Dance!
Softball!
Birthdays!
(and some other stuff thrown in for good measure!)

Happy Memorial Day to all of you! This weekend and half of Monday has already slipped past me and I'm just getting online to post some news and pictures from the last couple of days. (I anticipate that the Summer is going to be a lot like this, but I'm going to try and post pretty regularly still!)

We had a really GREAT weekend filled with fun activities (photos to follow!), but how about a few BAD highlights from the weekend (just to get them out of the way first!)?

1. I lost my phone. (I am notoriously bad at losing things--keys, cell phones, even cash sometimes--and Gary got sorta ticked off at me for it.)

2. We spent way too much money on gas...and food, and gas, and more gas. With it costing me $3.80 this weekend, it's very expensive as we run around having all this fun! Yuck!

3. I got a $2300 claim on my car, after McKenna took it with her to school the other day and it was side-swiped. Messed up my front panel, drivers door, and took off my side mirror. Thank goodness for insurance, but still what a hassle!

4. I had a major toothache most of the weekend. I have seriously got to make a dental appointment, but who looks forward to that?

5. Gary and I have nit-picked at each other for days now, which always makes me upset. (Thank goodness we have an anniversary overnighter planned this weekend!)

So...I'm glad I got the bad out of the way first, because the GOOD far outweighed the bad this weekend...and I have some great highlights to share with all of you!!

On Friday, we all went to watch Sydney's rehearsal for her dance recital this weekend. Gary got some great pictures, but this was my very favorite!

(Sydney had been telling me, "I'm really nervous about my recital. There's all those people watching me!" She is just a little dramatic, because seriously, Does this child LOOK nervous here? LOL She did great!)

Then it was off to Delaney's softball tournament out of town. It would be a two-day event, so Sydney and I decided to stay the night at the hotel, enjoy a few games on Friday night, and then come back to Birmingham for Sydney's dance recital the next afternoon. (McKenna was off visiting with her new baby brother!)

When we got to the hotel and dressed for the first games of the night, we had to first stop and take our FIRST BED JUMPING pictures of the 2008 summer season!!! (For those of you who are new to my blog, we have a crazy tradition in our family of bed jumping at hotels. We have a ton of fun photos of us doing this over the years! Try it the next time you're at a hotel...you'll like it! LOL)


The team also enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool...

And then Delaney played hard of Friday night and the rest of Saturday (I love these two pictures because she is smiling big in both of them!)...


We watched the team win both of their pool play games on Friday night, but then Sydney and I had to come home Saturday around lunchtime to rest a little bit before we headed off to her dance recital (although we got phone updates all afternoon and evening on how the team was doing!).

Then we headed off to Sydney's recital. This is a BIG deal, held at the civic center downtown. It was jam-packed (we sat WAY up in the top level) and the girls have dressing rooms and everything. I got the biggest kick out of how some of the girls were all dolled up. Some of them had really BIG hair and makeup, and their Moms were just obsessed with them looking just right. Sydney is definitely girly, but she is not "froo froo" if you know what I mean. (Comes from me...who is very casual and who really just wants my girl to have fun!)

I got a few pics of Sydney in the dressing room in her very purple, sparkly costume...

And with her friend Ella...

And up on stage (I know that these are very BAD pictures, but just had to share them anyway. That's Sydney on the front row, on the far right)...

And stepping up to the microphone all by herself to announce, "My name's Sydney and I'm 4 years old!!!"...

And dancing in the finale...

and then posing for a silly picture with McKenna, who was so sweet to bring her a fresh flower bouquet...

We were SO proud of Sydney. She had a fun, fun time and really was at-ease up on stage. (And I have to say, that as an older Mom these things are much more laid-back. Delaney and McKenna both danced when they were younger and I used to get all worked-up about recitals and getting everything done just right and everything. Not anymore! Things just don't bother me anymore. It definitely has something to do with being an older Mom and raising your third child. I really like the feeling!)

So, back to softball...LOL...I had been getting updates all day from the tournament and knew that the team had lost one game in elimination round (it was a double elimination tournament, so they'd have to lose twice to be out of it). They fought out of the losers bracket, then ended up facing the one team that had beat them again in the championship round. The only hitch? They had to beat that team twice to win it all. And...that's what they did! They won 3-0 and then 2-1 to win the tournament. And, can you believe this? It was midnight when they finally finished playing. They played five games on Saturday! Gary said the players for both teams were so tired, but they kept giving it their all. In fact, Delaney had three or four really great stops at second base that saved runs (I can't imagine being that tired and still playing that hard!).

Here they are, tired and dirty...but winners again...

After church on Sunday (McKenna and I were the only ones who made it up to go... Everyone else was EX-hausted and I told them all to sleep in. I think it took both Sydney and Delaney the rest of Sunday to recover from their busy Saturdays!), we headed down to my nephew Matthew's 9th birthday party. Matthew is such a sweet, sweet boy, so we were so excited to celebrate with him!

It was a Luau Party, and SO much fun!! My sister-in-law Danielle always does an amazing job on these birthday parties...they always have a theme that runs through the food, activities, goody bags, games. SO fun!

There was a tiki hut where Matthew and my other nephew, Garrett, made daquiris and Shirley Temples. How cute is that??




Then there was "pass the coconut"...

And "musical beach towels"...


And opening presents...

And blowing out the candles...


And random water play in the backyard...


And then "crash on the couch with the Ipod in your ear because you're pooped"...

After we got home, I washed clothes (all that activity makes for a lot of dirty clothes!!), cleaned house a little bit, we all took showers, and then laid down on the couch to watch "Raiders of the Lost Ark." I was the only one to make it through the entire movie!

It's now Monday afternoon at 1 o'clock, and we are off to go swimming. Have a GREAT day!!!!