Figure Skating and School

Greetings friends and family,

Two things happened around our house in the past few days.  Layla competed in figure skating and the twins started 3rd grade! 


Kendra helped Layla get dressed up with makeup for the competition.  I got to chauffer her and spend the day taking care of things only daddy can do, like holding purses, cheering often, and lacing up her skates. 

The song she chose was "Butterfly fly away" by Miley Cyrus.  It's from back when Miley was a wholesome, blooming country singer instead of the outrageous disturbed individual we see in the news lately.  Anyway, Layla was amazing and earned a third place medal with her graceful routine.  Here are a few pictures of the performance.

All her work on flexibility is paying off as she's able to do more strength moves.

She ended with a curtsy towards the judges with her winning smile.

This is the crew who came to cheer with us.  Stephanie and her boys, the Webbs, and Alaysha, our friend and roommate. 

Here is her coach, Jamie, who takes most of the credit for Layla's success.  The hours of personal lessons really paid off!

I had to get a family picture because that's just what we do at events.  It shows that Alaysha is one of us.  Everything we have is hers for as long as she wants to live in our house.  We treat her like a sister and auntie instead of a tenant. 

I am super proud of this girl and her achievements.  She's growing so quickly that I might not need to bend down on one knee for these pictures too far in the future.

I paid way too many dollars for the 150 digital images of her performance, but I decided against buying the ones of her on the podium because I have limits on how much money I am willing to spend here.  She is like a ballerina on ice!

The twins are back to school and this time they have backpacks on wheels.  It might not be important to every parent, but we don't want them to develop back and shoulder issues from lugging around 30 pounds of books and stuff on their back all day.  They look great and roll well!

This is the standard "front door" picture we've taken for the past four years. 

I said, "show an expression of how you feel on your first day!"  They both nailed it.  Layla is super happy and Easton is dreading it.  There are only 5 boys and 20 girls in his class.  The other 4 boys aren't very nice so he is having a tough time fitting in, but I'm proud of him for not joining the inappropriate conversations the other boys have.

I convinced them to give me a happy look even if they weren't feeling it.  This is as close as it gets.

The outside pics turned out well too.  I take these to show the location and their surroundings.  ten years from now they will ask, "were we in Phoenix when 3rd grade started?" and I'll show them this.

Layla loves to wear dresses and undershirts and skirts.  The knee high socks are a new addition to her wardrobe.  She's growing up a little too fast for my taste.

Easton would wear a trash bag to school if we told him to.  He could care less if his collar is straight or hair is combed.  Luckily, Kendra cares. 

I added one more with them on the opposite side of each other because I can't remember how I took the door picture in the last few years.  I'll continue to compile these front door pics through the years and play a slide show when they reach graduation from high school.

Let's get the third grade life moving forward!

See you soon.