Gotta Brag Just a Little......

Okay, bear with me here.  I am having one of those proud momma moments and I wanted to share it.  If it is going to make you sick or you just don't want to hear about how amazing my kids are then go ahead and stop reading now, I promise it won't hurt my feelings!

Last night we got to watch our baby girl be inducted into the National Junior Honor Society.  I sat there listening last night during the ceremony and got to thinking about how incredible it is that we have two girls who both were nominated and selected for this honor.  To become a member you must be nominated based on your G.P.A.  I am honestly so proud of how hard both of my girls work in school.  There is no way their father or myself would have been nominated with the grades we got in junior high!  After being nominated, the students have to write an essay about leadership and fill out an application listing their extracurricular activities and community service hours.  Again...how did I end up with amazing kids that give of their time and energies and love doing it.  I am so amazed every day at what wonderful young women they are and I am so excitcd to watch them grow and mature. 

 Lindsey and her friend Maddie were both selelcted for NJHS.

 

Caity was inducted last year and this year her friends Baylee and Meg joined her.

I think it is only fair that I tell you that Mark needs to get the credit for they way they are turning out.  He is an amazing dad.  He spends crazy amounts of quality time with them, works tirelessly to make sure they are confident, selfless, and that they know how much they are loved by their earthly father as well as their Heavenly Father.  He is without a doubt the better half of our parenting duo and they would not be turning out this way without him.  So, I would just like to publicly say that I think my girls are pretty amazing and I think that my husband is too. 
Okay, I am done now.  Bragging over.

Hollywood Vibe Dance Nationals

Our family recently went to Las Vegas for "Hollywood Vibe" Dance Nationals, where the girls competed their solos and group numbers and participated in a 3-day dance workshop, taught by professional dancers such as Kent Boyd, Ade Obayomi, and Liz Martinez! We left Thursday afternoon and got back yesterday evening. We stayed at the Santa Fe Hotel and Casino. The actual competition took place at the Aliante Hotel and Casino. Scoring went from least to greatest; Copper, bronze, silver, high silver, gold, high gold, platinum.
Results:
Caity's solo (So Much Better): Gold
Lindsey's solo (A Mother's Prayer): High Gold
Group dance (Dreams): High Gold
Group dance (Butterfly): Gold 

Another School Year Over.....

It was very hard to say goodbye to this school year for a number of reasons.
Reason #1: I had such an amazing class. I had 24 of the kindest, sweetest, hardest working students. I am really going to miss this class.
Reason #2: This was one of the best school years Caity has had in a long time! Everyone had warned me about 6th grade and I went into the year a little scared. I was told that it would be a rough year for her, the girls would get mean and catty and Caity would develop "6th grade attitude." I am happy to report that none of that happened! This was an incredible year for her. She grew up so much and is such a responsible and confident girl! She won the speech contest at school, took 4th in the district speech contest, and was on Student Council this year. She ended the year with 4.0 GPA! If the girls got mean and catty this year I never heard about it and she never let it bother her. She has such a strong sense of who she is and is so incredibly confident in herself, I love that about her!
Reason #3: My girls are growing up too fast. I now officially have a 6th grader and one in junior high.
Reason #4: I had to say goodbye to a good friend and co-worker who is moving out of state. I hate that things are changing so much at school.

It still doesn't seem like school is really over. Maybe it's this crazy weather. It's hard to say goodbye, but I am looking forward to spending lots of time with my family this summer!

Lindsey's New Room

This post is mostly for the benefit of my mom and sisters! For Christmas this year, Lindsey asked to have her room re-done. Her old room was adorable but she was definitly outgrowing it. She wanted a much more grown up looking room. She decided on hot pink, black, and zebra striped. She received the bedding and a lot of decorative items (thank you Memere!) for Christmas. After the holiday we started thinking about replacing her furniture. Mark told me that as soon as I got rid of the old furntiure we would look at new stuff. I took some pictures, listed it on our church's website, and it was gone in about 4 days! I think Mark was shocked at how quickly it happened! We ended up finding the perfect bed and dresser for her! The bed has a trundle so we now have a place for friends to sleep when they spend the night! I repainted and we replaced the carpet while we were waiting for the new furniture. It is still not quite finished, we still need to add a few small touches, but she loves her new room. The trundle has come in very handy! Despite the fact that we ended up also getting Caity a new dresser, desk, floors, and bedding for her room, Caity has slept on the trundle bed in Lindsey's room every night since we got it!

Our Big, Exciting Weekend!

The excitement began on Friday morning. Caity was a participant in the school's Patriotic Speech Contest. All 6th graders at our school are required to write a speech on a patriotic theme. They then give their speech in front of their class. The two 6th grade Language Arts teachers then got together to decide which 6th graders would compete in the school contest. There were 14 6th graders chosen. They had to give a speech that was at least 2 minutes long. Caity walked up to deliver her speech without any notecards! She had worked hard to memorize the entire speech. She was extremely confident and poised and made eye contact with everyone in the audience. When she was finished an older gentleman sitting next to me nudged me and said, "Can you believe that little girl...she just did that whole thing without one single notecard!" It was pretty impressive. The winners were announced beginning with the 5th place finisher. When they got to third place and Caity's name still had not been called, her proud Papa turned around and said, "she won the whole thing!" Sure enough, our Caity is the school champion for the speech contest. On May 5th, she will compete in the district competition at the district office!

