Circus Parade

"The Circus" was the theme of Adi's last dance recital in May (I know! I know! It's August and I'm sorry I'm just now posting these).  Her class was the circus marching band.  As you can see in the picture above...she was absolutely adorable in her costume!

  

She loved sitting on Mommy's counter and getting her make-up done!  She is such a girly girl!  Isn't she the cutest thing ever?? 

She loves to dance and sing all the time, all around the house, but she wasn't the biggest fan of actually LEARNING a dance to the music.  She would rather do her own moves as she pleases. :) This was her second semester in dance and her second recital.  We took a break over the summer and will probably skip dance this year.  We may put her back in it when she gets a little older.  Is that bad?  She is just 3 and she takes gymnastics and loves that!  So I thought we would just stick to that for a while. 

However, she does get cute costumes out of it! :) 

Hooray for School!

A few months ago I had blogged about Adi going to preschool.  I was so excited about a program that Amarillo High School offered that allowed children to get preschool experience at an affordable cost.  Well...that program is no longer available after 37 years!  BUMMER!  So, I made a few frantic phone calls last week to some churches around town to get information on Mother's Day Out/Preschool registration dates, costs, availability, etc.

She is now officially registered for the Summer and Fall sessions at Kingdom's Kids!  I'm so excited for her and I know she will have so much fun.  Her best friends, Noah and Kayt, are already enrolled there.  They were going to do the AHS program also and be in the same class together.  Now, they will be at the same school, but not the same class. We also know some other families who have their kids there and have heard nothing but positive comments!

She will be attending just one day a week during the summer.  They follow a VBS relaxed curriculum with lots and lots of fun activities! During the Fall it is more of a preschool, center-based curriculum.  They offer a writing program, computer time, and a basketball program for tots (not sure of the exact name)!


Now...on to my next goal for Adi...swimming lessons!

PARTY, PARTY, PARTY!!

Adilyn's 3rd Birthday party...Dora style!

The precious birthday girl.

Playing hard.

Made her wish and blew out her candles!

Opening presents is always a group effort!!

Her sweet friend, Noah, singing "Happy Birthday" to her.

He had practiced all morning!!! 

It's hard to believe she is already 3!! Before we know it, she will be 16. :(

She's 3

 Three years ago on March 21, 2007 my sweet little Adilyn Beth was born.

Time went by quickly and soon she was turning 1.

Last year she turned the big 2...

and now my little redhead is 3!!

I just want to freeze her and her sweet little self so she can't grow up anymore.

Her birthday party isn't until next weekend and we debated on telling her it was her birthday.  We didn't want to confuse her and get 100 questions about her party, cake, and presents.  But as the day arrived and a few morning hours passed, we decided we couldn't keep her from knowing!  We were excited and she had been asking for weeks, "Am I 3 yet?"  Daddy got her a Happy Meal for lunch and we took her to Chuck E. Cheese later.  Chuck E. Cheese is one of those places, could be at the top of the list, that parents dread going.  We definitely fall into that category of parents.  However, it was well worth it to see her little face light up with joy and excitement.

After she wore herself out playing games, we took her to ToysRUs and Target to shop!  

We came home with the following...

Watercolors!

(A new kid table with 4 little chairs for her to eat and play on.  We have been looking for one of these for a while now.  I'm kind of picky and didn't really want one with princesses, dora, etc on it.  Finally, we found this one!! Not sure she cared so much about this but Mommy was excited!)

New pajamas with princesses on the front and her own little pink lap top.  She says, "I'm working mom!" 

A musical set that includes the drum, bells, tambourine, shakers, etc.  Now we have our own little band in our house!  She has two friends that have a set like this and she has always enjoyed the drum!

And finally, her own golf clubs.  Daddy is starting early with her...training her to be his new golfing buddy!

And this is how Chloe celebrated most of the time...

One more thing that Adi got from us...

We gave it to her a few weeks early because we had to plan around weather, time and help in order to get this thing built. Daddy and Uncle Ryan worked hard for two days!

Happy 3rd Birthday sweet angel!  I love you and your sweet heart, funny personality, and the girl you are becoming! 

My Sweet Valentines

Our Valentine's Day was pretty calm.  Spending time as a family, at home, was nice! 

School and Friends

The time has come for my precious little "Red" to start preschool.  We registered Adi for the fall PELE program at Amarillo High School.  We will know for sure by April if she is definitely accepted into the class. Apparently they take applications and then choose a certain number of children to attend out of all the applicants.  However, they told Bradey that she was most likely in because of early registration.

I can't believe she will be 3 in March and starting preschool!  Time goes by way too fast and I just want to freeze her where she is, so that she can stay my little baby forever.  She is so excited though.  She went to Mother's Day Out for a while and had a blast.  She is a social butterfly and loves to play with other kids.  Even though I will probably cry, I am excited about having 3 afternoons every week to spend some one on one time with Chloe and get some things done.

