A Day at the Pool

The girls & I got to spend a super hot summer day yesterday just the way it should be spent - at the pool! It was extra fun since Bayli got in for the first time! :) The girls have been so excited for her to get in the water. Our pool has a zero-entry area, so I just sat with her where the water was just a few inches deep, and she loved getting wet & splashing around. She wore her little UV suit and I actually managed to keep her from getting sunburned. None of the rest of us were so lucky! Ryann & Madi had fun swimming with friends & Madi went down the huge waterslides like 20 times! Afterwards, we all had an awesome lunch at the Thai restaurant. What a fun way to spend a summer day!

Do Paper Products Count as Solid Food??

Trust me, my child has ingested far more paper in the last month than actual food...

Summer Thoughts, New Developments & The Perfect Cookie

Ryann has to be at the pool for Swim Team at 8:00 am, 5 days a week. I never thought I'd say this, but I've actually enjoyed being up early this summer!! Summer mornings are so amazing - the heat hasn't set in yet, no one else is out, I roll down the windows in the van, the crisp, clean air smells of wet grass, the sky is bright blue and I love the feeling that a whole fun summer day is still ahead...

Now that I've gotten used to waking up at the crack of dawn to get Ryann to the pool (although, let's face it, there's no sleeping in with my chunky early bird anyway...), this week we've added summer dance. So on top of Ryann's 7 1/2 hours a week of swim team, she's doing 11 hours of dance. 11 hours - then our studio decided that the Ensemble girls could take any extra classes for free... That's when Ryann disappeared. She's pretty much living there now. I drop her off between 10:00 and 12:00, then go back to pick her up at 6:30. She now at 18+ hours and growing... Dance is her passion and this is a great opportunity to try everything - she's taking ballet, rhythm tap, 2 tap & jazz combos, lyrical & hip hop, plus assisting the new class of up & coming Pre-Jrs... Which brings me to our next new development. Madi & Skye were happy to skip dance this summer & just hang out & play like some kids do... Perfectly happy, until Madi heard that she was eligible to audition for the new Pre-Jr. Ensemble... Now Madi is dancing 4 days a week too. Ryann is there anyway, so she was invited to be an assistant for Madi's class. Both girls are excited for auditions in July - Ryann for Jr. Ensemble & Madi for Pre-Jrs. My relaxing summer schedule looks like this...

Here's my girls ready to go to dance. :)
You might think that during one of our little breaks in the day, I would be smart and stay home and relax, but you'd be wrong. We had a short break on Monday and were headed over to the pool when the thunderstorm rolled in. I felt bad for the girls so I decided to have a Cookie Day. I love to bake, but it makes me sad to admit that baking with my girls truly pushes my patience to the limit. A 30-minute job becomes a 2-hour job, full of "She got to put the eggs in! That's not fair!" and "Can I eat 44 chocolate chips, because she ate 44 chocolate chips!" and the dreaded but inevitable spilling of the perfectly-measured dry ingredients... All of these things are such a challenge for the anal-retentive mother. But I really wanted to do a fun activity with the girls, so Madi & I made a run to the store (for things I thought I already had when I made this suggestion) and we got started. We tried The Perfect Cookie recipe that I found on Mindi's blog - it was a huge hit! They were way too yummy! (Thanks Mindi!)

Here's the recipe:

CHOCOLATE OATMEAL COCONUT COOKIES
aka "The Perfect Cookie"
Source: Mystery Woman Barbara Boczany
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 1 c. brown sugar, packed
- 6 Tbsp. sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 c. flour
- 2 1/4 c. oats
- 1 1/2 c. coconut
- 12 oz semi-sweet mini chocolate chips (2 cups)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Beat butter and sugars at high speed until fluffy. Add eggs and beat until blended. Beat in vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Add flour and mix at low speed until blended. Stir in oats, coconut and chocolate. Arrange in 1/4 cup mounds about 3 inches apart on large buttered baking sheets. Pat down to 1/2 inch. Bake in upper oven, rotating occaionally, 15-18 minutes. Cool one minute. Transfer to cooling rack. For smaller cookies, adjust baking time...but they are great when they're BIG.

Seven Months Old

I can't believe it's been seven months since this most precious little angel arrived. I was lying next to her last night while she slept, just watching her breathing. I can't imagine anything more peaceful than watching a sleeping baby. I was so struck by how delicate she is and how lucky we are to have her. She's truly made my soul feel complete. I fell in love with these sweet pictures that I took this morning.

We love you Bayli Bella!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Breaking Video

My not-so-tiny one is so proud of her new trick!! Here she is doing her thing.

Instant Swimmer - Just Add Water

So fun! Today was Ryann's 2nd Swim Meet! We loaded the whole family up this morning at 8:00 am and headed out. It was way hotter than I expected, but we all had so much fun watching our girl! Ryann did awesome! She competed in 5 events - 50 yd. Freestyle, 50 yd. Breaststroke, 50 yd. Butterfly, 50 yd. Backstroke & 100 yd. IM. Freestyle is still her fastest, and she cut 10 seconds off her time today (41.72 seconds)! Way to go Baby! It was so fun watching her compete & cheering her (& Clairey) on! We loved hanging out with our friends, the Ruths, and Bayli even got a nice nap in her new little (much-needed!) shade tent.

Proof

Okay, I've been saying that my 6-month-old baby is growing up way too fast. She is in a big hurry to be a big girl. Here's the proof:

Last night, we went out for an awesome indian dinner with my sister-in-law and cute nephews. My Chunky Chunky is so active, wiggly & easily bored, that halfway through dinner, I thought - forget the germs, I'm setting her on the floor for a couple of minutes so I can eat... Bayli was so thrilled at her good fortune of breaking free - I sat her down on the carpet & gave her a toy and she was happy, happy, happy. Then I looked down to check on her and literally screamed when I saw her standing up holding onto my chair!! Aagh!!! When did she learn how to do that?? Here's a mediocre picture of the moment...