The next morning we were off to our first dance competition of the season. The girls both performed with their dance team in "Fame," and they each competed a solo. This would be Caity's first season competing a solo and she was very nervous! The team did great placing 7th overall in the junior division. Both girls did amazing jobs on their solo performances. They are what their dad likes to call "gamers!" Caity finished 7th out of 24 girls in her category. Not bad for her first try! Lindsey was in a more difficult category since this is her second year competing a solo. She won her age division and came close to making the top 10 out of all the soloists in her category! They are now working hard for their next competition in April. The next one will be the whole weekend and they will take classes from master teachers too. It should be fun!



The "Fame" girls!

Lindsey's trophy for her jazz solo.

Caity's trophy for her musical theater solo.

Proud Mama!

The 6th grade Speech contest winner!!!!!

Tis' The Season!

Basketball season that is! Liberty Basketball is in full swing. Mark's team got off to a rough start with lots of injuries but everyone is healing and should be back soon. My winter wardrobe continues to be dominated by red and black clothing. When I shop it seems to always be about what I can wear to games! I had a tshirt specially made this year that has his logo in bling! It is completely obnoxious but I love it! This next week will be a busy one with 3 home games. Friday's will be especially fun becuase the girls' dance team is performing at half-time!

Sorry Mom!

First off I must apologize to my mother and all of my other non-facebook family members. I always forget to update my blog because it is so easy just to post short updates on facebook. So, this one is for you mom!

The girls danced last weekend at Glendale Glitters. They debuted their new competition routine to "Fame." The first try was an absolute mess! The older girls went on stage to set up the chairs they use in the routine and they set them up backwards. The girls went on stage to perform and had absolutely no idea what to do. Their teacher and I were standing side stage yelling at them to turn the chairs around. I guess they never heard us because the music started and they started dancing. Unfortunately the messed up props threw them off completely and the dance was a disaster. They performed their next 2 danes beautifully and then at the end of the show their teacher went out on stage, explained the "technical difficulties," and let them perform Fame again! I tried to upload the video of them dancing but the file is too big. Mom, if you can get on Gene's facebook and go to my profile you can see it! They both still LOVE dance and both have solos this competition season. Lindsey's is a jazz number this year and Caity is musical theater...of course!

Friday Night Family Fun!

We heard a knock on our front door at about 5 o'clock this evening and were surprised to open it and see the Spies Family! I think they made it from Tucson to Phoenix in record time! Morgan was excited to see Cameron and Nash and her cousins of course! She kept asking to play outside so Lindsey took her out for a ride on her skitter! After some playtime, we met Dad and Joanne at Babbo's for dinner. During dinner Morgan kept telling Lori that she wanted to go to Aunt Jen's house and play. It's hard to tell that cutie pie no, so after dinner everyone came back to our house. We played a game of banangrams and then it was time for Morgan to head to Pa and Nannie's to get to bed. We have another day planned tomorrow that will be "Conner filled!"

Caity checking out one of Pa's words in the dicitionary!

I told you Lori! Maybe next time you will look at me when I'm taking your picture!

My adorable, sweet, smart, and perfect niece Morgan!

Summer Fun!

So far, this has been a pretty busy summer. The girls have a summer job! They are selling snacks at Mark's basketball camp. So, almost every day (they have a very understanding boss who will give them time off if something comes up!) they had up to camp for a few hours and sell gatorade, chips, and candy to the hungry players! They are making decent money (I think Mark has finally broken even!) and have met some of Mark's assistant coaches daughters.

We have been hanging out with lots of friends and enjoying the water! Mark got us all season passes to Wet n' Wild and we have been there a few times already.

Of course Lindsey and I have been doing some shopping. Caity will usually opt to stay home, she is not a fan! We are having fun and enjoying our time together. The girls are each getting their own special trip just them and their daddy. Mark is taking them each to Disneyland by themselves! He is such a great daddy. We have a lot more fun things still to come! I promise I will try and stay on top of the blogging!

Lindsey's 10th Birthday

When Mark and I first got married he joked that I didn't have a birthDAY, I had a birthWEEK! I guess I have passed that on to my children. Lindsey's birthday festivities have officially lasted one whole week! It started last Friday with her party. She wanted to go rock climbing. Mark found a place close to us on line and we invited her cousins and friends. They had a lot of fun and Mark and I were worn out afterwards. We had the job of "belaying" for the kiddos. Basically it was our job to make sure they didn't fall and tie off the ropes for them the whole time. On Tuesday, we celebrated with some friends of ours. Their son's birthday is the day before Lindsey's and he was turning 6. They set up this really cool water slide in their back yard, we ate pizza, and had ice cream sandwiches. On Wednesday, which was her actual birthday, our family tradition is that we go out to eat at the restaurant of the birhtday person's choice. Apparently I have also passed along my good (yet sometimes expensive) taste and Lindsey chose PF Changs! So, our little party of 12 went and ate and celebrated yet again! Finally, today, exactly one week later we will conclude the birthday celebration. Lori, David and Morgan are coming into town and we are going to eat at Lindsey's favorite restaurant, Babbo's. I told you she has great taste! It's been a fun filled week celebrating our "little buddy" turning 10. She is now double digits and I'm sitting here wondering where the time has gone!