Adi is also pumped that two of her best friends, Noah and Kayt, will be joining her at preschool.  The three of them play so well together and have so much fun.  

The three amigos

play music together - LOUDLY,

hangout at Starbucks together,

carpool together,

watch football games together,

and play at the park and feed ducks together!

Now they will get the opportunity to create more memories at preschool together!  One day, when they get older, we will look back at these pictures, laugh, cry, and cherish the memories as friends and parents.  How neat it will be!

Little Bumblebee

Adilyn just started dance in September at Amarillo College. To register for the class, your child must be 3 years old and potty trained. Adi is not yet 3, but at the time she was already potty trained. So, they went ahead and let us register. She was the youngest in her class and I wasn't real sure how she would do. It was a ballet/tap class so we had to go out and buy her first pair of tap shoes, ballet slippers, dance tights, leotards, and tutus. I, of course, was so excited to see her begin something like this. She looked adorable in her little tutus!

I enjoyed taking her every week to class and watched as she danced just like a little princess. All of AC dance classes put on a Christmas recital for the parents the first week of December. Adi's class was dressed as little bumblebees in Act 1 and then for Act 2 they were little snow princesses. It was a lot for a two year old to do all the rehearsals and three different performances but she did great and absolutely loved it! I wasn't sure that she would get out on the stage and actually perform but she sure did! It was hilarious and brought tears to my eyes. We will look back in a few years and remember her first dance recital and that is so precious to a Mommy's little heart.

Here are some pictures of our little ballerina!

This was at her first rehearsal. Right before we went in, she spilt chocolate milk all down the front of herself.

Cutest costume ever! She loves to try and pose.

My sweet snow princess. This was picture day!

After her recital! I love this pic!

I guess we will register her again for next semester at AC. She had too much fun. Can't wait to see what she will get to be in the next recital!

AND WE ARE PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE ARRIVAL OF OUR PRECIOUS CHLOE LAYNE! I WILL BE POSTING ALL THE DETAILS AND PICTURES VERY SOON I PROMISE!!

He's Not SCARY...

"He's not scary, he's just GREEN!"

That's what Adi tells us when we put in The Grinch Stole Christmas movie. For some reason she ask every time we put in a new movie, "Is this scary?" I'm not sure what she has seen that scared her, but she is very cautious now! I guess that is a good thing! It's so funny to listen to what comes out of her little two year old mouth.

We were playing ball the other day and she told me, "Mom, we have to be very careful not to hit Chloe or she will cry and not ever come to see me." She is so anxious to meet, hold, and play with her little sister.

I could make a list of all the silly, funny things she says but I won't. That's all for today!

We Don't Have to Live in Fear

I have to admit that recently I have been living in such fear regarding my precious Adi and Chloe. I have found myself worrying about something bad happening to them and it has caused fear to consume my mind. Kidnapping, drowning, car accident, injuries, diseases, sickness, or death have played in my mind as occupying their future. I know that is so heavy and I hate having those thoughts. I so badly want to have peace and know and believe that I don't have to live in fear.

While reading the first chapter of The Power of a Praying Parent, she touches on this fear that we have as parents.

"We don't have to pace the floor anxiously, biting our nails, gnawing our knuckles,

dreading the terrible twos or torturous teens. We don't have to live in fear of

what each new phase of development may bring, what dangers might be lurking

behind every corner. Nor do we have to be perfect parents."

- Stormie Omartian

Recently, the Holy Spirit has been convicting me about entrusting Adilyn and Chloe to Him. Bradey and I dedicated Adilyn to the Lord on May 4, 2008 through a service held at our church. But I had no idea at the time the true power of doing that and truly trusting the Lord. Ultimately our children belong to Him and we are their earthly parents who have been given authority over them. Just recently, I have realized I have not wholeheartedly given my children to the Lord or I would not be living in this fear. That has to be such a blow to God, basically saying He is not powerful enough to take care of them, the ones He has created and breathed life into. He wants so much more from us than a church dedication service. He wants us to continue giving our children to Him and entrusting them to Him on a daily basis.

So the challenges that I'm focusing on this week are: (encouraged within the book)

• to declare myself to be in full partnership with God.
• to believe that He will carry the heaviness of the burden and provide wisdom, power, protection, and ability far beyond myself
• that I will do my job to discipline, teach, nurture, and "train up a child in the way she should go" knowing that "when she is old, she will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).
• to depend on God to enable me to raise my girls properly, and He will see to it that their life is blessed.

My prayer this week is: as I cover them in prayer and release them into God's hands, that He would release my mind from particular concerns and overwhelming fears and replace it with truth, peace and comfort.

Just a warning, many of my blog entries from this point on will probably be related to this subject since this is the season I am in right now. This is my way of journaling what the Lord is doing in my heart. I hope you enjoy and are encouraged as well. I promise to also blog about other things going on in our life soon. So, I'm sorry if you get tired of hearing about becoming a praying parent!! :)

One Of My Favorite Memories

One of my favorite memories as a little girl is fishing with my Dad. This was something we did frequently when we were together. I remember going to dig up worms to take with us, learning to slide the worm onto the hook by myself, getting lessons on casting, holding the fish for the first time, and much more. I think I was even better than my Dad!

