Another Cheer Season Comensces

 This year Peyton finally got her chance to be on the mat like her big sister. Peyton was a Tiny cheerleader at Raglan. She got to compete at two competitions and many half-time performances. Bailey's team competed in 6 competitions this year with many half-time performances as well. Needless to say it's a little relief for their 2012-2013 cheer season to be completed. 

 This year was a first for Raglan to have a tiny team and they were pretty darn cute. 

 Bailey's team rocked every competition taking first at 4 out of 6.  They've been an amazing team but had some injuries late in the year that didn't help. They ended their comp season with a great performance at their second national comp and we all were proud. 

 This upcoming year will be a little different.  Bailey is competing on two teams instead of one and might not end up flying on the lower level by her own choice.  We've never seen her base so it will be interesting. She still wants to fly on her higher level team because the girls are stronger and she's not feeling like she will be dropped. 

This will be Bailey's last year at Raglan (knock on wood).  Next year she will be old enough to tryout for high school cheer and although she struggles with the thought of leaving her Raglan family she is excited for the new adventures high school cheer will bring. 

Easter 2013

 When the kids were younger I planned out their Easter outfits so each would coordinate with the other and figured out each egg hunt we could attend as to maximize the cute egg hunt pics I could get. Now I can barely get the older kids to make even one hunt (Bailey didn't even go to it) so I'm left with one solitary child I get to play Easter dress up with. 

 We had beautiful weather all week and Easter weekend was no exception.  Mat had been working out of town all week and wasn't supposed to be back until late Saturday night.  Friday morning at 5:00 my cell phone was ringing and when I saw Mat was calling of course dread took over because why would he be calling me at such an odd hour?  He was surpassing us by finishing up work at 1:00 am and then driving home to spend Easter Saturday with us.  It was a great surprise.

 We went to the Vernon Worthen egg hunt and it lasted it's usual 30 seconds but Peyton loved every 30 seconds of it. Peyton loves everything about life.  She is such a happy kid.

 We had our own backyard hunt Sunday morning.  The Easter Bunny came that night so the kids were up at 7:00 am looking for their baskets. Mat and I made them wait until 9:00 to hunt eggs. What's the benefit of 1:00 pm church if the kids aren't going to sleep in?

 The older three kids were very sweet encouraging Peyton to go after all the eggs. They had a lot of fun trying to get her to pick up eggs by them.  Peyton definitely had the most. The older kids didn't mind until they realized we put money in the eggs.  They sat around watching Peyton who just laughed etched time she opened more dollar bills and more dollar bills. They managed to "sell" her items from around the house to get a little bit of the cash after all.

 I love Easter. I love the weather, that grass is green, leaves are budding on the trees, and the flowers making their appearances. I love it most for what it means to my sweet family. For the chance to live with them forever. Easter is a chance to begin again and I'm very ready a fresh start.

Disney Surprise

 Peyton has been talking about going to Disneyland and going on the Tower of Terror for months.  She had never been tall enough before now but decided it was her favorite ride.  Bailey had a cheer competition in Anaheim so we decided to combine the trip and surprise the boys and Peyton by spending a few days at Disneyland.  We picked Bailey up from her cheer practice at 9:00 on a Wednesday night and already had the van packed and headed down the freeway.  The boys kept asking where we were going. We were playing the theme song from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and they still didn't have a clue.  We finally told them we were on our way to California.  They had a quick burst of excitement and fell asleep shortly there after.  It was the smoothest ride to California ever.  We didn't have to stop once. 

 We bought a single day pass for Disneyland and a single day for California adventures because it saved us $30 a person.  We went to Disneyland on Thursday and stayed until fireworks. It was gorgeous weather and the wait wasn't terrible for rides. Peyton did keep asking to go on Tower of Terror.  She didn't like the Pirates of the Caribbean at all so we didn't know if she'd even make it on Tower of Terror.  She did love It's a Small World of course.

 Friday we spent our day at California Adventures. We weren't quick enough to get a fast pass for the new Cars ride but kept checking the wait thinking it would go down. It just kept getting longer and longer.  So the first time we actually saw the wait reduce we got into line. An hour and 45 minutes later we were able to go on it. Worth it the first time but I would never wait that long again. It was tough on little Peyton.

 She did get to go on Tower of Terrors that day and was fine up until the ride took off.  After she said that she liked it but didn't want to go again that day. She went on every ride she was tall enough for and had a blast.

 Bailey spent the day at California Adventures with her friends so we didn't get to see much of her. The following two days were competition days for her so the kids and Mat went to the beach while Bailey attended practices and prepped for the comp.  By the second day of competition I decided to heck with sticking around the hotel and went with Mat and the kids to the Science Discovery center. 

It was a fun trip.  Always too short but filled with memories.  Bailey's team took fourth and did great!