Need another blog to read?

Well, if you like to scrapbook (or even if you don't) and you like to read blogs (or maybe you are just interested in reading about what other people are up to) then I have two blogs that I have really enjoyed reading the last few months that some of your might enjoy as well!

The first one is Heather Ann Melzer. She is a mom, wife, scrapper and owner of heatheranndesigns.com. Her blog sorta kinda reminds me of Sherelle Christensen's blog My Crazy Life, which I love reading. Heather's blog is mystories.photos.life. These blogs, as well as the one below, are more like life journals with some scrapbooking stuff added in instead of just layout after layout and product pitch after product pitch...not that either is good or bad, but since I don't have enough time to scrapbook as much as I would like, and since I like so much of the stuff on the market (both print and digital) sometimes it gets a little overwhelming to read those blogs until I am actually ready to do some shopping! Does anyone know what I mean?

The other blog is Heidi Swapp...another mom, wife, scrapper and owner of heidiswapp.com, not to mention everything else she has her hands on in the scrapbook world. Heidi's blog is Still Me/Happenings. One really neat thing is that she moved with her husband and FIVE children to Beijing last September. If you were as into the Olympics as I was, then you will enjoy reading Heidi's first hand accoutns of living in China. What an awesome experience and one that I would jump at if given the opportunity (for maybe like a year...not too long!)

Oh yeah, and incase you aren't using some type of RSS reader yet (kind of like an e-mail account for blog, news, etc. updates) then I would highly recommend Google Reader. You just put in the addresses of the blogs you like to read and then log in to Google Reader and it will automaticaly tell you which ones have new information. You can then read the updates right inside Google Reader or click through to the real site. So much better than trying to check every site everyday...why not let the info come to you! Give it a try if you aren't using something similar already!

Happy reading!

Complete Randomness!

I was just clearning off my camera in preparation for the weekend and I had to post a few!

This might be the cutest of them all! I did not ask the girls to do this, nor do I really think they knew what they were doing until it happened. Everything just kind of fell into place, and I had to grab the camera. Seville always sits in this push toy (even though it is not for sitting). Somehow she put on the the smock from one of Hadley's dolls, sat down, and leaned back. Hadley grabbed some play scissors and the rest, as they say, is history! Look at Seville's face. PRICELESS! Don't worry, we had a talk about not doing this for real!

Hadley's woolly worm!

This is a typical look I get from strong willed little Ms. Seville!
Hadley so proud to be momming her woolly worm!
Monday was my mom's birthday, so we had her and Jon over for "breakfast for dinner"...one of our favorites! It was nothing compared to the surprise birthday bash we threw her last year, but we still had a great time! Being with family is what matters most!
Seville offering up her bacon to the birthday girl! Seville loves her bacon...she gets that after her Mom AND Dad!
Seville has totally mastered all levels of this playhouse...NOW WHAT?
Scott took these next two. I have to say that because there are flowers coming from the side of the picture and a light hanging down from the top right above my mom's head. See why he is never allowed to have the camera...just kidding honey! And this is after cropping them down some, but there really is no quick fix for these!

I never thought I would be able to post pictures of balloons flying over our house again, but I am starting to think we live on balloon alley. Monday night we had two more land right within walking distance of our house! This first one is looking out our front door to the left. Close up!
Directly across the street! This one ended up landing in the second phase of our neighborhood.
This one landed right out the front entrance of the neighborhood. Hadley, Attey and Cooper ran to see it! A little close to the power lines don't ya think!
On the way back from watching the balloon!
These are my other two favorites. This is from tonight. We have discovered that Seville just loves corn on the cob. Too cute!
Look at her go after it!
Well, that is all for now. I need to go to bed. More pics to come next week from when my mom and I took Hadley to the tea room! Have a great holiday weekend!

Watch Week at Dance...thanks to Kristi!

