Love it!

A day after the library this is what I came upstairs to. So much fun to snuggle with my girls at bedtime reading.

Summer Friends

Summer is on the way! The girls are having so much fun already with their neighborhood BFF's!

Girl Weekend Conclusion

Extra pillows, extra special blankets, 3 little girls, 2 dogs, 1 mom and a movie and that was the ending of March girl weekend. It was a fun whirlwind, a dinner, a play, a  flash mob, and a movie. The girls had been dying to see Footloose which I was hesitant to let them watch but after talking with a friend and figuring out a part I would fast forward over, I OK'd them to watch. It was a tight squeeze to fit everyone and everything into bed but we did it. It was tight but cozy and so very fun! The days we can do that will be numbered as they get older and bigger!

Flash Mob

We have had some awesome opportunities to help promote organ and tissue donation but I have to say last weekend was one of the best! Over 200 volunteers held a flash mob at the opening game for the Crew Soccer team. The girls and I had so much fun! We wore all of our Donate Life shirts and put on our tattoos and headed to the stadium. We did our dance at half time on the field for a pretty full stadium. I'm sure this will not be something they forget! Not every day you get to be part of a huge flash mob and for a good cause too!

Sound of Music

What a fun night! The girls and I started our monthly girl weekend going out to dinner and seeing The Sound of Music with their good friends. They had so much fun at dinner and the show was fabulous. One of our good friends was Marta and we all loved watching her perform.  It was just the beginning of a great weekend for all of us!

Dance Week

Erin and her "big sis" Gabbi.

Sunday the girls and I went with their dance team to lunch and a show. A close by dance studio does a benefit for breast cancer. It was such a great afternoon and the girls really got to relax and watch others dance. Usually they are running around behind the scenes, changing, fixing hair, practicing, and fighting nerves. Sunday they got to sit back and watch routines and check out costumes. I had a great time spending the day with my girls. It was the perfect way to start the week of dance craziness, pictures and extra practices.

Tween Night Friends

Faith, Lindy, Paige, & Mary

Trying to get all my pictures caught up and I found these great  pictures from the last teen night  a couple weeks ago. Lindy and Paige both invited friends to spend the evening with while the older kids were down in the basement. They had a ball posing for some fun pictures!

Twins

My grandma always told me how lucky I was to have sisters. She was an only child and wanted a sister more than anything. I have said this over and over again, but Lindy and Paige have been having tons of twin moments lately. I just catch glimpses of them and see little faces and it hits me all over again that there are two of them. Its been happening even more so than when they were a couple of years younger.

I think part of it is they are growing up so much. Even though they are definitely their own person they are still connected to each other in many ways. They spend so much time together..by choice. Even though they have their own BFF's, they will always be each other's number one person.

Dancers at Heart

Friday night was girl night around here! Lindy has been wanting to have Helen, her good friend from dance, sleep over for awhile. She and Paige have both been wanting to have Helen and another friend, Grace, over together. They are all on the competition dance team together and love seeing each other.

Everything is about dance! They didn't watch any movies, really didn't do anything except dance, all night. There were dance contests between them, dance shows, and dance talk. All night long! They obviously have a huge passion for dance and I love that. Dance has done so much for all my girls. It has given them such a big boost of self confidence and self esteem. They have a close group of girls that they dance with and they are so supportive of each other, it has been such an awesome thing.

Lindy wanted to make a shirt for Helen and decided to make a matching one for herself. She was so cute picking everything out, putting lots of thought into how she wanted it to look. They turned out so cute. They are all going to have the best memories from being together on this team. I'm so excited for them!

Lemonade Day

Friends and lemonade definitely make cold days warmer!

Erin & Emma

Retail Therapy

Once a month is girl weekend, when the boys are at Boy Scout camp for the weekend, and it is always girly. Erin and I had some errands to do while the girls were at dance and ended at Kohl's where she insisted on a fashion show. She selected various outfits and I had to model and she took my picture and vice versa. Her pictures are much cuter than mine! It was definitely one of those fun little moments I will always remember, wearing all sequins and being photographed by a giggling girl! She went with sassy...

to sweet...(all while undoing the purse display to load up her arms and look like she was traveling at the "airport", apparently she has seen many women with many large purses at the airport!)

Then Lindy and I had to go to Joann's  and she happened to find this little leprechaun girl headband! Can you tell they both like to shop? And Paige was not involved in either trip. She basically has two personal shoppers!

No, I did not buy the headband or the fur!

Crimping

Erin's new favorite way to wear her hair is to wash it and then have Lindy braid it wet.She sleeps with it like that, the results in the morning are like this....

