"Misbehavins"

 Each summer the girls all have a planter they are responsible for. They choose the flowers, plant them, water and maintain them all summer. Yesterday was planting day and Erin was nothing short of entertaining. She was working with a yellow theme.
She placed her larger flowers in the pot and said she was going to fill in the empty spaces with "the misbehavins".
"The what?" I asked her.
"The misbehavins!" she said.
"What are the misbehavins?" I asked again.
"You know the flowers out front!" clearly getting annoyed I don't know what she's talking about.
"You mean the Impatiens?"
"YES! That's what I'm talking about!"

I told her she would have more success with her full sun planter if she put the petunias in instead of the 'misbehavins'. That was fine with her.
We started digging the rest of the holes for the Petunias. While digging the holes she said that since it didn't look like they would fit horizontally she would put them in vertically and if that wouldn't work she would try oblique. Oblique? What the heck, I'm racking my brain to try to remember what the heck oblique is (angle, line etc).

"Where did you learn about oblique," I asked her.
"Lesson 36 in math," she replied.
"Oh, refresh my memory, what's oblique?"
"YOU know, not horizontal or vertical, the other way!"
"Diagonal?"
"YES!"

Apparently I am not the brightest mother she has and it does cause her concern and definitely frustration!
I'm so glad that her math lessons are working, not sure its such a good idea for her to be doing her math independently since I obviously have no idea what she's talking about!
In the end it was a very entertaining experience and she did a great job on her planter. And I'm feeling a little bit smarter today!

Dance Celebration

 Since the girls were little we have always had family back to our house for dessert after the recital. Lindy and I only had 45 minutes before we had to be back at the next show since she has to dance in both recitals. We had time for a couple of quick pictures with Grommy, some cake and then we dashed out the door. The rest of the family enjoyed dinner and cake and a relaxing evening.
I admit I was really tired the next day. Between all three girls I had 11 costume changes, 4 hair style changes, many, many accessories for Lindy's costumes to keep track of, and different make up for everyone. It was incredibly busy but I'm proud to say we didn't lose anything, (which is a small miracle since Lindy has chokers, wristbands, hair ribbons etc for every costume) including my mind. Everyone got on stage on time, fully dressed and ready. They all had a great time!

 Grandpuppies!

Dancing Queen

 Lindy is the dancing queen of the family. She just wrapped up her second year on the competition dance team and she loves every minute! Being able to dance all the time and have a good group of dance friends has been an awesome experience for her.
Tap, jazz, and lyrical were all of her classes this year and they received High Gold awards at both the competitions they went to. Next year she is looking at doing a solo and a duet and adding a couple more classes. She is sad that dance will be over for 3 whole weeks! Being on competition they dance through the summer, she just doesn't want to have a 3 week break. She has definitely found her passion.
Her recital was so fun for her since she had performed these dances twice already. She could relax and have fun! Great job Lindy, you are truly a beautiful dancer. I can't wait to see all the things you do next year!

 THE LIFT - The girls worked for months on this. Since I usually drop Lindy off and leave there were times I came back and was told how she was dropped etc. Never hurt, always laughing about it, loving every minute. As hard as it can be to always be the smallest everywhere there have to be some perks somewhere and being lifted across the stage is one of them!

The finale is perfomed by both the Junior and Junior'ette comp. teams. Lindy loves being a part of a dance with her older dance friends. Comp teams with Miss Brittney below.

 Teams with Miss Sandy, Lindy and Miss Sandy below. Miss Sandy has been Lindy's dance teacher for 6 years.

 Lindy and Lexi her Big Sis.

Lindy and Miss Brittney

Jar of Hearts

Paige is back in the dance game with Lindy and Erin. She started in competition last year and decided that she didn't want to compete. After a year off she went back to ballet and I am so glad that she did. Since she has taken dance for 5 years she just picked up where she had left off. She really liked the lyrical style and is planning on going back to competition next year if there is a team for her.
It really shows how even though Lindy and Paige like doing things together they both move at their own pace. Lindy always tries everything out and Paige hangs back and watches. Then if it looks like its fun and Lindy likes it, then Paige does it. Its been like this since they were babies and we watched Lindy lead the way in walking, teething, talking etc...
It would be so nice to have that built in buddy to watch and reassure you that everything would be fine before you have to do it. Its been one of the twin things I love to watch.
Great job Paige! You are a wonderful dancer and we are really proud of you! Good luck next year!

