First Dance Class, First Soccer game, & 5th Birthday for Maddox

 Maddox started ballet, or rather dance lessons as we call them, at the Family Museum a couple of weeks ago. She loves to dance and is excited to go each Wednesday afternoon. The company is very particular and have lots of basic rules related to respecting their own bodies, respecting the other classmates and respecting the teacher. I am thrilled to have her in this class. I think it will be great for her self esteem and her physical development and coordination.  

 While Maddox is busy in class Kennon and I get to roam around the museum and have a little solo time.  The museum is hardly busy at that time of the day so Kennon has a lot of the exhibits all to himself. After the class is over both kids love to play on the outdoor playground till I practically have to pry them from the equipment to get to the van to head home for the evening routine. I think it is going to be a fun year.  Maddox will have a dance recital at St. Ambros on May 30th!!  Mark your calendars!!  We'd love for you all to come and support her.  I'm super excited for her. We'll get to see the costumes in October, I believe. 

 I believe there are 10 girls in the class with one adult instructor and then a junior instructor. Great ratio!! 

Two Saturdays ago the kids started playing YMCA soccer.  Unfortunately they are on separate teams this year as the Y decided to divide up the boys from the girls. This was particularly difficult for Kennon to understand as he kept saying ' I want to play with Maddox' and also particularly straining on our Saturday morning schedule as the majority of the morning is eaten up with soccer games. But, so far both are transitioning to their new teams well. Maddox already scored a goal, a far improvement from last year, and Kennon is starting to hold his own on the field and get 'in the scrum' as Eric called it last week. Eric is sort of coaching for both teams which actually works out well as Maddox and Kennon both get individual attention from him when needed.  

The girl on the left is named Elyn and is one of my good running buddies' daughters. This is her first year and she is still building up her endurance as well as getting the hang of the game. Way to go Elyn!

Kennon in the middle with the ball during warm ups before the game. 

Congratulating the other team members….

You can see lots of Dads helping Maddox's team. She, including herself, has several timid girls on her team that need a little re enforcement from their dads…so it's Eric helping Maddox, Nathan helping Elyn, Parker's Dad helping Parker and Lauren's Dad helping Lauren…. and then occasionally KENNON runs onto the field hoping to hit a play or two!!  It is really quite comical watching it all go down.

With the cold burst of weather last week we have been taking advantage of the outdoors as much as possible as we know what is on the horizon. Maddox has been into her tea sets lately and wanted to have a tea party with Kennon outside.

We celebrated Maddox's birthday on Saturday, Frozen style.  We had a great time with family and friends and did all kinds of activities related to the movie Frozen. The kids painted with snow…. equal parts boiling water and Epsom salts.  It looks like you are painting with plain water but as it dries it turns into white ice crystals.  Then the kids decorated Elsa crowns and Sven antlers (  I didn't get any pictures of the boys with their antlers on but they were just so cute). Lastly we had a scavenger hunt with clues with lyrics from the Frozen soundtrack.  The kids did really well figuring out all the clues and running through the house trying to find their next one. I tried my hand at cake baking yet again.  This one proved to be a tad more difficult than Kennon's Little Einsteins Rocket….as it was much taller and generally a bigger cake and a lot more free handing with the butter cream. But, all in all I had a great time and I think it turned out well for a novice decorator.  Best part….it tasted so yummy!  We also had lots of Frozen food/snacks….Elsa's Ice Wands, Kristof's Blue Jello Ice Blocks, Hans and Ana's Snowflake sandwiches and Olaf string cheese. I think all the kids had a great time. 

Maddie, Maddox and Priya painting with 'snow'.

Maddie, Maddox and Priya with their moms and little brothers in the background.

I also found a recipe for these cute Olaf cupcakes.  I honestly bought the un-frosted chocolate cupcakes from HyVee just to cut down on my stress for the week and then made them into Olafs by using edible eye candies, Starbursts for the nose and black licorice for the hair.  Plus a big pile of white frosting for the head of the snowman. So fun!  

I"m not sure what Maddox is doing…possibly posing like her Elsa cake??

Grandma Jean bought Maddox this adorable dress to wear at her party. It was just perfect for the occasion and made her feel like a princess.  I think it'll be used again in Disney when we meet some of the 'real' princesses.  Thank you Grandma Jean.

The entire crew…Maddie, Carter, Kennon, Maddox, Priya…oh wait we are missing Reid…. !! 

I love Kennon's eyes in this picture….watching Carter reach out to swipe some frosting….. 

