Happy Braces Day!! :)

April 20th, 2011

-the day Madi gets that mandatory teenage rite of passage... braces!

I can't say she was excited, but she remembered that Ryann got to have a fun day when she got her braces & my Mad totally made the most of that. :)

The fun started the day before, when I let her pick out a carmel apple from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory - a definite no-no once the braces go on... (Not that she regularly eats carmel apples or anything, but just the thought of not being allowed was enough to deem it necessary...)

yummy!

On the big day, I let her stay home from school all day long to celebrate.

Her orthodontist appointment was fairly early, but we had just enough time for a quick breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. :)

Her appointment went great, then she convinced me that she needed lunch from Red Robin before her teeth started hurting a lot... :) Like I said, she made the most of it...

But of course, I love any reason to celebrate, and love special days that I can celebrate one of the super sweet & beautiful girls I have been blessed with... :)

Loved this fun day.

Love this beautiful girl. :)

super cute BEFORE...

Just as beautiful AFTER... :)

Picture Week (Day Five...)

March 17th, 2011

Whew, we made it to the last day... :)

My beautiful Madi

Skye in her funky Musical Theater costume! So cute!

Picture Week (Day Four...)

March 15th, 2011

The most fun part of Picture Week today was that Bay came dressed up to take a picture with her big sisters, but first got to play with Sooz's cute new puppy Goop.

Needless to say, it was love at first sight... :)

Okay, down to business now...

I LOVE Skye's face in this picture! :)

Picture Week (Day Three...)

March 14th, 2011

One of my most favorites...

What a cool costume!

Mad & cute Kalyn dressed for Musical Theater (Jailhouse Rock this year!)


Ryann & Lauren, Pickpocket for Contemporary

Bay got a major hot chocolate mustache killing some time at Starbucks... :)

Picture Week (Day Two...)

March 12th, 2011

I love this picture of Madi & her sweet friend Lauren! This is Mad's first year in Lyrical - her favorite class & costume this year. :)

And this one of Ryann... So, so fun that she got her pointe shoes just in time for pictures!! She wasn't ready to dance in them quite yet, but she got to wear them in these pictures for Advanced Ballet.


Ryann & Breezie for Advanced Lyrical - these girls have been together such a long time!! :)

Invites

12 seemed like such a big number.

I had the cutest idea to make a collage of pictures of my birthday girl over the last 12 years...

Madi was just the cutest baby!

I had so much fun looking through all of her old pictures to find a few of my favorites, and letting my neglected scrapbooker loose.

I love the results.

And love this beautiful girl.

Happy Birthday Baby!!

Birthday Party

Slumber Party!!

the cutest invites, dancers, school friends, homemade Reeses Peanut Butter Cup cupcakes (the Birthday Girl's request), Boriello Brothers pizza, super cute presents, dancing in the basement, crazy amounts of noise, very, very little sleeping, one fun night

one happy, brand-new 12-year-old girl :)

Mad's Birthday, Family Style

Birthday Season is in full swing at our house!

Sunday, we had the whole family over to celebrate Madi's Big Day.

My favorite 12-year-old picked the menu -

pizza, soda & lemon cake.

My sweet Momma happily offered to make the cake & it was as delicious as a non-chocolate dessert can hope to be. :)

It disappeared pretty fast.

The best part was just having everyone together.

Love this fun family of ours

& so grateful to be able to spend days like this together...

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

One more party to go, then your sisters get a turn...

Happy Birthday Madi!!

It's so hard to believe that it's been 12 years since that crazy, rushed car ride to the hospital.

Ryann in her carseat in the front, Mike running red lights, my mom & my doula crammed in the back with me, in my face saying "Don't push!" - like I had any control over that anymore. :) My baby girl was on her way. And all I could think was "my baby's almost here!!"

My Madi arrived in an observation room before the Dr. did.

She was beautiful & perfect and I was completely thrilled.

Just like I am today.

So happy to be the momma to this beautiful, talented, loving, funny, big-hearted, sweet, affectionate, passionate girl of mine.

A big part of her birthday was also a gift to me, when we got to spend the afternoon together, just the two of us.

At noon, I picked her up from a sleepover (BFF Lauren has her birthday the day before Madi's!), then we went to Red Robin for a fun birthday lunch. Mad had been talking all week long about getting a chocolate milkshake. :) So that was the first thing on the agenda. She also made me order her burger (like always!) - meat, cheese & bun. I had a Gardenburger and so much fun listening to my most favorite 12-year-old.

After lunch, we both went out for pedicures.

So much fun!

Mad made me laugh because she is so crazyticklish that she got the giggles. :)

It was such a fun way to start the birthday celebrations!

After that, we came back home and Madi just hung out and watched Harry Potter 6 with me while I cooked her favorite dinner - Chicken Roll-Ups.

We waited for her daddy to come over, then did presents.

She was super thrilled to get a new cell phone with a touch screen.

Ryann made her a birthday message out of homemade sugar cookies & also some super cute flowers for her hair. Skye gave her the most thoughtful, beautiful birthday card that I've ever seen. Bay helped her open every single present.

After presents, Grandma & Grandpa came over for Madi's favorite dinner.

She didn't want a cake this year, what she really wanted was "Grandma Dew's Lemon Meringue Pie". My Mom is the sweetest, so of course, she happily obliged. :)

What a fun, fun day with my new 12-year-old girl and family.

A perfect day to be thankful for the presence of this sweet girl in our lives...

Happy 12th Birthday Mad!

Love you so much Baby Girl!!

Dance, Dessert & Dreams

Ryann onstage at Dance, Dessert & Dreams

I spend a lot of time (& money :) ) supporting my girls' dancing.

I'm happy to do it and feel so fortunate that I can.

But it is a lot. :) I'm just saying...

So I always jump at the chance to see them perform - that makes it all worth it!!

Dance, Dessert & Dreams was especially nice - Ryann & Madi both performing, a beautiful new theater and so many friends & family there to support them. :)

So, so proud of both of my beautiful dancers!

killing some time before the show at Starbucks...

I love, love, love these professional pictures I got online...

After the show:

We're so lucky to have their beautiful Grandma here for all their special days!

What an awesome show!

I loved every second of it! :)