Kacy's End of Year Program

I can't believe the summer is almost here! This has seriously been the quickest school year of my life, and I didn't even have a countdown for the end of the year :) Usually, at about 75 days left in the year, I used to start marking each day off a calendar in anticipation of summer! This year, it was here before I knew it. Kacy's school ended last week, and they had a little graduation for the 5 year olds and a singing program for the rest of the school. It was really cute! Kacy was so excited about it. She had been practicing her songs and her "moves" all week. I couldn't wait to see it. They sang, "If You are Happy and You Know It", "We are the Body of Christ", and Kacy's absolute favorite, "Going on a Bear Hunt." It was adorable! Kacy was right in the middle of the front row, and she sang every song and did all the motions almost perfectly. She is quite the little performer.After the program, she was so proud of herself. She said "bye" to all her little friends and hugged any of them that would let her. I love this sweet girl! I can't believe there is only one more year before she starts Kindergarten.
Favorite time at school - music
Favorite friends - Sara and Elle
Craziest boy - Connor and Benjamin
Teachers - Ms. Jana and Ms. Donna
Favorite thing to do at school - paint

Hawaiian Luau, Coming Up!!!

The girls' birthday is going to be a luau, and we had to get some pictures for the invitations. The girls happily suited up in their favorite bathing suits and grass skirts. They usually don't cooperate for pictures, but they actually did really well. They even seem like they love each other in a couple of the pictures :) Just kidding, I know they love each other all the time, I just break up so many fights some days that it's hard to remember that! We all can't wait for the party to get here. It's going to be a lot of hula fun!

Kacy's Water Day

I have loved Kacy's preschool! They have so many fun activities for the kids, and the other day they had a water day. It was in the morning, and it was on one of the chillier mornings, but the kids had a blast! I thought there would just be a few baby toys and sprinklers set up, but they really went all out. They had a little fishing pond, about 5 different types of sprinklers, and Kacy's favorite - a drive through sprinkler thing made out of PVC pipes! I am so glad that I get to see Kacy doing things at school. I love that she liked going to school and had a great year. 

The First of Many Swim Dinners!

Even though we weren't looking for a house with a pool, I am really glad that we found one. Although, I am kinda nervous about Brooke being around the pool this year, I just know that we are going to have a ton of fun this summer swimming and having friends over to swim with us! The Hrobars came over tonight and the kids and the dads got in the pool for some fun. It was still a little cold for Brooke, Dana, and I! The kids swam for about an hour, then they played and we had dinner. I love how the simple fun of a pool can entertain everyone!

Adilyn's Dance Recital

Dance has been amazing for Adilyn! I don't know if she was just ready to come out of her shell, or if something about dance or going to Kindergarten helped make her become more confident. Either way, she is way more brave then she ever was before! I was a little nervous about how she would do at her recital. Up on a stage, in front of all those people, with me nowhere in sight. In the days leading up to it, I tried really hard not to ask her if she was scared or nervous because I didn't want to put that idea in her head. A few times she did say that she was going to "feel weird on that big stage". I just told her that she was going to do fantastic, and I crossed my fingers that that would be the case!
Today was the big day! Unfortunately, Brooke was a mess, so Cory had take her out in the first few minutes. He still got see Adilyn dance, but it was a little sad not to have the whole family there together. The recital was super cute! It was all about Disney, and there were a lot of cute routines. Adilyn's group was about the 5th one to go, and I was so nervous when that curtain opened! There she was, up there with all the girls. The music started, and she did great! The dance teacher was up at the top of the theater doing all the moves, so they could follow along with her. She had her "nervous face" on, but she did it, and she looked great!
She loved her outfit. She was excited to get a trophy. She was proud of herself. That's all a mama can ask for!

Adilyn's Dance Pictures

At their rehearsal, Adilyn's dance class offered professional pictures. They were super expensive, and I am super cheap. I also never like Adilyn's professional pictures because she always has that silly fake forced smile. I told her that we could go into the woods at the Y and take some pictures ourselves She said, "But, Mom, you aren't a professional, you just take pictures for fun!" I told her that I was pretty much like a professional. :) I did get a couple cute ones with her real smile - missing front tooth and all!

Brooke at 1

Oh, where do I start with my little Brooke at age 1? She is a brave, adventurous, dramatic, determined little one. She is sleeping much more regularly these days which is fabulous for all of us. Usually, she goes down around 8:30 and sleeps until 8 or 9 in the morning. Then, she will nap for about two hours in the afternoon. Honestly, I never thought that girl would sleep normally! She still isn't talking too much with real words, but she sure likes to babble and scream. Her newest things is pointing and grunting at things that she wants, which, of course, is everything she can't have...soda, candy, chips, etc.
She is very brave and likes to push the limits of what she knows she is not allowed to do. One of her favorite ways to bug her sisters is to turn the receiver off while they are watching tv. She knows that it will turn the tv off and make them really mad. Each time she does it, she just simply looks back at them and smiles a very sheepish grin. Another thing she loves to do is climb up on the fireplace. She used to just get up there and sit, recently, she has decided that standing up would make things a little more scandalous. Again, she looks at me with that little sneaky smile. She might be trouble!!!
Another thing she loves to do is "bodyslam" people and things. She will walk right toward someone and fall belly first right on them! She also loves to belly flop right on the bean bags chairs. The other day she tried falling from a chair onto the bean bags, and she loved it so much that she did it about 10 times in a row!
Anything the girls do, she wants to do. They were both talking on pretend phones, and I looked over and she was holding her hand up to her ear just like them. She is quite the copycat!
She hates to do "baby" things. She would much rather drink from a normal cup than a sippy cup. She wants to use a fork and spoon instead of her hands She wants to walk everywhere instead of crawling. She is definitely trying to do everything they do!
She loves to dance! No matter what she is doing, if she hears some music that she loves, she will stop and shake that booty.
Brooke is my first kiddo to walk by a year old. She was taking steps before her birthday, but now she wants to walk everywhere! The other girls didn't want until they were really steady on their feet, not Brooke. This girl will walk, fall, get up, walk again, fall, and get up. She is determined to stay on her feet, and she is pretty much walking everywhere now. She is so proud of herself, too!
A couple of her tricks - she loves blowing kisses when we put the girls to bed. She plays peek-a-boo on command. She will rub her belly when we tell her to wash herself. She likes to dip her hands in water and then try to drink the water off them.
She still isn't saying any words, but I'm not worried about that. Kacy was slow to talk, but now the girl is a chit-chatter all day long!
Brooke is definitely the smallest of all the girls. She is only 18.5 pounds, and I can't remember what percentage she was in for height, by I think it was around 15%. She can still fit into some 9 month clothes, which is good because it's been chilly this spring, and I didn't have any 12 month winter clothes from the other girls :)
I feel so blessed to have been able to be this beautiful little one's mother for this past year, and I look forward to so many more years to come.