Valentine's weekend Brooklyn and I continued our yearly tradition of hitting the daddy daughter dance. A night out on the town with dinner, dancing and ice cream. Brooklyn has a group of friends who accompany us and this year Greg came with Addysen and Brynnley. As usual the night was a lot of fun and something that I will always remember as the years keep whisking by. It is something that Brooklyn and I look forward to every year and are glad that we have something like this to participate in.
Brooklyn and I ready to hit the town. As you can tell we are dressed to impress.
Brynnley, Brooklyn and Addysen getting ready to cut some serious rug. It took a little while for Brynnley to get warmed up but once she started, there was no stopping her.
Brooklyn and Addysen demonstrating some of the Justin Bieber moves. I felt sorry for Addysen because she wore some shoes with 2 or 3 inch heels and they could not have been comfortable at all. At least she will now know for next year and can wear something a little more comfortable.
Greg and I with the girls on our way home. It is nice because because they bring in a professional photographer to give everyone a picture together and then the girls each get a flower (or two) on the way out. It is really a great evening and something special that we look forward to every year. A couple of years and I will get to take both of my girls.
For Martin Luther King weekend I took the kids to go visit my grandparents in Indiana. Jennie had to stay for Church responsibilities but I like getting down to see them any time I can. It is so nice to be so close and have the means to head down there whenever they allow us. We also lucked out as we got snow the night before we went down and were able to spend some quality time on the hills with the sleds. Although it was a quick trip it is always good to see my grandparents. We are blessed that my grandfather is still alive and that he can get to know his great grandkids. He may not spend a lot of time playing or interacting with him but I am grateful that our kids have the opportunity to know their great grandfather.
It wouldn't be a trip to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's if there wasn't some type of present. My grandmother always seems to find the perfect gifts for the kids and it gives them something to do while they are there. They love to play in the basement but need other things to do as well.
Brooklyn on the bottom of the hill after one of her rides.
Maddux cruising down the hill. I don't know how he can see anything with his hat covering his eyes.
I think Nolan had the best time; at least until you see the next picture. He has the best facial expressions of anyone I have ever seen.
This is after an encounter with a tree. I got going so fast and didn't know what to do so he just hung on and ran right into the tree. His face slammed right up against the bark and left him with a little reminder. I will say that Nolan is one tough kid because after about a minute of crying he grabbed his sled and headed right back up the hill. I think the snow and cold may have numbed some of the feeling and he was more scared than anything. This picture is about 5 minutes after we got back. He was one wore out little boy.
Basketball season has also ended for Maddux and Brooklyn and now we will shift our focus to soccer, baseball and softball. Maddux will start playing in an indoor soccer league next week which transitions right into the regular league. Baseball will be right around the corner and Maddux will be one busy boy. Brooklyn will we playing in a Spring basketball league and then start soccer in April. Nolan just got done with his first session of swimming and will start karate next week. He will also play soccer in the Spring with the other kids. Times are going to be very busy and will only get busier as Payton gets older and the kids get into different things. I keep telling Brooklyn that she needs to hurry and grow up so she can start driving everyone all over the place. I only have pictures of Brooklyn playing basketball as I coach Maddux's team and Jennie is not one to take pictures.
Brooklyn sprinting down the floor to get back on offense. This may be the fastest that I have ever seen Brooklyn run however I do think the picture adds some speed on as well.
Brooklyn has started to get a little more aggressive and I do have proof. At the beginning of the year she really didn't want anything to do with the ball and would shy away. Towards the end she started to get into the game a little more and even scrapped with some of the other girls. Jennie believes there may be hope for her yet. She still has a long way to go but she is slowly making progress.
We couldn't have a six week update without a picture of Payton. She is getting so big and a blast to be around. She is the girl version of Nolan. A quick funny story from the other week about her. Jennie has slowly been trying to get Payton out of diapers but has had very little luck. She will wear her "big girls" every once in awhile and will sit on the toilet but doesn't do anything once on there. Well the other day we hear her calling for mommy and wasn't sure of where she was. Well we found her sitting on the toilet going poop. She had taken off her pants and diaper and got on the toilet all by herself. It was her first time and she couldn't wake to call Grandma to tell her the good news. Grandma has typically promised the kids a treat for the first time that they use the potty and Payton wanted to make sure that she collected on that promise. Her treat of choice; fruit snacks. We were very proud of her and hope to be out of diapers in the near future.
One last picture of Maddux, who just lost one of his front teeth last week. If it had only been the black one. We have been waiting for 4 years for that thing to fall out and it is still there.
Now that our computer situation is back up and running I promise to get back on the regular track with our blogging. We will be getting very busy and should have plenty to talk about. We hope that everyone is doing fine and will talk to you all later.