I think Kennon, Maddox and Priya are thinking…. 'I'm going to wait and see if you get away with that…and if you do I might just try it myself!!'……

Maddox got her first official pedicure/manicure set from Aunt Brooke. It came with Vanilla Frosting foot and hand cream, some buffers and nail filers and a pretty shade of purple polish. She and I did our toes and fingers together yesterday afternoon…..  and she had a ball.  She was showing off her slight lavender nails to everyone yesterday afternoon. You can see the excitement on her face when she opened it up.

Getting a little help from Priya and Maddie to open her new scooter from Papa Dick.

After the party festivities we headed outside to try out her new scooter. I love this picture of her in her party dress!! So cute. She was amazing coordinated with the scooter…but not surprising as she has been practicing on all the neighborhood kids' scooters all summer. 

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon so all the kids grabbed a riding toy and rode about the sidewalk.  

Uncle Tyler grabbed this picture!!  I think there are a few of these type of shots of me lying around. 

Getting a big hug from Papa Dick…. 

Sunday was actually my birthday. We all enjoyed a birthday lunch together before the Knowles family headed out of town. We dined in cute historic Leclaire at the Blue Iguana. 

Just a few tidbits about Maddox……

What is your favorite food?  Spaghetti and milk

Who is your best friend? 'Mommy……I love everybody…' 

What is your favorite color?  PINK

What do you want to be when you grown up? Cinderella

What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Ride my scooter…..new since Saturday :)

What is your favorite thing to do inside? Bake with Mommy

What is your favorite toy?  My Barbies

(I just looked back at her 4th birthday blog post and these answers are not all that far off of her 4 year old post… She wanted to be Cinderella or Tinkerbell that birthday too!)

Maddox has grown so much in the last year physically and emotionally. She is more outgoing but still on the sensitive side. She loves one on one time with either Eric or I and enjoys mothering her little brother.  The two of them fight like cats and dogs most days but then occasionally will play in harmony in the basement doing egg hunts or outside having races on their scooters and bikes.  Maddox has successfully mastered riding a bike with no training wheels this past year and she has become more coordinated running on the field with her fellow soccer players managing to dribble the ball at times, a significant growth. She LOVES to play with the big girls in the neighborhoods, loving their acceptance into their groups….(if only Mom would let her stay outside as late as the big girls. ) She would dance and sing through every meal if we let her and have the Frozen sound track on in the van every single trip!! She has a knack for singing, fairly regularly on key, and seems to be picking up the beat of the song indicating she is going to be musically inclined.  We are thrilled to see her growth in Christ and definitely see an improvement of her behavior and willingness to Obey on the days that she attends Church School.  She has moved from singing her prayer before dinner to actually praying to God asking for His help to be a better big sister and daughter.  Wow!  She continues to be a fabulous sleeper and still naps 1 to 2 hours…YES!! Really!  She seems to be sleeping even better in her big girl full size bed which is adorned with a pink butterfly duvet cover.  She is adjusting to going to preschool 5 mornings a week and is frequently asking for a 'break from school' in the morning but then comes home just as happy as a lark telling me all the fun things she got to do. We love you to the moon and back Maddox and look forward to seeing you grow in the coming year. 

River Bandits Game, Back to school, and Labor Day Celebrations

Last weekend The Planning Center rented a suite at the River Bandits game for it's annual summer get together.  The suite came complete with AIR CONDITIONING...which was rather important as it was the hottest day of the year, endless amounts of hamburgers, hot dogs, cotton candy, cookies, chips and dip, popcorn and a special one on one visit with Rascal the River Bandit's mascot.  The Planning Center family has lots of little kids...in fact Maddox is the oldest and it trickles down from there, various ages with the youngest being 9 months. We all had a great time. The kids got to ride the giant ferris wheel and jump in the bouncy house..and um er...watch the game??.... I have to be honest I didn't even watch the game!  The only downfall was the game started at 1:15...which was prime nap time. We exited about 3:45 with two very unhappy, hot, tired kids who were asleep in their car seats before we even left the parking lot ( note to self…..likely going to need a nap time break at Disney..!! )

Kennon getting a hug from Rascal...as Maddox looks on ( Maddox with her first official hair bun....she starts dance lessons on Wednesday so we thought we needed to start practicing)

The Planning Center kiddo gang...Graham ( the baby), Madison, Kennon, Maddox, Christopher, Mason..... we were only missing Lilly, Graham's big sister who is about the same age as Kennon…..and was home taking a nap…smart girl!

The much anticipated 'first day of school' came last Wednesday.  Both kids were happy to get ready, take pictures and hop in the car.  Unfortunately when we got there Maddox became a bit timid but with help from the teachers I was able to transition her to the routine of putting away her backpack/folder etc and start washing her hands. Kennon was happy to run into his classroom and barely waved goodbye to me!!  Both kids came home happy and were ready to go back the next day. I will say, Maddox is still adjusting to the fact that she is going EVERYday.  And then the Labor Holiday threw her off yesterday.  I have a sneaky suspicion when she starts Kindergarten next year, all day, she'll be wiped out.  Maddox requested braids for her first day and both were happy to finally wear those new shoes that have been sitting in their cubbies for a couple of weeks!!

