Happy Birthday Afton!!

On March 18th, Afton turned 7! I still can't believe that she's seven already. She's getting so big. She had a great birthday. She woke up to lots and lots of presents. That girl was spoiled! Then headed off to school. I brought some birthday donuts for her class and then they sang to her while her teacher gave her 7 big spankings! (not real ones). The kids think that's the funniest thing. They can't wait to get their birthday spankings. After school, she had to go to softball practice and then we went to dinner for her birthday. She chose the Elephant Bar and got a very special cupcake for her dessert. Happy Birthday Afton!

She was so excited to get this "A" bag. She's been asking for it for a very long time.

Getting her b-day spankings. I love her teachers face in this picture. She loves giving them pretend spankings.

The yummy birthday donuts.

The real party started the next day. She wanted to have a Rock-n-Roll party for her birthday, so rock-n-roll we did. She invited a few friends and family and we rocked out. The girls started by drawing their own "Hollywood Star" on the sidewalk with chalk and then we had some yummy pizza for dinner. After dinner, the girls played the game Just Dance on the wii. It was fun to see them all dancing together. They loved it! It is a very fun game although I'm not so great at it. I'm lacking in the rhythm department. While playing Just Dance, the kids took turns getting their faces painted. I had a friend from church come do the painting and she did an awesome job! The kids loved their fun faces. I especially loved Daxon's basketball pirate face. After the dancing, we pulled out the stage/curtain for the girls to show off their star talent. They took turns coming through the red curtain to perform for us. We had some singing and dancing and extravagant hand shakes. We had a great time rockin out with family and friends.

Waiting for the guest to arrive. Afton with my mom and sister, Jessie.

The party decor. We went with a purple/black/silver look. Afton even fit in with the decor. Her aunt Bri gave her the cute purple shirt. Love it!

Making their Hollywood stars.

The cute rocker chicks! Emma (she was a puppy dog rocker), Halle, Afton, Alyssa, and Dylen.

The girls playing Just Dance.

"Who let the dogs out!" This was the song they were dancing to.

She makes such a cute tiger!

The awesome rockin party!

Afton, the tiger, with her friend Halle, the kitty cat.

The guitar cake. My mom helped me make it and I thought it turned out pretty cute even though the licorice wouldn't cooperate and stay straight.

Blowing out the candles on her awesome guitar cake.

Dax the basketball pirate!

Opening her presents

The magnificent performers!

St. Patty's Day

Well, we had a great St. Patrick's day this year. For one, the kids love this FUN day, and for another, my mom and sister, Jessie, were visiting us. They came to visit for Afton's birthday so we were all very excited to have them stay with us for a few days. When the kids woke up on the 17th, they found a note from the sneaky leprechaun. He left a treasure map to a really cool treasure. It started in our bedroom and ended in the laundry room with their treasure hiding in the dryer. The kids thought that was pretty cool. Since they didn't catch the leprechaun this year, he decided to leave them a treasure and tell them better luck next year. The kids got some rain boots, wintergreen lifesavers, and green & yellow tic tacs. They also found out that this sneaky leprechaun turned our milk green! They couldn't believe it!

This picture makes me laugh because it was the best one I could get of all three of them. I even had my sister sit with them to help, but they still weren't cooperating. The little stinkers! I'm never going to get a decent one of all three actually looking at the camera and smiling. I've decided it's impossible.

The note/map.

We found it!

Logan in his cute new very green rain boots.

showing off their tic tacs

Afton doing some ribbon twirling for us.

Awards

On the 9th of March, Afton received some awards at school. She was awarded for perfect attendance and for meeting her accelerated reader goal. They had an assembly in their little cafeteria where they acknowledged the students and gave them certificates. Afton was really excited to get her award and we are just so proud of her. She's been doing so well in school and just loves it. She also received some awards during their 1st trimester and that happened during my major slump in blogging so I never posted anything about it. I'm such a bad mom! She received an award for perfect attendance again (she hasn't missed a day of school yet), for passing her 1st grade high frequency words, and her teacher chose her as Student of the Month for the month of October. She was so excited and shocked. The teacher writes a short paragraph on why they chose that student and then they announce the student, so the kids don't know they are getting the award. Her teacher told me beforehand so we knew to come to the assembly. Afton was so excited when they announced her name and we were so excited for her too.

