Dance recital...

Well we survived the first big dance recital this weekend...I think I was more tired than Maddie...All day rehearsal on Friday (thank God we only had to be there for a couple hours), then shows Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night. Maddie did great and really enjoyed it. It was fun. We had a good time with all the family who came to watch too.

A little robin decided to build her nest on the lights outside the back of our house... we found it this spring, and were about to take it down, when we noticed some baby birds in it last weekend.. It's been really fun to watch them and the momma bird. Yesterday we got to watch the last of the 3 fly out of the nest. What a cool science project! Now, to clean all the bird poop off our deck & house.....

The kids are out of daycare now for the summer as Chad has decided to forgo finding a different job for the summer in favor of being Mr. Mom... He did it last summer too, and has way more patience with them than I do. They have a lot of big activities planned and it should be fun.

Evan continues to change every day, and can now make several animal noises (my favorite is horse), and tells us where his belly, nose, and ears are. Hard to believe that he just started walking about 3 months ago, because now he runs, walks sideways, and backwards without any trouble. He still loves playing ball.

Madison is constantly wondering about the world, her latest fascination and constant question is "Why do birds live in trees?" She always can come up with a question that I don't begin to know the answer to. Usually the answer is "Because they just do." That's all I got...

Take care y'all....

Maddie was shopping for Avas this morning...she found one on sale!!!

Here's Ava riding in the swing at our house this weekend...already almost 1 year old!

Maddie got some new headbands this weekend & Evan just HAD to have one on too... (

She's onstage at the Friday night performance...

The outfit..

Here's Maddie at the dress rehearsal on Friday..

Our baby birds - mom bird built a nest on the lights on the back of our house.

Our kids in the wagon for the 3 mile walk in the cold.

Abby & Ryan with Ava at Walk America as we finish the walk.

And the swings...you can see Evan laughing his head off!

Evan loves going down the slide face first!

Maddie loves the playhouse

Here it is.... the new swingset

The kids in their NEW WAGON. They love going for walks while riding in here...

Chad coaching Maddie's soccer team..."Mean Green Fighting Machine"

Here's Maddie all geared up for her first soccer game...

New stuff...

Well, it was a big day for us today. We got a big new swingset/play system for the kids from Backyard Adventures and it was installed. What a blast! I have to admit I came home over my lunch today and went down the slide! The kids are having so much fun with it...

Maddie had her last soccer game last night. I'm not sure if she enjoyed it or not... She stuck it out though, which is more than I thought would happen after the first night. I think she's still a little young for organized activities.

Evan continues to be a monkey, and rapidly scales everything he can. Today he tried climbing our step ladder while we had it set up near the swingset. Luckily we turned around just as he missed a step, and caught him in the nick of time. He really is a little daredevil, I think he's too young to be scared of anything yet. It's awesome watching him learn things. He now says "Moo" when asked what a cow says, and says "bi-per" for diaper when you're changing him... Lately, he just started saying "Hi." It's a good thing God makes 'em so cute at this age, because it becomes a constant chase.

The big dance recital is the 20th & 21st. We'll see how Madison does with that. She's getting sick of dance lessons, and I don't know if she'll make it through 3 shows. Hopefully she'll get caught up in the fun. I'm really looking forward to it.

Well everyone, I'll try to post pics often on the site, let me know how you're doing!!!!