Ladybug Picnic - Madison's First Dance Recital!

On Saturday, Madison performed in her first dance recital. She'd been taking ballet/tap classes since last August. We were all SO excited to see her on her big day!

Her first picture request was one with her brothers!!! This was the best we could get. Haha.

With Great Grandma and Great Grandpa

Carter wanted his picture, too!!!


 Grandpa Dave! I love this photo.

One of her on her own...

And of course...Carter...lol.


Grandma Tracy!

The three of us.

She wasn't too overly smiley for pictures after her performance because she was a little upset that she couldn't see us from the stage while she danced because it was so dark.

We all went out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings afterwards.

Here are a couple candid shots from picture day of M with some of the girls in her class.




And, I LOVE this photo courtesy of PhotoFROG.

Madison truly enjoyed dance class, and her teacher Miss Jenny. We are taking a break this summer, and will decide in a few weeks if she'd like to sign up for classes again for next year. She is growing up SO fast! I think I had my first dance recital around age 6, too. It's a lot of fun for me being a 'dance mom' now. :-)

Christmas Eve 2015 and Our Santa Picture

I'll just start this post with this lovely picture.


Tracy's office hosts a special picture night with Santa. Carter wanted nothing to do with Santa, so this was as close as he'd get.

For our family, it has always worked perfectly to celebrate the Christmas holiday all together since Josh's side celebrates on Christmas Eve, and mine on the 25th. This year was a little different because my brother and his wife were visiting, so of course they joined us on the 24th, and Josh's family is always more than welcoming!

Here are a few photos. I am not able to get as many photos as I used to since the littles keep me pretty busy.

Mommy and Madison!

Tracy came to our place first. She was making an ice-cream cake, and the kids were excited!

That's Carter cheesing it!

They loved their triple see-saw from Grandma!

Here's M with just a couple gifts from Grandma.

We all had a wonderful time at the Great Grandparents' home with everyone. We ate some yummy dinner and went to church. Then, back to open gifts!

M and Ava being goofy.

M with Ry'Niah.

Madison and her cousins!

Of course M left a note and a snack from Santa before heading to bed.

It really is magical to experience Christmas through your children's eyes. :-)

Kayaking!

Josh and Madison have been kayaking for a few years now. Josh was eager to get the boys out last summer. So, last Labor Day weekend, we went to West Lake and had a blast!

I'm just gonna post a ton of pictures. And, I'll be honest, I'm not sure which little guy between Cooper and Carter is in most of the pictures if the life jacket is covering their shirt. Whoops! I just know that all three took rides with Dad and had a blast!

This is Cooper!

I'm gonna go with Carter in this one now.

Tucker!

Carter, Madison, and Cooper

Madison did some fishing, too!

Aunt Wanda and Dave happened to show up for a bit, too!

Little cuties all had a blast! It was an awesome day! Tucker in red, Carter in orange, and Cooper in blue.

Josh has recently told me that he's waiting for M to be able to paddle her own, and then apparently I have to kayak, too, so we can each have one of the boys with us...we shall see.

Halloween 2015

Here are a few random photos from Halloween fun from last year.

Mama and Madison LOVE pumpkin donuts from Casey's! So excited when they become available!


The boys got mini-pumpkins during a HyVee trip.


We went to our first Halloween Party hosted by our good friends, The Wegeners. It was A BLAST!

Cuties!


We went to our favorite pumpkin patch with our family.




Here's Madison with her cousins, Drew, Ava, Maddison, and Alex. And, Josh and the boys are in the background!

I let the boys paint their pumpkins.
Cooper

Tucker

Carter

We also attending (and way to crowded event) at our local HyVee with our triplet friends (that are one year younger than the boys).

We went Trick-or-Treating in Durant. The weather was perfect!

We also went Trick-or-Treating in Blue Grass with our friends, The Schaefers (as we do every year). Both of our girls were Elsa. :)

This post is already giving me anxiety about costumes for this year's Halloween festivities. One of these day I'll get us all coordinated and super cute...maybe...