The Ladwigs

2011-11-18T10:42:00.001-06:00

I found this when I opened my computer to work ;)

More Halloween festivites :)

2011-11-18T10:29:00.000-06:00

We went to the Ernzen's Halloween Party. It was super fun :) The girls love the face painting, jump house, magician, balloons, crafts and more.
Roll call:
Ryan- Manning
Candi- Runner
Hallie- Rockstar
Reese- Belle (Christmas Belle to be specific)
Piper- Tinkerbell

I will post our trick or treat pictures another time with my mobile uploads :)

Trunk or Treating

2011-11-18T10:11:00.000-06:00

This year our church started "Trunk or treating". We had to decorate our trunks for all the kids to go trick or treating to. We brought along a neighbor girl, Emily to join in the fun. I decorated the van like a slumber party and the girls all wore pjs and slippers.
{Piper's slippers were picked out BY her :) We went shopping...
I said: which pair would you like?
Piper: CARS!
Me: How about these Princess ones?
Piper: No, cars.
Me: Did you see the purple ones?
Piper: I want Cars.
Me: Okay, get the cars...
She was so excited she wore them right out of the store!! I have learned, buy them what they want or they won't wear them!! :)

Cheering for a Cause

2011-11-18T09:55:00.000-06:00

The Apex cheer season has official started with the first competition. The girls did great :) Reese is on Frenzy and Madness this year and Hallie's team is Craze. I am excited to see them again this weekend when they compete against several teams. Great job Apex teams!!!

Heading home...

2011-11-18T09:41:00.000-06:00

This is Hallie's friend Hallie :) They were like 2 peas! She is from Pennsylvania. They said bye to each other about 10 times!

Piper lined them up to watch us fly :) She loves Mickey and Minnie!!

Vacation 2011... part SEA... Day 3

2011-11-16T09:47:00.000-06:00

Day 3... Castaway Cay (Disney's Island) Hallie, mom and I got off to go swim with sting rays, but the other slept in :) {It's vacation, do what you want!!} We got back to the ship early while everyone else was still off, so we had free run of the pools and Aqua duck and all the fun stuff. We spent most of the day hanging out at the pool!

In the evening was Pirate night :) Everyone dresses up and they have a pirate party, complete with fireworks and WAY too much food and wine!!

Vacation 2011... part SEA... Day 2

2011-11-13T14:31:00.000-06:00

Day 2 we stopped in Nassau for the day. We got off the ship and went to swim with the dolphins. Hallie LOVED it, Reese was a little hesitant and Piper was NOT a fan of being that close. We all got hugs and kisses from the dolphin, got to dance and play with him. It was a great place to do it. We spent a little time at the beach after before heading back on board.

Vacation 2011... part SEA... Day 1

2011-11-13T14:11:00.000-06:00

We had fun on land, but it was time to hit the sea! This time on the Disney DREAM. (these postings will be short with lots of pictures... I Smash Booked our entire trip in detail, so just the fin stuff here!!)
Day 1... boarding the ship and get acquainted with all the fun NEW findings on the ship.

Is this bathroom COOL or what??? It had a sliding round door, too! (and clearly a mirror on the ceiling!)

Vacation 2011... part B

2011-11-12T21:49:00.000-06:00

Day 4... SeaWorld. Our last trip to SeaWorld was disrupted by rain, so this was really the first time the girls got to see the shows and all the animals. They got to feed the sting rays, sharks, fish and seals. They even got to see a baby seal born that morning! Reese was FULL of questions for the "helper". We really liked the dolphin show... the Shamu show is getting kinda lame these days. A great day enjoyed by everyone!

For supper we went to Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. Along the way we found this funny scarecrow (Reese didn't want in the pic... he was a little weird for her!)

Day 5... Animal Kingdom. Our last day on land was spent at Animal Kingdom. We watched the Lion King musical, the parade, and went on the safari... twice! :) The girls love the animals. {I didn't take many pics...oops}

...and then we headed off to the ship!

Vacation 2011... part A

2011-11-12T21:17:00.000-06:00

We started our adventure in Orlando. We stayed at a beautiful resort in a 2 bedroom condo. It was so nice having all that space!! On the trip down I noticed Piper was getting a little warm... she ended up with a fever, throwing up and awful cough for the first 4 days of the vacation :(
Night of arrival... we ate at a "not so fantastic" steak place, but had fun none the less!

Day 1... we stayed in the hotel the whole day trying to get Piper back to feeling good. We did venture out to Denny's for breakfast (the girls got great balloon animals) Target and to get some meals and we checked out the pools.

Day 2... Hollywood Studios. We figured this would be low key and we could stay in air for the majority of the day... and that's exactly what we did. We ate at a Playhouse Disney character lunch, went to a few shows, met some characters and then went to the Nighttime show (Fantasmic) This show is AMAZING! NOT to be missed, ever!

This is why I love going to Disney!!! (she just looked up and kissed him as he was signing her book! She was SO excited to see Mickey!!!)

We had lots of smiles...

But even MORE attitude!!

This was our first trip to see Phineus and Ferb :) Hallie and Reese were super excited!

Day 3... Magic Kingdom. We did MK on this day because we got tickets to go to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! It was so fun! We were very excited to see all 7 Dwarfs! {they can only be seen during this party each year} They got to Trick or Treat, go to a dance party with the Toy Story friends, and then we watched a wonderful parade. Oh, and to top it off on our way out we saw Mickey and Minnie in their Halloween costumes... AND the princesses :) It was a really long day, but really worth it!