One of the last trips home to Rotan, Adi got to experience one of her first fishing expeditions. Bradey's parents have a tank by their house and we usually ride down to feed the fish.

This time we decided to let her catch some. This was so exciting for me because I would love for her to have memories of fishing with her Daddy like I do.

She wasn't real sure what to think about touching the slimy little thing. She eventually would let her Daddy place the fish in her hands and then she would throw it back into the water.

This was one of many fishing experiences I hope for her. I wish we had a place close to us that we could take her more often.

What are some of your favorite childhood memories that you hope for your children to experience?

TrIcK oR tReAt, SmElL mY fEeT...

GIVE ME SOMETHING GOOD TO EAT!

Another Halloween has come and gone and I absolutely can't believe this was Adi's 3rd year to experience Halloween festivities. Time goes by so fast!

Her first Halloween (2007) she was Nemo the fish! I know Nemo is a boy, but when I saw this costume, I just couldn't pass it up. We took her to St. Stephen UMC Fall Festival. Of course she couldn't do much at this point and had no idea what was going on around her. However, it was a fun beginning of a family tradition.

Her second Halloween (2008) she was a Squiggly Pig. For some odd reason people kept saying, "Oh look at that cute lamb!" Really??? Are lambs pink? Do they have a snout and curly tail? NO!!!!! Anyways, it was a cute costume and she looked adorable! We took her to SSUMC again and also to our church for their "Trunk-or-Treat" event. Nana and Granddad came up to Amarillo to join us and Adi had a blast with them while she got lots and lots of goodies.

And finally, her 3rd Halloween (2009) she was the prettiest princess of all! She got this 'Belle' princess dress at Disney World when we went last Christmas. Funny thing is, she has never seen the movie 'Beauty and the Beast' but she loves to dress up as a princess. The wig was my favorite part and I'm really not sure how I got her to keep it on.

This year was different because she had more knowledge of what Halloween was about and actually got to go 'Trick-or-Treating" with some of her friends. We still went to SSUMC and a couple of other festivals, but I think she had the most fun going door to door with her friends. I wasn't sure if she would actually say, "Trick-or-Treat" when strangers would open the door, but she did. Actually, she tried to go in a few of the houses to see their pets. She is a animal fanatic and when she saw that some had dogs or cats, she thought she should go and see them. So, we had to have a little chat about walking into strangers' homes.

When we returned home, we turned on our porch lights so she could hand out candy to some of the other trick-or-treaters. She had just as much fun handing out candy as she did getting it!

I love Halloween for some reason as a Mom. I enjoy finding her a cute costume and allowing her to experience the festivities that come along with Halloween. When I was little, I don't remember Halloween activities being a fun family tradition. I don't remember ever dressing up, carving pumpkins, or going to festivals. I'm sure I did, but it just wasn't a big deal to my family. So, I like creating family traditions that we can take part in each year. Hopefully, when Adi is older, she will remember these times of us as a family and also the memories she creates with friends.

I'm not sure who had more fun, me or her?!?!

Next year, we will have two little ones to dress up and experience all the fun!! Can't wait!

Little Miss Piggy

My parents came up to visit from Abilene on Friday, Halloween.  By the time they arrived, I had cleaned the house, done like 5 loads of laundry, got Adi and myself dressed, and took her outside to play and take pictures.  She is at the age where everything we do is so enjoyable.  I had her costume laid out all day waiting for the time to put it on.  I couldn't wait.  I was so excited.  Why?  Not real sure.  Later on in the evening, we went to St. Stephen's Fall Festival and ate some Frito pie and Adi walked around to the different rooms trick-or-treating.  The look on her face never changed the entire time.  She had no idea what was going on.  I'm sure she was thinking, "You dressed me in this silly costume and now I'm getting all kinds of candy from strangers!?"  But she looked adorable!  Although, apparently some folks don't know their animals because she was called a poodle and lamb all night.  Hello people!  Do you see the squiggly tail and pig nose? 

 So, then we went from there to our church, Hillside's Trunk or Treat!  There were so many people that the line to get in was ridiculously long!  Church members took their cars and put candy in the trunks, there was a hay maze, hot chocolate, music which Adi loved, and of course Elmo was even there.  I didn't think we would ever get to leave after she spotted Elmo.  If you don't know my daughter, then you don't know her obcession with this furry creature from Sesame Street!  She was terrified of him at first, but then she eventually was brave enough to sit in his lap for a picture. 

We had to tell her that Elmo had to go "night night" so she would let us make our way to the car.  We were all exhausted by the time we left and got home.  We had a big day ahead of us because we had tickets to the Tech game in Lubbock.  More on that adventure to come!