Pot of Gold Gymnastics Invitational

This past weekend, Kelsey had another gymnastics meet....this time in Plainfield, IN. She competed on Saturday with several other girls from Bella Rose, all in Excel Silver, Excel Gold, or Excel Platinum.  There were 12 girls in Kelsey's age group she was competing against.  Overall, it was a good day, and the girls all had a lot of fun!

Before the meet...Kelsey and some of here friends.
Makenzie, Kelsey, Cassidy, and Braci

Introducing Bella Rose

Beam didn't go so well for Kelsey, but I'm still so proud of her!  She usually lets her nerves get the best of her on this event, but she did her best:-)  I thought this was a good picture!

Floor is one of Kelsey's stronger events, and she got 4th on this event.

Not sure if you can see her that well, but she just went over vault.  She did really well!

Kelsey tied for first on bars!  Way to go!!

Bars

Floor

The girls that compete in Excel Gold got 2nd place as a team.  Great job, Bella Rose!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow......

......said NO ONE in Indiana!! I know this is old news to everyone, but wow!  What a winter it's been!  With snowfall accumulating to more than 40 inches, I think it's safe to say this is the worst winter we've had in a long, long time.  In fact, I don't ever remember seeing anything like it!  I would like to say that we've enjoyed playing in the snow, but it's been so bitter cold (-43 degree wind chill bitter cold) that the kids haven't gotten to go outside like they would like to.  Yes, they have been out a lot, but not like they would like to, and a few of those times they couldn't stay out too long because of the wind chill.  The kids have missed several days of school and have had too many delays to count, and while normally I love a day off school, this is getting old.  The kids need normalcy and routine.  I think we are finally getting there, though.  We actually had our first 'full' week of school this week since Christmas break!

They've gotten to do a lot of sledding

Here I was trying to capture the depth of the snow, but this picture doesn't do it justice.  It's almost to the bottom of the trampoline!

Having fun with dump trucks

Jade always has to get in on the action:-)

I had to add this picture, because I really like it.  This dog is seriously in all her glory in the snow.  She is so funny!  She hops around trying to play with the kids:-)

Big snow pile right outside our garage

The driveway out to the shop....definitely not passable! 

The kids and Linsey made their best attempt at making Olaf from Frozen:-)


Here's to no more snow and warmer temperatures!!  (Ya, right!)

Christmas 2013

Like I mentioned before, we were in Florida over Christmas this year, but we had Christmas festivities throughout most of December and even once we got home in January.

On our way to cut down our Christmas tree

We found the perfect one!

It was Kelsey's turn to put the star on top

Lance surprised me with an early Christmas present.....

A new camera!!

We celebrated Christmas early with Lance's family this year.  Sadly, I didn't get very many pictures.  Here is a good one with Harv and Ellen and all of the grandkids:-) 

This was the morning we left for Florida.  We always let them open a little something before we go, usually a movie for the ride down:-)

Yep - a movie!  Maddox got Saige, Kelsey got Dispicable Me 2, and Landon got Turbo

Mom came out that morning before school to say good bye and give them a bag of goodies for the ride to Florida

After we got home from Florida, we went to my mom and dad's to celebrate a late Christmas.  Mom and dad didn't want to keep their tree up until mid-January (who can blame them?), so Kelsey put a few ornaments on this little tree.

The boys putting together a puzzle

Excited to open presents!!

Kelsey's 10th Birthday

This post is a little out of order, but I came across some pictures that I had forgotten about and wanted to share them.  In December, Kelsey celebrated her 10th birthday (double digits!).  Kelsey is reaching an age that she is definitely not a little girl anymore and is becoming a young lady.  While I love every single stage of my kids' lives, this one scares me a little.  Ok, who am I kidding?  It scares me a lot!  There is so much responsibility.....so much to teach her, help her with, be a good example for.  I don't at all feel qualified for this job, but I know that, by God's grace, we will make it.  I'm sure we will make mistakes along the way, no doubt about it, but I will continue to pray every day that we can help her become the young lady (and eventually young woman) that God wants her to be.

Kelsey is a fun, loving girl.  She is currently in gymnastics and practices twice a week, so that keeps her very busy.  She loves to be with her friends or downstairs playing on her gymnastics equipment.  She also loves to play games and watch her favorite TV shows.  

Happy 10th Birthday, Kelsey!

Getting ready to open presents from Grandma and Grandpa, and Nanny and Papa

No cake for this girl....she wanted a Hershey Cream Pie!

Birthday sleepover with friends

One Direction party:-)

Robot??

Nope! It's Landon! He bought this jacket with his own money....too cute! He absolutely loves it and wears it often:)

Walt Disney World

As part of our Florida vacation, we also went to Disney World.  After leaving Bonita Springs, we stopped in Orlando for a few days to enjoy the wonderful world of Disney:-)  Let me tell you, it never gets old!  This was our 3rd time going, and it was just as great as the 1st.

We stayed at Disney's Art of Animation Resort.  

The first day there was beautiful, and the kids were able to enjoy a couple hours of swimming

We went to the Lego store at Downtown Disney.  The kids had Lego gift cards from Christmas and were excited to spend them.  The boys put their money together and bought the police station.

Kelsey got the Lego Friends High School

They had some incredible Lego creations!

This is always one of our favorites!
(If you can't tell, it cooled off quickly while we were there!)

This was right outside of our building, which was in the Finding Nemo section.  This is Crush from Finding Nemo.

The kids loved looking around the Cars section at our resort

First day at Disney...Magic Kingdom.
Here the kids are ready to ride the teacups, always a favorite!

Pure joy!

Getting ready to ride Goofy's Barnstormer (Maddox's favorite)

Disney's Electrical Parade (obviously!).  It was pretty neat.  Every float was pure lights.....

Day 2....Hollywood Studios.
Here is right after riding the Tower of Terror.  Maddox wasn't too sure at first but ended up riding it a couple more times.  This was definitely my favorite ride!

We watched a live stunt show.  Lightning McQueen made an appearance:-)

Very cool!

It doesn't get much better than this....so beautiful!!