Dance Recital - Rockin' Around the Holidays!

Samantha's dance recital was held on June 18th at the Plattsmouth High School Auditorium. This was her 2nd year of dance with Janice Freeburg's dance studio and it only made her love it more! She asked me on the way home from the recital when dance lessons would start again!

Outside before the afternoon show! Her costume was very cute this year!

She acted funny at the 1st recital of the day, almost like she was nervous! I kept asking her if she was okay, but she insisted she was fine.

Nebraska City Papa (aka Grandpa Ward) came to the first show of the day.

Flowers from mom!

Some of Samantha's "dance"mates before it was their turn.

1st dance - Tap! "I'm Just Getting Started"

Alden came to the 1st show too! Doesn't he look thrilled!?

2nd dance - Ballet! "Me & My Teddy Bear" The teddy bear's outfit matched hers!

Auntie Debra & Great-Grandma Lila came to the 1st show. Grandma & Grandpa McKnight, Great-Grandpa Cecil, Doug, and Mike came as well.

I was lucky enough to go to both shows!

After the 1st show, we went out to Doug's parent's house and had supper before it was time to go back to town for the 2nd show. Samantha still seamed not like herself! She finally confessed that she had a bad headache! Once we gave her some tylenol, she was much better. The frown on her face disappeared and a smile appeared! She nailed the 2nd show! :)

Uncle Chris came to the 2nd show!

Grandma Nancy came to the 2nd show as well!

Samantha with her church friends - Kelby & Jessica Meisinger.

Samantha with her preschool friend - Stella Campin.

In the Dairy Queen Drive Thru on the way home from the 2nd show! We got a chocolate shake to celebrate!

Attention!

Hello Everyone!

We are going to attempt to put our whole summer on the blog in the next week and a half so that we can start fresh once school starts! Just to prepare you...it will be fast and furious! Try to keep up!

Michelle & Doug

Lincoln Children's Museum

We took a "day trip" to Lincoln to the Lincoln Children's Museum in June. We explored UNL's campus and visited our past co-workers at the University Health Center, too. We ate lunch at the Union with my friend Sandy and her son Calvin.

The kids really enjoyed the HUSKER section of the Children's Museum!

Alden said he wants to be a kicker for the Huskers! (He already has a very good drop kick, so maybe a punter is more likely!)

Samantha still dreams of being a cheerleader. I attempted to get a picture with a volleyball uniform on, however, she opted for the pom poms!

Clair was just a wild woman!

Samantha & Alden pretended to be the marching band...following in mommy and daddy's footsteps!

After football, cheerleading, and band practice, the kids were hungry, so Alden served the girls some pizza at the pizza cafe.

Alden shed his football dreams for a police career! How quickly they change their minds!

Samantha decided to be a Pharmacist and take after cousin Jamie!

Alden loved the airplanes upstairs!

Now, there's a scary site! Clair at the controls!

Here they are operating the switchboard for a play in the theatre section of the museum!

We stopped by the bookstore at the union after lunch! The girls enjoyed the corn heads!

We had a nice walk around campus!

The giant parentheses, framing the bell tower in the back!

I had a really cute picture of all 3 kids smiling by the University Health Center sign in front of the building, however, my finger got in the way! Boo!!

Plattsmouth Sprint Triathlon

Doug completed his 4th Plattsmouth Sprint Triathlon in June. He started training in January for it and put in some long hours of swimming, biking, and running. My uncle Craig Botkin also did the race! The kids had fun cheering them both on! Doug was number 64 for the race. The number 64 was put on his arms and legs before the start of the race...and now 2 months later...he still has 64 on his arms because he got sun burnt that day! Now, instead of that 64 being black, now it's white! :)

The kids and I showed up bright and early to watch him swim. It was chilly the morning of the race, so we had to dig out our Disney sweatshirts. Doug's mom also came to the race to help me manage the kids!

Doug had a great swim! His orange swim cap made it easy for the kids to spot him as he made his way from start to finish!

Done with the swim and off on the bike! My aunt Janet Botkin helped Doug in the transition area because I had the kids.

Transitioning off his bike for the run!

I missed a picture of him finishing, as they wouldn't allow me to cross the path that the runners were running! :( Doug did great!

Teresa, Doug, & Amy - these 3 triathletes trained together at the gym on Wednesday mornings!

Clair sported the famous "GO DADDY GO!" shirt!

Afterward, we all swam in the pool and had lunch, while we waited for door prizes and awards.

Clair seemed to like this squating position a lot!

Clair had daddy wrapped around her little finger...she pulled him to where she wanted to go!

Back Yard Fun

I got another slip 'n slide this year! I thought it would be the perfect one for our backyard...but it didn't work exactly as I had planned! I decided to blow it up all by myself one afternoon while the kids were sleeping during naps. Once I got it outside it was very windy and kept blowing away. It always wasn't very slick! And I think the hill was not steep enough, but the kids had fun anyway!

Clair liked to just jump on in the middle of the slip 'n slide even if it wasn't her turn or even if Alden or Samantha were already on their way down the slide! She almost got hurt many times and we had lots of collisions!

Alden finally got the hang of it!

The girls had fun!

Samantha was very serious about her approach! Almost like a gymnast running down the runway for the vault!

Day at the lake

We went out to Doug's parent's house one afternoon in June and had fun at the lake!

We have to hang onto the handle on the back of Clair's lifejacket! She's pretty adventurous!

Samantha & Alden like to try to build sand castles.

Running into the water!

Goofy Clair! All clean and dressed for bed!

Omaha Sand in the City 2011

We took the kids to see the awesome sand sculptures at Sand in the City in June. We met up with our friends Christie & Mike and their kids Jayger & Mikena. The kids played games for a little while before we looked at the sculptures. Our friends had already been there for a long time that day, so we parted ways and went to look at the sculptures.

Clair did not want to stand still, and we were afraid she would run under the ropes!! This sculpture was of Lightening McQueen & Mater.

This was one of the kid's favorite ones!

Finally a good picture of all 3 kids together at the same time! :) This was Samantha's favorite - Horton Hears A Who!

Spray Park!

We're back! Sorry for the delay...it's time to get caught up again!

One of our favorite summer activities is going to the spray park in Papillion! It's free and hours of entertainment for the kiddos.

Samantha, Clair, & Alden posed for a quick picture before hitting the water!

On this specific day, I met my friend from high school there -Jennifer Teeter. She now lives in Bellevue, but used to live close to the Spray Park. She has 3 girls - McKenzie (who is old than Samantha), Riley (who is Samantha's age) and Makaya (who is Clair's age).

Clair loved the water!

I caught Clair trying to get into the cooler!

Alden's whole goal for this day was to run the water cannon gun! He waited patiently for it to be open and then had a blast with it!