Ballet lessons with Rapunzel

Even Ryan got into the photo fun!

Early October Activities

2011-11-12T20:08:00.000-06:00

Reese was invited to a Princess party. She was told to wear her favorite princess dress... so got decked out in Arial!

Reese and Laila the birthday girl :)

Hallie had Spirit Day at school. She was super excited to see Coach Alivia perform for the school! It's always fun to see the Apex girls in other uniforms!

Craze had a family outing to the Apple Orchard. The kids had a blast at the petting zoo and corn pool, on the hayride and air pillow and going through the corn maze. Such a fun group, we are lucky to have such great cheer families.

Craze Team pic:

We also met Ron and Tricia for our ANNUAL trip to Deal's apple orchard for their annual Fall Festival. They have all kinds of activities. We look forward to the horse pulled hay rides, kiddy area, petting zoo, and rope making. Ryan also looks forward to his first Honey Crisp apples of the season. This is a fun tradition not to be missed!

And then there was September...

2011-11-09T09:23:00.000-06:00

September started off like the past 4 Septembers :).... with the Ringling Brother's circus in the Quad Cities. We love this annual visit and look forward to it every year!!

We also love getting Celebrity Seating!! How can you beat watching an amazing circus sitting on the floor with your new best friend, the clown!?!? Piper scooted down and sat right down by him not thinking anything of it :)

The girls and I explored several parks. They love bike rides!! This park is about a mile from our house.

Reese started preschool. This is her last year at Tiny Treasures. I think she is most excited about getting to have sharing every Wednesday!! :) She plans the next week as soon as she has shared that week!

Hallie participated in the Urbandale Jaywalkers dance clinic. She performed at the UHS vs Dowling game. So we also watched Claire and coach Alivia cheer :)

Hallie and one of her best friends Haley :)

Then we ventured up to see Papa and Nana. There was a Scarecrow Festival in a nearby town, so of course we went :) It was a lot of fun. There were rides, animals, face painting, crafts, and LOTS of scarecrows in the contest. A fun day to kick off fall.

My cousin Stephanie got married so the two older girls and I went. It was so nice visiting with everyone and the girls had a great time running around and dancing all night!

...and that folks is September.

Life on Facebook

2011-11-08T22:41:00.000-06:00

Our life is WELL documented on Facebook so the blog has become a long lost site :(
It's been so long since this poor blog has been used I don't even know where to start...
Here's the lowdown for August:
Piper was crowned Miss Iowa's Little Doll

Hallie loves school and schoolwork

The girls were in the Iowa State Fair parade (that's Reese on the right, Hallie basing her)

We celebrated Reese's 5th birthday!! She had a HUGE swim party with all of Madness and Frenzy, school friends and family. Super fun night of celebrating and beautiful weather to do so :)

Reese competed in the State Fair gymnastics meet. She was excited to get to go with Coach Jeff, and more excited to find out one of her best friends, Malia, was coming too! Reese placed 2nd!! Congrats girlie!!

We spent the day at the fair. The girls love the helping hands section... where they get to do all the farming. Piper was all about it... Reese on the other hand asked Jessie to help her, she didn't want to get dirty :) Hallie is getting a little old for it, but stuck through it with her sisters.

And of course more celebrating when we got home!!! The Lansinks and aunt Jess and Grandma Carmel and Papa and Grandma Ladwig spent the weekend with us.

Then at the end of the month I headed out to AZ for the final Creative Escape. I love creating all the projects, but most of all I will miss the fun friends I made from TX and FL. It has been a fun tradition the past 3 years, sad to see it end.

Hallie's turn

2011-08-03T22:53:00.000-05:00

Here are the photos I took of Hallie this morning :)

Picture Day

2011-08-02T22:15:00.000-05:00

I took Reese and Piper outside this morning to get some cute shots of them. Reese of course was a little ham and had fun... Piper on the other hand is a little pickle to take pics of!! {and don't mind Piper's new "botox" in her upper lip!! She fell down yesterday and faceplanted... resulting in a HUGE top lip... poor thing!! It looks really sore!! and not to mention the scrape on Reese's forehead... she tripped running into the bathroom and hit her head on the door... I told Hallie she better hide in a closet last night so nothing happened to her :) So far she is in the clear... knock on wood!}

This & That ...July edition

2011-07-29T22:23:00.000-05:00

Here are some July highlights...

For the fourth we celebrated our "new" backyard!! We are so happy to have the pool reopened :)

The Garners came for a sleepover.

The girls were in parades for Apex.

We have gotten LOTS of use out of the fire pit! We generally roast marshmallows, but have also tried hotdogs, corn on the cob and apples.... all of which have been delicious :)

I have been BUSY in The Vinyl Studio creating all kinds of things :)
150 bows, about 400 t-shirts, 170 shorts, about 75 decals, 60+ waterbottles, 20+ signs, and more...

Hallie had choreography for her new cheer team CRAZE!
(we also hosted a Craze pool party... I will post that separate)

We attended the JenBen wedding. {My cousin Jenni.} It was so nice to see all of the Bolles.

Reese had a little photo shoot with me :)
Sorry some of these are sideways... it is late and I am just happy to have them on the blog.

