Ballet Observation Week

Twice a year our dance academy allows the parents to actually come in and watch.  It's a good thing they don't let parents come in regularly because whenever we do the girls are always so distracted.  Here are some pics of my adorable girls.

Ella is OBSESSED with tap.  She loves her shoes so much that she wears them home from dance each week and stomps her whole way inside.

Already getting measured for her recital costume that she'll wear in June.  I can tell you this much:  Lily has put on about 3 pounds in the last 3 years but has grown tall.  This 9 year-old is 63 pounds!  I can still carry her everywhere!

Stretching into a split

Hill Ridge Farms

Becca and Preston were in town for a few days and so we decided to visit Hill Ridge Farms since that sounded fun for all five kids ages 2-9.  

They loved this maze!  I'm pretty sure Ella would have been happy to do this the entire 3 hours we were there.  It was hard to get her to leave and see the other attractions.

Beautiful child.  His eyes match his shirt and hat.  

There was about a 10 minute wait to go down the giant slide and Colby is two which is self-explanatory.  So we took pictures to keep him happy.  I love this one.  He also took an up-close picture of my eye that completely creeps me out, so it's not on the blog.  You're welcome.

Skyler kept stealing the corn kernels from the corn pit to feed to the farm animals.  This was by far his favorite part of the day.  

Ella climbed on this pig and then realized she couldn't sit up and she was stuck in that position.  We had a good laugh about it.  Sorry, Ella!

Being the awesome uncle that he is, Preston put Skyler on his shoulders so that he could hand-feed the goats.  It was awesome!

We went on a hay ride to go and choose our pumpkins.  The kids noticed that there were 5 kids and 5 adults and so Lily suggested that we partner up.  My four were quick to choose between Becca, Preston, and my parents, and Colby, being two and not picking up on this stuff quickly, was stuck with me.  Poor little guy.

He was very particular about choosing his pumpkin.  He didn't want "a Daddy pumpkin or a Mommy pumpkin but a Baby pumpkin."  So after about 20 pumpkins he found the perfect one.

Thad's 4th Birthday

I gave Thad a lot of options for his birthday party this year.  It's his first birthday party ever and he was so excited.  I may have tried to convince him that we should just go out to see the Lego Ninjago movie with his buddies, but after Ella's Build-a-Bear party, he insisted on having his own.  And honestly, these parties are great.  I don't have to do anything, and I spend basically the same amount of money as when I come up with a party at home.  It's a win-win.

But we told the kids that next year, no one's getting a party.  Ha!  Just family celebrations.

I am greatly looking forward to the day when I tell Thad to smile and I get a natural smile in return.  But until then, I will just laugh at these crazy smiles I get instead.

Eli named his bear "Thad."  Awwww!

Cute little Colby.

Lily and Skyler knew they were the old kids and that they would have to wait and stuff their bears last.  They are so used to being patient.

:

Thaddeo received some pretty sweet gifts this year.  He finally got his own Lego's (he dies whenever the older kids get them).  He got some sweet cars, and we gave him his dream: a Chewbacca Nerf crossbow.

Because I spaced it and never got a picture of Ben's amazing R2-D2 cake and only have this video of its proof.  Ben is such an amazing dad.

Ella's Birthday

Ella chose to do a Build-a-Bear party this year.  Honestly, this is the first time we've ever not done the party ourselves and it was pretty amazing.  

We did it on a Friday night.  We drove through the world's worst thunderstorm to the mall where the girls had Chick-fil-a for dinner.  After dinner was done we headed out of the food court to Build-a-Bear.

The employee who hosted our party showed everyone all the many choices of stuffed animals they could choose from, but naturally every single girl went for the exact same bear.  I had to laugh about it.

Getting hearts for their bears...

... and bringing them to life.  Everyone got two hearts.  One to put in their bear, and one to give Ella's bear a birthday wish.  Awww!

Then they stuffed them.

Then they gave their bears baths...

Then they got to choose whatever outfit in the store they wanted.  I was happily surprised because I chose the second cheapest party package.  There were a few princess gowns, but my favorites are the boys: Boba Fett and Darth Vader.

Singing Happy Birthday to Ella.

That was seriously the cutest party I've ever seen.  It was so precious and I was pretty sure my mom and I were going to melt into a puddle the whole time.  Thank you Ella for choosing such a sweet party, and one that I did no work for.  :)