Free Range Family

Alan's hair has just been growing, and growing, and GROWING lately. Or so it seems… It recently has grown so long that his bangs are now in his eyes. And with his glasses been broken (he broke them wrestling with Aunt Ariel several weeks ago, we are waiting for his replacements now), there is nothing blocking his little eyes from all of that hair! He has refused me cutting it since the last time I cut his hair, I butchered it pretty good lol. See exhibit A. Exhibit A. But it was starting to get ridiculous and I felt like it was interfering with his seeing, so I convinced him to let me trim it slightly. After some bribing, he agreed. So last night before bath time, I trimmed his whole head for him. I wasn't able to get a photo of his hair before I cut it, but here is a good example. Its his Pre-K school photo! So handsome! :D But look at those long curls! He definitely was in need of a trim! Before... And after! I am quite proud of my trim job, I took my t...

Alan and Anna recently went to the dentist for their biannual checkup. They go to Legacy Smiles and see Dr. Stuart there. He and his staff are just wonderful! They are so kind, so helpful, the kids just love them! Alan and Anna enjoy going and seeing their dentist and his sweet staff! :) I could be biased because Dr. Stuart is one of my good friends' fathers lol, but he is still just wonderful! It wasn't just any ordinary trip to the dentist though, oh no! It was Miss Anna's first time at the dentist! Now Anna doesn't quite have all of her baby teeth yet, she is still missing her canines and her two year old molars. But Dr. Stuart told us to bring her in regardless. :) The wonderful dental assistant showed Alan and Anna all the dental tools right away, so that Anna wouldn't be nervous. But missy was very brave! Miss Anna was a great dental patient! She didn't like the sunglasses they had her wear but when the dental assistant asked her to put them ba...

So my wild child son could not come up with just ONE thing for his birthday. He has a love for gymnastics and all things tumbling (just like his mama) but he also is quite  obsessed with fond of Legos, just like his crazy  creative father. :P So he was torn between the two themes. We decided to have his "school friends" party at the YMCA Kids Gym. Then we would invite anyone who wanted to join in to the local Lego store, Bricks and MiniFigs. They could play and look at the Legos with Alan. He loved the idea! It ended up just being the kids, Lon and I at the Lego store, but Alan didn't care. He was instantly in hog heaven! :) Anna went over and played with the big bricks while Alan and Lon explored the Lego creations throughout the store. We currently have a Lego exhibit at our local art museum, entitled The Art of the Brick. One of the artist's creations was at Bricks and MiniFigs, a sculpture of the inside of an eye! It was so cool and entirely made out of b...

Poor Miss Anna was sick today! She woke up with some BM issues and a fever. We aren't sure still if it was just teething or a real virus. So Lon stayed at home with her while Alan and I went to dance class and daycare for the day. I felt bad but she did just fine with Daddy all day. They are good buddies! Alan had such an awesome first day of dance! He was such a great student! Unfortunately due to some computer scheduling problems with our system, he was the only student in class. :/ We should have everything cleared up by next week though! He even got an apple sticker for doing so well! This mama is soooooooooo proud of her little BBoy! I also started my dance classes today! I am so excited for this new session! I met almost all of my students tonight and cannot wait to inspire these bright minds! We have so much planned for this session: our traditional Thriller performance, our second ever pizza party and our first ever Nutcracker performance! Yay! We star...

All my worrying was for nothing! Alan did so great at Preschool today, even his teachers were proud of him! Good job, big boy! You make Mama and Daddy so proud! He has two great teachers, Miss Davis and Miss Brandi! There are 13 other students in his class, some from daycare thankfully! Alan made a lot of great friends right off the bat, I was so happy! He didn't even need me there, shooed me away when I tried to show him the bathrooms and say goodbye. Silly guy! I guess he was really ready to start learning. I will admit that I was an emotional mess, as predicted lol. But I survived. :) And he did so great in class! Alan posing for his first First Day of School photo. He wasn't too into it, clearly from the expression on his face lol! Alan posing by the area where his backpack hangs for preschool. He was so excited! Tune in tomorrow to see how Alan's first day of Hip Hop class goes! I am so excited for him to meet new students and be inspired by danc...

Our first dance workshop was very successful! My sister, sister-in-law and son participated as well as a handful of other girls! We had 12 students total I believe! Way more then we had originally thought! Class went very well too, the students learned six different styles of dance. They were all tired and happy at the end of it all! Great first workshop! Having not taken ballet classes in over five years, I had forgotten about the sacred rule about new shoes: you should never were them brand spanking new to a class, your feet will hate you. Dance shoes take prep, lots of them are hard or stiff brand new and some may need some minor sewing done before use. I had purchased new ballet shoes and a leotard for my upcoming lyrical class this Fall, but spaced breaking them in before the workshop. I forgot to sew the elastics and ended up tying them underneath my arches. OUCHIE!!! It hurt so good! I have definitely broken them in since then. But man, that two hours I had to wear them STUNK...

Aunt April had practice with her elite company and Theo this afternoon. He is choreographing a group piece for competition later this year. We stopped by to see the progress of the piece and Alan came with us to meet Theo. The company had just finished learning all the choreography and we were able to watch the performance once. I won't give away the exact song but its to a Florence and the Machines song. Love, love, love it! Once again, Theo impresses us all! Beautiful and stunning! Once practice was over, I introduced Theo to Alan. He was shy at first but he warmed up after Theo told him he had the coolest glasses and that he wanted them. Alan then showed Theo his moves and jabbered about everything under the sun lol. Love him so much! Theo even held a quick impromptu ballet class with Alan, teaching him his first position and demi plies. Alan definitely impressed him! :) I love it, I had a major mommy moment then lol! Here are some photos from Alan and Theo's first meeti...

Friday was Relay for Life in Billings. I volunteered with the YMCA and helped work the inflatables. Alan was also able to come with me, I think he had a blast. :) He played on the inflatables with his school friends for two hours and then had dinner, got a balloon gun and some chocolate ice cream. He also got to sit and watch the parade of survivors, he loved cheering for them! I enjoyed volunteering as well, but I'm pretty sure he had a better time then even I did. :) But there's so much more to Relay than just fun. Relay for Life is literally what its name says, its about life. Its a celebration of life for some and a memorium of life for others. It is a walk against cancer and for the survivors. I was surrounded by so much love, beauty and happiness. I have never given out so many hugs to random strangers, but that's what this is about! There were so many tears, both happy and sad. I have never felt so alive and so grateful to be alive! Life truly is go...