Our Beautiful Ballerina

This past year Cadence has taken 2 sets of 10 week ballet classes through the City of Calgary Recreation.

She has thoroughly enjoyed the classes and wants to take more.  We kinda exhausted the City programs so we have signed her up with a dance studio near our house for weekly classes starting in September.  She is very excited.

At the end of each course the parents and siblings were invited to come and see the young dancers and what they had learned.

I have to say I love her little ballet outfit so much.  She told me yesterday her ballet slippers are starting to get tight.  I guess we'll be buying new gear before September.

Routine Disruption

My regular morning routine is driving Ashton to seminary each morning at 6:30 a.m.  Luckily Bowen is old enough to stay home and he watches Cadence for me until our return around 8 am.  The seminary building is a 15 - 20 minute drive so it makes no sense to drive home in between so I just wait for his 45 minute class to be over.  I either read my scriptures, or my bookclub book, or let's be honest some mornings I sleep.

This past week Bowen has been away at Band Camp, so it has altered our routine a bit.  Tuesday morning Bowen needed to be at the school at 7:30 a.m., so at 6:30 a.m. I loaded all the kids into the truck and off we went.  About half way to the seminary building Bowen informs me he was supposed to bring his baritone saxophone to band camp as he isn't supposed to take the one he uses at school.  Ugh!  I dropped off Ashton at seminary at 6:50 a.m. and headed back home.  Got home, Bowen grabbed his instrument and we were off to the school.  7:30 a.m. dropped off Bowen at the school for his band camp.

Headed back to seminary and picked up Ashton and finally headed home. 

The past 3 mornings with Bowen away I've had to bring Cadence with me to do the seminary run.  She doesn't seem to mind.

Toys, snacks, drink, movie to watch, comfy blanket, she looks pretty content to me.  Looking forward to getting back to our regular routine tomorrow. Hope Bowen has had a great time at Band Camp.

Valentine's Day 2019

We had a great Valentines Day at the Atwood house this year.  It started the night before with Cadence preparing valentine treats for her preschool friends.  Last kid to make valentine cards! I'm afraid we went with some store bought cards and added some tattoes and candies.

The kids were off school on Valentine's Day, so they surprised me with breakfast in bed.  Sweet kids.  It was very yummy.

When Jason got home from work we headed out.  We decided we would try and leave the kids overnight by themselves for the first time.  We got a nice hotel room just down the street (so we were close just in case).  Went to The Keg for dinner.  It was very busy.  We usually don't go out for Valentine's Day since it is so close to our anniversary, but we weren't in any rush so we didn't mind the wait.

We had a delicious meal.  Bacon wrapped scallops for appetizer and an amazing dinner of steak and lobster.

The kids did great on their own overnight and weren't nervous at all.  It was a much needed break and was so nice to spend some one on one time with my hubby.

A Day in the Life of ..

Our little Cadence is a growing concern and I'm enjoying having a little girl in the family.  She keeps me busy.  What Cadence has been up to the last little while:

Cadence loves girlie things like painting her nails.

Loves going to the library.

She loves preschool - this was beach day at school.

Loves playing dress up with mom's shoes.

Loves her brothers, especially when they play with her.

Putting on lipstick before going to preschool.  Like I said - a girlie girl!

Trying on a new outfit. She loves clothes.

Showing off craft projects from school.

She is still enjoying ballet class.  She goes on Saturday mornings to a City of Calgary run program.  She has 3 more weeks and then I think I may have to consider putting her in a studio in September.

Sometimes she wears her hairband as a sleep mask at night.  Crazy girl.

Crazy hat day at school.

How lucky are we to have such a fun, independent, smart, sassy girl to call our own.

DIY Dentistry

A few weeks ago Cadence said one of her teeth hurt.  So I thought we better get everyone back to the dentist.  Bowen had a broken tooth and one small cavity to fix.  Cadence unfortunately had 3 little cavities and one quite big cavity.  She was so brave and didn't cry or complain once.  She took the needles great and was a trooper for 3 appointments.  I may or may not have bribed her with getting a toy afterwards.

Ashton had 3 cavities to fix.  I was in the waiting room during Ashton's appointment.  After he'd been in the dentist chair for awhile I got a test from Ashton - "The dentist still isn't here.  I think I'm going to pull a Mr. Bean and fix my own teeth."  A few minutes later he sent me this picture.  He cracks me up!

Another Teenager in the House - Pray for Us

Well, I've finally dusted off my blog and am trying to get back at it.  There is so much to catch up on but for now, I'll post about Bowen's birthday that happened yesterday.

Our Bowen is 13!!  That's right, another teenager in the house.  Bowen is a great kid.  He's so smart (probably too smart for his own good).  He's very sensitive, talented, dramatic, really funny and we are grateful to call him ours (most days - hehe).

Monday night we took Bowen to his favourite restaurant - Red Lobster or Red Lobsters as Cadence calls it - for dinner.

Bowen ordered the most expensive thing on the menu I think.  He had crab legs, shrimp, lobster, and mashed potatoes.  Even Cadence ordered lobster and ate the whole thing.  Why do our kids have such expensive tastes?  When I was growing up we weren't allowed to have lobster!

Yesterday, his actual birthday I made him eggs benedict for breakfast after getting home from taking Ashton to seminary. 

Then off to school for the birthday boy.  Unfortunately, he had a pretty terrible day at school, including having a pop burst in his backpack, but he did say the rest of the day at home made up for it.  For supper, we had one of Bowen's favourite meals, butter chicken.  If you haven't figured out already, it is all about the food for Bowen.  Then it was time for presents and cake.

Bowen got a screen protector for his Switch, a pro controller, and travel case for all his gaming gear.  He was excited and happy.

Happy Birthday Bowen!  We are very proud of the great young man you are becoming and love you very much.  Hope "13" is a fantastic year.

Summer Beginnings

It is finally summer.  The month of June seemed long for my boys who were very anxious to be out of school. 

The last day of school I was trying to get a picture of the boys walking to the bus stop for the last time before their much-anticipated summer break.  They were being stinkers and were walking while facing me and would not turn around.

After school Bowen had a few buddies over for an "End of School" party.  I fed them pizza, chips and juice and they played games and had a great time.

It's on days like this that I'm very grateful for a big vehicle.

We've set up Cadence's little pool and she's spent many hours enjoying it.

Ashton checked out some garage sales one Saturday and came home with a huge bag of lego for his sister.  Such a great big brother.

A favorite activity to beat the heat is to head to the library.

SUMMER IS OFF TO A GREAT START

Year End Recital 2018

I probably say this every year, but I really can't believe how quickly this past music year went.  Before I knew it it was time for the year end recital.

It was a great recital.  My students performed so well.  We listened to great piano, guitar and vocal selections.  Ashton and Bowen both played the piano, and Cadence sang Twinkle, Twinkle.  It was Cadence's first recital and she did awesome.  I sang Crazy.

After the performances I had a little luncheon for everyone.  I served sausage, cheese and crackers, veggie tray with dip, fruit, and chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodle cookies and homemade toffees for dessert.  I missed my mom's help so much.  I think it was the first recital I hosted without her.  I was pretty exhausted by the end of the night.  I was very grateful for my family's help though. 

I enjoyed visiting with my students and their families.  It will be nice now to have a little break before I'm back at it in September.  The summer goes so fast!!

Beautiful flowers from one of my students.

We didn't record Cadence at the recital and of course she was a little distracted at home.  But here is a little taste of her performance.

What a joy music is to my life and I'm so blessed to be able to share it with others.