The Tracy Family

I knew this day would come, but I don't think you can ever prepare yourself to send one of your best friends on their way. The Tracy family is uprooting to the St. Louis area so Dylan is able to do his residency. It is hard to all ready think of doing every day life without this sweet lady. I can't wait to hold her Baby #3 just like she recently held mine and hear the amazing giggles that come out of her older two. 

Skyla knows the story behind this first picture(which she just explained to me). And, it happens to be the first picture of us together. For a while I took about as many pictures of her kids as I did of my own. :) Here are just a few memories we have with this wonderful family. If I included them all, you'd be on here all night!

The first mom's night out (even though she wasn't a mom!)
Crazy... I know ;) God was working!

We aren't big on holidays and we knew this new couple at our church who had come from Idaho..... 

so we invited them over for Thanksgiving! 

This happen to be the days after Skyla found out she was pregnant with Bowen. 

And, I found out I think two days after this that I was pregnant with Lily!

Born 5 days apart but at the exact same weight. 

We did a whole lot of life together from here on out as we had kids the same age and our husbands working/studying/going to school the same amount of crazy hours. 

We heard a lot of bouncing, and then absolute silence.... 

Swimming at the pool. 

Celebrating Bowen and Lily's birthdays!

Zoo trip!

I was able to watch Bowen for an extended amount of time before Reece came into the world. 

We had a blast. He fit right in. 

Another zoo trip, but with the dads!

I had the chance to photograph beautiful Reece days after she was born.

Enjoying National Coffee Day in West Glen together. 

We took the kids on a walk to Menchies.

Thanksgiving.... with Kate too!

 Emma loved to 'babysit' Reece. 

This was one of our many movie/popcorn/pj days together.

Reece in the same basket at 1!

This is the day Skyla let Emma fly a kite.... she was in love. I thought this picture was a bit cuter though. 

Another movie day recently. 

This was today..... even though she is 37/38 weeks pregnant, exhausted from packing, tired out from multiple graduation ceremonies and picnics, and being a mom of two go-getter kids... she still found time to read my kids a book. Just one reason I love this woman.

Praise the Lord that He sent Dylan to Des Moines for med school. I can't imagine what life would have been like these last 3-4 years without you guys. We wish you the best and can't wait to see you again soon... 

and in Heaven forever :)

Ballet

Ballet.... it was something Emma wanted to try. We thought it was a wonderful idea, but we needed to work on taking direction/instructions from 'strangers' before we enrolled her in any kind of ballet class. I found a Zumba Kids class at Valley Community Center. I highly recommend their classes! 

After a few weeks of going to this, we found a ballet class that was 6 weeks long, once a week, at the WDM Community Center. This was right up our alley, as we aren't fans of making a 3-6 month commitment on something we aren't quite sure how it will go. 

Her outfit she picked out. 

Stretching. 

Testing out a new outfit...

...and another.

Pictures can be deceiving and these probably are. Zumba and ballet were quite a challenge for us. We learned a lot about Emma though. She does not like to have a lot of attention on her, taking direction from someone she is not 100% comfortable with is difficult, and she is a sponge. Beyond stretching at the beginning of class, the participation level for her meant simply walking from wall to wall many weeks. But, we kept going and talked about finishing what we start and learned about perseverance. There were tears from Emma and even myself during the 6 weeks.... But, we learned that because Emma is a sponge, she makes a wonderful teacher. She is still teaching Lily everything she learned in class and imitating the silly voices the teacher would use. And, she is dancing up a storm at home. 

Cupcakes!

Every once in a while we will indulge in watching some Cupcake Wars. By we, I mean the girls and I. They take it to a whole other level. They play Playdoh and pretend to be on Cupcake Wars for hours. They act like the judges and critique the cupcakes. And, they have a desire to make real cupcakes! This last week we were able to head back to Bible Study as a family for the first time in months. We celebrated by bringing snacks, and what else would we bring...... CUPCAKES! Emma had a very, very specific combination she wanted to make. Lemonade cupcakes with strawberry butter cream frosting. So, that is exactly what we made :) The girls did an amazing job from start to finish!!!!

If you've never watched Cupcake Wars, in the final round they make 1000 cupcakes. I'll spare you all the details. But, the bakers have to create a display to display the 1000 cupcakes on. While the cupcakes were in the over, Emma got to work on this without me even knowing. It's her beach display for her strawberry lemonade cupcakes!

Gotta include Paiger!

I had to teach Emma one of the treats of baking, licking the beaters! 

These two girls frosted all 35 cupcakes themselves!

Emma even made a sign so everyone in our Community Group would know what flavor she had made. 

Zoo Fun with......

Jay's parents came in this past weekend and spent some time with us!

Playing with their new Legos!

Explaining why there are bad people in the world :)

We headed to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa. We got to see lots of animals and get some exercise!

On the train ride.

Driving past the dromedaries, and I'm impressed that Emma
remember the difference between these and the camels. 

Paige enjoyed the zoo too :)

Emma has been on the caroseul once when she was about 18 months old. We walk the route where it's at the end and normally we are ready to head home, but not this time! Lily got to ride it for the first time and loved it! Emma enjoyed it too. 

Then Saturday afternoon/evening, Jay, Paige, and I headed to a wedding. This girl was all smiles :) When we got home all the toys were picked up, the tables were cleaned off, some laundry was hung up, and the kitchen was super clean. Oh, not to mention the girls were in bed too! Thanks John & Darlynn!