First Day of School July 28th

Aren't they cute!

My 2nd baby is growing up!

Too smart and pretty for her own good (with a little sass on the side!)

Who can believe we are actually sending the kids back to school in JULY!!! It just seems wrong. Granted we get 2+ weeks in October and 2 more in March, but still. It is only 100+ degrees outside and here in the ever sunny AZ we should still be at the pool. Anyway, Collin was so excited to start school and go to the big school with Alexis. He was so excited to pick out school clothes and get himself ready for his first day. Alexis is of course so grown up and the first day hardly seemed like a big deal. She was glad to go and see her friends, but would have loved to have a few (or a lot) more beach days. Collin's teacher this year is Mrs. Thompson and Alexis's teacher is Mrs. Johnson. They both seem so wonderful and I know they will both do great and learn a lot! I of course had to go into school with them and walk them to their classes and I loved that Collin got a little nervous once we got there and wanted me to walk right in with him to his desk. It's always good to know that they still love you and want you to look out for them! Love you guys!!

Happy Birthday Logan (July 11th)

Our little daredevil!

Happy Birthday to Logan and Sam!

Nothing better than blowing out their own candles and making wishes!

They were so proud of their presents!

My little cutie turned 3 this year and what a firecracker he is. This year I was still in Atlanta so I wasn't able to spend the day with him. So when I came home my friend Jennifer Powell and I threw our boys a birthday party. Sam and Logan's birthdays are only a few days apart so it was easier to get all the kids together instead of doing 2 seperate parties. We found a friend who had a bouncy rental company so we got a water slide and had hot dogs and cupcakes. Some of the kids were a little timid at first, but overall they all had such a good time. It's so funny to see these little things sail down the waterslide. Thanks to everyone who made it!

Happy Birthday to Me (July 9th)

So what a birthday. Ever since I turned 30 (only 5 years ago, YIKES!) let's face it birthday's have not been something I have looked forward to. It's the middle of the summer and everyone is gone and Paul is usually working and I am either pregnant or have a new baby and it's too hot to really go out. Well, this year was different.....sort of. When I moved out to Virginia and in with my friend Heather we started throwing each other birthday parties. Her's was Cinco de Mayo and it was always fun to get the friends together for dinner or what have you. And mine was in the dead of the lovely humid summer so we would either go dancing, to dinner or even a swimming party once I met Paul.

This year Heather and her friend Janet were exhibiting in the Atlanta Home and Gift Show and I decided to invite myself along. As some of you know I started a business making hair clips. I am in a showroom in LA and I figured since I would have a place to stay I would go to Atlanta to try and find another wholesale warehouse and maybe some new ideas. Well, there ended up being 3 different buildings, one with 20 floors, one with 18 floors and one with 14 floors. I walked, and walked, and walked and walked some more until each and every day I couldn't feel my feet. I would have thought I would lose 10 pounds in the process, but with Heather and Janet's booth being right next to Gourmet Foods, apparently that didn't happen. It was nice though to have some girl time and we all had a blast spending the days and nights laughing and having fun. I also formed myself lots of new business titles and hope to expand on them some day. For instance: Sterling Pear (their company) director of "Sparkle", Personal Shopper, Gourmet Food taster, and Personal Designer (my new favorite!) With so much fun, and so many nice people and so many wonderful catalogs I even had to buy a new bag to bring them all home. Now I just need to figure out how to make all my many new talents work and keep tabs on my contacts. (I am always open for suggestions!)

Collin and Alexis at the beach-June

So now that my family is too big it seems I am not invited to the beach as I once was. This year my parents took Collin and Alexis and I got to stay home in this lovely heat with Logan and Slade. While I was pretty sad thinking I was going to be busy with the two crazies it actually turned out to be pretty good. Paul and I sure realized that it doesn't matter that it is our two hardest kids, just that it is only 2 and not 4 and life sure is easy when a couple of kids are missing. I invited myself over to my friend Jennifer's house one day and the boys had lots of naps and Paul and I even made it out to lunch and dinner a couple of times (and even Costco) with the 4 of us. Now we only had to think about how crazy life was really going to be when the other 2 returned. (Pictures will follow soon!)

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.