Second Grade

2011-07-29T09:56:00.000-05:00

Wow, can you believe summer is officially over for us? Hallie started 2nd grade yesterday! She was beyond thrilled to have Mrs. Calfee again! {The only downfall is she just had a baby so she is out until October, but worth the wait!!}
Her highlights from the day were:
*Getting her own locker
*Getting her own desk (so sitting at tables)
*Getting to stand in a NEW lunch line
*Getting to sit at the 2nd and 3rd graders table at lunch
*Being allowed to check out THREE books from the library!

Oops...

2011-06-12T21:43:00.000-05:00

I just realized I never posted much from April pics either!! {with Facebook I post pics everyday, but forget to post here!! So here they are :)
Adam's 30th Birthday party!

John and Nicole's Baby Shower for Charlie

Manicures and Pedicures with Apex friends!! Getting ready for the big Apex Purple Carpet Bash!!Coach Brooke even came :) Surprise!!

Apex Purple Carpet Bash!! :) Hallie received "Most Improved Tumbler"!! What a fun night to end an awesome cheer season!! Hallie was quite the paparazzi... the pics she isn't in she took... and I had to weed these out of about 50 :)

We celebrated Drew's first birthday with the Hamann's :)

Piper spent a few days thinking she was part pirate :) She went around saying Arrrrg :)

Easter 2011
Place: Grandpa and Grandma Ladwigs

Brianne's shower was totally low key and just the besties :) We got together for a weekend of girl fun and pampering! We got pedicures, went shopping and went to the play Steel Magnolias. {and of course hit up Red Robin for late night fries and campfire sauce!!} So fun as always!! Now we can't wait to meet Jackson!!

And that was April in a nutshell....

May in review....

2011-06-12T14:49:00.000-05:00

Okay I know it have been a long and busy month... so my poor blog has suffered :) Here is our May in review from my camera (I will do one from my phone perspective in just a bit)

We went to Miss Nelson is Missing at the Des Moines Playhouse... it was super cute and fun! The girls loved it! Next is If you Give a Mouse a Cookie... and then Junie B Jones!!

Jess and I went to the Bon Jovi concert!!! It was super fun spending the evening with friends :)

We celebrated Mindy's birthday before boarding the party bus.

MUD RUN 2011!! We had a blast at the Mud Run 2011!! My mom and I are prize driven... and when we found out that you got a medal for funning the 1 mile we quick signed up for that one too! So we ran the 1 mile got our medal, turned around and ran the 3 mile... KILLER!! My mom got 1st place in her age catagory!! ;) Good job Grandma Carmel. My sister and her friends some how managed to get as muddy as they could :) We all had a great time!! I will be there in 2012 for sure!

Hallie had her Dog presentation. She studied Labs :) She did a great job. Public speaking is NOT an issue for this girl! She went first in her class to break the ice for everyone. Great job Miss Hallie!

Road Trip!! We packed up and headed up to Papa Wayne's and Nana's for the Orange City Tulip Festival. Fun time by all! We went to the park, ate lots of yummy Nana food, and the girls were excited to get to go to Sunday School with them again. Can't wait to see them again soon!

Piper was WORE OUT!! But don't worry... she had a jumbo chocolate rabbit to perk her back up!

Reese had her end of the year picnic. She had such great teachers and friends it was sad that the year was over. But we will be in touch with her friends and she will see her teachers again next year in the halls :)

Hallie's picnic was fun, too :) We loved Mrs. Lines! She was a wonderful teacher. Hallie is SUPER excited to be in 2nd grade now!!! :)

{cakes in a jar}

And that my friends was our May... we are now on summer vacation and things haven't slowed down ANY!!!! I will try to post more :)

Thanks Ryan!!

2011-05-10T11:02:00.002-05:00

I wanted to share my gift from Ryan :) He is so techy... I love it! Totally made my day when I walked downstairs to the kitchen and my laptop sat on the counter with a new wallpaper that said click here. So fun!!

{Sorry about the kid chatter in the background... hey, we've been married 8 years... we've accumulated 3 of those!! hehehehe!!}

My favorite rainy day...

2011-05-10T00:01:00.002-05:00

Eight years ago...
This girl

and this boy

met up with a bunch of good friends and family

to repeat vows that would forever change their lives.

The past 8 years have had their shares of downs... but our laughter gets us through :)

Thank you, Ryan for 8 great years...
{and putting up with me!!}

and for making May 10, 2003 my FAVORITE rainy day!

Love you always!!

Happy Mother's day!

2011-05-08T13:12:00.002-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to:

My Mom:
The best mom & friend in the world :) Love you lots!!

To my Mother-in-Law, who treats me like the daughter she never had :)

To my step moms who with open arms love me like their own!

To my awesome sisters, who over the years have become my BFFs {who are also the best aunts}

To our Grandmas... Great Grandmas hold a special place in our hearts :) We love you both bunches!!

Most of all to my family! To my adorable, sassy girls {who can also be just as naughty as they are cute!!} you three make me very proud to be your MOM :)

Hope everyone has a great Mother's Day... I look forward to celebrating with you mom and Nana later this month :)

Maternity Session

2011-05-04T11:16:00.001-05:00

I was excited to take Brianne and Adam's maternity pictures this weekend with Jodi. It was so fun taking these shots, she is too cute!! There are pictures I want to blow up for my wall!! :) Hehehe, just kidding! Thanks for the fun weekend Brianne, I can't wait to meet Jackson!! Congrats to you both! Love ya! Enjoy your pics....