First and foremost, I have to give full credit to Kristi because without her this post would not be possible! The girls had "Watch Week" at dance a few weeks ago and I came right from work and didn't remember to pack my camera that morning...let alone the fact that I have been out of tapes for our video camera for the past six months or so...poor Seville...it just kills me thinking of everything we have missed that we probably captured on video for Hadley! I need to go get tapes TONIGHT before I miss anything else! Especially before this coming holiday weekend!

Anyway, Kristi was loaded up with her camera and camcorder and put together the awesome video below! Thanks, Kristi!!

As a little background, since Hadley enjoys dance so much I wanted to find her a dance studio that she could grow with, and the result has been well worth the hunt! We are so happy with her new dance studio, and so happy that Alyson ended up deciding to join us a few weeks into the summer session! The teaching method is totally different (not that the other one was bad because I loved her first teacher too), but the girls just seem to be learning so much more at the new studio and they just LOVE their teacher, as Kristi and I do too! She is so animated with the girls and they look up to her so much! She is a very excellent ballet dancer! At the new studio there are several levels of classes for each age (even 3-4 year-olds) and I think this helps them learn a lot more because everyone is going at the same pace. Their fall session starts next week and the girls will now be with 5 and 6 year olds, so we will see how that goes! Fine I'm sure, plus Hadley looks like she could be 5 easily!

And now on with the show...enjoy Kristi's hard work!



I will have to post some more updates soon, but for now I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend! We are really looking forward to it!

Fun Friday Night

On Friday night our good friends Kelly and Kyle came over with their daughter Evie for a swimming and pizza party! Last time we were together with them I didn't have my camera, so I definitely wanted to get some pics this time! Evie, Hadley and Seville love playing together, so it is so much fun to get together with them!

The weather in KC has been a bit cool for August (not that I am complaining), but it makes it a little cold to go to the pool in the evening. We weren't able to stay too long since the babies were shivering, but we had a good time anyway. Then we went back and played in the basement which is always a hit!

Seville loves her watering can!

Sweet Evie! Evie and her Daddy, Kyle!
Hadley has gotten so brave in the pool the past few weeks. She always liked to swim, but never got her head under a lot. Now she is a full blown fish!! Last month she started swimming in the deep end with no help or floaties, and now she is jumping in and going fully under, doing belly flops and even loves for her dad to spin her in the air! She does the back stroke too! Watch out Michael Phelps!
Seville loved kicking on the edge!
The babies were COLD!! Isn't this a cute picture...all bundled up!

The Luckiest Girls

When I was in college my oldest niece, Francesca, would come up and stay with me several times a year. Sometimes she would come by herself and sometimes she would bring a friend or two. I was a poor college student at the time, but we would always try to do fun things like go to the midnight movies or go bowling. We always had a great time and I have many fond memories of the times she came up to visit me at KU!

Well, now Francesca is 19 and the tables are turned! Now I have a little girl who adores her “Aunt” Francesca (she is really a cousin, but I think of her as an Aunt to my girls!) and Thursday Hadley and her best buddy Alyson got to reap the rewards of having a wonderful older Aunt!

Around 10:00 a.m. Francesca picked-up the girls at their preschool and took them out for a day they will never forget and haven’t stopped talking about since! First they went to Wonderscope (a children’s museum), then to Rainforest Café where they got to sit by the big elephant for lunch, then they went to Build-A-Bear where they made adorable stuffed bears dressed in Hannah Montana outfits, and finally they got a cookie (and I think even rode the carousel) before returning to school. According to Francesca the girls kept telling her that they were the “luckiest girls” and Kristi and I totally agree! In fact, we think they were spoiled rotten and cannot thank Francesca enough for treating them to such a wonderful day!!

Hadley named her bear “Miley Cyrus” and Miley has been an integral part of our life ever since she came home. She gets dressed in the mornings, wears jammies at night, sits in a car seat in the car, gets her hair done in the morning, goes to school, etc. It is so cute!

Oh yeah…one last thing…the girls got their picture taken in a photo booth! I haven’t done that since I was a freshman in high school! I don’t have a scanner at home, but I took a picture of it so that everyone can see! I think it is really cute and such a neat memory of the day!

