pretty much gets mad and reminds us that it’s his motorcycle. I am not ready for real motorcycles just yet!

Alissa is on the move

It is amazing who quickly Alissa is learning to walk. I can see a big improvement each and every day. She went from just taking 4 or 5 steps one day to walking across the room the next. She can now change directions and make turns when walking. She gets so proud of herself when she makes it to her destination especially when it's to Rod or I. She now trys walking pretty much everywhere instead of crawling. She doesn't always make it to her destination so then she crawls the rest of the way. She still hasn't figured out how to get up off the floor without pulling up on something. Rod and I have actually seen her do it once or twice, so we know that she can, but we figure that she just doesn't realize it yet.

She is growing up so fast. She is now officially a toddler. No more babies in our house. Of course, she will always be my baby whether she likes it or not. I think she really likes it right now since she is so spoiled!