*IT'S A HARD KNOCK LIFE*

After Maren's birthday party, Alexa had a talent show at her school. The big day finally came after practicing so hard for it. The girls looked great and did amazing. They all proved that their practice paid off.
The girls were Alexa, Isabel, Sofia, Ashley, Lilly and Ellie.

*MAREN'S BIRTHDAY INTERVIEW*

*MAREN'S 4TH BIRTHDAY*

I still can't believe how fast she is growing up. It's exciting and sad all at the same time.
Angie called first thing in the morning and asked if she could take the girls to get a princess makeover. I thought it would be perfect since Maren was going to wear her princess dress to her party. They both were so cute with their princess hairdos.
As soon as Maren got home she went and got her princess dress on and was ready to party. She had a blast playing with all of her cousins and her friend Dylan.
After eating a ton of pizza and cake, Maren finally got to open her presents. She was in the proper princess mood to do so too. I don't know if it is her age or just Maren being Maren, but you knew exactly what she thought of each present, good or bad.
I did, however, save one present for last, knowing the second she opened it she would drop everything to put it on. It was this pink dress that she just had to have from Macy's. She saw it when we were shopping one day and I told her she couldn't have it. After a week of her asking daily if we could go back to Macy's to get her dress, I finally caved in and bought it for her birthday present. She wore it until bedtime when I forced her to change into her pj's.

Maren had a great time and enjoyed sharing her birthday with everyone.

*MAREN'S BDAY LUNCH AT TREX*

Angie invited us to meet her out for lunch at TRex to celebrate Maren's bday. She really loves that place and gets super excited every time we go. All morning long she kept asking when it was time to go, so when Erin was late picking us up she started asking to leave her. She tried to convince me that Erin had already gone to lunch without us.
At the end of lunch, the servers came out to sing her happy birthday. At first she was fine, but ran to Erin towards the end of her song. It's funny how shy she can be at times.

*CHEETAH GIRLS*

The other day Aunt Angie bought baby Audry a cheetah print dress, which was super cute on her. Maren must have thought so too, because when Grandma Adams took her shopping she found her own cheetah dress to match baby Audry. As soon as they got back, she had Grandma Adams call Erin to bring Audry over with her dress on so they could match.
Later, when Maren came home that night and we were changing her into her pj's, she asked if I could bring her dress back over to Grandma's to make sure that she had her cheetah dress for when Audry came over!

*GIRLS' INTERVIEW*

I thought it was about time the girls could ask us questions. However, they didn't seem to ask as many as I thought they would. It was still fun to hear what they had to say. Anything to get us all talking!

Note: These interviews are always how they answer or in this case ask. I try to ask Maren first and then Alexa, so Maren will not just copy off of Alexa's answers. No matter what, I am usually surprised to hear how they answer their questions. I rarely get the same answer twice.

*MAREN'S 4TH BDAY INVITATION*

Maren is turning 4 already. Here is her birthday invitation we sent out to everyone.

*ALEXA LANCER CHEER NIGHT*

Alexa got to cheer at halftime during a Shawnee Mission East Lancer Girl's Basketball game. Aunt Ashley was there cheering too, so Alexa got to cheer with her.

*GIRLS' INTERVIEW*

*SHAWNEE MISSION EAST CHEER CLINIC*

Alexa went to the SME cheer clinic today after staying up all night at the Girl Scout lock in, then having to directly go to the talent show rehearsal, and then to the cheer clinic for three hours. Aunt Ashley to help wasn't there, because she just had her wisdom teeth, but Alexa had fun anyway. When we first got there, none of her friends had showed up. After a little while Lilly and Camille came, so she ran off with them to hang out during the clinic. On Thursday, they get to go to the varsity game and cheer at half time with the SME cheerleaders.

*ALEXA'S GIRL SCOUT LOCK IN*

Alexa went to an area girl scout lock in with a bunch of her friends. Alexa said she decorated a mask, did arts and crafts and watched movies. Her teacher, Mrs. Mack, who is the girls scout leader stayed with them overnight. I was surprised that on the next day she didn't seem to tired, since they stayed up most the night. Sophia's mom picked them up and said that she looked all over the place for Alexa and finally found her sound asleep in her sleeping bag, while all the other girls were already awake and playing.

*MAREN GETTING READY*

I made special birthday invitations for Maren, so we had a dress up session where we got to do all of her favorite things. We put on make-up, curled her hair, and put a fancy dress on. She had a blast getting ready and was eager to take her invitation pictures.

*DANCE CLASS WITH THE BIG GIRLS*

A little girl fell down and got hurt on Maren's side at the dance studio, so they made all the little one join Alexa's class. They are so much bigger that the little ones where a little overwhelmed. Maren seemed to do fine though. At first she wanted me to come out there with her, but after awhile she went out and had fun with them all.

*ROCKBAND PARTY*

We got so much snow that Alexa got yesterday, today and tomorrow off of school. The moms took advantage of it and we all took turns having talent show practices over at each other's houses. They practiced really hard to Annie's Hard Knock Life and then for a reward they all got to take turns playing rockband.

*FLETCHER'S THERAPY*

Erin wasn't feeling well and asked if I could go into the chamber with Fletcher today. Of course I said Yes. I had been wanting to see what it exactly was for sometime and was excited for the opportunity.
Basically, it's a Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber. I felt like Fletcher and I went in a submarine, without the water. They put an oxygen hood on him that gave him 100% oxygen and we went into a pressure greater than sea level. So my ears popped as the pressure was applied as if I was on an airplane taking off. Then, we just sat there and I read him books and asked him questions for a little over an hour. There were other kids in there as well who watched TV while we were in the chamber.
Since it's dealing with 100% oxygen, I had to wear all 100% cotton and no makeup, hairsprays, or lotions into the chamber to keep from catching on fire.
It was a pretty neat experience and I had fun having alone time with my nephew!

*HAPPY NEW YEARS 2010*

We went to Nick, Brianne, and Dylan's house to hang out. It was fun to have the girls around for New Year's Eve. Plus since they had Dylan around they were able to stay up later than usual.
I brought their pj's incase they did want to go to sleep before midnight and had them change. Maren, however, found Dylan's pjs and wanted to wear them.