Valentine's Day

Valentine's Bellar made for classmates

New Valentine day shirt - love those bangs she cut!

Cute socks.

To be honest, Valentine's Day is not one of my personal favorite holidays.  I actually think the only good thing about it is that it is my mom's birthday that day. :)  BUT my kids, particularly Bellar, lives for holiday fun.  She loves having a traditional holiday shirt and pair of socks.  The kids made their own Valentine cards this year from the site  amomsyear.com.  The kids loved drawing the face of each classmate and teacher.

Liv by her Peanut Inspired Lucy Psychiatric Stand.

Christmas 2012

Santa Claus, reindeer, elf on the shelf, lights, trees, decorations, music, shopping, the story of Christ's birth it all spells Christmas in our home.  While tiring as a mother, the kid love this time of year and I love seeing the excitement in their eyes. Who says you can't post Christmas in March?  You can and do if you have fallen behind in posting. 

Bellar in new Tinkerbell PJ's

Barbie Pet Vet Kit

Christmas Eve girls in new PJ's

Bellar with the long sleeve shirt she wanted

La La Loopsy Doll

Liv's favorite band ONE DIRECTION

Liv bought this for her dad "An Elf I am Not"

Activity center from dad

Little Pet Shop Toys

I surprised Neil who a new IPOD Nano to use at the gym

Playing with IPOD

Bellar got Olivia's old Ipod and loves it.

Liv and her new Ipod Touch - she saved and paid for half of it.

7 Years Old!

WOW!  It is hard to believe that Bellar is now 7 years old.  She celebrated her day beginning with her yearly ritual of donuts for breakfast.  She even passed up the birthday cake to have her donuts!  She wanted books to read, a webkinz, a baby doll, a desk chair, shirts, and a game.

For her day, she chose to eat at Chili's and then have a family night at the bowling alley.  It was a pretty low-key, laid back day but nonetheless a nice one for her to celebrate.

This kid loves to play games.  UNO Power Grab was the game this year - actually not too bad to play.

She loves to read the Marley dog books.

Neighbor decorated our driveway and put balloons on mailbox for her.  She LOVED it!

Standing by Happy Birthday Isabel sign on cement

Baby Alive Doll birthday present

She wanted colored jeans like her sister.

Kid loves dolls!

Finally!

Eighteen months and my in-laws are returning from Cambodia after serving an LDS mission.  Liv started counting down at a month, three weeks, two weeks, one week, seven days, six days, five days, four days, three days, two days, one day, 24 hours etc. etc.  Lets just say she was a bit excited but it also got a bit annoying by the day of their arrival. :)

Keith and Madeleine returned on January 24th after a delay because of the freezing rains.  They left a tropical climate to return home to Utah in one of the coldest winters we've had in awhile.  Both the girls had fun making a poster to take to the airport to welcome them home. What a great example they set for their family!

There's No Place Like Home poster Liv made.

Cash, Dax, Isabel, Gavin, and Liv wait for their grandma and grandpa.

Welcome home Elder and Sister Shelley

Liv seeing Grandma after 18 months

Elder Shelley

Meeting grandson for the first time at 15 months old.

Strictly Ballroom!

In writing this post, I find myself chuckling as I think of the movie Strictly Ballroom.  It is a 1992 Australian romantic comedy that one can say is super cheesey but highly entertaining.  I recommend you see it at least once! Anyway, the post really isn't about the movie but it is about ballroom.  This year at school, Liv has been participating on the school's ballroom dance level one team.  She has really enjoyed learning all the dances - cha cha, swing, fox trot etc.



She participated in a school team match in January with her team receiving a gold place finish.  In February, we spent the day on the campus of UVU where Olivia's team scored well and she finished in the top 6 level one dancers for her school which allowed her to participate at the ballroom dance competition on the campus of BYU on March 9th.

Her team earned a gold medal finish and placed third overall in the level one division of all the school in attendance.  Liv danced the fox trot and merengue dance for her dances.  In the newcomer swing competition, which ccontained level l and level 2, dancers she made it to the quarterfinals.  From 179 starting couples down to the final 24 is where she placed.  It was a fun day watching her and her friend Cassie perform.  They actually placed the exact same which was wonderful!

Ballroom has been a great experience for her.  We are sad that the program may not be available at our school next year.  Here are a few pictures from the various performances.

UVU Dance Competition February 23, 2013

Liv and partner Tanner Bustin' a Move

Go team #322!

 

Newcomer Cha Cha Dance

Liv's friend Jade also competed.

A few pictures from the March 9th Competition at BYU.

Liv and partner Tanner

Cassie and her partner Jesse

Team #146!

I will try to upload a video of Liv dancing the Merengue as soon as my not so technology savy self figures out how to upload and see the video on the computer! 

Liv's 11th Birthday

 Goodness it is hard to believe that Liv is celebrating her 11th birthday this year.  She is quite an impressive kid balancing school, ballroom dance, student council, piano, and a competitive dance team.  For her birthday, Liv got a super fuzzy and warm (those are her words) Aeropostale sweatshirt, pj pants, scripture case, neon shirt, and charging cord fro her ipod touch.

We decided to have a late night party since we don't do sleepover parties.  I found a free printable as says-it.com where you can customize the ticket to whatever you like. They made the most adorable invitations.  We asked the girls to dress up as their favorite actress or rockstar etc.  One of Liv's friends decided to come as Katy Perry.  I have to say her mom made her a costume with a cupcake skirt and matching cupcake headpiece.  It was awesome!

Liv opening her gifts from the family

So for decorations, I made a red carpet with a red string of lights from the the steps to the front door.  Olivia and I made a poster for the front door.  As you walked into the living room each girl had a yellow star on the walk of fame.  Olivia and Isabel created a photo booth background from white wrapping paper.  They had a great time creating it.

Our birthday balloon wreath and front door poster welcoming kids to the party!

Red Carpet Entrance

Yellow Star Walk of Fame

Photo Booth Background

The Music Hub - Liv's new Ipod Touch and Silly String for "Crowd Control"

The photo booth with props was a HUGE success with the girls.  Boy did they have fun posing with all the props.  I found a lot of free printable photo props via the internet. 

Brr.....it is cold.

Rockstar

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For activities, the kids decorated their own lanyards with VIP or backstage pass etc.  They also each had their own autograph books to collect the autographs of their friends throughout the night.  Olivia and I made a CD of Olivia's favorite Jammin' Tunes as a party favor.  Each girl was then able to decorate the case of their CD.

Our cake was in the form of a microphone found at parenting.com. The girls thought these were fun.


We played a game of freeze dance and then played the lyric game.  I had two sets of lyrics for the chorus of two of Liv's favorite songs - You Don't Know Your Beautiful and We're Never Getting Back Together.  The girls had to find all the words taped around the house and then put the words in order and sing the chorus to finish.

Overall, I think the party was a success. We fed them dinner and watched a movie and then took everyone home. I hope Liv had a fabulous time!