My goodness

2011-04-19T10:16:00.000-05:00

How the heck do weeks go so fast??
Here are pics from our adventures to the Science Center of Iowa.

Here are more pics from the Imagination Movers concert :)

Reese left on Cloud 9!! With her Movers suit full of autographs :) {She was so excited to see Nina she even had her sign twice!! hehehe} We all had a blast and will for sure go again!! :)

Madness

2011-03-31T20:26:00.001-05:00

Here is the video of their last performance of the season... Apex Madness at COA Nationals. NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!! Congrats girls :)

And here is the video of the announcement!! {still gets me excited!!}

Spring break 2011

2011-03-30T23:49:00.000-05:00

As you saw, the girls made a checklist for Spring break 2011... and the checked each one off!!
These are not chronological... they are in the order the girls listed them...
1- Great Wolf Lodge, Kansas City... Check!

2- Feed the geese & ducks... CHECK

3- Go to the park... CHECK
(we made it to 3 parks... all within walking distance of our house!)

4- Go shopping... CHECK
(We went to the mall, pet store & for ice cream and this is the only pic I took, ugh)

5- Read books... CHECK

6- Play babies... CHECK (DOUBLE CHECK)

No pics :(

7-Go to Movers concert...CHECK

Front row, after party, meet the Movers & Nina... oh yea... CHECK

8- Get Bentley, Bun-Bun & Goldie treats... CHECK

(No pics... but had a fun visit to Petsmart & Petco)

9- Incredible Pizza... CHECK

10- Go to Backyard Adventures (invite Gabby & Delaney)... CHECK

11- Go get ice cream @ Cold Stone... CHECK (times 4... hey, no judging, it was spring break!! hehehe)

(not a single picture... but I got a pic at TRex!! so here's that!)

12- Get pedicures!! (at Scoops Kidspa)... CHECK

14- Cheer @ Nationals!

Hallie later added 1st place... well, we said we would check them all off, so... CHECK!

NATIONAL CHAMPS... APEX MADNESS!!!

And that is how the Ladwigs did Spring Break 2011!! :)
I will post more pics about some of the major ones... and more pics of other things we did on break that weren't on the list... but this post is super long!! Good night all, can't wait for SUMMER!!!!

The cake...

2011-03-30T22:41:00.000-05:00

This post is for Kim... she requested a pic of the WHOLE cake! {It was the teacher in her, wanted to see the book!} I thought I would share the pic of her Junie B doll, too.

Hallie's 7th Birthday Sleepover

2011-03-30T20:24:00.000-05:00

We had a blast at Hallie's sleepover. She had a great time inviting friends to the Stoney Creek Inn for a swim party and fun night!! The girls had a blast, and they were so good I made some phone calls the next morning to ask parents if they could say longer! Thank you to Kim for coming and helping with some of the activities... we loved having your kids come and join in! Also, a BIG shout out thank you to my sister Jess for joining me for the overnight and all the fun :)

One year ago....

2011-03-19T22:07:00.002-05:00

One year ago we were having a snowstorm. One year ago my house was filled with 6 year olds for Hallie's birthday sleepover. And one year ago Ryan called me to tell me they were flying Reese up to Mayo. About this time last year Reese and I were riding in the jet headed to a hospital we prayed would have the answers.

We arrived in Rochester and Reese went through a lot of ups and downs... But each down lead us down another path towards the right neurologist who eventually would run the right tests and ask the right questions to get Reese the treatment she needed.

Two weeks after Reese a family friend's daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumor. This week Makayla (also four) passed away. I am humbled that our prayers were answered and our year with Reese has been nothing but improvements. And we thank everyone for all of your prayers.

Thank you all for the poptabs that keep coming in :) They are a daily reminder to us of all the families fighting for their children's health. Keep them coming!!

Here's to another awesome year :)

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Big plans!!

2011-03-15T19:17:00.001-05:00

Here is Hallie and Reese's to do list for Spring Break :)
Can't wait to check them all off!!

Today was a trip to the park!! (we went to three parks on our walk on the trail!!)

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Friends, birthday, gymnastics and cheer!!

2011-03-14T23:33:00.001-05:00

We have been beyond busy the past couple weeks! I have been super busy with work... But we've also been having lots of fun!

Hallie has a great friend who she has gotten very close to, Olivia. She came over for the day... They made "zebra pudding cups". This was Hallie's Friday food at school, so she was excited to text us how to do it! They also made BFF coin purses and matching tshirts :)

(OA)BCIG (our hometown school) girls played in the state basketball tournament, it was so fun watching the exciting games, having visitors during the week, seeing old friends and of course being in the excitement of the state championship... Congrats ladies!

Hallie turned 7!!! (I will have another post about her 7th celebration). Grandma Carmel, grandma and papa Ron, and Ross were here for her big Lucky 7! Her big excitement was her pet fish!

Grandma Tricia made her a cake of her favorite Junie B book!

Her friend Olivia stopped by to surprise her!

Happy birthday, girlie!

I got to go along to the Des Moines Playhouse for The Golden Goose with Reese's preschool. So cute :)

Reese had a gymnastics meet... She did great and had a fun morning ;)
congrats on 2nd place!

Halle had a "showcase" for Apex to showoff their routines they will be doing in Kansas City at Nationals! Here is the Apex "family". Coaches in black, recreational girls in lime ts, competitive girls in uniforms.