Dinner at PF Chang's where her biggest concern was whether or not they were going to sing to her. She wanted them to of course!

Celebrating with friends! This is Dawson's birthday smile, I love that kid!

Mark trying to figure out how to tie the knot. He never did figure it out and I had to help each time he switched kids!

Lindsey....Then and Now

I can't believe that my baby girl is about to turn 10. She is the sweestest, smartest and funniest girl. She loves to laugh and loves to make our family laugh. She is incredibly thoughtful and cares so much about people. She is our little fashionista and loves to shop! In fact, at the end of the 4th grade this year she was voted Kindest and Most Fashionable in her class!

Caity

These are just a few of my recent favorites of Caity!

The Newest Wood Girls

Cameron and Nash joined our family in late April. Mark surprised us all by bringing home Cameron first. He then went back to the store to get some puppy supplies and called and said that they had one puppy left, Cameron's sister. He came home with his second surprise for the girls and we named her Nash. Mark's rule was that since the puppies were girls and he was now greatly outnumbered, they had to have basketball related names. Nash is obvious. Cameron was named after Cameron Indoor Stadium where Caity's favorite college team, Duke, plays their games. They are a pomeranian/dachsund mix (Mark calls them Pom-a-Weenies which drives the girls crazy!). After our latest visit to the vet Cameron now weighs in at 3.6lbs and Nash is 4.4lbs. They are great puppies and we are having so much fun with them. They sleep all night and Caity and Lindsey take turns being on "puppy patrol" in the mornings! Nash and Cameron

Cameron

Nash

Daddy Daughter Dance

Our church has an annual Daddy Daughter Dance that Mark has been taking the girls to for years. Each year he comes home tired and a little grouchy. Our girls are complete opposites. Caity loves to be out, to be around people and to have fun! Lindsey is a bit more on the reserved side. She loves to have fun, but she also loves her bedtime! So, each year the girls fight over who is dancing which dance with Mark and then another fight occurs when one is ready to leave and the other wants to stay. This year, our church is holding the dance on 3 nights! Problem solved! Each daughter gets her very own night with Daddy. The girls were happy to have Mark to themselves and Mark came home from night number 1 in a much happier mood! Here are some pics from the first night of Daddy Daughter. Mark and his beautiful date, Lindsey!

Every year Mark "surprises" the girls with a corsage when he picks them up. This year he told Lindsey that with all of the craziness of basketball playoffs he "forgot." She moped around the house a little bit that afternoon but would not admit that was the reason! She was real happy when daddy picked her up and had the corsage!

Mark's Early Christmas Gift

I had to give Mark one of his gifts early. I had been planning it for a little while, but in order to do it, I needed him gone for an entire day. That is not a problem during basketball season! He had a game up in Flagstaff and left to catch the bus at 7 am. I got up and started the project! I spent all day painting and didn't even get to the lion. He was so surprised when he got home and pulled in the garage! I finished the lion 2 days later. He loved his early gift!








Mark's basketball logo painted on the wall of our garage!

The Black and White Ball

Mark had to chaperone the dance up at school and so he took Caity and Lindsey as his dates! The girls and I had a fun day of shopping for their outfits. It was a black and white ball and we were able to find some really cute outfits at Justice! They had a blast getting ready for the dance!

Lindsey....Our Little Character!

This year our school is doing something a little different with our "Character of the Month," program. Each early release day we are holding a school wide assembly. The teachers choose their Character of the Month ahead of time and send a secret letter home inviting the parents to the assembly. The students are then surprised at the assembly. They play loud music and have colorful lights going and all of us teachers make a tunnel for them to run through while everyone is cheering for them. Today was our first assembly and Lindsey was chosen as the Character for her 4th grade class. Mark was able to get a sub for the morning and be there! Lindsey was a little suspicious when she came into the assembly and saw her Daddy there. I told her it was because he knew that Mommy had to perform in the teacher skit at the assembly and he came to make fun of her! I think she bought it! She seemed very surprised when they showed her picture on the big screen and called her name! We are so proud of Lindsey and her great character!

Softball and Heatstroke

Caity pitched in her first game of the season this past Saturday. She did a great job. Her pitching coach, Vanessa, came to help her warm up and offer encouragement. She was doing great and then after the inning was over started to feel very sick and looked like she might pass out. We ended up having to take her home after that inning. Why they have to play games in the middle of the afternoon when it is still 100 degrees outside is beyond me. Thank goodness we have had cooler weather this week and this Saturday's game is at 8 am!