Bay blades

Bay blades are huge in our house.....Matthew got them for Christmas but all of the kids love them.

Ella loved putting the easter eggs in them together, they had a battle!

Safety first!

The eggs were jumping out of the arena...what fun!

Easter

The Friday before Easter,the girls went to my parents house and made a bunny cake. They had SO much fun and look how cute it turned out!

On Saturday before Easter we attended the annual Eggstravaganza. The weather was amazing (!) and although I spent most of my time in charge of the cake walk, luckily we had a few pictures of kids with the Easter bunny :)

On Easter morning, the kids were excited to look for their baskets but Gabby, well, she didn't care at all :)

Gabby's house was invaded by Matthew's basket

He got some small dinosaurs and a car wash for his hot wheels.

Ella's basket was in the basement entertainment center. It was tough to find but she was excited to see there were crafts and a huge art kit.

Laney's was in the dining room hutch and in her basket was a craft and a charm bracelet.

Laney's new princess box

Happy Easter from our amazing kiddos!

The day before easter we went to an easter egg hunt at Horizon church.

As anything Horizon touches, it was so well organized and plenty of eggs for all.

Kids were allowed to find 10 eggs and then take them to the table for a goody bag.

What cake?

Mmmm....doesn't this cake from the cake I decorated look nice??

Nice on my face that is ;)

Peter Pan

My mom has been a fan of Cathy Rigby for years so when she heard Cathy Rigby was still Peter Pan and was coming into town, we had to get tickets. I remember Cathy from her commentaries of gymnastics and in the movie Peter Pan and I, too, was excited to go.

The girls watched the movie probably too many times in preparation for the night. Laney was excited to see the crocodile and Ella was excited to see Peter Pan fly. Both girls got their wish! The crocodile was adorable and Cathy flew right over our heads and even covered us with fairy dust. She was probably 8 feet right over our head. It was unreal. And since Cathy is in 60s, it is even more unreal as she was twirling and spinning all throughout the performance. She is in great shape!

It was kids night so before the show, the girls got to play games, make a pirate hat, make a wand, listen to Tinkerbell tell a story, have ice cream, play a trivia game and color. It was a lot of fun and really built  up the excitement for the show.

The illegal picture my mom snapped before she was told no pictures were allowed.

I am proud of you, Mom! Everybody needs a rebel in the family.

We were all so excited!

I thought it was great that for $25 you could buy  a poster (that supported Aids awareness cause that Cathy supports) and she would sign the poster. But since my mom already broke one rule tonight by taking a picture of the stage, she broke a rule again and asked Cathy to sign the Peter Pan CD.

Cathy said, "I am not supposed to sign these but I will." In true rebel form, my mom said, "I will block you signing that with my purse." Cathy was great, signed the poster and CD and posed for a few pictures.

 

I love Broadway shows and this was one of my favorites. Some of the songs were so well choreographed and the actors were great. Lots of flying, singing and sword fighting....can't be that right?

Thanks for taking us, Mom.....I hope you had half as much fun as we did!

Girl Scout Zoo Trip

Ella has been excited for this night for months....her first overnight outing as a Girl Scout.

They headed out at 5 PM to the zoo where they went to the nocturnal house, bird house and other indoor exhibits. They had a snack, learned some more and then were out around midnight.

Although the mom that was in charge of Ella said that Ella hit the wall around 11 and even though the other girls were so loud and running around, Ella curled up and went to bed. She is SO my girl...I was like that in college...lol

Ella and one of her best friends, Emma.

They were partners the whole field trip.

April, Ella's chaperon, sent me this pic saying that Ella was doing just fine :)

Basketball

Both girls played basketball this winter and both improved tremendously.

This was Laney's first attempt at basketball. The Kindergartners and 1st graders met Saturday AMs at 8:30 (early so we missed a few over the season..ooops). They worked on the basic skills with Laney's favorite being shooting. She did great and is quite good at basketball:)

Once in second grade, the girls get to start real games.

Although she was a bit nervous before the season started she did great and I was so proud of her improvement.

The first game was really comical as girls shot at the wrong basket, the amount of traveling and double dribbling was hysterical. Over the next 8 games the improvement was tremendous.

Ella scored in 3 of the games and her basic skills seemed quite good considering she had never played a game before. She was great at staying between her girl and the basket.

Playing Indian Hill.

Get her El!

After the 1st quarter she got a break.

Ella and Peyton Shoemaker.

Back in the game and passing it in.

The coach made sure each girl played every position.

The #1 position, or point guard, made me the most nervous but in true Ella fashion, she proved me wrong.

She dribbled the ball down the court and followed the play just like she was told to do.

If you give her a direction,she follows it to a T.

When told to go to the 3 point line,she goes there and won't move until you tell her to :)

Her first foul shots

Look at that form!

I mean really...look how cute they are!

Such a fun season and I look forward to many more basketball games :)

Father/Daughter Dance

Jason and the girls have been looking forward to the Father Daughter Square Dance for the past months.

I even treated the girls to cowboy boots (now if only I could find a pair for myself!!).

On Thursday, Jason came down with a terrible cold and couldn't even move.

He was so tired, stuffy and just plain sick.

I called my dad Friday AM and asked him if he would go. Once he found out it was a square dance he was excited to go. Although they missed Jason, they loved having my dad there!

Thank you so much, Grandpa, for taking us!

It was a great time and we had fun do-si-do-ing :)