Our Little Gymnast

Well, she might not be an Olympian yet, but she is our little gymnast! This past Tuesday Seville and I started Mommy & Me Gymnastics. The class is for 18 month-3 year olds and she is only 17 months, but they said we could sign her up anyway. Since she is such a monkey at home we thought it would be good for her. When we got there the next oldest kid in the class was 9 months older than her and let me tell you 9 months is a HUGE difference at this age. All the other kids were already following verbal clues like "hold a block on your stomach and run", but she really isn't yet. Maybe she is just too young or maybe it is because of her speech delay, but we made due and once we got to the obstacle course part she really enjoyed it. Her favorite parts were jumping in the pit, crawling under tunnels and going down the slide! Of course I had to get her a little leotard! I just can't resist! It was a little big because they don't make any her size, but I still think it is cute!

The lake really can be relaxing...

...even with two small children! This was the discovery I made last weekend when we went down to the lake. To be completely honest, I was beginning to think that the lake just wasn't relaxing anymore and that it probably wouldn't be for another few years, which is fine because we have fun regardless. But last week I discovered that the lake really can be relaxing, and we had a really great time!

Now the trip didn't get off to a great start! We were about 1.5 hours into our drive down on Friday night when we got a call from Scott's brother Craig saying that his car had broken down on the way. It was the first time in more than two years that Uncle Craig, Shawn and their dog Leeroy were going to be able to come to the lake and since his car broke down they weren't able to make it. It was very sad for all of us since we were really looking forward to it, but we understood that he wanted to stay in KC to make sure his car got all fixed up before the work week started. Hopefully we will be able to plan another trip down with them soon! We sure did miss them! Here are some pics from our weekend!

Hadley drawing a hopscotch court...one of her favorite games!

Practice makes perfect!Seville wanted to give it a try too...in her true "I can do anything sissy can do" fashion!
Lipstick anyone?
Seville and Grandpa Jim!
Hadley and Scott on the Sea-Doo!
Hadley was letting Scott do donuts with her! So brave!
Sweet girl!
She just loves the lake!
What a doll!
Another pretty shot! Seville's very first Sea-Doo ride! She loved it!
Hadley and Grandma Sue Sue on a more relaxing "girly" ride! (as compared to daddy's rides!)
Seville and Mommy...I know, you were probably beginning to think I didn't exist since I am never in any pictures, but that is because I am ALWAYS behind the camera!
Me and my girls! I cannot tell you the last time I got my picture taken with both of my girls...when we weren't paying a professional to take it!
Playing ring around the rosie! We finally found a way to keep Seville happy and her head dry in the water. Wings PLUS a little inflatable ring! She loves the water, but she loves it so much that we have a hard time keeping her head dry and since she has tubes that is important. This worked perfect and she was sooooo happy! If we try baby rafts she just climbs right out because she wants to be big like sissy!
"Hi Daddy! We love you!"

Seville and Kissers (the giraffe from Gail...her favorite!)
Hadley and Grandma Sue Sue in the tube!
Seville took another tube ride this weekend and cracked up the whole time! Look at her face!
All the girls riding the tube!

Big Chair or Little Chair?

Last night I was putting away some laundry in Hadley's room and Seville was in the room playing. I heard her grunting, as if she needed help, so I went over to see what was wrong. She was holding on to the edge of Hadley's bed and squatting. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was wrong, but I thought maybe she wanted up on the bed, so I looked down once again to give her a lift and that is when I saw why she was grunting and I started laughing hysterically and quickly carried her in to Scott so that she could show him too. She was trying to sit on the little blue chair from Hadley's doll house (see below for a size comparison), but it kept tipping over and she was frustrated. Seeing that little chair underneath her bottom was to cute for words! And she was trying so, so hard to get it to work! Needless to say, I held the chair so that she could sit on it and we instantly had one very happy camper. She was so proud! It was soooo cute! Kids do the darnedest things...and then their mommies blog about it! So, which one would you choose...the BIG chair or the little chair?