Free Range Family

I just have to take a moment to say that I have THE BEST group of hip hop students ever! They rocked last night's dress rehearsal like it was no body's business! I am such a proud teacher right now! This recital will be so awesome! Shopping with Aunt Sam was quite a feat with Alan and Anna but we still managed to have a good time. And I spent my own money on my first piece of clothing since BEFORE I had my children lol. I felt really guilty about it at the time lol, but I had to get a nice dress or something to wear for the recital Saturday. I didn't have anything nice to wear except for skirts I have owned since highschool and I am honestly tired of matching them with one of my boring tops. I was excited to go shopping at Ross because I love their reduced prices and their clothing too! I found a very cute strapless top thats black with blues, reds and yellows. It fits my students' first dance costume soooooooooo perfectly! They are supposed to wear primary colors

Today is the big day for me! Well kinda lol, today is my dress rehearsal for the dance showcase this Saturday. My kids will be in full costume for their dances and I am excited to see how it all looks. I am very anxious but excited too! We will see how it goes! :) The kids and I are going shopping today with Aunt Sam. The kids are excited, we should have a lot of fun with her! I don't have any extra cash lol, but I might try to get Aunt Natalie her birthday present at some point. With her birthday coming up this weekend, I am running out of time to get her something lol. I also have to get Alan's glasses fixed. Crazy man has officially broken his glasses for the first time lol! :) Oh well, at least it was just one of the ear pieces. This morning, Anna surprised us all by pulling herself up on the ottomon! We had just had her standing up with us holding her for a bit, and Lon set her down on the floor to play while he got ready for work. Miss Anna army crawled over to the ott

But I felt like it today lol! Just for fun and because I am a little bored lol. Both kids are napping at the same time! I am so awesome, although I'm not sure if its such a feat anymore. Its the little accomplishments... Aunt Natalie is officially in her third trimester! Yay Aunt Nat! We all cannot wait to meet Baby B! Her baby shower is a week away from today, I am almost ready for it. I am not sure if my family is though lol, this will be a totally different baby shower than all mine have been. But its for Aunt Natalie, so of couse its going to be different from mine! :) I think that all my little ideas for the dino stuff will be super cutsy! Friday we met up with Heather and the girls at Veteran's Park. It has been sooooooo very nice out the past few days, very horribly windy but nice. I cannot complain. Alan chased Tatum around the playground, then he swung on the swingset with the girls. He is getting more and more into swinging, which I think is cool. I used to just

We have not had TOO much going on lately, except for all the exciting car stuff and my dance showcase preperation. Other than though, we are just living life and loving it. Life has started working in our favor again, one may say lol, things are getting figured out. After almost two months of waiting, we have figured out Lon's poor Caddy. The other insurance company claimed full liability for the accident and earlier this week the car was picked up and taken to a local body shop. They later got back a hold of us and told us it was declared totaled, so we will have go through whatever process that entails but at least its been handled. We also got a rental for a week, which has been soooooooooooooo helpful for us! Its a newer Ford Explorer. I have to say that its one of the nicest vehicles I have ever driven with the back up cameras, phone sync, and the super comfy heated seats. Only 136 days until Alan starts hip hop. I was going to just put him in gymnastics again in the fal

For our anniversary, I wanted to go somewhere new, exoctic and fun for dinner. We could not think of anywhere to go but after a bit, I decided to take Lon to one of my old favorites Bruno's Italian. Unfortunately, we got there way too late. They close around like 7 or 8, I totally forgot! Luckily, there was an Asian Sea Grill right next door! The perfect idea! We ordered salmon sushi for appetizers and a different udon noodle meal for each of us. Lon also ordered himself a Topeko sushi and four different types of sake. We definitely were adventurous with our dinner lol! The four types of sake Lon had were: Tozai Typhoon, Snow Maiden, Star Filled Sky, Tears of Dawn. The Snow Maiden was the coolest, it was very white while the rest were mostly clear. Lon drank all four in a very short time, yet says he did not feel much of anything lol. I got BOMBED the one time I tried sake and learned my lesson lol, so I could not believe that! :P But he enjoyed them very much!   Our f

Two years ago, on a beautiful new spring day, Lon and I stood in front of our loved ones and joined hands in marriage. I promised to love him and always be there for him, plus we had some laughs in there too. It would not have been our wedding without it lol. :) 4.5 years of dating, 2 years of marriage, 6 different houses, 4 different vehicles, 3 different jobs, 2 kids and countless days of happiness and laughter behind us. And I only look forward to more in the future! Lon is such a wonderful father and husband. He loves his family so much, he would do absolutely anything for them. I admire his dedication to us and to his parents and siblings, as well as his dedication to his job. Lon does not know yet but tonight I am surprising him by taking him out to dinner! I got a sitter and I want to try a new restaurant, but cannot decide where to go yet. Any ideas are welcome! I had a lot of other gushy, lovey dovey things to say, but I have lost too much sleep for that right now. Al

