Talent Show Update

Well, the winner of the talent show is....Madison!

Madison came home from school today, all excited because she won the talent show at school! Way to go, Madison! She was extremely excited she won a giftcard to Wal-Mart, and I told her she could spend that in NC after we arrive. I think she's very excited to get herself something for her room.

Tent City

Moving soon, things getting packed up and/or put away left and right, so it's time to improvise...

Here's the tent city the kids created with their tents and blankets.:

A Birthday Party for Alex!

Alex's 2nd birthday is Memorial Day, May 30. Due to the fact many will be traveling and that week we are moving 2500 miles, we decided to have a party for Alex Friday evening. With temps in the mid-80's, we had a very nice evening at the pool. And, while the pool was open to the public, we pretty much had a private pool party.

We went with a barnyard theme, and the baker from our church came up with this awesome cake.

Everyone loved the pig rolling in the mud. All of the cake was edible, except for the silo, which was made of PVC pipe.

The food spread...we went with a six-foot party sub from Subway. What you see is half of the sandwich. I guessed pretty well on food, as we didn't even have a couple inches of sub left. Dinner also included pasta salad, fresh watermelon, and fresh cantaloupe.

The inspiration for the party. I found these plates and thought they were too cute.

The birthday boy posing with Daddy.

He had so much fun running through the splash pad area.

Luke swimming in the pool. Luke was so sick of wearing the floaties that yesterday at the pool, he finally was able to swim the length of the rope. If you can do that unassisted (and without sinking), you don't have to wear your floaties and are allowed to go off the diving board. He's been trying to do that for awhile and finally did it!

Party-goers

More at the party. We just love this pool. They've done a major overhaul of it, and it's extremely nice. The pool itself is awesome, and they have a really nice patio area.

Baby Kara wasn't quite ready for the pool, but she did come with a swimsuit.

Time for cake! The hardest part was keeping all of the kids from eating the animals! And yes, there was no homemade ice cream, to everyone's disappointment. Moving in two weeks=not enough time!

View from above of all the barnyard animals

Eating a horse

Waiting for cake

Everyone loved the cake, and it was delicious.

Cold and in need of food, Round 2

Brotherly love

Luke had a blast.

Enjoying the presents

Catapult!

Cold, yes, even in Arizona, the pool gets cold. The no humidity makes the air a little breezy.

No fear

Ready to jump in again

Giving Daddy a hug

Tired, cold, hungry again, and ready to go.

Food-Round 3. This kid can really eat.

Thanks to all of our friends who came to celebreate Alex's birthday. It's hard to believe when we moved here, we didn't have him, and he's now two-years-old. Wow.

All birthday parties have now been completed. On to the last party to host, Edward's promotion party the week we leave!

The Talent Show

Madison's elementary school had a talent show Friday. Madison begged us to let her be in the show. We weren't sure what to expect, especially when she told us she wanted to do a dance routine. She loves to put on "shows" at home, where she twirls around to her music, but on stage in front of people??? Anyways, the tryout was to confirm that the child would go on stage, perform, and not run off crying. Madison did a great job. They, then, had two days of practice after school, which the boys and I attended. It was brutal. There were some "interesting" acts in the talent show. Finally, Friday, brought showtime. Madison was the last act of the whole show. I knew because I'd already seen the show twice at practice! She did a really good job, and she absolutely loved dancing.

This is the kindergarten class, all 16 of them. The sang a really cute song to start the show about dinosaurs and extinction, complete with stomping and growling.

The dance routine...Madison chose to wear her dance recital costume. She's going to miss the recital due to the move, so she put her costume to good use with her own recital.

She really did a nice job, and she chose her own music and did her own moves. She danced to "God of Wonders."

Remembering YPG

It's almost that time to pack up and leave Yuma, T-Minus 14 days. We have really enjoyed our family time here, and the people at the post have become very close and dear friends. It is hard to believe we came here three years ago as a family of four and leave as a family of five with an almost six-year-old, four-year-old, and almost two-year-old (give him another week). We will truly miss Yuma for the great place it has been for us. Sure, we're NOT going to miss the 120 degree heat and the RV parade of snowbirds every winter, but Yuma, YPG specifically, has been a great post for us. Nowhere else do you know every neighbor, walk to everything, and have the amount of family time we have had. Thank you YPG for being a good fit for our family. For all of our family and friends who never had the chance to travel here, these are some pictures of the post entrance, five miles down from the housing area, just at the main highway turnoff.

We will miss the "beauty" of the Chocolate Mountains (really, that's their name).

Never a cloud in the sky...Yuma is the sunniest city in the U.S., and I can't remember the last time we had rain.

For anyone who has been on the phone with Edward or me as we drive into town, you are probably familiar with the "Dead Zone," the spot where all cell service drops no matter what. Well, the "Dead Zone" is the mountain directly behind this sign.

Dance Recital (Sort-Of)

On the long list of things Madison is going to miss by moving soon is her dance recital. As I just blogged, she is going to be in the car for her birthday (hopefully, we'll be arriving at Nana and Pop's house that night, though). Well, she's also now going to miss her dance recital. After breaking that news to her, she found solace in the fact that she now gets to bring home, keep, and model her dance recital costume. Yes, we have it because we had to pay for it/order it in December. The dance studio offered to have me sell it to another family, but knowing that Madison was disappointed she couldn't be in the recital, I was at least glad she could keep her costume out of it.

A Butterfly Princess Birthday Party

Madison's 6th Birthday is one month from today, June 8. Since we will be driving across country on her birthday, we wanted to let her celebrate her birthday prior to moving. This year, she asked for a "Girl Only" party with friends from school and our neighborhood. So, yesterday afternoon, we had 12 little girls running around the house. Well, I had 12 little girls running around. Edward took the boys to the pool to get out of the house.

All ready for the Butterfly Princess Party! Madison asked for that theme, and she also asked that we serve lunch consisting of sub sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit salad, Doritos, Fritos, and Rice Krispie treats. The menu turned out to be a big hit, as the kids loved the sandwiches I made. Madison was delighted with the food.

Just before partytime...Madison even had a new butterfly dress to wear.

Luke wanted in a picture before heading off to the pool.

The butterfly cake

All the little girls

Crafts-After the girls ate, they wanted to do crafts, so we had foam butterflies and wands to decorate.

Presents!

Madison and pal, Caroline, from our church

Kayli (school friend and neighbor) and Madison

Cake Time!

I didn't get many pictures from the presents because she tore through them! She really wanted "art stuff" and got a lot of it. Thanks to her sweet friends who came and for all of their nice presents. Madison had tutus and butterfly wings as take-home gifts for each of her friends. She also gave them a photo card with her new address so they can keep in touch. She told me she loved her party, and I'm just glad she was able to enjoy time with her friends before we move.