Play Ball, Leah!

No question that this kid loves to play ball. She goes back and forth trying to decide if softball or tumbling is her favorite. Makes no difference to me. She is good at both! She was very excited to get this season started. She loved being on a team with Audrey and Tatum and a few other girls.

She started the season strong...always got a hit, and didn't do too shabby with the offense. She quickly decided that she likes playing catcher. Mitch and I tried to tell her that it's hard on the knees and that it gets hot wearing the equipment. She argued and didn't believe us. In fact, I have pictures of her catching at probably 3 or 4 different games, and no pictures of her up to bat, ooops! But anyway, towards the end of the season, late June, she stated to change her tune a little bit. She realized that as the temp went up, that gear got a little bit harder to wear.

They finished the season out strong. The played great in the league tournament and ended up taking 3rd place. She showed a lot of heart. After the last game, the Gray's treated the team to a party at Krave. I didn't make it because I was with Kiersten at her game, but she had a great time. It was a great season!

Happy Birthday, Hattie!

I know they say it goes by fast, but I don't think you ever really realize how quickly it goes by until you are in the thick of it. These girls are growing up so fast, right before my very eyes. I just don't know how it's possible that Hattie is 4! What a blessing she is to us all. we celebrated at the pool with swim lessons and of course ended the day with Dairy Queen ice cream cones.

She is quite the talker...and to think, two years ago, we were getting started with speech services because she wouldn't talk. Now we can't get her to stop! The other day Mitch was trying to nap in the car. He gave up and propped the seat up. Hattie said to him "I thought you were going to take a nap?" And he replied that he couldn't because she wouldn't be quiet. To which she replied "I'm sorry, I don't know how to keep my mouth shut!" She's a hoot! And I love it when she says "liar, liar, pumpkin eater!" instead of the typical "Cheater, cheater".

She has a love for all things ponies...as in My Little Pony. She loves to snuggle with her momma, play with her sisters and she steals the heart of all the lifeguards at the pool. For real, they all want to babysit for us. Not a bad problem to have. And she certainly gets lots of attentions from her Gigi...wrapped around her finger is more like it. I'm terrified about the day she goes to kindergarten. It's still a year away, but I will miss this sweet girl when my days aren't full of HER! Happy Birthday, Hattie...love you more than you will ever know!

Girls Go North!

This past week has been pretty crazy for all of the Schultzes! I went to Las Vegas for the first time ever for a Plexus Convention, and for the first time in 9 years, Mitch returned to Canada for his annual family fishing trip. So where were the girls you might ask?!?!

We worked out all the details in advance and they got to spend the week with family in MN. Mitch met his mom in the twin cities on Friday June 10th, and she took the girls to Montevideo with her. They went to the races on Friday night to watch Uncle Brian and then to the lake in Alec on Saturday. They spent Saturday and Sunday up there with Grandma Tootie, Rylee and Aunt Lisa. On Monday Grandma Tootie met up with Aunt Lori, and they spent the rest of the week in Grand Rapids with Lori and Lexi. I need to get more pictures but from what I'm gathering they had a great time.

Lexi took them to the Children's museum. They got to eat at Perkins, they went and say Through the Looking Glass and did more crafts than I can count. I think they had a great time and I'm glad they got to spend some time with family!

Robyn Hood

And the tradition continues...another great show at Little Theater on the Square! I love that my mom took me when I was a kid and now she gets to take her grandkids. So fun! This time our neighbors, Holly, Robert and Bella went with us. They loved it too. It was an updated version of Robin Hood...the hero was a girl, Robyn Hood!

After the show we had to get pictures with the cast of course. The Sheriff of Nottingham asked them to to make evil faces. They thought he was hilarious. Can't wait to see James and The Giant Peach in August!

Kiersten's Dance Recital 2016

Oh my Bug...this girl really knows how to light up a stage. For real though, always so enthusiastic and smiling so big. This years recital was much different for her. Hard to believe this was her 4th. And how lucky was she to have our neighbor/babysitter Ashlyn Clark as her student teacher this year?!?! She just loved dancing with Ashlyn.

We spent 4 hours at Kirkland on Thursday night for her dress rehearsal. Well...we did leave for a little bit,  just to grab dinner at University Dogs and desert at Cherry Berry. But she hung in there. She had fun playing in the "green room" with her friends and was so excited to get out on that stage.

Today she melted my heart with her smile. Her first dance was her tap routine, Top of the World and she nailed it. The Kid didn't miss a beat. And her second performance was her ballet routine to Circle of Friends. It was just so sweet. Of course she smiled so big when Gigi handed her the bouquet of flowers. Afterwards we went home and picked up Leah, Hattie and Ellen and headed to Krave for dessert! Can't beat that. And she certainly earned it!

Leah's Dance Recital 2016

Sigh...My Sweet Leah, she is such a beautiful dancer. Hard to believe she just did her 5th dance recital. And sadly, it may be her last. She's been saying she doesn't want to do dance anymore "it's just not my thing" but I told her that we don't quit halfway through the year, that we see things through to the end. She's having second thoughts,she says maybe just one more year. But I think in the Fall she will say no more. She did a fantastic job with her recital this year. Dance week started on Wednesday with us being at Kirkland for about 4 hours of dress rehearsal. Thankfully, Daddy delivered some Jimmy John's to us for dinner!

On Saturday at the recital her first dance was Tap. They danced to Boogie Shoes and it was just precious. She had so much spunk. She was really crisp with her moves. I loved it. That was followed by ballet...My everything. I know that ballet is her favorite. Part of me thinks that may be why she doesn't enjoy dance as much. She wants to go to class and do ballet, and they also work on tap and jazz. She was very elegant on stage...yes, I cried! And lastly was her jazz number...On Top of the World. She sure sparkled up there with all those sequins. And of course, she loved getting flowers from her Gigi...and the Cookie Dough Blizzard on the way home was pretty sweet too!