We woke up this morning to find a nice blanket of snow covering everything, for like the third time this month lol! So much for my holiday plans, darn! We were going to go to Norm's Island today and go on a nature hike. I also had plans to finish the yardwork and plant the last of our flowers. This will probably not happen in the snow with a potty training preschooler and a babe. We are watching Disney movies all day to make up for it. Le sigh... whatevs Mother Nature, if you want to be a drama queen today, then that's fine! You had just better behave on Arbor Day, I won't take no gruff from you then! :) This weekend wasn't too crazy. My family was out of state for Aunt April's dance competition and workshop, but I did have my bosses' baby shower I helped decorate for. She is having twins, a boy and a girl, around the same time Aunt Natalie is. The party was rubber ducky themed, which I thought was adorable! I loved the color palette: blue, pink, purple an

I want to give a big "Happy Birthday" to fellow blogging mama Hollie. She is the amazing author of Mordern Colors Blog. This mama of one is celebrating her 28th birthday today. Stop by her page and wish her a happy birthday! Happy birthday Hollie! Stay amazing and we love you! <3 I love my hubby so so so much! A fun fact about me: I use Nat Geo magazines occasionally for inspiration while I am painting. Most of my magazines were stolen out of my art room in high school lol and needless to say, are falling apart. Lon knows this and bought me a new magazine the other night on the way home from work. Ooooooh its so pretty! I love the quality of National Geographic's photos and pages! *Gush* Thanks again baby! I wanted to take a quick moment to wish safe travels to my mother, my sister and her dance studio while they are on their way to Ogden, Utah for a competition and workshop. Love you girls, rock the competition and take lots of pictures! I know you girls can do

The weather has just been WILD and bipolar lately. One day its low 60s out and the next its trying to snow! How crazy! Make up your mind please, we would like to have a consistent wardrobe lol. :P Anyways, I have a lot of things to love today, so let's go ahead and get this thing started lol! I'm loving... that my wedding anniversary is in 6 days. I love you Lon! Happy anniversary! I'm loving... how well hiphop class has gone today! We are soooooo ready for this performance, I cannot even wait! They will rock it! I'm loving... that Alan is doing so well potty training again! I think that we will start wearing underwear at school and in public now. So proud of him! I'm loving... that Anna will also be going to daycare starting next month. She will be going two months earlier than planned, but this is due to my dance class schedules. I know that she will be fine, everyone loves her. I'm loving... all the acts of kindness invovled with the Bo

Kate Middelton and I have several things very similar to each other, from our wedding dates to the due dates of our children. Lon and I were married April 23, 2011 while Kate and William were married April 29, 2011. We will both be celebrating our second wedding anniversary this month. Kate is due with her first child in the middle of July 2013, while I was due mid July last year. Our pregnancies have also been similar. We both experienced severe morning sickness that wound us up in the hospital more than once, and we both had issues gaining weight during the pregnancy. I feel very connected to her because of these reasons. I feel that I can relate better than most and most important of all, I choose to support her over judging her with her pregnancy complications. I have seen it on the newstands and have read it more than a few times on the internet, that people are judging Kate for not only hiding her belly so much but also for her lack of weight gain. I cannot imagine how that m

With yesterday's bombing of the Boston Marathon, many people are left scared and asking why. I do not know all of the information on the incident myself, but I do know that this was an act of anger and hatred. Whoever did this was angry at something and felt that they could no longer keep it in. We do not need more anger and hatred in this world, there is enough waiting for you right outside that door. When people are scared or hurt, they turn to anger sometimes to cope. We cannot make this bombing into a scapegoat for something polictical, nor can we use this to fuel our own anger at the world. I have already seen both of these happening and it saddens me. Instead, I choose the route of support and love. Boston needs us now more than ever. Let's not give them anger at the bombing but support and hope towards overcoming this. With that being said, there is a movement going on today to show support to Boston and the marathon runners. You are supposed to wear a Boston Marathon

I am feeling very scatterbrained today. Like I am really REALLY missing something very important, but I cannot seem to put my finger on it! Maybe its my brain I am missing lol... Be prepared for one WILD post because I cannot even remember what I was going to write about for this weekend. Wow. I. need. some. sleep. Teething sucks, for mama and baby lol! Anna, can we go to bed for more than three hours tonight lol? You can nap during the day but I can't! :) This weekend was fun for us. Saturday was Aunt April's birthday shopping spree. I had to take the kids with me so it was more like an "Aunt April Shopped While I Chased Kids Around Spree" if there is such a thing lol! She did get a cute shirt and a top for dance though. And we had yummy tea. We had a great time! I am getting so close to my dance showcase, its nerve wracking! I have been losing sleep on it, work choreography wherever I am at, have been loading dance picture after picture for last minute i

