Amelia's Recital and Bear World!

We had a busy, busy, busy weekend! First, Amelia had her recital for her jazz dance class. She had a solo in one song and did PERFECT. She was "a little nervous, but then I just ignored the audience". It was completely packed so I don't know if she heard Cooper and I screaming her name, but people several rows around us knew we were proud of her!

She LOVES dancing and performing. She wants to try out for the competitive team, but I don't know if she can do that and still be in ballet, violin, church activities, etc.......I think she has some hard choices to make. Ah, to be so talented. Must be a burden!

We also squeezed in a visit to BearWorld this weekend before Amelia's practices. It was a nice, cool day and we had fun!

This guy ended up climbing onto the car behind us!

The bear cubs are always so cute!

This picture probably doesn't help Amelia with her fear of nature.........

Next up, Cooper's baptism and birthday party!

Birthday Wrap-up

Whew! We made it through birthday season at our house. Amelia and Cooper are one year older and wiser now, and we're moving on! Here's a few pictures of Cooper's day:

Cooper also had his second grade talent show. He chose to do gymnastics. We played a video of his last showcase, and then he did two tricks in person:

This doesn't look hard, but I tried it.......I do not have the abs of steel this boy does!

After turning 8, Cooper was also ready to begin scouts:

Not gonna lie.....it made me a little sad he is growing up so fast! But I'm so proud of the person he is becoming.

Although most of last week was about Cooper (Amelia had the same experience her birthday week) I wanted to post some pictures of both of them. We were walking into a gas station and Amelia and Cooper saw "the coolest thing"! It was this:

They thought having a phone OUTSIDE you could call someone on was the COOLEST thing ever!! And here I thought being able to carry a phone everywhere with you to call someone was neat.......

We also visited Nana and Grandpa. For his retirement gift from the credit union, the board gave Grandpa a chair that lifts up so he can get up and down easier. He was gracious enough to let Amelia and Cooper try it out about 5 times---then he wanted his turn. :-)

That's it for now. We will have recitals, a baptism, end of school activities, and SUMMER PARTYING coming up. Stay tuned!!

Know What's Great? Cooper's 8!

Cooper turned 8 years old today. He is full of charm, mischief, and outright fun. He is such a happy, thoughtful boy and I can't imagine life without him. There is never a dull moment around him and I love him more than words can say! He's been a charmer since birth, loves to never wear pants, and has a smile that is contagious. Happy birthday, Coop!

 

Amelia's Birthday and DARE Graduation

Amelia got to celebrate an entire day of getting whats she wanted. It started off with dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe. Luckily, Cooper had earned a free buffet so it wasn't too expensive:

Then we came home and had cake and ice cream (you'd think we couldn't fit anything else in after all that pizza, pasta, and dessert pizza--but we did)! Notice in this picture Amelia has her left hand on something.....

It's her new camera she got for her birthday! It came complete with a little tripod, so she took a picture of herself blowing out her candles. She's already taken about 100 pictures. I'll have to download them and post a few. Or fifty.

A few weeks ago she had her DARE graduation. It's a bigger deal than I thought, they had the student march in while a drum line was playing, the whole Rexburg police department, a few councilmen, etc. I really like the program and what it teaches students. Here Amelia is with her friend Mady:

With her certificate:

This is the guest speaker. He's a football player for the Philadelphia Falcons (?). He's a local, and signed autographs and took pictures for an hour and a half after the graduation was over. And we were the third to last in line. Yes, I love my daughter a great deal.

The rodeo queens MC'ed the whole thing. They were the bling-i-est rodeo anything I've ever seen.

It's been a fun, crazy few weeks and it won't be slowing down....Cooper's day to shine is coming up soon!