Ballet Nevada Dance Recital

Ballet Nevada is now the dance company that I am "kinda" working for. Mostly doing work to pay for my tuition there but it still works cause I am starting to do what I have always wanted to do and that is teach dance. Well... their recital was this weekend. And I was the costume assistant. And there were over 35 dances. OH MY WORD!!!! So, I had to organize and make sure that every dancer had all the right costumes on at the right time. It was so crazy busy and chaotic but SO amazing! I was SO proud of the girls as well as they stayed with their groups and let mommy work. And let me just tell you... I have TWO amazing dancers. They are growing up to love dance like me. It makes me SO happy. They did SO great! Aleah danced a routine to Topsy Turvy from the Hunchback of Notre Dame. And Mya danced a routine to Peter Pan. She was a Lost Boy... an indian. It was SO cute. So, here are a couple of pics of them at their recital :)

Mya's Preschool Graduation

Mya has had the GREATEST Preschool teacher EVER! She has been lucky enough to have TWO amazing teachers. And Mrs. Susan is for sure one we will miss terribly. Mya had such a great time going there every week. I would even drive all the way across town when we moved so that she could continue to go to this Preschool. Mya had so much fun learning. She got to watch caterpillars turn into butterflies and tadpoles turn into frogs. She had fun making lemonade stands and learning all about her letters. And some of the songs she came home with... oh my word.... so cute and funny. I can't believe my baby will be turning five soon and heading into Kindergarten. I am not ready for it. How about another year of Preschool?????

The first pic is of Mya with her two best friends, Gabby and Ashby. The second one is of Mya and Mrs. Susan's son.... whom Mya just LOVED. She was so excited when he was off track and could stay home to help with Preschool. The third one is Mrs. Susan and Mya and the last one is Mya and Ashby again. What a great experience for Mya! I am so pleased to have such wonderful people in her life to teach her when I can't. We will miss you Mrs. Susan! Here is a video of one of the songs that they sang. It was too cute. It's called Coconut Coconut. Enjoy :)

Relay for Life

Last night, in the rain, me and the girls decided to go walk at the Relay for Life. Although I wasn't able to pledge with anyone or anything... I still felt like I would be able to go out and support the cause of helping find the cure for cancer. This is something that I am now going to make a tradition out of since my father passed away from cancer one year ago. I think that the timing of it all works out and has become a way for me to "cope" with his death. To think about him and everything. It is also really neat to have the girls go with me to do this. Mya is so sweet and asks so many questions as to why we do what we do. She walked around the track with me for hours asking so many questions.

I don't know if any of you have ever walked in the Relay for Life but it truly is a powerful and amazing experience. There was a point that they do the Illuminary Ceremony where they light illuminaries for all those who have passed on and that we are honoring. They then have everyone take a lap in silence. WOW! It was so amazing to walk the track with so many people who understand and have been affected by cancer in one way, shape or form. It was even more powerful as my girls walked hand in hand with me in silence the whole way. I think that THEY even felt the power behind it all.

I love new traditions and this will be one that I will now do every year for the rest of my life. My girls will grow up understanding this and being right there beside me. May we one day find the cure for this horrible disease that has affected WAY too many of us.

SACRAMENTO ZOO

I have been needing to get out and since my school just got done with and so did Mya's.... I decided to run away to Sacramento and take the girls to the zoo with some friends. It was alot of fun. Now, this zoo has nothing on the Denver zoo but it was still alot of fun. The best part of the whole zoo.... these two monkeys that we COMPLETE show offs. It was GREAT! They were swinging around their cage like they were in a circus act. It was AWESOME! I was jumping up and down... giggling like one of the kids. YAY! Too much fun and something I want to do more often. It was just a quick day trip and absolutley perfect!


So... one of the pictures is of Mya petting a spiny tailed lizard from Africa or something. Yep... she is my crazy one who wanted to touch the animals. Not Aleah... she was too afraid :) The last pic is of that AWESOME monkey :) Love it! What a blast the zoo is :)

Alan Lewis Reddekopp

One year ago today, my father lost his fight due to cancer. Not much that I can really say at this time. I thought that with a year to "grieve" or what have you that it would all be ok. But it's not. Don't know if it ever truly will be "ok." I just pray that he is learning alot in Heaven right now. And I am glad that he is no longer in any physical pain. As cliche as it sounds.... Rest in Peace Dad!

Mother's Day

This is my most FAVORITE part of Mother's Day. The Mother's Day Tea that they have at school. Aleah was just as excited for it!! SO SO SO SO CUTE!!! All the mother's came in and sat with their kids. They then got up and performed a play for us. They were all some sort of bug and read this poem about love bugs. SO cute! Aleah was an ant. Then they sang us a Mother's Day song and their teacher Mrs. Potter read us a book about what mother's do best. Each child and then made a book about what THEIR own mother does best. In my book.... Aleah wrote that I play with her. Read her bedtime stories and take her swimming and that I love her alot! It was so sweet and made me cry as she read it to me. They then served us muffins and "tea" I LOVED IT! It made my Mother's Day PERFECT!!!!

This picture makes me giggle because I went to go get a picture of her serving me (yes... to document that it does occasionally happen :)) I wanted a chocolate muffin but they were all out of them. And Aleah made this fact and turned RIGHT as I took the picture. I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Too funny and random!

Aleah's Field Trip

I got the opportunity to go with Aleah on her field trip at school. It was really simple and really fun. Downtown we have an IMAX Theatre inside of the Bowling place. It was this HUGE bowling tournament place. Crazy! Anyways, so they all got to go see the movie Spring. And then after that we went to a huge park, San Rafael Park, and have a picnic lunch and then we walked around looking for signs of Spring. It was such a beautiful day and it was great to get away and spend some time with Aleah. Below is a picture of Aleah with her two teachers, Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Meissner. They are SO incredibly wonderful. I have become quite good friends with them as I get to go in and help in the classroom once a week. I am going to be sad when Aleah has to move to second grade and not have them anymore. She was very blessed to get such wonderful teachers when we moved over here. We love it!!

The first pic is of Aleah with her group. Second is her teachers. The third one is Aleah with her group at the IMAX... the girl sitting next to her is her best friend Leah. Too funny.... Aleah and Leah are inseperable at school. And the last one is Tori and Annikke and Aleah on the bus. TOO MUCH FUN!!