What's the big deal?

My internet research says... "many infants between 6 and 9 months will begin to bear weight on their feet and legs, and by 9 months or so, may even be able to pull to a stand while holding onto furniture." Uh huh.

My shock & sadness to see her growing up so fast aside, I do have to say Congratulations on that big milestone Baby! I think Mommy's in for a wild ride!

Bayli's Pictures!

I got Bayli's sweet Six-Month pictures back today. Here's some of my favorites...

Bathtime Bayli

My Chunky Monkey was due for a bath this morning. She loves to stand up, but it still surprised me that she managed to stand up hanging on to the tub all by herself for so long (she's only 6 months old!). I had to take a picture. Trust me, even this one doesn't do her chubby, chubby tree trunks justice...

gotta love that face!

Recital Night

The big recital on Friday was so awesome!! The girls really did great and all three had their best performances of the week. There really is something about dancing in front of 2,000 people that brings out their best! Ryann amazes me with her progress every year. She really is becoming such a beautiful dancer. Madi loves the spotlight and is always all smiles on stage, but she almost stole the show this year with her super-animated performance in Heaven Hop. She was awesome!! Skye was super adorable and her little buffaloes were so cute!! She did a great job remembering her routine and totally cracked me up when she started elbowing her friend Sofia in the ribs to get her to change her arms... So cute! It was an awesome night and make the other 364 days of running around like crazy totally worth it!

Way to Go Girls! You Rock!!!

Here's a few more pictures...

Ryann getting ready in her dressing room

Daddy & his girls with their flowers
All 3 girls in costume
Skye putting on her ballet shoes

Rehearsal Week!

This week is absolutely our busiest week of the year - Rehearsal Week! All three girls dance and their big recital is tonight! We're all so excited. We've spent 17 1/2 hours at the Pikes Peak Center this week rehearsing. Crazy! (Bayli, you are such a trooper!) In between, we also celebrated Mike's birthday (Happy Birthday Baby!) and welcomed the arrival of Bayli's 1st two teeth (why does my baby have to grow up so fast?). The girls are in a total of 12 dances tonight.

I had trouble getting a decent video for the blog, but yesterday at Dress Rehearsal, Madi recorded my favorite routine of Ryann's - her Pre-Jr. Ensemble Jazz. It's not the greatest & kind of blurry, but you get the idea... :) Ryann starts out as the last dancer on the right of the screen, spends most of the routine front & center, and ends as the last dancer on the left. She's amazing! All of my girls are doing so great - I'm so proud of all of you! Have fun tonight guys! I'm so excited!

My Six-Month-Old Babies

To celebrate Bayli's first 6 months of chubby, chubby cuteness, I took her to my favorite photographer this morning for a portrait. I did the same thing with Mad & Skye when they were six months old (I didn't know about this photographer when Ryann was a baby - so sad!). I think the shoot went well! I can't wait to see how the proofs turn out! Since I have to wait a week for Bayli's proofs, I thought it would be fun to post Madi's & Skyli's beautiful baby pictures...

Skylar

Madison
Ryann @ 6 months

Swim Meet

The last day of school was Friday, so, of course, Ryann had to start swim team on Monday. She's been wanting to do swim team since last summer, but we just couldn't squeeze it in between dance, gymnastics & school... I promised her that she could do it over the summer. So now we get to wake up every summer morning at 7:00 am (so wrong!) and she swims from 8:00 to 9:30.

Today she had her very first swim meet! I thought she did awesome for only having 2 days of practice! She swam in four events (all of which I missed!) - 50 yard Freestyle, 50 yard Backstroke, 50 yard Breaststroke and a 200 yard Medley Relay. Her best time was 51.9 seconds in the Freestyle. Way to go Baby!! I'm so proud of you!

School's Out!

Hooray!! We had our last day of school on Friday! Even though, it's officially summer break, I've actually been too busy to even post these pictures. How silly of me to think that life would settle down...

The last week of school was crazy busy and lots of fun! The highlights were Skye's Kindergarten Picnic and cute Graduation Certificate, Madi's Roman Day, Skye's field trip to the Zoo, Madi's Ice Cream Party & Ryann's End-of-Year Party (she's now an official Jr. High Student! Aagh!). Last week also brought a super tough decision to leave our beloved East Campus and make a transfer to TCA North. It will be a whole new adventure.

Here's a few fun pictures...

Skye & sweet Mrs. Putnam

My Kindergarten Graduate (& New First Grader!)

Roman Madi :)

Madi & 3rd Grade Friends


Skye & Kindergarten Friends at the Zoo


Mom & Bayli at the Zoo

(Bayli's 1st Zoo Trip!)

Bayli in the Stroller

Skye with Mrs. Putnam & Mrs. Milliron

Madi & Mrs. Durck (We love you!)

Ryann & Mrs. Bayer

My Sweet Girlies

Yucky Bananas

Believe it or not, my 18.5 lbs. of chunkalicious chubbiness is totally homegrown - just a breastfed baby that hasn't even started solids yet - at least not until tonight... None of my babies were ever too excited about solids, and my super-happy Chubby Chubby is obviously thriving, so I didn't see the need to complicate things. But her sisters have been so excited for her to start eating real food, so I decided to put our cute new highchair to use. I read that breastfed babies tend to prefer the sweeter flavor of banana as a first food, so we mashed one up and tried it out tonight with some pretty funny results... Check it out.

I'm guessing that banana's not her new favorite yet...