Congrats Aunt Nicole!!

Okay - so I am behind!! I guess we have been super busy and I am just now getting all caught up! 2 weeks ago, my youngest sister Nicole graduated from Nursing School!! We were not able to make the actual graduation as it was the same time as Claire's dress rehearsal for her recital, but we did attend the Pinning Ceremony the night before. So here are a bunch of pictures of the kids and the College Grad!!

The kids were all dressed up....so of course we took pictures =)!!

Owen reading the program at the Pinning Ceremony =)...Claire maybe a little bored??Daddy and Claire after the ceremony..Poppy and Owen...Our crew...Nicole and Aaron (Congratulations to Aaron too - he graduated that weekend too!)Nikki with the kidsUs with the graduate...Owen was done with pictures...Me, Tara, Nicole and Mom with ClaireAt Dinner that nightI had to throw this in - we had to leave late that night and drive home, in a storm! As well, I had to wet and roll Claire's hair before we left as her recital was the next day...she had 36 rollers in her hair!! She is such a trooper...Owen needed his pic taken too =).

Nicole - We are so proud of you!! You have such a bright future ahead of you! We are soooooo happy you are back home again and we cannot wait to crash at your new place =)!! Love you!!!!

Dancing Queen

Whew!! What a weekend!! Sorry I have been away for awhile. Our entire family was sick all last week =(. We had a bad stomach bug that would just NOT go away! But now, we are better, just exhausted from the busiest weekend!! This weekend was not only Claire's first ever Dance Recital, but my little sister Nicole's graduation. So we, and all of our family, have been running back and forth from here to Joplin all weekend!! I will post pictures of my baby sister, the College grad (OMG - I am getting old!!) later, but first I wanted to post all about my baby girl's dance recital!!!

To say that we are proud and thrilled to pieces with our little girl, is an understatement!! Last night was one of my proudest moments as a mother!! I won't lie, I cried and smiled through her entire performance!! What was even better, we were surrounded by all of our family that came out to see Claire in her dancing debut!! I bought 19 tickets, we took up almost 2 rows!! I grew up dancing all my life and had dreams of having a little girl that would love dancing as much as I did. So this was literally a dream come true for me and made me so happy to see that she was going to have this same interest as I did (and hopefully Bree too!).

Claire did so well with such a long day yesterday. We had to be at dress rehearsal 9am yesterday morning. This was her first time on stage and she did great! She came out and told me "I love the stage!" =). We were there all morning and then had to be back that night at 5. It made for a long day, but it was so much fun!! Her dance was called "The Sun Has Got It's Hat On" as the whole recital was themed "Fun in the Sun". Here are a tons of pictures of her before and after the recital. Of course, I did not get any pictures while on stage as it was not allowed, but I will try to get a video of her doing the dance out here soon. I know I am her mother, but I think she was the best (laugh at me Alyssa =)) and she did the whole dance, start to finish (even with a little girl a few down from her kicking off a tap shoe during the performance) and we were all soooo proud!!!!

Here she is all dolled up in tons of make up and her cute costume!

Dancing Queen and her pregnant Mama backstage - those brown eyes all done up and that outfit was WAY more than these pregnancy hormones could handle, I was a basket case!! I was pretty sure she would be fine and get out there and the be the star that she is =), but when I went to leave her backstage with her group and I told her "Good luck, we are all so proud of you!", those big dark eyes teared up and she started to cry!! She was nervous and need some calming down...I was losing it!!!! This is an exact reason why pregnant women should get at least ONE glass of wine!!!! =)

After the show - She had no idea that we all brought her flowers - when I say all, she received 8 bouquets of flowers!!! She was shocked and I love her expression in these photos!!!

Me giving her the cookie flowers Nicole left her - we were so sad that we had to miss Nicole's actual graduation that morning, but Nicole was so great and had no problem sharing her weekend with Claire! She even came back with everyone that night and came to see Claire perform and then drove back to Joplin for graduation festivities after Claire danced! We did not get a picture of her Claire - but we love you Nicole!!!