Where We Spend Our Week

I  was dropping the girls off at dance last week, watching them smiling and laughing, while running in the studio. I thought what a cute picture that would be. So here it is!
They spend so much time at dance and look forward to every night they are here (which is almost the entire week!) that I wanted to capture part of their every day routine.

Picture of the Day

Cozy day, cozy feet. It was blustery and freezing out and I got to snuggle up with this little pair of slippered feet. Perfect Sunday!

Twins

I wonder what its like to always have someone by your side growing up. Who has been with you since before you arrived here. Who goes through everything you do at the same time (braces etc).Who likes pretty much the same things you do except maybe your personal taste in clothes!

I have read lots on twins and they pretty much all say that next to their spouses, it is the closest and best relationship they ever have in their lives. That seems pretty amazing.

Lately Lindy and Paige are having more "twin" moments than ever. I can't really explain what they are until they happen. It's usually when they are both excited about something and talking at the same time, saying the same thing. They look the same and have the same expressions. It's just a twin thing!

I think its pretty cute to watch them talk and hang out especially when they can't see me!

Crochet Friend

Lindy and Paige have been taking Crochet at co-op over the last year. They have loved it and so have I since I have gotten new scarves from this! They really like one of their older friends, Mary Ann who is the Crochet teacher's teenage daughter and who they really look up to as an expert crocheter (not sure it that's a word!)

Last night at teen night, Mary Ann sent me home with 3 hats, 1 for each of the girls. Lindy and Paige had just gotten new winter coats so they were thrilled to have new winter accessories to match.

How cute do they look?! What a wonderful talent Mary Ann has and how very sweet to share it with the girls. They felt pretty special she had done that for them!

Home Alone

It was bound to happen. It's almost happened before but we've always caught ourselves and checked to be sure we had everyone. Today was an honest error. I left to take Ethan to get his picture taken for his passport. I told Bill to bring Erin and Kyle with him to meet us at the post office to get the paperwork completed. The boys were then going to a fellow scouts Eagle Project and Erin and I would head to dance to pick up Lindy and Paige.

Bill dropped Kyle off at the project on the way to the post office so when he got out of his car alone, I knew we were in trouble! He and Kyle got ready to leave the house and Erin was no where around. It's not a quiet production to leave either, since you have to call the puppies and get them treats to go in their crates. The whole house hears it going on! But apparently Erin didn't hear a thing. When she didn't show up by the door, Bill assumed she had decided to leave with me.

The entire way home I kept thinking if I get pulled over for speeding, do I tell them why? That my 6 year old has been left at home, alone! Or is that going to get me in more trouble?

I fly in the door and Erin is sitting at the kitchen table, holding the phone and talking to Emma with one hand, typing on the computer with the other! No clue she was left, totally oblivious to being along. She thought Kyle was somewhere in the house. (Obviously we need a smaller house for safety sake).

When she found out she was alone she didn't freak out it was, "cool! I could have had a party!".

She has always been laid back, go with the flow. I guess that was good today otherwise we could have had a panicky, traumatized child from now on. Kyle asked her at dinner tonight what she would have done if there had been a fire in the house? She said "go out the back door and tell someone to call 911". Probably Emma!

That's What Friends Are For

Erin was really sad last night that she didn't get the part in the Sound of Music. She had lots of encouragement and positive comments of what a perfect Gretl she would be. But this morning she got up and said she was better and ready to try for another role! That's the life of an actress! Keep moving on until you find the right role.
As soon as we were done with school, Erin's BFF Emma, brought her a card. She knew that Erin was sad and really wanted to cheer her up. They had auditioned together and Emma was rooting for her when Erin made call backs.  It was so sweet when Emma showed up all bundled in her hat and mittens and didn't even take her coat off before she hugged Erin and gave her a card. It was so sweet and read "I didn't get the part too. Have a good time." How sweet is that?
Off they ran to have a good time, giggling and playing just like best friends. It was so sweet that Emma was so concerned about Erin and worried about her being sad. They take good care of each other and try to spend every available second together. They are there for all the happy things parties, holidays, and playtime. And now they are there for each other when they feel down. That's what friends are for.

Doing Your Best

Erin had call backs tonight for the Sound of Music and did great! She did her best but didn't get the role. She was definitely disappointed, she was very excited about the possibility! But she is proud of how she did and said she did her best and that is what it is all about.

The director was so sweet and told all the call backs that they should be really proud of themselves because getting called back is quite an accomplishment especially when they had so many girls try out.

She wants to be in a play so the search continues! Hopefully I find something that meets her criteria!

Good Job Erin! We are so proud of you! You did a great job!