Catching up

So since I'm forcing myself to be better at this blogging stuff, I figured tonight it would be appropriate to kind of "catch up" so to speak on whats going on with us since I posted last.

I last posted in August!! Wow!

Since I posted school began and we started about our "New" normal and getting into a routine once again with Daddy gone. Emmalie and Thomas went back to school and the twins continued meeting with our AEA 2 times a month.

I have to admit this go around for deployment was much easier for the kids to adjust. But if most of you remember we were still pretty fresh off the last deployment.

We got settled into our new school and activities routines, Emmalie mostly activities wise. This year I chose to enroll her at InMotion Dance studio, We enjoyed dancing at the Y but I continued to feel as if she wasn't learning up to her potential, As uncoordinated as my daughter is she can definitely dance. (Which some how amazes me since I swear some days she can barely walk :) lol) Also my concern with her at the Y, I always felt as if I needed to stay, I hated to leave her unattended to wait for me to come pick her up (yes the Ymca is a save place for kids) but somehow I just didn't feel comfortable doing that. So I looked through information and class prices on each of the studios near us.

I chose InMotion, and I LOVE IT THERE! and we will definitely be returning for years to come. I feel comfortable there, my kids feel comfortable. I have no worries if I have to drop her off and leave her and the best part is SHE ENJOYS GOING! Every week she enjoys it! She has always enjoyed it in the past but I used to fight her to get around and go. That is no longer an issue. She loves her teaches and the friends she has made there.

This year she is doing Jazz/Tap, Ballet, and Competition Hip Hop (or Mini Company) We have been to two competitions so far the girls have done awesome.

Bravo was there first competition and the girls came home with a 3rd place trophy.

Our next competition was Celebrity competition, The girls got a 1st place (gold) for there routine they were 8 points away from a High gold! They also got a 3rd place overall trophy for Junior division!

We have 2 more competitions one in April and one in May. Looking forward to watching them dance some more!

Gracie (and mommy) are participating in Parent and Me Tumbling. She so enjoys going and playing, and all the attention the BIG girls give her while we are there. Gracie is there own personal baby doll. lol

We are looking forward to recital coming up in May.

The kids are doing well in school, We just had conferences and I had relatively good reports for both of them. We have alot of big changes to plan for NEXT year coming up with School. Emmalie will be a 2nd Grader! Wow! Thomas will be a kinder-gardener :( and Grace and Logan will get to attend preschool half days! What will I do with myself for half a day!!!

We have up coming meetings for both Thomas and Grace regarding school. I get to go with Thomas' teacher next week to check out the special eduction area. We have discussed here and there the "plan" for him. Right now he is in a integrated class for preschool. We are thinking that will not work for next year. As right now his special education teacher is his regular teacher too. So they are looking at what they call "level 2" Which basically means He will be in a special education class to focus on his needs but will participate with a regular class for all specials or events, snack, reading time and so on. I'm OK with that I want the best environment possible for Thomas at school. He loves school and does so well. So we are hoping the transition to kinder garden goes well.

Grace and Logan will get to attend the preschool Thomas currently goes to. Which isn't near as scary for (me as a mom) being we are very familiar with the programs and processes. Grace will be on an IEP (individualized education plan) for sure, for speech and general special education as you can tell she is lagging behind Logan in those areas.

All in all we are excited at the progress everyone is making in school areas and are looking forward to whats to come.

Now to rewind slightly (getting ahead of myself) We enjoyed a small vacation in November to visit Aaron before they actually left to go in country. Catch was we had to make it to him :( The trip was a long drive but the kids handled it well. Grandma Joyce came with us so I didn't have to drive alone.

We all had a blast! We celebrated Thomas' Birthday while we were there he turned the big 5! We hung out around the cabin we stayed at, went to the zoo, and down to Gulf port to the beach. We had a great time and was super hard to say goodbye again.

Holidays were super hard for me mostly I don't think the kids noticed all that much. We spent it with family and had a good time but just wasn't the same as always. We were super blessed with support tho. At thanksgiving we received a bunch of boxes of groceries from DMACC.

At Christmas DMACC took family photos for us to send to Aaron, they paid for all of us to get haircuts, and me and Emmalie to be styled as well to look our best for our pictures. They also Brought us Christmas presents clothes and toys for the kids, Gift cards and a few fun things for me. We were also chosen to receive presents from the National Guard. In which they got to much stuff to name! We were truly blessed this Holiday season.

Even yet it was still hard. We did get web cam with Aaron on Christmas Morning. The kids really enjoyed having daddy watch and showing him everything they opened.

So since then we have been trucking along passing the time with school and dance.

We are looking forward to MAY, Aaron will be home for his 15 Day leave. It will be a super busy time with school not out yet, and Dance recital. We are looking forward to having him home for a bit. Getting our Daddy fix, and hoping it holds us over through the summer til he arrives home to us save and sound.

I won't let this blogging get the best of me!

So for whatever reason I just can't seem to figure out how to keep this blog going. I think I need to start requiring myself to sit down every other day if not daily to write here.
I'm determined NOT to let this blogging get the best of me! I will conquer it, I enjoy reading others blogs, and want to be able to share the things going on around us and have a place to come back to in the future to remember those things.
I WILL conquer blogging and WILL NOT let it get the best of me :)

Thank goodness summer is ALMOST over :)

What more can I say than thank goodness summer is ALMOST over! I love my kiddos but this mommy is ready to have some sanity back.
Its been a super busy summer. Aaron was laid off for most of the summer which in alot of ways we were thankful for. It gave us lots of time with our Daddy before he left for another year of deployment. This time he is heading to Afganistan. It's scary as always, but we manage to deal with it well. We are confident that he will come home to us safe, sound and in one piece :)
I'm thankful for the family and friends we have around us, who are willing to help when needed without those people I couldn't do it.
I've been keeping pretty busy with the kids of course and also selling hairbows, tutus and more on the side. I really enjoy doing it. I just recently have been making hairbows for Khloe's benefit which was alot of fun to do and so rewarding knowing it is going to help her family in the process.

