Avery wanting to touch the candle!
Avery after eating dinner
Avery playing with the toys we gave him
Dax eating his cookie monster cupcake
Brinley eating her Elmo cupcake
Tay & Brin in party hats! a must for a one year old party!
self picture
Here is Brin in her new "ballerina" outfit.
She was showing me some of her moves, like turns........
and kicks!!!! This is a funny picture! I told her to show me a "ballerina pose" and this is what I got! It looks like a karate kick!
This is her curtsey...... as you can see, she is going to learn a lot in these years to come about her ballet skills.
She went right in and sat down, she acted like a pro, like she did not need mom there. I am starting to feel like I am not needed as much anymore! It is kind of sad! When I picked her up, she said that she wanted to come back when Taylee had to come to dancing. She loved it! She told me that to do a summersault, that you touch your toes and look at your belly, then you just roll! She demonstrated to me a few times, she has that down already!
Then it was Taylee's turn. She is just pro dancer, does not need mom there, and if I walk in to talk to the teacher or pay money, she says, why are you coming mom I can do this myself.
She told me that she wanted her hair just down & curly today. I thought it turned out great! (for me, I don't make my girls hair very cute some days) Thanks mom for my birthday present (new chi!!) I think it helps make my girls hair darling!
She was asking me how she should but her hands in the picture. I said just down, by your legs.
So in this picture, she has her hand on her leg and the other holding her WONDERFUL backpack, that she loves to pull around on wheels. I don't know why I bought her one of those kinds of backpacks, I guess the baby of the family always gets what they want, right?
She did not want to sit in her carseat on the way to school. She said it would mess up her hair if she sits back in her seat. So it was a little funny to see her sitting with her head forward, so she wouldn't mess up her hair! It has already begun, the life of a teenager!!
Then she had to find the alligator with her name on it, then sit on that spot for the day. She was so excited to stay. As I walked out to the car, my eyes started burning a little bit, then a lump started forming in my throat, I got a little choked up! I promised that I wouldn't do that!! My baby, in preschool, I couldn't believe it! Now what was I going to do?
I have a darling 2nd grader, who just cut her hair (again). She was very excited to go to school this year too. She is our social butterfly.
Austin & Taylee before we headed out for the first day of school. I asked them if I could come with them to their classrooms and take a picture, and they told me NO!! I guess they are already getting too big for their mom to embarass them in front of their friends.
I love you guys. I hope you have a great year!
We brought our own lunch and had a "picnic" at the zoo. Here is Brinley and Me
Austin & Brinley eating lunch
Taylee and Chris
The kids liked to pose on the various statues in the park. This is the first one we saw, the tigers.
The Gorilla had to have his picture with us too.
We each had our favorite animal at the zoo. This one is mine. The orangutan, was so funny. It was a baby and it was playing on the ropes. You would think it would fall but it doesn't. they are the cutest animal there.
This is Brinley's favoritem the Gorilla. He never moved from this position, but when she saw it, she said that that was her favorite!
Taylee's favorite was a peacock. Kind of funny, since there is a peacock that lives just down the road from my parents house. But she made sure that I got a picture of it.
Austin's favorite was the Rhino. He did not move from this position the whole time. His name is George and Austin loved his "big horn".
And Chris's favorite was the Cougar. He took a lot of pictures of them and this was the best one. We even got the hear him growl. It was cool.
Practicing before the parade started.
Brinley working so hard, concentrating!
Taylee remembering the MOVES.
Group photo before we started marching.
Taylee, me & Brinley in our twinner shirts.
After the parade, it is the baby show. It was my first year with out a baby in the show! how sad, not really, I like the stage of life I am in right now. Dax was in the baby show, but before he went on, we were playing on the tractor/trailer to stay occupied. Dac won the bubbliest personality by singing the ABC's in front of everyone! Way to go Dax!
Group photo while watching the races
Brinley running very fast. Look at that little smile. She said this was her favorite part of the day.
Taylee running hard!
Austin running even harder!! We did not win any races this year. That is ok, we are still the champions at the Willard Park!!
They had sack races too. Taylee, Brinley, and Dax all wanted to do it. Dax did not want a sack, he just wanted to RUN! Brinley was hopping just fine until........
She was the only one left, then she started crying! It was the funniest, but cutest thing ever!
Austin told me that he was going to ride a sheep this year at the rodeo! I really did not think he would get on a sheep, but he fooled me. He was just 2 pounds shy of being the limit to ride, so I guess this is his last year to ride. He looks really serious getting on this "bucking" sheep.
AND THERE HE GOES!!!!
He did not stay on too much longer than that picture. He landed on his knee when he fell off and he limped out of the arena! I had to laugh, it was just really funny when he was telling me the story of his ride. I had to take his picture! Isn't he so cute! (i mean handsome)
Later that night, after we ate pizza, we had our own firework show out on the driveway again. 