Afton walking up to get her award.

Sorry the picture is pretty dark. My camera doesn't work very well in their cafeteria.

Getting her award.

Logan enjoyed the assembly too.

Her are some pictures from her 1st Award Assembly.

This is what her teacher, Mrs. Jones, said about her:

"One of my outstanding students this trimester is a young lady who was a little shy when she stared 1st grade. Well things have changed! She is learning 1st Grade concepts and skills very well, is exceptionally focused, intently listens to directions, and always shows responsibility for completing her work on time and with excellent quality. I'm so pleased with how she always goes above and beyond by writing stories and reviewing skills so she can improve! Each day she displays great citizenship, comes in with a positive attitude and a great smile to go along with it! I feel fortunate to have her in my class and proudly congratulate Afton Daley."

THE NEW DO!!!

BEFORE.....

I know, I know! You're all probably thinking something is wrong with me. I even questioned myself before the major cut. But Dax had been asking lately if he could get his hair cut short because he really wanted to do a Mohawk like his friend. And I just kept putting it off and making up excuse after excuse. I really didn't want to cut his hair. I just love the long shaggy look on him and he has the most amazing hair, so cutting it all off I knew would be very painful. I just wasn't ready to face that moment yet.....until now. Today, I took Dax down to Marissa's Salon (she's the lady that usually trims his hair) and she chopped his hair off! I almost cried! Seriously, I got a little teary eyed. What's wrong with me? It's only hair right? I guess it was hard because he's always had long hair. When he was a baby we let it grow longer and then we'd do the occasional trim here and there, but we haven't done anything super short, so I guess that's what was so hard for me. He was going to look totally different and I don't do good with change. But I survived and made it through his first major hair cut. At first, I was really nervous because I didn't know if his hair type would look good short and how we'd style it and if it would turn out cute, but after she got to cutting and it starting coming together I was actually really excited. The short cut looks so cute on him and he does look different, but different in a good way. He looks older and more mature and not as mischievous looking. (Ha! Ha! Maybe he won't be so mischievous either) He looks all grown up and that made me almost cry too. But I really like the cut and he loves it and can't wait to show everyone. He keeps asking me if people will know that he cut his hair. And I keep telling him that I sure hope so, but they might not know it's him because he looks so different. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and if I start missing the long hair he can always grow it out.

The 1st cut. I was going to scream right here.

Ahhhhh! It's getting shorter....

....and shorter.

and even shorter.

Dax thought this look was funny. She was cutting on top and it was all standing straight up. He loved it!

Almost there.

AFTER......

Viola! Introducing the new DAX! I love the mini Mohawk. I love that it's still a little long on top and the sides. She cut it using scissors only, no clippers. That way we kept some length.

He thinks he's pretty awesome with his new do and I have to admit he is one little awesome dude!

and a little side note for my sister Shelly and my father-in-law..."Are you happy now!?" They were the ones who'd give me the most grief about Daxon's long hair.

Gymnastics!

Afton started a new gymnastics class back in January. It focuses more on tumbling and I had heard great things about this class so we decided to start going there. At first, Afton was a little frustrated with the class and had a hard time because she wasn't able to do everything right away. But the teacher was great and saw that she was sad and gave her a great big hug and was by her side for the entire class. And after that, Afton decided that she really liked the class. It took her a few weeks to master some moves, but she's doing so awesome now. She loves it and I love it. It's great exercise for her and she's learning so much. She's mastered the crab walk, inside outs, a round-off, front roll and back roll, and a dive into a front roll. I can't wait for her to learn so much more!

Doing a back bend with one of the teacher's helpers (Sam).

doing a cartwheel

Isn't she the cutest little gymnast?

T-Ball Time!

Dax has played soccer and basketball and now he's moving on to t-ball. He had his first practice today and loved every minute of it. He also loves that his friends Chase and Caleb are on the team. I don't know how much listening was going on, but he had lots of fun. Plus his coach his awesome. He really did a great job with them at practice and had lots of fun things planned and had lots of help. I think it's going to be a great t-ball season!

Dax saying hi to his new team and doing some practice stances.


Practicing catching with his buddy Chase.

Showing off his mad hitting skills. It was so funny! Every time he was up to bat whether it was at the T or his coach pitching to him he was determined to "kill" the ball. You could just see the look in his eyes that he wanted to smash the ball.