We are very much looking forward to school this year. Dispite all the changes with the school district. Emmalie will be in first grade this year. I can't believe she is that big. She will also be particiapting in Dance at InMotion this year. She will be doing Tap, Ballet and Jazz as usual and also be doing Tiny Company.
Thomas will be in Preschool once again this year. I look forward to the things he will do this year as he has done soo well over the summer.
Gracie and Logan well they are your typical two year olds looking for trouble. Logan is a stubborn, naughty little boy, who likes to climb and get into everything.
Gracie is alittle more laid back than that but has a very noticable attitude. She amazes me because she is total girlie girl in her dresses and hairbows but loves to play in the mud lol :)
She is going to be doing some dance at InMotion as well she will be doing Creative movement and Tiny Tots Tumbling. I'm hoping maybe it will help her be alittle less clumsy. We can hope right.
Things are busy as always but I don't think I would have it any other way. Keeps our minds going and busy from worrying about Daddy :)
We love you hunny and can't wait for this year to be over.

My Babies are getting sooo Big

Boy its been awhile since I posted last. Once again I must not be very good at this blogging stuff. lol Just gotta remember to get over here and post. Anyway! I took the kiddos out to Sunset Park Last week and did some Photos. They turned out fantastic. Here are just a few.

Love this Photo of all the Kids walking down the Railroad Tracks.

Here is Emmalie, I'm amazed at how big she is getting, Turning into a beautiful young lady. She is a good big sister and most of the time she is pretty helpful, (she has her days, lol) She is miss Social Butterfly and loves Dance, Gymnastics, and Softball.

My Beautiful Peanut, Gracie Sue. Words don't even describe Miss Grace, She has a personality all of her own. She can be the sweet little innocent little girl she looks like or she can be pure naughty and BIG Attitude. She has more Attitude in her pinkie toe than any of the kids! But we love her just the same. She is total Girlie girl loves her baby dolls, Dresses and getting dressed up and of course Mommy's hair bows.


Oh my Logan, Not sure there are words to describe this little boy. He is full of adventure and mischief, ornery in every way possible. He is very curious and into everything around him. But at the same time he is the sweetest little boy, Who loves his mommy. Total Mommas boy, He also has his sensitive side though.

Thomas! Well what can I say about Thomas. Very curious as well, But all Boy! He loves anything with wheels. Cars, Trucks, Trains...... He is doing amazing and loves school. And is really starting to come out of his shell with his speech. I am soo thankful every day for this little boy, who teaches me new things daily and opens your eyes to an amazing world.

Here is all four of my Cuties together.

What more can I say.

I love my Kiddos!

Summer is halfway over and school will be fastly approaching. We are looking forward to spending the next 3 1/2 weeks loving on our Daddy. On August 8th we will be saying good-bye for One more year. As he will be going over seas to Afghanistan this time. Although we are not looking forward to it, We know we can do it, We have some great support here with us. And we thank Daddy daily for what he does for our family.

Geesh where have I been???

Geesh! I haven't been on to blog in a long time. Its time to get started again. Things have been busy around our house. Aaron was working at TPI but is now currently laid off. But will be returning to go back overseas next month :( But we will make the best of it as we did before.
Emmalie and Thomas both had a great year at school and are doing sooo well. We are looking forward to next year can't believe Emmalie will be a 1st Grader!
I myself have started a new adventure. Itty Bitty Prettys! I have started making boutique style hairbows. Ribbon onesies and ruffle shirts and onesies. Bowholders and sooo much more. Its a blast I love being able to use my creative talents again. I used to do stuff like this all the time and now i get to do it and I totally love it and even make a little bit of money :)
Anyway I have a fan page on facebook, and just today started up a blog where I will post things as well for those who don't get on facebook but would still love to see what I'm doing.
Well anyway it is late and I'm sleepy now! lol Now just gotta get on here and post more lol :)

Emmalie Turns 6!

So last week my beautiful little baby turned 6. Although she isn't much of a baby any more and it shows. She is now a beautiful little young lady. It is so hard to believe six years have passed since she was born.
At 6 years old she is an amazing big sister and very protective of those little ones, Gracie has her big sissy wrapped around her finger and Emmalie loves to cart her around.
Very talkative and full of energy.
She loves dance. This year we took a big step and added another dance class so she is in tap, ballet, jazz and tumbling! It keeps her busy but she enjoys it.
She loves kindergarden, and seems to be excelling.
She is somewhat bossy but being the big sister and 6 its not unexpected.

I am so thankful and blessed to be able to say she is mine! What an amazing little girl! I love you Miss Emmalie Elisabeth JoAnn!

This kid gives me nightmares!

My kiddos have always being daring and adventurous, But I tell you what this little boy, gives me nightmares. For as shy and reserved of a little boy he is when unfamiliar people are around you would think I maybe had a chance to have a calm child. lol! Not so much. Mr. Logan Allen is determined to make mommy sweat!

Here a few pictures of his most recent adventures.