Layla's First Gymnastics Camp

Layla started gymnastics last week and of course she LOVES it! Here she is on the trampoline.


She has a great teacher- who says she learns quick and pays attention... I think this helps her to get more help from the teachers- it shows she's motivated and eager to learn.


I don't remember what it's called, but they teach them to balance their knees on their elbows before going into a handstand- talk about muscles!


She does have great balance- can do jumps on the beam.

Here's her favorite- she's the one upside down flipping over.

I hope she continues to enjoy gymnastics, even as it gets tougher. I give all gymnasts lots of credit- they are so flexible and strong!

Plants and Baseball

We dug a ditch, put gravel in to help the water drain, and then mixed good soil with our dirt and planted Cilantro, Zucchini, Green Bell Peppers, Jalepenos, and Tomatoes... And... They all actually grew- It was/is amazing! Layla said it wouldn't happen- that I have a Black thumb (which I do- I've even killed a cactus and bamboo). I will take pics of them now, but it's raining. We've eaten lots of zucchinis and jalepenos(Dan), a couple fried green tom.s and the bell pep.s are almost ready. We had great cilantro, went on vacation for a week (neighbor watered) and when we got back our rental people had actually mowed the lawn (it's usually about waist high before they do) and they weed-wacked my beautiful cilantro to death, so it's gone...


What do I do with a day off of work? I keep Ryan home from daycare and we dig a ditch! He was happy to help me and I enjoyed the day "off".



Our little ball star! There aren't enough girls Layla's age, so she had to play coach pitch baseball again, but she outran all the boys and was great with hitting and playing 2nd base! Next year she should move up to the pitching machine with softballs.


Ryan is a great baseball player, he is tired of T-ball, so I am hoping he can move up to coach-pitch next year. He is the one reaching for the ball. They don't let them do a lot in t-ball - no throwing, get the ball once then move so another boy gets a turn, run 1 base at a time, etc... Still fun though!

More May and Fishin'

Layla and Ryan enjoyed picking out the lobster to be sent to it's boiling death and eaten by their dad.


Yep, they liked playing with it.



I finally introduced the kids to PB and bananas- only Ryan likes it though


The kids and Dan got to take a boat out and go fishing (I woke up that morning really sick- ended up having Strep throat- Dan figured I just didn't want to go out on the boat- he knows I get sick very easy and do not like boats- haha)

I'm glad the kids gotta go with Dan, he even made them hook their own worms... Unfortunately no fish were caught. Maybe we will catch fish one day.

End of May and Early June

All 6 of my kids- the dogs are Hams for attention!

Layla and me on my birthday

Layla and Ryan at the Aviation Museum at Warner Robbins, GA

Can you see the small specks (Layla and Ryan)?

Of course Dan had to take a picture of this to commemorate his old AF job :>

Lieutenant Dan, I mean Spiecher

Enjoy! I know it's been a while since I have updated the blog, but my computer doesn't like to upload pictures, so I get impatient and quit. Get ready for it though, this is just a little of what's been going on the last couple of months.

Dan graduated at the beginning of May, commissioned with the Air Force, and we are now playing the waiting game. The economic woes have appearently hit the AF hard, and 90% of the Spring graduates are having to wait to "Enter Active Duty", for those non-military that means - not working or getting paid. Dan is unfortunately in that group and we are hearing that he won't be "EAD'd" until Oct. 1st at the earliest (that's the new fiscal year), but it could be Nov... So, we know we are going to Aurora, CO, but will just have to wait to move until they give us (him) orders. I was looking forward to moving over the summer and getting the kids started in school (Ryan starts K out there, but not here b/c of cutoff dates), but I have to get back into the military mindset of never planning more than a couple days ahead- haha.

Anyway, enjoy the pics: Awards banquet, commission ceremony, after dinner with some good friends who we were stationed with in Japan and NC, and of course Ryan as a lady's man- giving Dan's cousin a kiss. It was nice to have her and Dan's parents come down for the commissioning ceremony.

Here's some random pictures... Ryan falls asleep in the weirdest places. When we have not heard him in a while, we go looking. We found him on the steps one day. Another day, he was exhausted from playing Rock Band and passed out with the guitar still on. Layla plays the drums for us when we play... There are also close ups of the kids from Sep. 09, so they have changed a little. Oh, I almost forgot, Ryan eating cake with a fork in one hand and ice cream with a spoon in the other. He tries to be ambidextrous and I guess decided it was quicker this way.

First up we have our trip to Cocoa Beach, FL summer '09 (we had our fingers crossed to move there, but CO is just as great). Next (if they post in the same order) is one from each of the kids birthdays (Sep. 09). There is also one from Chuckie Cheeses in Atlanta last month, we visited the GA aquarium on that trip too.