Disney Cruise Part 1

My sister Kate flew up to join me for the opening night of BREAKING DAWN!!!

I know, sounds silly, but I needed an excuse to see her and we were both huge fans of the books when they came out! So we got dolled up, left the kiddos at home, and went to the theater for a big pre-show exclusive party and had an absolute blast!!!

Wish I had more pictures, but I don't.

Cam dog

Happy Birthday Cameron! We opened presents first thing in the morning...

Here are a few pics from Cameron's birthday (november 5th). He had his final soccer game, which they WON! Biggest rivals of the season and best game to watch! Cam topped it off with two goals (go cameron!) and lots of smiles!

He took a few friends to an indoor trampoline center, where he had a blast, and then came home and topped off his birthday night with a date with mom and dad, and two of his favorite friends, to RED LOBSTER!

Happy 4th Birthday Janie

Jane was SO cute on her birthday. Just saying she is four has helped her grow up a bit. She hasn't thrown as many fits, and when she does I remind her she is 4 and she snaps out of it much faster. She is such an angel girl, so loving to her sister (even when Paige could care less and pushes her away). She shares everything with Paige and just loves her brothers too. She will be my sweet girl who will always love hugs and snuggles. She was my greatest surprise after years of wanting a baby!

I think Paige enjoyed jane's birthday presents more than Jane did!

halloween

We had a great halloween. It seemed to NEVER END!!!

We had a birthday party for Jane Friday. A ward party on Saturday night. Break sunday. The boys dressed up for school on Monday for the Halloween parade. Jane had a party at preschool that day. Then we went trick-or-treating on Monday night. CANDY galore! It was aweful.

SO...once again the halloween goblin came to our house. Monday night after trick-or-treating the boys ate as much candy as they wanted, then picked out 10 pieces to save, and put the rest in a sac. The sac was no joke, 8 pounds! They traded it for a cool lego set I had gotten at a going out of business sale earlier this year and was saving for such an occasion! They were happy as could be, because it was a cool set, and I was absolutely thrilled!

The result: only one day of wrappers and candy eating before it was all gone, and then no more messes or popping candy round the clock! Well worth the money to me. Now what to do with the candy? Save the best ones for the christmas stockings (hey, why not?) and send the rest up to the office for the girls to eat over the next month or so.

Oh, and a side note: our friends had given us a hair dye for Cameron (he is Messi the soccer player who has shaggy black hair), and Braden INSISTED on his being black as well. So a few days before, Braden again INSISTED on being first, we dyed his hair. After seeing the results, Cam chickened out! Braden loves it. Seriously loves it. Cam used spray dye and he looked grey. Oh well. He wore a beenie. Now Braden has black hair, because it was a permanant dye. funny boy!

Paige

So my little paige is now 19 months. She is the cutest little thing ever. We all just eat her up!
Yesterday in the car I looked back at her in my mirror and she was nodding on and off for about 10 minutes, and then finally she closed her eyes for good....or so I thought. Not one minute later the song "if your happy and you know it" came on (paige's absolute favorite) and just like that her eyes popped open and she was laughing and singing and clapping! It was SO FUNNY!!! I had to turn off the music so that she would actually go back to sleep after that.

Love that happy girl!

A few days ago I had a sick day at home. I woke up feeling aweful, and before I knew it, I was best friends with my toilet... dry heaving and throwing up. It was painful and aweful. I don't know how women do it who throw up their whole pregnancy.

Anyways, I was sick, and I couldn't do anything to help the girls. So basically, all morning they walked around munching on cereal and destroying the house. I spent time on the couch and in my bed. At one point, I came down to check on them and found them like this:

(they were actually dancing on the table but when I got the camera out they sat down and said "cheese")

They were really cute. Until an hour later when Paige threw up all over my carpet. And then not so cute when a few hours later Jane started throwing up as well. Poor girl had it the worst, throwing up every 30 minutes for about 5 hours and in pain all throughout.

And actually, the reason I have all this time to blog tonight is because Tom is upstairs sick and I can't be around up there. There is a really nasty virus going around! Everyone I know is sick or has been sick or has sick kids! It's horrible! The weather turns cold and the sickness begins.

This year on the first day of school Jane was a crack up! She is starting preschool this year, so she felt like she was a school girl too! Tom always gives the kids a special blessing (prayer) before they start school every year, and this year Jane hopped right up and wanted her special blessing as well. It was so darling.

Then, on the first day of school she insisted on being in the picture with Cameron and Braden, and then wanted her own picture with each of them as well. She's growing up WAY too fast, that girl is!

proud moment

So Braden decided to do Cross country this year. It's a simple, fun way to exercise and it is just 45 minutes after school 4 days/week for one month. He's been such a trooper! First of all, he's doing soccer this fall and after one of the practices I was telling him how well he was doing, and he said, "mom, I'm not very fast. Do you think if I did cross country it would make me a faster runner?" I told him it absolutely would. So he signed up. He hasn't wanted to do it any other year so i was super surprised, and happy that he would take the initiative.

Every day he runs 4 laps, which is 2 miles, and every day he loves it!

