Family BBQ Time

We had visitors from Minnesota at Paula and Joe's house a couple weekends ago and got the Colorado family together for a BBQ in Louisville. It was so much fun! We arrived around 11:30am and didn't get home until 10pm. Of course the food is always so good at Paula and Joe's! Always start out with appetizers and move on to the main course. It was really hot out that day and Paula had a good idea to keep the kids busy; she bought them water balloons. We had no idea what the kids were doing on the side of the house until later. The "Plan" was to Get Dan. Joe, Paula and I were in the house and had locked poor Dan, Brad, and Alonda outside. The kids had a plan to corner Dan and made a circle around him and he was soaked when it was over. Don't worry though, Dan got a couple of them back by just running up and giving them a bear hug and their arms were full of water balloons. The kids had fun later having another water balloon fight amongst themselves. We did a lot of visiting and just watching the kids play and had a lawn golf tournament. It was a good way to spend a Saturday!

Dan and Adrian siting in the sun to get dry.

The Guys!
The Ladies!

Joe at the end of the night!

Definitely had a good time.

Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better!

Katelynn had her first Dance Recital a few weeks ago. Wow, I can't believe that she was in dance every Wednesday for an entire season, she did awesome. There were really only a few times that she said that maybe she didn't want to go to practice; she really loved it and having something of her own. I loved it too because I had 45 minutes to myself at the dance studio to read a book or talk to a friend. Dan and Junior got a lot of bonding in!

I was getting a little nervous a few weeks before the recital because she really didn't have the routine down very well. We started doing a little more practicing at home here and there and made Daddy be our audience. The night of dress rehearsal I don't think she realized that she would really be up on stage and in the lights! She was watching other classes go up and perform and she looked terrified. I could see the terror in her eyes, poor little thing. She got up there and her class really didn't know much of there dance. The night of her recital she was in the second half so she was able to sit in the audience with us and watch some of the other kids perform. We had Ashley and Adrian come and watch Junior for us so we didn't have to try and keep him quiet and entertained and boy were we glad we did. There was no way we could have done it there. Paula came up and watched with us too. What a joy! I took Katelynn back to the waiting area and bobbie pinned her hat on and took a few pictures and wished her good luck and back to my seat I went. It felt so weird leaving her back there with other people and then knowing I would be watching her up on stage. Her class was finally up and they had been moving them along pretty quickly, but Katelynn's class took a long time to get on stage. We still are unsure of which little kiddo was probably scared and didn't want to go on stage. Katelynn did such a good job. Honestly, compared to what I had seen at the last couple of classes, at home and the rehearsal I couldn't believe how much of the routine she remembered. It was like watching someone else. She did just awesome! We were so proud of her. Dan and I took her out for ice cream at Dairy Queen afterwards for an extra special treat. She was in her glory.

They danced to the song "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better". I will forever have that song imprinted in my brain now after hearing it every week over and over for 4 months.

This is right before I left to go back to my seat.

Doesn't she look like a little doll?!
Katelynn and Auntie Paula

2 very proud parents and one awesome little tap dancer!

One happy little ice cream eater.

Pool Time

Here is the happy little crew in their pool.

Time to Plant

The weekend after Mother's Day it was finally sunshiny and warm out. I refuse to plant my flowers every year until I can enjoy myself in shorts and a tank top and catch some rays. Dan gets jumpy every year and tries to pressure me to do it sooner; maybe one year he will learn.
This Saturday morning we were all up early and had a great breakfast and then at around 9am it was out the door and off to the green house to buy flowers. I didn't really have a very good plan together this year. The only item I knew that I would not leave without was a beautiful hanging basket. The place that we go to has the most beautiful baskets, although you will pay an arm and a leg for one, I had huge regrets all summer last year that I didn't splurge and buy one. We got to the place and got a cart and Katelynn and I went around picking flowers for around our trees and looked at the hanging baskets. Dan of course was on the hunt for vines yet again for our trellis; Junior was in tow and hopefully was enjoying all the bright colors. I think I could literally spend hours in this place looking and reading all the different flowers and how they grow. Dan started to rush me at the end and I hadn't had a good chance to determine what to put in my flower bed yet so I grabbed a couple of things and he paid (good man!) and off we were to have some fun in the sun in our back yard.
After Katelynn I planted the flowers around the trees and dug and cleaned out the flower bed I knew that I didn't get enough or exactly what I wanted and had more time to reflect on my flower bed. It was back to the green house we went; just her and I this time. I ended up finding another hanging basket that I liked better than the one I was rushed to pick and then picked up the rest of my flowers. Back at home we had a little picnic in the backyard and then it was time for Junior to take a nap. Dan and Katelynn ended up running to Ace Hardware for a few things and came home with a kiddie pool. Junior and Katelynn were pretty excited. It felt so good to spend the day outside and just enjoy our time.

Poor Dan, this will be his 3rd year trying to grow vines. Each year we try something different and they seem to do well, but don't come back the next year. The first year vines we put in were so damaged by hail they didn't do anything last year, but have a glimmer of hope of growing now after a year of recovery - time will tell.

Katelynn thinking she is going to hang from this little tree limb, she got the big "N-O" from me because daddy would have kicked her little behind!

Preschool Graduation video

Preschool Graduation

A few weeks ago Katelynn's preschool had a little graduation. Although Katelynn didn't "graduate" because she was part of the 3 year old class they did get to participate. They sang little songs on stage and then had to present a graduating preschooler with a carnation on the stage. She was pretty excited about it and it was so cute seeing her present the flower and then hold hands with the little boy and walk across the stage. We definitely could hear her singing her songs as well. I have a couple pictures that we took that night before hand and then a quick video of her on stage. We were sitting in the way back so we couldn't get any good pictures when they were singing.