Free Range Family

I have had quite a few of these lately and I have mixed feelings about them. On one hand, fleeting moments are so very beautiful and special, yet on the other, I sometimes wish they weren't so... fleeting. Does that make sense or am I just crazy lol? I have shared these moments with both children lately, each moment being as different as the last one. The reasons for these moments are most often the same however. With Alan, these moments are usually fleeting because he is now getting older and needs me less. Things like helping him play golf and kissing him goodnight on the lips and teaching him to ride his bike. These moments are fleeting because soon, he will not need me to do them. I cherish every one of these with him. Alan and I got the chance to go to Geyser Park with Grandma Melanie and Uncle Kalvin today. We had pizza for lunch, went mini golfing and played a bunch of video games. Afterwards, we ran to the bank. Once again, Anna stayed home with Lon. It was nice to have

I can't believe how fast things have been passing by lately. Next week in my hip hop class has their fourth of July Fun Day and the week after that is their Thriller performance. Didn't I just start teaching them yesterday? :) As for Miss Anna, her party is officially a week from Saturday. We are so excited! I have almost every planned out and prepared, I can't wait! As for Aunt Natalie, according to her doctors Baby B could be coming any day now! I won't go into gory details because she's my sister, but she is READY. :) I can't wait to be an Aunt! I will post as soon as he is born! Yay! This week Uncle Cameron came into town from Washington. We haven't seen him since last summer and were so excited to see him! We spent most of the weekend with him, hiking and going to the park and having snowcones, we even watched Cloud Atlas with him. It was great to see him, the last time he saw Anna she was only a few weeks old! She is such a big girl now! Uncle Cam

All in one weekend lol! How wild of my family lol! :P Not really, we have had way more busy weekends than this! I have been working a gymnastics camp all week in the mornings. It was quite a bit of fun, we had seven great kids who learned a lot in the four days we had! I am so proud of them! I also did my first Dance Out Reach program at our local HeadStart School. I worked with 16 preschoolers and taught them basic popping and locking moves. We had a wonderful time as well! I love getting a chance to teach my two passions! :D Next week will be a lot slower for us because I will only have dance class and my regular shifts. Saturday, we walked to Terry Park to meet up with my friends Kelsie and Jessica. We met up with them and a few new friends for a picnic and to let the kiddos play in the spraypark and on the playground. Alan ate as fast as he could and then ran off to play in the water with Kelton and Carly. Anna crawled around in the grass and played with Trent and Karte

Happy fourth birthday to Alan's friend Tatum! Alan has known Tatum since they were infants and let me tell you, they are best buds! In fact, Alan stood up for the first time when he 9 months old at Miss Tatum's first birthday party lol! We love that family! The party was held at the park closest to our house, which was nice for us. Anna stayed home with Lon, she had been teething bad all morning and had just gone down for her nap. It was nice having some Mommy and Alan time. :) The party was flowerpot themed, so the kids all painted their flower pots first. Then they played at the playground for a bit and sang "Happy Birthday" to her. Tatum's mom did a wonderful job making the two cakes for her, one was a pretty flower and the other was a flower pot with Fruit Rollup flowers on it! So cute! She also served 7up with Kool Aid ice cubes. It looked so cool when the color fizzled out! Alan had water because we don't do pop, and it obviously didn't fizzle

I will keep this all short and sweet, and then update you all on our lovely family. We have had some more obstacles thrown our way, but we are maneuvering them and will overcome them. We are strong as a family and have an even stronger support system. I apologize for all the secrecy, I will tell you when I can. Just know for now that we are all healthy and safe, just struggling with financial woes and other things. Pray for us and send us good loving vibes! We love you all! Happy Father's Day! To my father, I love you very much. You are a wonderful father and have taught me so much. You taught me how to fish and ride a bike, how to drive pretty much anything (except for stick shift, that's still a work in progress lol), and have always been there for me. You set an example of good, strong work ethic that will always stay with me. And you loved me for me. :) Good job on raising those other kids too, you did pretty okay with them as well. :P And you are the greatest grandfa

Oh my word, this little diva girl is almost one year old! She officially has less than a month left now, I just do not know where the time went. I remember the first day I laid eyes on her, bringing her home from the hospital, those first few weeks, EVERYTHING! She has grown up so much, it just amazes me. Before we know it, she will be up there onstage with Aunt April, dancing her heart out. Love you baby girl! At eleven months old, Anna Ariel: *weighs approximetly 21 1/2 pounds and is approximetly 28 inches long. She is almost too big for her car seat! *wears size 9M or 12M in onesies and 9M in bottoms. Her diapers are still size 3. *has cut her first tooth, she started working on it yesterday! It one of the bottom middle ones. We are so proud! *having lightened up a bit, her hair is a light auburn ish red color now. It still has some orange in certain lights but is looking more and more like my hair color now. *her eyes are a light steely blue with a dark navy edge. Not

Most new mothers experience the same things their children's first months of life: no sleep, breastfeeding issues, figuring out diaper brands... Could you imagine being a new mom, finding out one day that you may not live to see your daughter's first steps? Meet Heather. She is a cancer survivor and a mother. Both of these life-changing events happened to her at the same time. This woman is seriously one of the strongest people I have met, to overcome cancer all while learning the new ropes of parenting a child? Wow, she really is a phenomenal woman! Check out her POV Post today and be sure to stop by her blog here. She truly is a wonderful woman and an amazing mom! Check out her story! "When I married Cameron, the love of my life, I wasn't quite ready to step into the role of mother yet, but after seven happy years together, we both decided that it was time to take that next step. We knew our lives were about to undergo a major change as we prepared to w

Why hello there! We have been soooooooooo busy this past week with our summer fun! We have had trips to the YMCA Toddler Gym and Chuck E Cheese, have started going to school again (with Miss Anna too, she loves it) and I am about to start my summer hip hop class schedule. We are crazy busy but we love it! And with Aunt Natalie only six weeks away from having our first nephew, life will only get busier for us lol! Cannot wait for that! Before I leave you, be sure to stop by tomorrow to check out my POV Post with Miss Heather! She has an amazing story to share with you. Don't miss out! :D Here are some photos from this past couple weeks.

Happy June everyone! It officially is only a month away until Miss Anna's first birthday and I am frankly in denial some. But not as much as I am about my own upcoming birthday, I didn't even realize it was about two months away now! Wow, time really does go by too fast!! Happy Summer everyone! Here is May's Month in Review. Enjoy! I didn't post too much this month, we were quite busy with family! We started out the month of May like we always do, with Uncle Kalvin and Aunt Natalie's birthdays. We celebrated Uncle Kalvin's birthday at the local bowling alley and had a Disco Bowling Party! It was a blast, even though Alan did not fully understand the concept of bowling lol, maybe in a few more years it will be more interesting for him. :) On Aunt Natalie's birthday, we had Baby B's baby shower and her birthday barbeque! She loved it and we all had so much fun! Anna also turned ten months old this month, started crawling and pulling herself up to st