Bike Rodeo 2015

Today was the kids' bike rodeo at school.  We spent a little bit of time at home setting up cones and practicing our bike riding last week--even though these girls are already excellent riders.

Isn't Maryn's bike the cutest? Its even cuter when she's on it, riding it down the street.

She did very well this year!

Those cones are tricky!

Ailee has a hidden competitive streak.  She practiced hard...

...and did very well, too.

I love the kids' school and that they do fun stuff like this for the kids.  I know it takes a lot of work and volunteers, but the kids seem to really look forward to this day!

Procrastinating

Sometimes you just have to stop folding laundry and do this with your 4 year old.

A Day of Universal Studios

We all have good days and bad days.

But sometimes you have the Best.Day.Ever.

Can you guess where we are?

Maryn found out early on that we were planning a trip to Disney World, so I wanted her to have a little surprise of her own. 

So she got Harry Potter World in Universal Studios!

We woke her up and revealed the special day by handing her this Harry Potter t-shirt.  She figured it out pretty quickly.  

We were all pretty impressed with the detail that they put into creating Harry Potter World.  It was amazing.  All the shops and buildings were just as they were in the movie. 

I think Olivander's was our favorite shop to go in to.  Maryn was picked to be part of Olivander's presentation.  Just like in the movie, a wand chose her.  It was a magical experience that I hope she never forgets.  And of course we had to buy wands for everyone.  

Standing outside of Hogwarts

The city was pretty spectacular!

The dragon on top of Gringotts even spewed fire.

Waiting for the train at the station with Hedwig:

The train ride was pretty fun.  I was so glad we took it both ways because there was a different show each way. 

I wonder if we could get this bus to take the kids to school every day...

After Harry Potter World, we walked around the rest of Universal Studios.

Cora found Scooby Doo.

Lucky Dog!

And we happened upon Doc Brown and his time machine.  

Where do they sell flux capacitors??

Kade found Springfield and stopped in at some of the local venues.

We even had time for a few of the shows.

And a little Dr. Suess.

It was a great day at Universal Studios! Definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Orlando!

A New School Year

At the end of August, school finally started for Maryn and Ailee.  

Maryn is in 5th grade, and seems so grown up.  I will hold onto this year for as long as I can...I'm not sure if I'll be ready to send her off to Middle School next year!

Ailee is in 2nd grade.  She has a great teacher who has some great philosophies about teaching children.  

I loved it when she came home with this:

Maybe she'll still be living with us at age 25, but at least she will have a sweet ride!

I had to get one of these two together...it will be the last school year that they are together until Ailee starts her Freshman year of High School.

 Cora also started preschool.  She has been so excited, and loves going to school twice a week.  She started reading very well over the summer--she is so bright and loving.  We are so proud of her!

We hope that this is the best school year, yet!

Another Project...Done

For a really long time, I've been wanting to make a table.  But for a really long time, we've been renters, and I knew that within a few years, we'd be moving.  Well, as it got closer and closer to our move into our new home, I started to get the itch to do a big project, so I decided that I didn't want our ugly old table in our pretty new house.  I managed to get the table top put together, but not much more than that before we moved.  Then, life got a little bit crazy, so the big project had to take a break.  I finally made myself find some time, and I took a few weeks to complete this project that was hanging over my head.  It was A LOT of work!  But it's done...and I love it!!

It's a pretty addition to our pretty new house!