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!