MORP

MORP is backwards Prom. So it's relaxed. The kids usually just wear matching shirts or something fun like that. Silvio was excited he got asked by Lindy Lunt. 

This is what he found on his bed asking him to MORP. 

This is how Silvio answered Lindy. He took this to school to give to her. 

They had a fun date!

During the day they went with about 7 couples. They rode quads and razors up Taylor Canyon.  It for sure was memorable since Silvio rolled the quad with Lindy on the back!  YIKES!!

Thank goodness no one got hurt!

Cool shirts that they made. 

They had a fun day and a good time at the dance. I think Silvio is really enjoying all these "extra" things we do here with school in the United States. 

Renaissance Festival

We were excited to go to the Renaissance Festival this year and to have Silvio see what it was about made it extra fun!

The king and queen 

How these people tolerate wearing all those layers is beyond me!  Justin cried a few tears just looking at them.  He was hot in shorts and a t-shirt.....hahaha!

Grant was so excited to eat a turkey leg!  It is almost as big as his face!

The boys were happy to visit the Dragon Pet store!  They decided on 2 pet dragons!

Love these boys of mine!

Logan was pretty darn excited about his dragon.  Him and Hunter picked one out together.  Logan took it to school on lots of occasions to "play dragon."  I love his imagination and the age that he is.  He still wants to take toys to school, please don't grow up!

What a great daddy Justin is!

There are so pretty entertaining shows at the Renaissance Festival.  You just have to be careful because some of them can get inappropriate.  This was one of our favorites!

So great to be married to his guy!

Marriage is a lot of work but so worth it!

One thing we have found out this year is that half the "Italian" labeled things here in America do not actually exist in Italy!!!  Italian Icees being one of those things!

We loved to tease Silvio about all the American-Italian things.

We all enjoyed the icee in the orange peel!

Henna tattoos 

The boys and I all got a henna tattoo.  Nice skull Hunter man!

Logan went with an elk!

The jousting show was entertaining as always.

One of my favorite parts is all the yummy food!  I think we shared at least 3 of these chocolate dipped strawberry bowls.  We also had chocolate covered frozen cheesecake.  And yes that is an actual thing!  It was beyond good!

I love all the buildings and bridges!  It's fun to walk around and imagine actually living in that time era.

We enjoyed the bubble fairy in the tree.....all these little details adds to the fun.

I would never be one of these people but I think it's great that people get dressed up to come hang out at the Renaissance Festival.  These were some pirates we found.  They even let the boys hold their gun, which of course they thought was awesome!

This acrobatic act is very entertaining!  Ella wanted to join them and thought she should go on stage with them.

Oh Ella Jane loves shoulder rides!

This might have been the best year of Grant's life!  He got shoulder rides from Silvio anytime he wanted.  Silvio sure does spoil Mr. Grant! 

There are interesting people everywhere I tell ya!

Grant needed some dragon wings to complete his Renaissance experience!

All the food really is yummy!

We had a fun time together as a family so in my book it was a great day!

So Proud!

I am so proud of this awesome guy!

Logan was the first one in his class to pass off his multiplication facts 1-12.

His 3rd grade class room theme is Harry Potter this whole year.  His teacher, Mrs. Verdugo, made this special wand for the first person to pass off their mulipulcation facts.  Logan wanted the wand so bad!

I was so excited for him to earn it!

I have been really impressed with how fast he was able to learn them.  We didn't spend a whole lot of time practicing them and then boom he'd have some memorized.  Logan is such a smarty pants!

I loved watching his determination to earn that wand and then to see his excitement when he achieved it!  He is such a good kid and its so fun to be his mom!

Mrs. Verdugo told me that she has NEVER had a student learn their multiplication facts this early in the school year.  She told me how extremely proud she is of Logan and that this accomplishment is a HUGE deal.  They don't spend much time in class learning their facts, other then when they first learned how multiplication works and a daily multiplication paper.  But they don't spend time trying to memorize them.  So for Logan to pass them all off that fast is AWESOME!

I was even more proud of Logan after Mrs. Verdugo told me all that!

Logan is pretty proud of his wand and has taken it to school everyday for two weeks.  At recess they play like it is the most powerful wand in the world and him and his friends take turns playing with it!

Logan told me, "This wand is extra special because Mrs. Verdugo made it herself with A LOT OF LOVE, she told that class!"