During his timed miles, he got a 10:28 the first time, and then a 9:00 the second. I thought that was pretty decent for a 3rd grader. Well, the district cross country race was last week and man, was it a zoo. There were over 1000 runners from the district grades K-5. Braden had about 150 kids running his heat. He found his BFF, Jackson before the race started, and to my surprise, kept up with him the entire way! He ended up running around 7:40! That boy worked SO dang hard and ran his little heart out. I'm so proud of him for trying so hard and giving it his all. This was a HUGE step for him. Go Braden!

another funny

A couple days ago Tom had just gotten home from picking up some stuff for the boat. I went out in the garage to look at it and when I went to come back inside the door was locked. I knocked on it, and then banged on it, then got really mad. Tom went around to the front and opened it up for me. When we came in I couldn't figure out who had locked it and why!
Well, a few minutes later I noticed something fishy. The pantry door open. A stool slid up to the shelfs. A broken mason jar with apple butter all over the floor. Glass all around. Hmmmm.
I told Tom it must have been Jane.
I go upstairs and find her in her bed playing. She takes one look at me and starts sobbing. I tell her I cleaned it up and I'm not mad but she just keeps crying. When I can finally calm her down the first thing she asks is, "how did you get in?"

funny

So last Friday Tom's brother was over in Ellensburg for a concert thingy and so his mom and him kept on I-90 heading East to our place to hang for Friday night and watch the boys play soccer games on Saturday.
Cameron had a great game on Saturday, scoring 3 goals! After the game, we got a bite and then they were heading back on the road to get home. Before they left, Tom said to Cam, "Tell Johnny thanks for coming all the way over here and watching your game." Cam replied, "Your welcome Johnny. You usually have to PAY to see a game like that!"

punk! :)

I'm back...at least for today

I always have these high hopes for blogging/journaling and make lofty goals to do it, only to disappoint myself a few weeks later by totally and completely flopping!

Here goes try # 179.

We had a crazy summer, to say the very least. We were gone about every other week with a family reunion or something like that. I'm all about posting pictures, but tonight that seems very overwhelming. It's hard to catch up on a whole summer full of travels. So I'll do a brief re-cap, and then update the here and now.

June 4: Braden got baptized! What a great day for him. Very special. Grandpa and Grandma Dance came from Seattle. Thanks guys!

June 11: Moses Lake Triathlon and 10 K. Tom did the Tri, I did the 10K! We had a fun weekend in Moses lake with Tom's family! It was fun watching so many Dance family members cross the finish line. At the end of the race, the director told us to all sign up together next year and he'll give us a discount!

June 17: Over to Seattle to welcome Jake home from his mission! Welcome home Elder Dance! What a fun filled weekend, playing with cousins and just having a blast!

June 22: Drove BACK to Seattle where Tom and I flew out to SPAIN!!! Spent 10 days out of the country with some of our favorite Utah peeps! What a trip. My first time using a passport, and it was well worth it! Super fun trip with lots of memories.

4th of July: Got home from Europe just in time to spend the 4th in Seattle with our kiddos and Tom's family once again. Man, when it rains, it pours. Either feast or famine when it comes to seeing family. I prefer the feast!

July 16th: My first TRIATHLON! Very exciting for me. Thanks to my good friends who ran with me and kept me going! It was a great experience, and actually fun too!

End of July: Dance family reunion in Paris!!! well, paris, idaho that is. LOTS of driving - 9 hours down and 9 back, but well worth the memories of being with the Dance extended family. So fun to see all the cousins and spend time with everyone we haven't seen or connected with in so long.

2 weeks later: Back in the car for a trip to Utah for the Headlee family reunion. I won't lie, I was most excited for this trip! My parents got home from their mission the beginning of July and this was the first time we got to see them. THey finally got to meet Paige! I loved being with my family so much, and my kids were in heaven with their cousins (when Jane wasn't torturing some of them). What a fun week of adventures! I drove by myself down there, and Tom flew in for the last 3 days of the reunion.

2 weeks later: My birthday!! I'm 33...ugh! And, I flew out this day to New York to visit my grandma Edie. LONGEST. TRIP. EVER. but well worth it!!! So fun to see grandma, and my parents were there to top it off. Got to spend time with my sister in NY and her kids, and got to show my kids where I grew up! They haven't been there in a good 4 years so they have zero memories of the place. It was amazingly beautiful and one of the best trips of the summer!

Got home just in time for Labor Day and to get ready for school. WHEW! I'm tired just thinking about it all over again. I thought and thought about how I could have simplified my summer, once it was all over, and realized there was nothing I could have done. I wouldn't have missed any of the reunions, the homecoming, my europe get-away with tom (and NO kids) was extremely needed, and the time with my grandma priceless.
BUT with that being said, next summer we are staying in Coeur d'Alene and welcoming any visitors! We just got a boat so we'll spend next summer on the lake at home, not away!

"baby" Paige

Paige is growing up SO fast! She's already 15 months and I just want to freeze time and keep her exactly how she is! She is so dang fun and has so much personality. She is a complete spitfire and knows exactly what she wants all the time. She understands everything and is just so smart! I wish everyone could just see her and love her like I do!

Paige loves to color...on anything and everything! but how can you get angry at that cute face?

happy late easter!

not the greatest picture, but a picture none the less!