Caitlyn quote

"Kelsey, if you are going to do violent things, you need to remember that I am bigger than you."

Thanksgiving :)

We have a lot to be thankful for and it's always nice to be reminded of that. Thanksgiving Day, we enjoyed a family Thanksgiving, loving the gorgeous weather.

We are thankful for the girls' sweet Mamaw (with her eyes closed, but, oh well :-) And we're thankful for precious baby Brooklin. We hogged her as much as we could ;). She is sooooooo cute!
She didn't lack attention while we were there :)
Eight months old and still as friendly as can be.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we all remember to be thankful for those blessings year round!

We were glad to get to help celebrate the birthday of an old friend. Keegan, Peter, and Kelsey play so well together. He is such a sweet boy and a good friend. Peter is one month younger than Keegan, and they have known each other since they were babies :). Everyone had fun skating and scooting. Keegan said, "I was actually skating." :) (We only skate when someone has a party, so this is not a well-developed skill in my girls :-).

End of semester

Our co-op had end of the semester presentations, where different classes could show what they had been doing.

Kelsey's cool astronomy class put up planets on the wall. Their size was proportionally correct to this six foot sun. Pluto was just a small dot! They also launched rockets, erupted volcanoes, and made ice cream in this cool class.

Caitlyn playing a duet Kelsey singing with the elementary chorus

Caitlyn's sign language class, signing the song "God Has A Plan." Keegan had cool classes, too. They just didn't happen to do demonstrations at the program :). Keegan took writing, art, and PE, where, I might add, she was in the top percentile nationally for the number of sit-ups she did in one minute. Go, Keegs!

Keegan and Kelsey Quote

A wonderful family we know is expecting their 7th child. Every child's name starts with the letter "K."

Kelsey said, "I wonder if they will run out of "K" names?"

Keegan answered, "I think they will run out of children before they run out of names."

:)

Wordless Wednesday

Happy birthday, Caitlyn!!!!!!!

It's hard to believe my baby is 14!!!!!!!!! she is such a blessing to our family - sweet, kind, and thoughtful - all a mother could hope for.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAITLYN!!!!!!

Thirteen and a half years ago Age 3 (or barely 4)

And today (well, recently :-)

Kelsey Quote

Playing a card game, Kelsey said proudly, "I don't think anyone is going to be able to play until incredible me comes onto the scene!"

Our cup of tea

These people are precisely our cup of tea! The best part of a show is the people -

Angela, aka "Anna" - her first time in one of these productions and she earned the lea0 with her beautiful voice - the wonderful people involved in the show -

Lun Tah and our special friends and family who come and support the girls (including our wonderfully sweet church friends of whom I never seem to take a picture!)
Miss Marilyn is awesome! She is the amazing director behind all of this. She is positive, uplifting, patient, in-control, determined, and able to bring out the talent in every member of her casts. We adore her!!!!!!!!Miss Barbara - the sweet, talented, creative lady in charge of costumes. She always does a wonderful job!!!!!!The snowflake group :0)Caitlyn and her good buddy, Rayonna, who was a scientific dog. She has an awfully pretty smile for a ferocious scientific dog, doesn't she?These make-up folks turned Keegan and Kelsey white and Caitlyn tan and white! Our precious, adorable great-niece/cousin Brooklin stole the show the night she came :) She was so cute and well-behaved. The only problem with her visit was that she wanted her Mamaw instead of her Aunt Cindy when it was time to fall asleep :(. We loved seeing Mamaw, Aunt Lisa, and Uncle Marty, too, but didn't take their pictures :-).

The girls with Elizabeth, aka "Eliza," as in , "Run, Eliza, run. Run from Simon!" Elizabeth was the person we hoped would get cast as Eliza. She did, and did a wonderful job! With Caitlyn's oldest friend, Rebekah Lindsay - It worked out at the last minute for her to come to the show and spend the night with Caitlyn. We were so glad! Notice how dark Caitlyn's feet are? "Tanning" over 90 people took a lot of time and work!

There were many other special people, too (I know you thought I posted every single person there, but truly, I didn't ;-).

I can't believe it's over. Can't wait until next year.

Now on to birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, then the ballet!

Wordless Wednesday

Kelsey Quote

We are reading Little Women, and Kelsey is quite interested in Jo's rambunctiousness. After reading, "'I wish I hadn't smashed my coral bracelet, for you might have had it,' said Jo," Kelsey noted, "That's not unlike Jo, to smash her coral bracelet."

I love her little observations of the world :).

Dress rehearsal :-)

I have been so impressed by the costumes in this show. The seamstresses have done an amazing job. In addition to the great hats, there are tons of beautiful outfits, made primarily from recycled prom dresses. "Uncle Thomas" is actually a pretty blond dancer. She is unrecognizable in her short, brown wig and mask.
Yes, this pose again. I like it. :) And I am counting it as a different picture since they are in costumes. :)

The dancers are some of the only people who don't have to color their hair black - very convenient for me. Another reason to appreciate the hats ;). Keegy backstage in most of her costume. The snowflakes wear white, long-sleeved leotards and have white make-up on their hands, feet and faces. Everyone goes barefooted. The Small House of Uncle Thomas in the background

Little Topsy and the "one who is not happy," Eliza. Although she does look happy here :-)

Kelsey Quote

Me, "Girls, how can we have so many dirty clothes?"

Kelsey, "Because we wear them all."

Me, "Well, why do we do that?"

Kelsey, "So we aren't inappropriate."

:-)

Pumpkin party

Once again this year, we got to go to a pumpkin party and had a great time :)! All 3 girls chose cat designs for their pumpkins. Caitlyn's and Keegan's are faces and Kelsey's is a silhouette. (I thought that was pretty obvious, but Bill had trouble with it, so I thought I'd better specify :-)

Water park fun!!!!!!

We recently had a great adventure, taking Caitlyn, Keegan, Kelsey, and 3 of their friends to an indoor waterpark and overnight stay at the hotel there.

Keegan, Paige, Sophia, and Kelsey

Aren't they cute?It was so fun!!!!! Everyone was brave trying the slides. The Storm Chaser with it's 7 foot drop and huge funnel sides was the big favorite.

Rayonna and Caitlyn :)In the wave pool - love this picture of the 4 younger girls :) Kelsey on the bodyboard. The girls were so brave to try this tricky surfing ride!

I love her holding-her-breath face, again! Wheeeeeeeeee! - coming out of the Storm Chaser.

That is A LOT of steps to climb (70 to the lower slides and 91 to the higher ones,) and it feels like even more!

Under the giant dumping bucket :-)