K, so that was one week... I'll post the rest tomorrow :)

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Hallie, what do you want to be when you grow up?

2011-02-27T21:36:00.001-06:00

I love her answers she wrote in her Jonas Brothers diary :)

A pet doctor- because I love pets
Apex boss- because it is fun to be a boss
Teacher- because teachers are fun
Mom- because moms get what they want

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Madness is back!!

2011-02-19T18:10:00.001-06:00

Madness rocked the floor today at GLCC competition in Des Moines!! It was fun to watch them out there having fun, smiling the whole time, and HITTING their stunts!! And guess what happens when they do all that???

FIRST place!!

Sportsmanship/Spirit award!!

Most Rockin' Rowdy Performance!!

GRAND Champions/Division Champions!!

It was super exciting to watch as they kept calling their names!! Congratulations, Madness & Hallie!!!!

Here's Hallie with the 1st place "trophy"... a gold record!! And Sportsmanship is the guitar!! The Rockin' Rowdy award was a window cling she proudly hung in her room... and the Champion banner is hanging at the gym!! :) So fun they didn't just hand out the usual trophies!! {Even her 1st place medal has a guitar on it!!}

One more competition... Nationals in Kansas City.... take it home Madness!

Little Ducky Duddle

2011-02-19T17:48:00.001-06:00

was swimming in a puddle... was swimming in a puddle quite small :) They say it doesn't matter how much you splish or splatter I'm only a ducky after all!! Quack, quack!
{that was one of my favorite songs from childhood!}

We we excited to see the ducks back at the pond...and even more excited when the weatherman said the temp was 65!! A little spring fever at our house :)
(The pics aren't the best, it was so muddy I just had to shoot from the picnic table.)

We even drove around with the sun roofs open!!!

2011-02-18T18:54:00.002-06:00

I was excited to help out at Hallie's school. They have a fun class and an energetic group of kids. They are all super nice and just as excited to have me!! :)

Here is the video I put together for her teacher and other parents for Valentince's day...
{I love this song I found... so catchy!!}

Babycakes

2011-02-17T10:09:00.000-06:00

Hallie got this little babycakes maker for Christmas. {not gonna lie, I really wanted it too! hehehehe} It makes little cupcakes in 5-8 mins! So fun for little snacks. We got it out for Valentine's treats when Hallie had Olivia and Chloe over after cheer on Sunday... and it works awesome!! Can't wait to use it again!!

The girls thought they were SO fancy adding the little pretzel on top :)

Pipey :)

2011-02-16T00:17:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to share a couple of pics of Miss Piper. She was so cute in her little dress on Sunday... but kept saying "no pitters mama"!! :) Here's all I got...

Date Night

2011-02-13T23:29:00.001-06:00

Ryan and I enjoyed our date night of the month! Thanks to Apex and Kid's Night Out... We get a monthly date night :)
Since it was Valentine's Day weekend we went to Taki's for sushi. We tried lots of new ones this time, had some free drinks, met other people at the sushi bar... And had a fun night!! Happy {heart} Day, Ryan!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Valentine's Box 2011

2011-02-13T23:23:00.001-06:00

Hallie was super excited to find out they made zebra duct tape!!! So that was the inspiration for her box this year :) all things duct tape!!

We aren't much for manufacturing some mechanism for a Valentine's cards... But Hallie and I can embellish like nobody's business :)

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Dream Like Magic

2011-02-10T15:44:00.000-06:00

Several of you have asked about my blog's recent makeover... and here is the "secret"
Dream Like Magic

She was super helpful and installed it into my blog and made my signature and the works!! She is super fast, cute and nice!! Check out her listings on Etsy!!

Ronald McDonald Slideshow

2011-02-09T18:56:00.001-06:00

The slideshow is up of the Hearts and Diamonds Gala. Enjoy :)
http://www.heartsanddiamonds.lmcyphotography.com/#/event-slideshow/

2011 Hearts & Diamonds Gala

2011-02-06T21:19:00.004-06:00

This year we were asked to "host" the Ronald McDonald House Hearts & Diamonds Gala. It is an amazing event! The dresses were gorgeous (over the top red carpet gorgeous), the golf course was decorated beautifully (like we took a trip to Italy), every last detail was covered for the Tuscan theme. There were "diamonds" everywhere. They have a professional photographer that photographs the entire evening, so I will post the link to her slide show when I get it. They also had a reporter from "The Post", so I am hoping to get a copy of that paper to share.
Before the event began Reese spent some time at the waterpark in the hotel.

Reese went and got her hair done just like a princess.

The limo picked her {and us} up from the hotel to take us to the golf course.

She played with a RMH friend, Amy during the "adult" time. {Coloring, UNO, and more}

But posed for lots of pictures! She was truly a princess all night.

Hallie made it to MN about 6:30... she had been in Omaha for a cheer competition.

Dr. Shives was the emcee for the evening. He talked a bit about Reese's back story. He is a fantastic speaker and worded it great... not sappy or overdone... but with the emotions that we were feeling when it was all happening. Then when he went to quote from my blog I actually read it... I was REALLY nervous, hoping I wouldn't cry... but made it through it... I just couldn't listen to him talking about Reese before hand. Then, a wonderful singing group sang "Believe", and began singing Angels Among Us... Ryan and I entered and went to the front of the room to dance... Ryan was a little stressed about dancing, but it all went well... after two verses the dr escorted Hallie and Reese up to us to join us. Ryan picked up Reese and they danced and I danced and twirled Hallie. It was a bit overwhelming when everyone stood and clapped at the end... the girls bowed and were so sweet. It was a very special family moment, I knew it would be emotional, but I think emotions may have surprised Ryan a bit... you could see on his face what a proud Daddy he was.

