Double digits

Tatum has joined the double digit world. We celebrated her 10th birthday last night.

As you can tell, she was super excited. Or wigged out on sugar.

Not sure which.

She's well into tween mode so it'll be interesting to see

what new adventures are in store for us this year.

Happy birthday Tater Tot!

Today my oldest girl became a 9 yr old. Not that she hasn't been acting way older than 8 for months now but today it's official. She was too impatient to wait for her actual day once gifts arrived in the mail from Grandpa, so we celebrated early with presents and an Oreo ice cream cake.

Gifts for hair and makeup, what every too big for her britches 9 yr old girl needs.

Dogfight

Last weekend was our first Pee Wee game, the Greyhounds versus the Bulldogs.

Now do you get the title?

The alternate title was "A Sea of Red". Get it?

We didn't really go to watch the game though. We went to see this girl in action. 

I think she had fun, even though she was a sweaty mess.

The team didn't do too bad either.

We got a TD in the first few minutes, then were tied up until the last 2 minutes of the game. Darnit.

Isn't it funny how you think you're not really into football

until you find yourself yelling from the stands during a Pee Wee game? 

Anyway, off to Monroe today. Home game schedule to follow.

Tatum is what?

Eight? Seriously, eight?

Yes, it's official.

We squeezed her birthday celebration in between cookie baking and bedtime on Monday,

and at 3:19 am today it really happened. My biggest girl became an 8 yr old.

She is getting a little big for her britches, figuratively at least, so it must be so.

She chose the Christmas bulb cake herself. Fitting for the girl who decided not to wait until her New Year's Eve due date, but to come out in plenty of time to get her own Christmas presents.

She's been impatient ever since.

The girl loves to sing and dance so we gifted her a karaoke machine, which she has been annoying her brothers with since first plugging it in.

Oh, what will the future hold for you Myra Tatum Princess?

Happy birthday my little Tatey bug.

We  love you to pieces.

Quick update

My kids are really cute. So cute in fact, it makes it almost impossible to pick out pictures.

Remember this dark haired cutie?

She's been replaced with a blond.

I sat through a four hour dance recital tonight.

Some of it was really enjoyable. Some of it was downright torture.

Think of 4 yr olds dancing. In tap shoes.

Tatum is in her 3rd year of ballet and her first year of acrobats, which meant a slightly chaotic costume change with a few minutes to spare in between numbers.

We actually stayed for the entire program this year, all 67 dances.

We are heading off to Alabama in the morning, or should I say, in a few hours, for a mini vacation and a long overdue visit with my SIL and her kids. We haven't seen them since Teagan was a baby.

As for what else has been keeping us busy lately

• Finishing up the Spring quarter for school. Not going to finish early like I always hope to.
• Baseball season is over, or at least the regular season has ended. Now on to tournaments. Oh joy.
• I fell for the 80 degree temps mid April and planted my garden way too early.
• Which meant I had to replant over half of it last week.

• Bobby passed his physical fitness test despite not running AT ALL before the test.
• I don't know why I doubted him.
• He is scheduled to take his Ohio Police Officers yada yada yada test July 20.
• I have to start hanging out with Jillian again.
• Not only am I stuck on this plateau, but now it is starting to grow a hill on top.
• I'm sure our stop by the Whistle Stop cafe for some deep fried southern food is not going to help.

Woo, I'm off to bed now so I can get up with the alarm clock in a few hours and finish packing. :op

My dancing queen

Tatum is in her third year of ballet.

This year she also started an acrobatic class.

They had an observation day over the weekend.

I was quite surprised with her progress. She is actually really good.

They had them doing cartwheels, roundoffs, cross overs, one handed cartwheels, and back bends.

Some of the kids were nervous about doing cartwheels on the wooden floor without a mat.

But not my girl, she's apparently fearless.

Another one gone

She accidently pulled it out while trying to open a plastic bag with her teeth, probably a good reason not to use your teeth to open things. Good timing though as I was starting to wonder if a trip to the dentist was in order since the new tooth was coming in behind it.

We forgot it in the truck the first night, which made it much easier to explain why the tooth fairy didn't leave any money. She couldn't find the tooth so she passed on by.

The little baker

Tatum got an Easy Bake oven from Aunt Krista at our family Christmas. And yes, I just noticed that three of my kids were still wearing pjs that night. Anyway, after a run to the store for a lightbulb the next day, Tate insisted on trying it out.

She baked up some sugar cookies. As if we didn't already have enough.

They actually were pretty tasty. On to cake baking......

Baking and a Birthday

Tomorrow is this girl's birthday. She's going to be the big 7. We did a combined cookie baking/birthday party day on Sunday.

Tatum wanted to help decorate the cake. Can you tell which part she did?

Pizza, presents, cookies, and cake! What better way to spend a Sunday evening.