Dancing Queen

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

Alexis with her friend Kamryn Bunker and their dads.

Alexis in her ballet costumes with Olivia and her friend (the "big" girls!)

Alexis and the "Jailhouse Rock" tap girls.

Savannah, Calabria, Alexis, Halle and Ella

Alexis with her teachers Miss Chelsea and Miss Cheney

Dance is over!!!! While I thought I would be thrilled about this I have of course been sucked in again with how wonderful she has done this last year and am really going to miss Alexis dancing. For awhile now she would complain about going to dance, but once she got there you couldn't get her to leave. She has really blossomed and it was so much fun to watch her shake her "groove thang" up on the stage. After last year in dance they felt she had improved so much that she made the Mini Knockout group (and group of all the top dancers in the "Sparklers" and "Firecracker" groups). This of course added 2 more hours of dance a week on top of our already 4 hours we had been doing the previous year. A couple of months into dance the whole carpool thing wasn't working for me and Alexis would complain that all her friends got to take tap and she realllllyyyyy wanted to. (Yes, it had been her favorite class, but I felt she was already over danced as it was!) Anyway, here are a bunch of pictures. I especially love how when she dances she is always singing and making such serious "Dancing Queen" faces as she is trying so hard to get into her little characters. I only wish we had videos of all her dances. We even forced Paul to do the "Dad's Dance" with her. And much to his protesting it was actually pretty good and Alexis was THRILLED!

End of another era

Well, yesterday morning I got a call from my mom that Grandma Wade had died. When I talked with my Aunt Julie about it on the phone a couple of days later I was touched by how she told me things had happened. She said she was tired and didn't want to go see her the night before, but did anyway. She said there was nothing different about her and she was just tired and wanted to go to bed. The next morning she got the call that she had passed away peacefully in her chair waiting for her medication. I guess in the home she was living in, in the mornings they all woke up and came to the community room where everyone was dispersed their medications. Aunt Julie said Grandma got up and got ready and sat in her usual chair and about 30 minutes later they called her to get her medicine and she had apparently passed peacefully in her sleep. No one even noticed. For the people who knew my Grandma they knew her to be a very put together person. Every summer her and my Grandpa would take off in the motorhome and travel around. She would buy a new wardrobe and was always going to the "beauty salon" to get her hair done and her nails done. So for her to wake up and actually get ready to leave on a trip to come back to Arizona was just the way she would have had to do things. And as I was reflecting back to my life with her in it I was remembering all the things we went through and did. Growing up we had so much fun spending our weekends at the lake waterskiing. Grandma water skiied until she was 70 I think (could be off a little, but let's just say she was old!) Her and my Grandpa were such fun to be around. We loved going to their house for Sunday dinner and in the summer travelling with them in their motorhome to stay at the beach. Grandma always had the motorhome stocked with everything we all loved. From cheese hot dogs to M&M's and tons and tons of soda (which we never had much of at home!) We would also get to have sleepovers and wear her and Grandpa's T-shirts and have pancakes for breakfast. The cookie jar was always filled with Chips Ahoy cookies and the freezer with Jell-O Pudding Pops. And for Christmas our stockings were always filled with exciting Avon supplies. As I grew up and started a family of my own it was hard to see how Grandma was starting to change with Grandpa gone. You could tell she was sad and lonely and sometimes took it out on others. I am glad to know though that I had many wonderful times with my grandparents and that my life was more wonderful with them in it. I know Grandma has gone back to be with her eternal companion and that her life is now complete living with our Father in Heaven.

Preschool is over!

Collin finished up preschool with Miss Stacey on Friday. He did so awesome!! He loved Miss Stacey and always looked forward to getting his turn to go to school. He made lots of friends there and loved to learn. Miss Stacey really helped him learn to start reading and work on his letters. Sad to say that his handwriting is at least 1000 times better than Alexis' was at this age. (Thankfully hers has greatly improved-most of the time anyway). Collin is also so good at coloring (another struggle for Alexis at this age). Anyway, he is so excited to go off to Kindergarten and be in the big school with Alexis. We will greatly miss Miss Stacey and her daughter Britney, who helped out in school, and his friends. Let's hope they are still there (and have room) when Logan gets to go next year! Collin and Miss Stacey.

Collin and friends.

School's Out for Summer

First grade is now over....and on to second! WOW!! I can't believe summer is here. While the kids are in school it seems that life is on hyper drive. We have to wake the kids up to get ready for school, breakfast, lunches made and then run off to school. By the time you turn around it seems as if the kids are already set to come home and Alexis has been in dance and homework and dinner, bath and bed. YIKES! Life has been tiring. I am hoping for a more relaxed summer though and we'll see what happens. I was lucky enough to go and spend some of the last day of school with Alexis. The students got to bring in a t-shirt that some of the moms helped them tye-dye and they turned out so cute. They then got to have ice cream sundaes and watched Alvin and the Chipmunks. Alexis really improved this year and is becoming more and more grown up all the time. She is such a good big sister and helper to me. Miss Webster was her 1st grade teacher and she had so much fun learning and playing with her friends.
Alexis and her teacher Miss Webster. (Her first name is Kristin-how cute!)
Alexis and her friends Macy and Kimberly.
Alexis with her friends Brinley and Macy.
Alexis with her friends from the hood Tatum and Noelle. They survived Kindergarten!