At this point it was already after 9pm and they were just getting salad... we went back to the hotel {via limo}

They were going to play a game after dinner to give away one pearl necklace per table. During the game they are all given envelopes, Peggy a chair member then gave them facts that were represented by numbers...
1144- the number of items we donated, pass the cards around the table 4 times
68- the number of gift cards we donated, pass 8
7- the number of countries plus the United States that were praying for Reese, pass 7
1- 1st place... the placement Reese received at her gymnastics meet... and then she read my blog entry about her love of gymnastics, pass 1 {I was so happy to hear they were sharing this}
Now everyone open the cards... one of them had our family picture and they were the big winners.
She said one reason she loved Reese's story so much is because it is all about opportunity. The Ronald McDonald House was just a "stop" on her journey... nothing is holding her back and her journey continues. They can't wait to see where her journey will take her.

I am so glad we were able to share our story to help them generate a lot of money for the house. We saw someone videoing and we really hope we will be able to get our hands on that to watch. {I would like to be able to watch and listen and really soak it up rather than having to try to tune things out to prevent tears... I would also like to see who won the diamonds!!} A HUGE thank you to the RMH for having us, for pampering the girls, for everything involved with this weekend... it was a weekend we will never forget, and we are honored to have been asked and to have been a part of such a wonderful fundraiser.

{Photo from postbulletin.com}

A few odds & ends

2011-02-06T19:33:00.000-06:00

Here are a few odds and ends I found that I wanted to share...
Hallie has been working really hard on her guitar lessons :)

I have still been completing the organization challenge... I just haven't been posting well. I have about 6 more to complete!! It feels great, and makes picking up a lot easier! Here is our toy cabinet in the living room. This is where we keep a few toys on our main level.

Here are the rabbits the girls and Ryan have been feeding in our backyard. The rabbits come everyday to munch on the buffet :) {no, Bentley our lab doesn't care! Maybe he is used to the bunny smell since we have an indoor pet}

Another day of organization was the fridge. I got rid of old food, organized all of the condiments into a storage bin- eliminating loose bottles, and moved all the soda and MV to a "dorm" fridge we have in the sunroom. I scrubbed it out and it looks better than we bought it!! The cleaner I used is Descaler by Norwex. It is great... smells bad, but works good and is "all natural".

A late Christmas

2011-02-06T19:11:00.002-06:00

We finally got together with my Dad and Mary and my sisters for Christmas :) We had a great weekend of food and fun and wii and games!! We loved "Just Dance 2" and "Just Dance Kids". We also played Price is Right on Wii several times. A new kid game we found is Order Up... we all had fun playing it! And it is a game as young as Reese could play and all the way up to Grandparents can play-- and actually enjoy! Super fun, two thumbs up! Sunday we went to a bowling fundraiser for Apex... I bought 10 raffle tickets and ended up winning Tastefully Simple gift basket, a gift certificate to a local Mexican restaurant, and best of all... a FREE month tuition to Apex!!! We were lucky this year!

We also celebrated birthdays! There was a little something for everyone.
Nurse Hat = Becky
Camera= Me
Tiger Hawk= Jess
Colts= Ryan
Bears= Jake
Star Wars= Levi
Apex= Hallie
American Girl= Reese
Dora= Piper

Pop Tab Buckets

2011-01-30T16:49:00.000-06:00

Our family has set a goal to beat the amount of poptabs we collected last year... so we are collecting 25 gallons! I would love to make anyone and everyone a collection bucket. Do you have a business? An office? A classroom? A breakroom? A busy place of any kind? Or just your home??? I have already handed out 4... and I will continue to make and hand out as many as requested. I am happy to make them for friends of friends as well!! Please spread the word and help us reach our goal {and surpass it!!}

Thanks so much!!

Proud

2011-01-29T15:32:00.000-06:00

I couldn't be more proud of Reese today. She had a gymnastics meet this morning. This was "just for fun"... I wasn't really expecting a whole lot, didn't know what to expect... but she really wanted to do it, so we figured it would be a fun day!

She was a little star! She sat so nice and still waiting for her turn, performed so good {and serious}, and I can't remember a day she smiled so much or big... she was SO in her element!! I watched the scores and thought she was doing good... but when it came time for medals the tears were flowing when they announced "First Place is Reese Ladwig". Out of 11 other 4 year olds!! This girl has BIG dreams and I know this is only the beginning. She has had some things to overcome and today when she was standing on the podium it was evident... she has truly OVERCOME them!

We love you so much, Reese! You amaze me everyday. Congratulations on your FIRST PLACE overall champ!!!

Thanks Tricia

2011-01-27T10:43:00.000-06:00

...I stole your pictures off of Picasa today :) So here are some pics of the Christmas fun at Grandma and Papa's house...

Honored...

2011-01-27T10:01:00.000-06:00

We were honored to be asked to be the "Host Family" of this year's Hearts and Diamonds Gala for the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester. This is a very fancy evening with tickets at $250 each. They give away diamond jewelry for raffles, and sell out every year very quickly. This generally brings in $75,000 each year for the house. On Feb. 5th we will be "hosting"... greeting everyone as they come in. The girls are very excited because they got to get new fancy dresses, and yes that included Reese's doll!! {Ryan's not so excited because he has to get a tux!} I am sure I will have lots of pictures to post after the fun weekend!!