Let Them Be Little

Let Them Be Little was Erin's ballet song this year. I can't listen to it without crying. Even though I've heard it tons of times, I still had tears and they were streaming down my face which is worse than just getting teary eyed at dance class!
Erin is so proud and so excited for her dance. She is right on the heels of her big sisters and Lindy's competition team has taken her under their wing which makes her feel quite special.
She had the opportunity to take her ballet routine to the last competition with Lindy's dance team and she had so much fun. Erin is really hoping that some of her little friends decide to do competition so that she has a team next year.
Her tap song was Under the Sea and was also adorable popping out of clam shells and tapping all around pretending they were under water.
Great job Erin! We are so proud of you!

Sunny Days

This is what happens when it finally stops raining and the boys get to play outside! Bill and I took them for walks down the street and then they played in the yard with the kids. They were so exhausted they collapsed onto each other for an hour. They were very sweet and then up running around like crazy again!

Weeding Girls

It's that time of year again and with all the rain we have an abundance of weeds. Bill is working on getting all our mulch down and has been recruiting help in the weeding department. Everyone grabs a bag and starts pulling! It works well, the kids can pull ton of weeds, and that's what we have, a ton!
Erin was pretty impressed with her bag since it was a full as her sister's. She was less than thrilled at the end  when she had 'pulled hundreds of weeds, I can 't pull another!'

Seriously? I can't pull another weed!

Ethan is 12!

 Puppy life is finally calm, everyone is stable and healthy. Trying to get caught up on pictures which is so hard since I am so far behind. I thought about just moving ahead except that I use my blog to help me with my actual scrapbooking for journaling and page ideas...
In the chaos of "sick puppy" weekend, Ethan turned 12! I can hardly believe he's 12, where has the time gone? For the first time in his life he wanted a friend party and actually had one. He's always backed out right when it was time to invite people so I was very impressed he followed through. He wanted a mini Teen night with his good co-op friends, pizza, cake, video games, and just to hang out. It was a perfect night for it since it was a gross, rainy night (surprise!).
The kids all had a great time especially Ethan. He told me it was the best birthday ever! I know that furry four legged friend had something to do with it!

 Ethan's favorite orange cake!

 Casey and Adrienne (above) Chas and Cynthia (below)

 Party crashers!

Happy Birthday Ethan! We love you very much, especially Quincy! You will always have a best friend!

One Sick Little Puppy

 Oliver has had labored breathing since Tuesday. We took him into the vet and had him looked at and the vet decided to treat him for a respiratory infection. By last night though his breathing was still labored and worse, he was really struggling. Bill and I both could tell that he needed to go to the vet right away. By the time Bill helped me get him into the car he was totally lethargic and not really able to open his eyes. Thank God the emergency vet is right down the road and I was there in 2 minutes (yes I sped and I stopped at a light but didn't sit and wait for it to change)!
They took him right away and gave him oxygen, drew his labs, xrayed his chest, and worked to get him perked back up. He has lots of issues going on, maybe not serious on their own but the combination of them all at the same time is making him really sick.
He has fluid leaking from his lungs into his chest so the next step is to figure out why and where its coming from. Getting his puppy worms under control is also on the list, poor guy has been dewormed 3 times now! And that adorable little smashed nose possibly is causing some issues with his breathing and possibly contributed to getting sick easier.
As of now he is still in oxygen and getting IV antibiotics. Hopefully he will turn a corner and be able to come home tomorrow. Praying for quick recovery we miss him tons!

Tons of love from all his siblings during our lunchtime visit.

The techs think he looks like a flower, poor little guy. If he doesn't have this on he yanks his IV out in seconds.

Weighing in 4 pounds 5 ounces

Oliver (red) Quincy (green) on my lap, crashed after playing. Need to be together soon!

Reunited at Last!

So happy to be together again! Quincy is in the blue/green collar and Oliver is in the red/blue. They were so excited and played forever when we got home. They kiss in the morning when they get up and start playing crazy when they get together.
They have separate crates and the first night home they slept in Ethan's room which is where we had been moving Quincy's crate at night. But the next morning Ethan said they kept him up to the wee hours of the morning. So night #2 Oliver moved into the girls room much to their happiness!
They were so excited to have him sleep in their room. They came and got me when he had to go out and have taken care of both the puppies all day long. I got up at 6 yesterday morning and once they were back to sleep I went to lay back down. At 9am the doorbell rang with the piano teacher. I went flying out of bed to find Erin, her big 6 year old self, running the show by herself! She had let the piano teacher in, had taken both puppies out and reported off to me their status before going into her piano lesson while the rest of us were all sound asleep! She is totally smitten!