Cutie-Pie

I love taking pictures of all my kids, and maybe it's because Kamrynn isn't in school yet and she's always around, but I really love taking pictures of her. And she loves having her picture taken. She is always saying "Mommy take a picture of me", and she'll sit and pose until I tell her "That's enough!" Her facial expressions crack me up. I recently bought her the CUTEST hat, and of course had to take some pictures. I may be biased, but these pictures were just TOO CUTE to not share!!! Enjoy!

Grandpa

We were all blessed at the beginning of this year to have my Dad come out and stay with us for about three weeks. He timed his visit so that he could be here to watch the kids for mine and Tyler's anniversary, and also be here to help out while Tyler went TDY to Vegas for a couple of weeks! With Madi and I being sooooo busy with "Beauty and te Beast", it was GREAT to have him here to help out!

The really sad thing is, is that I've noticed that as my kids get older, I find myself taking out my camera less and less when the Grandparents are around. When they were little and my parents would visit, I'd snap TONS of random pictures, now I'm lucky if I get 10 pics of the kids with G-Pa and G-Ma. Guess I'll have to remember that next time they visit.

Thanks again Dad, for all of your help while you were here, and for another great visit!!! I am so lucky to have a Dad like you! :-) I love you!!!! Can't wait to do it again!!

Paramount Gala

On February 14, 2009, the Paramount Theater had it's 1st Anniversay Gala Celebration. Back in 2005 the Paramount Theater burnt down a week or so before StageStruck's performance of "Peter Pan". It was a HUGE community effort to rebuild the theater. Last year, StageStruck was able to be the first group to perform in the rebuilt Paramount. So this year, they had a 1st anniversary celebration. Hailey Best is an AMAZINGLY talented StageStruck alumni, who is currently spending her Senior year of High School at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Madi has known her for a couple of years now and absolutely adores her!! Hailey was asked to perform at the Gala, and she thought it would be fun to have a couple of younger StageStruck kids perform with her! Madi and I were both THRILLED when she called and asked if Madi would want to perform with her! They sang the song "Practically Perfect" from the Broadway version of "Mary Poppins". I wasn't able to upload the video on here, cuz I guess the file is too big, but I did upload it onto YouTube, so you can see their performance here. This is just their dress rehearsal performance, as I wasn't allowed to film during the real thing. Don't you love Madi's shoe choice??? She's trying to start a new fashion trend... Crocs with dresses! :-) As you can see from the pictures, she had a different dress during the actual Gala as well. Liam, the little boy, was in "Velveteen Rabbit" with Madi, and is a great little performer, as well!!!

Madi, as "Jane"


"Jane" and "Michael"


Madi, Hailey, and Liam


Madi and the amazing Kate McMillan!! She was "Belle" and has been accepted at the #1 school for Music Theater in the country... Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. I'm sure her name will be in lights in the very near future!


Madi thought it was pretty cool, because she actually got to perform TWICE!!! The cast of "Beauty and the Beast" opened the Gala with the song "Belle". So she performed in that, and then ran back to change and get mic'd up for "Practically Perfect". What a great night!!!! Thank you Hailey, for such a wonderful experience!!!!

Backstage with friends before "Belle"




Warming up their BEAUTYful voices!!

Beast of the East

Caiden, and the rest of his U-11 Goldsboro Sting Soccer team, participated in the 2009 Beast of the East Soccer Tournament the first weekend in February.

The GOOD:

Tyler made it back into town (from his two-week TDY in Vegas) just in time, AND Grandpa was still visiting!!!

The BAD:

The previous week in practice Caiden claims he was slide-tackled by a teammate, and one afternoon when I picked him up from school I noticed he was limping pretty bad. So off to the Dr. we went. Caiden had a mild sprain, but the doc said if he rested it ALL week (i.e. NO practice) then he could possibly play in the tourny.

The UGLY:

Caiden's ankle was better, but nowhere NEAR 100%, and so he really didn't play much at all, and when he did, he wasn't himself... I think he was a little nervous he would re-injure his ankle. And to make matters worse... we lost all three games.

Oh well... it was a GREAT experience and great for team bonding!!!

Pre-Game Warm-Ups


Caiden, getting some game-time action.


Kami, catching some rays


Kami and G-Pa


Poor Caiden... being only "8" on a team of mostly 10 and 11 year olds does not always have it's advantages. He always manages to get matched up against the biggest kid on the opposing team.


But this NEVER slows him down or hinders his determination!!!

SNOW!!!!!!!!!

We had such an exciting, albeit COLD, winter this year in North Carolina! Our first sign of "snow" was actually a week before Thanksgiving! It wasn't anything major and didn't even "stick", but it was definitely a sign of things to come for the winter.

We experienced our biggest snowfall yet, since living here in Goldsboro, this past January. It was actually Inaguration day, and the kids were home on a winter break, and what made this particular snowfall even more magical, was that Grandpa (my Dad) was still visiting from sunny California!!!

Being a California girl myself, I must admit that this was probably the ideal snowfall for me... GORGEOUS to look at, fun to play in for a bit, and melted away within 72 hours!!! I think all in all we received at least a good 6" of snow. The kids had a blast, and made multiple trips outside to play. You see, since we aren't accustomed to snow, we don't have to proper attire, so the kids would go out and play for about 20 minutes, their clothes would get wet, they would go from happy/smiling, to freezing, crying, whining FREAK OUT mode in a matter of seconds, we would have to run inside strip off their clothes, put on warm, dry clothes and pump some hot chocolate into their bodies. FUN TIMES, I tell ya! It is for this reason that I am glad we don't deal with snow on a regular basis, although maybe if we did we'd be a little more prepared and used to the snow! Anyways... enjoy the pictures from our Winter Wonderland!!!!

Before....


Round One... The snow was finally starting to come down pretty good!!!


Madi soooo happy to have SNOW!!!


I LOVE these pics of Kami and Caiden with their snow-covered eyelashes!!!!



Snow angels in the front yard. There was still a lot more snow to come!!!


During....


Round 2.... There was a good amount of snow on the ground, snow was STILL falling, Tyler came home from work, and everyone headed out to play!!!

Kami's 2nd Snow Angel attempt!!!


Tyler taking time out from teaching the kids the art of snowball making, to pose for a picture!!




Grandpa building a Snowman!!!


Me, Dad, and Pepper


After....


Our mailbox!!!