PS... Shhhhhhhh, the girls don't know but a limo will be picking us up from the hotel to take us! They will be very excited!

A little more...

2011-01-26T21:08:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I'm not going to journal on this entry... just get the rest of the pictures up from Christmas so we will have them in our blogger books in the future :)

Teaching the Greats all about the iPad :) I wish I had more pics, but my battery died!! I am getting more pics from Tricia.

Waiting for the Garners :)

VOTE!!! {and win a GYPSY!!!}

2011-01-12T21:13:00.000-06:00

We really need your help to get Hallie's votes back up. We only have until the end of the month to get her into the TOP 20. Sooooooooo, I am done begging and I am onto giveaways!! :) IF she gets to the top 20 I am giving away a BRAND new Gypsy. So here is the deal... we need about 2000 votes to get her there... you can vote everyday. I will randomly choose a winner from THIS POST. Please leave a comment for everytime you vote. When you vote just stop back daily and tell me you voted. Post this on your blog and leave me a comment. Post this on facebook and come back and leave me a comment. Everytime you share her link and vote for her you increase YOUR chances to win the Gypsy!!

So start here by clicking this link and voting for Fancy Hallie. Winner will be announced February 1st... IF we get her in the top 20! So get voting, sharing and commenting!!

One more Flashback for tonight...

2011-01-07T20:16:00.000-06:00

These pictures were from Reese's Chrstmas program at her school. She looked so pretty :) It was a fun night! Reese has so much fun performing!! {Black, red and grey seemed to be the colors of the night! Made for cute pics that her and her friends all coordinated!!}

Christmas flashback

2011-01-07T20:05:00.000-06:00

We hosted our Annual Gingerbread party again this year. I was totally going to skip it because I was busy and the girls brought it up... it will definately be something I make time for each holiday!! It is so fun to see the excitement of the holidays and creativity in kids :)

I had different stations set up... one for decorating the houses, one for making hot cocoa reindeer and another coloring table. We also played games :) So fun! This year they had 18 friends come!! It was a lot!!! Thanks Michele for helping with the reindeer! Next year I am thinking we are going to have to cut back on friends :)

Day 3-4-5

2011-01-07T19:39:00.001-06:00

Here are more before and afters from my organization challenge....
Day 3- Organize your Tupperware... well, I don't really have much Tupperware, so I did our pots and pans cupboard. {Those cookies expired in '09-- sometimes Cosco buys aren't the best!! and I am thinking I don't need my breast pump in there anymore since I haven't used it in over a year!} I used the roaster pan to store all of my lids, since I only use that maybe once a year if that when we cook a turkey.

Day 4- Organize your linen closet. Again, I don't really have a linen closet... so I did more kitchen cabinets. I took on two of the worst ones...

I am embarrassed of this one... it became the medicine/catch all cabinet- as we continued to add more medicines it got worse and worse!! {we have to have all of those yellow pill bottles for Reese's meds and they were begging for an organizational container!!} I have added vinyl labels to these that say "Reese" "Kids" and "Adults"

For this one I used the drawer under the oven to store some of the pans I don't use as much... but of course in an organized manner! I got rid of that bake and fill pan... NOT GOOD!! I don't care what the tv says... it does not work well and I would never recommend it.

Day 5- Under the kitchen sink. This I didn't think was too awful to begin with, but somehow ended up with an ENTIRE garbage bag of stuff! So, I guess it needed cleaning out :)

*Oh, I will tell you, Target "window cleaner" is horrible! Do not buy it! It is smeary and does not get that crystal clean clear... just a little consumer report for you!

Day 2- A desk

2011-01-03T14:57:00.001-06:00

Day 2 of the organization challenge is to organize your desk. I really wanted to pick the one upstairs that rarely gets used and only has a few out of place pencils on it... but I didn't... I chose my REAL desk!! With the rush of Christmas {fulfilling 3 gym's holiday orders plus 2 high schools and several random orders and my Etsy shop I was overwhelmed to say the least! Organization was the least of my concerns... so paperwork, exchanges, and samples PILED up!!
Before:

AFTER:

I am hoping to get the rest of The Vinyl Studio organized tonight!!

Bolles Christmas 2010

2011-01-02T21:17:00.000-06:00

Okay, since I have gotten so far behind Christmas I am going to work backwards...
We just celebrated with the Bolles family on Saturday. It was a lot of fun!! They rented out the bowling alley and we had food, bowling, food, drinks, food, and games. Fun times!! Here is picture overload, but I couldn't not post any of these!!
Grandma Carmel

Piper and Hallie

Reese

Allivia

Ryan

Jenni & Ben

Jimmy & Keri

Suzanne & Scott

Tony & Scott

Patti

Lesly & Craig & "Spud"

Rose & Carl

Paul & Pam

Grandma Carmel & Reese

Reese & Makynli

Tony & Alissa

Hallie

Piper and I

The whole family (4 Generations)!

Pam & Tony

Alissa, Treyton & Makynli

kiddos

Day 1- The Junk Drawer

2011-01-02T20:20:00.000-06:00

Day one of the 21 day challenge is to clean out and organize your junk drawer. I think I would have won for "junkiest" drawer!! It was bad! Take a look for yourself...