That's the mantra I kept repeating to myself ALL day yesterday lol. "It'll be all worth it in the end, it'll be all worth it in the end, it'll be all worth it in the end." Needless to say, yesterday was a hectic day for the kids and I. Since I had the day off, I got the family car to run a bunch of much needed errands, take Anna to her check up appointment and to take the kids to a park playdate with some friends. We dropped Lon off at work, then headed downtown to the courthouse. Some of you may remember the car accident Lon was in last month? Well we are still under investigation with this because of the other driver. I have been at the police station way too many times this past month, and my claims rep wanted me to go there again. Let me explain why I don't like making this trip, although I am sure most of you mothers already know why. Our police station is downtown and well, its a police station. With criminals and scary people. My kids had to come

In honor of it being National Sibling Day, I wanted to dedicate today's post to my siblings. And I have been sooooooooooooo horribly swamped with preparing for the Spring Dance Showcase, that I have time to post only one post today. So I will be doing a What I Love About My Siblings Wednesday instead! I love... that Natalie will be a mother soon. She is an amazing aunt and will be a wonderful mother as well. I love... how beautiful of a dancer April has developed into. She makes me so proud! I love... that Kalvin is such a great gymnastics role model and mentor for Alan. He is the whole reason Alan started gymnastics! I love... how Natalie is working in a hospital now and going to school. All while pregnant, what a hard worker! Keep it up girl! I love... that April is planning on taking honors classes in high school. Good for you! Honors classes are hard but definitely worth it! I love... that Kalvin is doing so well in school! He is getting really good at rea

I usually always love the weekend. Lon is off most weekends, as are my family and friends. I only have to host parties at my work, which is really fun. And I always try to take the kids to do something fun. This weekend though was exceptionally awesome and fantastic! My family and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Friday night, I went out with some of my friends for two of their birthdays. My friend Kelsie and I had missed both DesiRae and Chelsey's birthdays last month so we took them out for dinner and drinks. Chelsey's best friend Nichole and her fiance came too. She was Chelsey's maid of honor and I knew her from all of the wedding events. It was great to see her again. We were originally meeting at Buffalo Wild Wings but the wait was too long so we met up at a sportsbar instead. I was driving so I only treated myself to a caffienated drink this time. I never need alcohol to have fun anyways. :) I had a blast just being myself. Plus when I start to bore myself, even just a l

Today is Aunt April's 14th birthday. Aunt April has sure grown into an amazingly talented young lady. She can dance with the best and even occassionally move them to tears (I have seen it happen). She is a wonderful singer, that girl has got some lungs on her! She is very smart, I believe she plans on taking honors courses in science and english in high school. She excells at playing the violin, following in Aunt Natalie's footsteps. :) And if that isn't enough for you, this girl has a heart of gold. Both of my children love their aunt oodles and oodles. Anna just adores her! Aunt April always plays with Anna's hair and styles it in pretty hairdos. She loves it already lol. Plus they have the same red hair too! Alan loves how Aunt April is still young and will be wild and crazy with him. She is very good at that lol! :P My children are very lucky to have her in their lives. I just have to put this in here too, just how rocking she is: Aunt April won a lightni

I am doing this a few days early this month because of the busy weekend and Aunt April's birthday on Monday. But this Sunday, Anna will be nine months old! I will be taking her pictures then too, I will be sure to post them. Otherwise, we have Thunderstruck Dance Competition and the Shrine circus this weekend. The kids are excited and I can't wait to take some cool photos! There is so much variety and color at BOTH of those places! :) At nine months, Anna Ariel: *weighs approximetly 19 pounds 19 pound and 9 ounces and is approximetly 26 and 1/2 inches 28 and 1/2 inches long. *is in size 6M for onesies and shirts, size 9M for pants (this girl has some LEGS lol) and is in size 3 for diapers. *is growing out of all of her baby toys! The swing went first, with the Bumbo seat shortly after it and now the Jumperoo is too small for her too. We just have the bouncy chair left lol! This girl is LONG!!! *has blue eyes with specks of hazel in them like her father and brother.

Dear sweet children of mine, I am in no way perfect. I am only human. I sleep through alarms and make us late. I forget appointments because I forgot to put them in my calendar. I overdo it majorly by attempting a fancy meal and messing it up, then have you still eat the burned dinner. I have no idea how to match colors, which is crazy because I am an artist. Still your wardrobes rival mine most days with how much better coordinated they are than mine. I do not remember for the life of me where I put things sometimes, even though they are right under my nose. I am loud, like annoying LOUD, like all the time lol. I have been told before that I don't understand the concept of indoor voices. I can get frustrated easily and blame stuff on inanimate objects. When it comes to pictures, I borderline papparazzi.  I drop things easily, trip and fall, I'm an all around klutz. And don't get me started on being cool, this gal here is the polar OPPOSITE of cool yo. I am one weird co