They made it a huge deal and Mrs. Williams, the director of the school announced it to the whole school.  

WAY TO GO LOGAN!!

Great job putting your mind to something and sticking with it!  You are going to do amazing things in life I know it!! I love being your mom Logie Bear!

Hollywood Connection Dance Competition

It was a wonderful weekend of dance!  We stayed at the Renaissance hotel in downtown Phoenix so we could be right next to the convention/competition.  It the years past I stay at a cheap hotel a ways away from the convention center where this convention is.  but that means getting up much earlier and staying at the convention most of the time because I don't want to pay for parking twice.  Justin was sweet when I told him my dilemma he said just get a nice room close so I could have a relaxing weekend.  And that is just what I did!!!

Wendy Shupe and two of her girls stayed with us in our room.  It was a ton of fun!  Saturday we didn't even get out of bed till 3:00 in the afternoon.  Our girls got back from the convention and we were still in our pajamas laying on the beds.  Wendy and I had a wonderful therapy session........I cried, she cried, I vented, she vented and we both felt much better afterwards.

Kiersten loves her dance group!

Kiersten, Ashlynn, Destiny, Ryleigh, Alana, Kaitlyn (The girls in the green costumes)

It was great to have time with Kiersten!  She is GORGEOUS in every way!

Kiersten's group competed three dances....Shake It Off (Tap), Human (Lyrical) and Smile (Contemporary).  They got 2nd for Shake It Off and got 3rd for Human.  They danced amazing out there and really represented our little community beautifully!

I could not be prouder of Kiersten's work ethic!  She was THE ONLY GIRL out of the whole company that attended every class at the convention and danced the entire classes.  So many girls skipped to stay up in their rooms or sat to the side of the dance room because they just didn't want to dance.  I have explained to Kiersten on many occasions that I expect her to be at class and dance if she is coming to a convention.  They are expensive and I'm not paying for her to sit on the side of the room.  I don't care if Kiersten attends conventions but if she does she better be trying her best to learn whats being taught, even when it's super hard and the room is too packed with dancers.  I don't care the excuse, she needs to be dancing and learning or I've told her she won't be going to conventions.

You can talk to your kids about values and expectations you have for them but you never know if they are listening or really hearing what your saying.

When I walked in to the convention on the last day, Rena, one of Kiersten's dance teachers came up to me and explained how Kiersten was THE ONLY GIRL that danced the entire convention, in every single class.  Rena almost started to cry when she was telling me all about how proud she was of Kiersten.  She was disappointed in the other girls and how many classes they sat out or just skipped for no real reason.  But she was beaming with how much she appreciates Kirsten's work ethic.  Rena told me that next dance season she is going to give Kiersten a BIG SPOT LIGHT in a dance as a reward for Kiersten dancing the way she did this weekend!

It was a proud mom moment for sure!

We enjoyed some Cafe Rio before heading home!  It was such a fun weekend and we enjoyed our time with the Shupe girls as well.

When we got home Kiersten's bedroom door was decorated from her sweet brothers.

I'd say they missed her this weekend!

#feelingblessed #prouddancemom

There Are Some Perks.....

To having neighbors that haven't landscaped their yard yet! 

Grant enjoys their side weed yard way more then he would enjoy anything else they could have done with it! 

He even has a little track to ride his quad on!  It's a 5 year old boys paradise! The Smith's don't mind cause it helps keep their weeds down a tiny bit. So it's a win win situation! 

Getting Ready For the Responsibility of a POOL!!

Since our swimming pool is suppose to be build by Christmas we decided we should teach the kids CPR. 

Our friend Bradon Little, who is an EMT came to our house to teach us. I was glad to get refreshed as well. As they have changed some of the "rules" or recommendations since I was a lifeguard. 

It was great!

He had dumbies for us to practice on and everything. 

This kids really seemed to get in to it!

I hope it's something none of us ever have to use but it's best to be prepared. We plan to have a sign outside by our pool with step by step simple instructions  that we can refer to if need be. Living out in Pima we know it will take awhile for first responders to get to us in case of a drowning and we want to make sure we as a family have the knowledge and tools to increase the likelihood that the person survives. And we pray that a situation requiring CPR NEVER, EVER occurs at our pool! 

Thanks Bradon.