Incase you can't tell how much junk it is, here is a picture of all of it in the box!

Ready??? Here is AFTER:

Here is a list of a FEW things that were in the drawer:
$10.70 in change {mostly pennies and nickels}
12 pencils
31 hairties
9 sets of nail clippers (really?? who even owns that many???)
poptabs
9 keys-- we could only identify 2
numerous batteries!!

I also cleaned this drawer:

and this cupboard (I need a bin from Target tomorrow to finish this one)

21 Day Challenge

2011-01-02T10:06:00.002-06:00

One of my HUSBANDS resolutions for me this year is to be more organized... so here is my attempt at it :) If all else fails, I will at least have a clean junk drawer... and hey, that's quite an accomplishment!! So here goes nothing... anyone want to join in?? {anyone, anyone, KIM???? hehehehe.... we were just talking about being more organized!!} Thanks Jodi for posting, it's a great idea! Just click the picture to read more!
or here is the link to Day 1

2011

2011-01-01T22:30:00.000-06:00

We welcome 2011 with hopes of happiness, HEALTH, and lots of fun! I got an idea while in the shower today (where I get most of my good ideas!!) ...how cute would it be if Piper held up ONE finger, Reese held up ONE finger & Hallie ONE finger on each hand... for a 1-1-11 photo :) Can't you picture it??? Ryan thought it would be cuter to do 2-0-11... so here was our attempt :) {may work better if your 3 kids are a bit older} (I was also concentrating on getting the right fingers up I had my setting wrong on my camera, grrrrr)

{Caption: Piper, "What am I doing???" Hallie, "Really, put a finger up!"}

{Piper, "Okay, I got this!" Hallie, "just take the picture!!"}

{Piper: "Yipee, look at me I got this!!" (note her THREE fingers) Hallie: "it's 2000, not 3000!"

It's all falling apart by this time....

Maybe individual shots are a better option!!

Happy New Year from The Ladwigs!!

One Little Word...TIME

2010-12-29T16:26:00.000-06:00

Each year Ali Edwards posts the prompt for us to choose ONE word to represent the upcoming year. This is just one word you can say to yourself or write on a note or anything to remind yourself what you want to get from the upcoming year. I have chosen.... TIME. I get so caught up in work deadlines and running around and such I would like to focus on TIME with my girls, TIME with my husband, TIME with my friends.... and TIME for myself. If you would like to read more about Ali's project (she does every year) visit her blog, read more and choose your word... I would love for you to comment here what you choose. Make it a great 2011!!

Family Pics

2010-12-27T16:10:00.000-06:00

Today I am sharing our family pictures... I will post all about our holiday in a bit, so far it's been great! Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday as well!! {Yes, at the last minute I hit the easy button and we ran out to Picture People, again!!}

Here are a couple fun edits I did in Picnik :)

Too Busy

2010-12-23T19:42:00.001-06:00

Sorry! We are too busy getting ready for the big guy to blog... More later!!! :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A busy, busy weekend!

2010-12-12T22:14:00.000-06:00

First things, first... I got the CUTEST camera strap in the mail from Mindy :) I sent her the fabric and she whipped it up! I added flowers Mindy made and bling and "bada boom"... instant Christmas spirit!

Thursday night football this week :) COLTS VICTORY!! {finally, it's been a rough season!}

Madness competed in the UCA Hawkeye Competition on Saturday. Once again, they ROCKED the floor! They are such a great team and so excited to cheer! This week they got 2nd out of 8 teams. They were behind first by .20!! So close! Can't wait until January!! Her next competition is in Indianapolis!!

Sunday we played a new game from the elves... a play doh game. These are our game pieces (a my little pony, dump truck, Mr. Potato Head, and a play doh jar). You get to make them and travel through a toy factory with out getting squished and "recycled". FUN :)

Sunday afternoon was Reese's church Christmas program. She was a sweet little angel. I love that when she sang we could hear her voice over everyone :) She knew every word and belted it out!! Can't wait to get the dvd and watch it again! So cute!!! She was on the right side of the stage for rehearsal, but of course she came out and was on the left side so I didn't get many pictures during her program.

Uncle Ross came for the weekend to see the girls!! She adores him and was sooooo excited he was here. Thanks for coming!! ...come visit anytime you want!

Of course Grandma and Papa wouldn't miss it!! :) They came down for the the weekend to cheer on the girls. See you guys soon!

Christmas Train

2010-12-10T00:09:00.000-06:00

I have always thought it would be so magical to have a train going around and around under the tree. It was one of those only in a perfect movie type scene for me. This is the year. We had to take off the bottom 3rd of our tree (reducing the height by about 3 feet) so that you could see the train. I have to admit, I love the smaller tree. The other one was so massive, this is nice :)

I am in love with the whole tree and train and the works!

Now for the "real deal"... we went on my 30th birthday to take a ride on the Polar Express! It was cute, the little boy in our train car was so into it, I loved it :) We sang Christmas carols as loud and out of tune as possible {not by choice, just by skill!!}, drank hot cocoa, saw Santa, received a bell, and got to see the "real Rudolph".

After we ate at The Golden Corral... a birthday I won't forget :) It's great to be me!

Only when you are FOUR

2010-12-09T23:51:00.000-06:00

Only when you are FOUR do you get pure bliss from a sparkley leotard, a tissue paper crown, a new fairy book and a corn dog for supper. :)