Proud parents!

Now all the family that came - Nonna and Poppy came...

Uncle Chad, Aunt Jennifer and Clayton and Caiden came!

Nana and Papa came...

G-pa and Brandi came...

Uncle Mitch and Aunt Brooke came...

Nina and Papa came...

Aunt Tara came...

One more picture with Mama...

Uncle Heath, Aunt Lane, and Sterling came...all the boy cousins and O did so great through a 2½ hour show!!

Poppy and Owen...

Proudest Daddy in the place...

Claire and her bestie Halle!

Claire almost passed out and Daddy carrying her and her MANY flowers!!!

I cannot thank all the family enough for coming out last night!! Claire told me on the way home "I cannot believe they all came to see me dance!". My family literally all went to Joplin Friday night for Nicole's Nursing Pinning Ceremony, back that night and then they all went to Graduation Saturday and made it back to Rogers for Claire's Recital. Yall are all the best family we could ever ask for or even dream of and we love you all so much!!! A big thanks to Tara for capturing all these amazing pictures for me, I know I can ALWAYS count on you!!

More posts to come soon!! I promise I will catch up on all of yall soon!!!!

Mother's Day - with the girls!

Hope you had a great Mother's Day weekend!! Holiday weekends are always crazy for us, but as I always say, we would not have it any other way!!!

Nicole came home this weekend so we were able to spend a lot of time with her. Friday night, Mom and Jake, and Nicole and Aaron came over for pizza. Then Saturday, Shane and Jake painted Bree's room while, me, Mom, Nicole and the kids went to lunch and to find Nicole an apartment! (Tara was partying up in LR and then moving, so she did not get to come along). We found Nicole an awesome, really nice place just down the road from us! We are so excited to have her back home again!! She moves back in 2 weeks. Claire can't wait to spend the night at Nicole's "house" just like she does with Tara. Speaking of Tara, she moved this weekend too and she has a fabulous place!! Mom and I are loving all these new "projects" that are going on!!! Shane and Jake finished Bree's room that night and it is absolutely perfect!! I am not going to put any pictures up yet as I want to wait to move further along with the plans, but I will tell you it is the prettiest shade of turquoise!!! It made everything so real to see her room going!

Then Sunday night, about 3am, Owen woke up with what I refer to as "The fever cry". I knew from hearing him, he was sick! I laid down with him and he then proceeded to throw up..then I threw up!! Yes, being pregnant was not a good thing when you are trying to console a puking 2 year old!! So, Shane and I were up with him up and down for the rest of the night. I finally got a couple hours of sleep in and was able to take Claire to church and our Mother's Day lunch with both families. Shane stayed home with a sick O, that was sooooo upset that he could not go. He is better today, but still not 100%. We feel so bad for him as he kind of paces around, unsure if he wants to lay down or play =(.

Just me and Claire, had a great lunch with the family yesterday. Then we went to the mall with the girls and then we went to get pedicures!! That night we spent with my Mom's side of the family. It was a great day, even though we missed Shane and Owen. Here are a bunch of pictures from our Mother's Day!!

Me and Claire on our way to church...her dress was made by the ever so talented Danna!!

Owen did not quite fully understand he was sick and was furious that he was not going with us...he knows the picture drill and did not understand why he was being left out =(. So here they both are on Mother's Day morning.We went to Shogun for lunch and Claire DID NOT like the Hibachi grill, specifically the fire. She hid under the table until she knew they were done =)...Claire with Tara and Nicole
Claire and NonnaMe and Claire againClaire posing with everyone!Me and Claire with my Mom!Me and Claire (and Clayton and Caiden =)) with Becky, Shane's Mom!Off to get pedicures!!I could not have a Mother's Day post without a pic with the O-man!! This is him this afternoon, finally feeling a little better! Claire was the photog =)Oh yeah and the goods - Shane had Mom make me some goodies for Mother's Day and oh my did she!!! She made the most fabulous canvas and box to match for my office!! Here is a picture from her blog - you should totally go check her out!!!