Sleeping Beauty

Saturday was IBT’s performance of Sleeping Beauty. Sami was a fairy petal and a veil holder. She loves to dance-and we love to watch her dance!
Here she is as a fairy petal…

Even though I helped with rehearsals I had no idea how long the veil holders were on stage. It gave me time to take LOTS of pictures!

During intermission we were able to visit with her and get a few pictures. Thank you so much to all of our friends and family who came to support her and IBT.


The last scene of the ballet is the wedding scene. Sami was the veil holder who handed Aurora her flowers…she was pretty excited about it. =)

It was a beautiful ballet!

Spring Break Fun!

Spring Break has gone by so quickly! We did get to do some fun things including going bowling with our friends The Hamstras! Originally we had thought about taking the kids to a movie, but I realized that Skylar wouldn’t enjoy that very much and I would probably spend the whole afternoon in the hallway.
So…Angie came up with bowling! They don’t open until late afternoon, so we waited until the guys got home and met there. We had pizza first followed by some bowling fun!
Jackson showing off his skills…

Emma…(who totally beat me by the way)

I loved that they had automatic bumper lanes! So the kids were able to use bumpers and then they would go down for the adults! Who knew bowling could be so high tech??
Sami was super proud when she picked up a spare…

Skylar had fun getting lifted up in the air from Jack who is really tall. She kept walking over to him and putting up her arms to be lifted again and again! She also learned how to say “Laila” which made me smile for sure!

She kept saying “ball” and wanted to try out bowling so I took her out there to bowl with me. She thought that was really fun!

It was nice to get together with the kids for a fun night!

Trip to American Girl–Chicago

My mom and I thought it would be fun to take Sami for a special day of shopping at American Girl in Chicago. We took the train in. We always meet my mom at her house first. It is just easier to start the day together. Sami was a little sleepy, but she was so excited to go she didn’t complain at all about getting up so early. Mitchell and his girlfriend Jorden offered to watch Skylar so Sami could have a special day all of her own.
On the agenda was getting Kirsten all fixed up. Kirsten was my doll-so she is pushing 20 years old! I loved her so much, but I loved her from a shelf. I was SO proud to have her I didn’t want her hair messed up or her clothes to get a wrinkle. After our first trip to American Girl when Sami was 4 I gave Kirsten to her. Sami has loved her in a different way. She took her braids out almost immediately. They make the hair for the dolls a lot better now…so poor Kirsten needed a hair appointment! Ha!
Sami chose to get her hair put back the way it was. All of the ladies who worked there kept commenting on how great the doll looked for being an original.
So Kirsten sat down for some pampering…

Sami really enjoyed chatting with the stylist, and she gave her a few tips and pointers on how to take care of her dolls hair. I think she looked pretty cute when she was all fixed up…

Speaking of getting fixed up. As you can see in the above picture her right leg is out of socket. Sami and I had been discussing checking her into the hospital. The only downside-it takes awhile to get your doll back. Usually about 3 weeks they said. Sami wasn’t too sure she could handle her doll being away that long, but after seeing the cute hospital down she will come home in she decided she would survive! Ha! So…we checked her in…

They all had on white lab coats, and the lady helping us had on a “doctor” name tag. I thought it was pretty cute! So we took of her dress and helped her into her gown.

By this time it was time for lunch! Sami and Nana had eaten here before, but it was my first time. It was SO fun!

Sami had brought her “My American Girl” to eat with us. I thought those little chairs for the dolls to sit at the table we SO cute! I bought the girls each one for home…but sadly they don’t fit our table!!!  

They bring the food out in courses which is always fun. While you wait they have little conversation starters. Nana and Sami had a lot of fun with those…

I asked the family next to us to take a few pictures of us all together…

Then they brought Sami’s favorite-the sticky buns!!!

Then it was time to shop!!! Sami was SO good in the store. She didn’t ask for ANYTHING. When Nana and I told her what we each planned on letting her pick out she got a little overwhelmed. It is a big store. She helped pick out an outfit for Skylar’s Bitty and finally decided on some things of her own. On the way out I realized we hadn’t gotten a picture by the star. Man has she grown…I didn’t realize how short her dress had gotten!

We walked down to the big Disney Store. We looked around while Nana ran down to the lego store. Then we took a taxi back to the train station. We were very squished with all of our shopping bags, but we made it work!!! Ha!
Poor thing was SO tired, but she never complained. Before we even left the station she had fallen asleep!

She has been playing with all of her outfits ever since!

Dressing up the Dolls

One day while Sami was at rehearsal I had some time to kill so I wandered into the fabric store. Much to my delight they had patterns on sale for $1!!! I picked up some fun patterns to make the girls’ American Girl dolls some clothes. I decided to start easy with the pillowcase dresses. They are by no means perfect, but the girls love them!
(Pay no attention to poor Kirsten’s hair…she has a hair appointment next Tuesday….ha!

Skylar’s baby’s name is Sophie. I made Sophie’s dress to match the pillowcase dresses I will be making for our trip. It looks boxy in the picture because the bow came loose, but it fits like Kirsten’s dress.
I’m having fun making things for the girls. It is relaxing….and fun too!

Disney Family Movie Night- The Three Caballeros

At Epcot’s Mexican pavilion there is a fun little boat ride based on this movie. We are also staying at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort for our trip which has a southwest theme and some theming based on this movie. We are excited to be staying at a moderate level resort this year. Here’s a sneak peek…

I’ve seen better pictures of the rooms without people’s stuff all over…but….you get the gist…

And then there’s these guys…

On the menu this evening…
Donald’s Build Your Own Taco Bar
Jose’s Rice
Panchito’s Chips and Salsa
(No pictures because I think you know what tacos look like! Ha!)
I wanted to paint terra cotta pots, but I wasn’t able to find them. So…I got plastic ones that looked similar. Ha! Sami didn’t seem to mind…

Skylar didn’t participate in painting, but she had fun watching…

We also made Mexican paper flowers to put in our pots.


The Three Caballero’s wasn’t the most exciting movie we’d ever watched. But now we are familiar with the characters-and that is the whole point of catching up on these movies! =)
Up next…Cinderella!