I love this sad face...I think he was being silly.... significant contrast to the gigantic grin below.  He looks astonishingly old  with his collared shirt and backpack. 

So cute…big sis showing little brother where to go. 

We've made it a yearly tradition ( well two years in a row anyhow) to go out to the Orion Fall Festival the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.  We always eat at the Lions Club Food Tent ( I don't know what they put on their hamburgers...but they are so darn good...I probably don't want to know right??) and then the kids enjoy the perfectly sized rides for a 3 and 4 year old.  Lastly we meet two of my high school friends at the tractor filled parade.  Always a fun time.  This year the kids were 'old enough' to ride the little roller coaster. Last year Eric and I felt it was a tad too whiplashy..... but the kids LOVED it this year..which bodes well for Disney as we are slated to ride almost all of their roller coasters, with the exception of Space Mountain. The kids loved the dragon roller coaster that went really fast forwards and backwards. I only caught ONE little glimpse of fear on Maddox's face when they started to go backwards. But it was short lived because they both begged to use their last ticket on a second round of the coaster.  

 I love this one……look at Kennon's face…priceless….and Maddox looking down on his little brother…like 'whoa I better pick up my pace…on this stationary motorcycle!!'….Hah!!  LoL.  So cute. 

 Maddox laughing and having fun on her stationary cycle… Kennon digging deep and living the dream!! 

 Maddox -hands up- as she dives down the front side of the wheel. 

Look at those happy faces :)

Eric packed both Maddox and Kennon up in Sienna yesterday and headed south to Keokuk for a little Labor Day celebration. I stayed home to get some house details done in a significantly more efficient way than I normally am able to ( the freezer is full of meals :)  Eric's mom's house sold a few weeks ago and it closes next week.  She had some rose bushes that were just beautiful every year and we got the opportunity to bring three of them up to our yard.  Eric and his family dug up 3 for us, a red, a pink and a yellow. I'm hoping I'll be able to keep them going…never tried my hand at roses before.  In addition to the rose digging the kids got to enjoy in the Keokuk Labor Day parade.  Both Eric ( and I too) expected it to be much like the Orion parade, filled mostly with tractors and about 20 minutes long. But on the contrary..it was a fabulous parade, so Eric and the kids said. They came home with loads of candy, stuff animals, random little trinkets that I've honestly never seen given out at parades….like bozo noses…yes…you read that right..red bozo noses and little pretend plastic head sets!!  Crazy.  The kids love a good parade and this one had several bands too. Our niece Kelby, Bryan and Lori's daughter, is a drum majorette so they got to see her marching down the street leading the Keokuk high school band..way to go Kelby!!!  You can see as the pictures go along they were also handing out lots of stickers…bumper stickers that is. But, I"m sure there's no telling a 3 and 4 year old to 'not stick' a huge sticker!!  Note to self..need to check those shirts before they go in the washer.  After the parade fun the kids and Eric headed out to Aunt Lora ( Eric's sister) and husband Jim's house in the country for some fishing in their pond…or well maybe lake…I'm not quite sure what the appropriate term is.    The kids have really taken a likin' to fishing and this fishing trip proved to be just as fun as the last with Grandpa Jim.  Two broken rods and several blue gill and bass later and both kids are hooked ( not literally)…but Kennon has been casting his fishing pole in the driveway and yard since they got back yesterday afternoon. We stuck a piece of hubba bubba on the hook so as to avoid injury. So far he's only caught the crab apple tree :)  I can barely get him to come in from casting he is so addicted and actually getting really good at it. What a cool family day for the kids to have with Eric and the Keokuk clan.  

 ooooh….the beloved hubba bubba!!  Perfect for a fishing hook protector..or for a 14 second chew…!  

 Kennon looks like he's being dive bombed by candy here!!  Check out the sticker on Maddox's shirt…

 The sticker collection is growing!!..  I managed to do a cool new hairdo in Maddox's hair yesterday.  You can't see the back but it is like a side french braid and looked adorable.  I did another one today. So fun to try cool new styles with new bows I got at the Orion Fall Festival. 

 Fishing from the dock with Uncle Jim ( left) and Uncle Bryan ( right)….  The kids even got to go fishing from the boat!!! So cool 

 Maddox isn't looking so interested in this picture…but Eric said the kids had a great time and didn't really get too bored fishing!  I could probably find a similar picture of myself at that age, lying around in my photo archives. 

A fun Labor Day weekend had by all!