Let's start with Tatum

So. 

Last time we talked, Tatum had just turned 18 

10

Aaaaalllloooottt has happened since then.

For posterity purposes, and because I don't keep a journal, (or a memory) 

I better get to blogging. 

6 months is toooo long. 

This is the morning of Tate's actual birthday.

Ryan and I stayed up real real late filling up helium balloons to stuff her room full with.

ps.  It is super hard to fill a room with helium balloons quietly. 

Of course I found the idea off of Pinterest.

Pinterest is stellar for people like me that have zero creative ability of their own.

And.. I have to say, I caught on to the Pinterest bandwagon way early, so there are plenty of things on this blog that i passed off as being cool mom, with a great ideas.

Sweet eh?

Instead of  big birthday party we just took Tate's two best friends Ryllie and Abbi to one of our favorite little staycation spots, The Zermatt Hotel in Midway.

The girls had fancy dinner, fancy cider in the lodge, yummy gelato, and tasty pastries.

They also checked off a bucket list item of jumping into a pool fully clothed.  

 Oh, and me?

I just relaxed on padded lawn chairs, gained some weight.

It was lovely.

These 3 girls have been best friends since Kindergarten.  They play together beautifully.  

There has never been a fight, disagreement, or teensy bit of drama between them.  

What an anomaly. Seriously.

In April,

 my friend and Mother of The Year That Signs her Kids up For Everything, Stephanie,

signed Tatum up for the Miss Cinderella Pageant.

Tate has always wanted to try her hand at a pageant, and was super excited to do it with Lettie.

To be honest, both girls were totally natural at being on stage, and doing their thang.

I was actually  pretty surprised.  Tate has never been on a stage alone, and totally worked it.

In the end, she took the cake in Talent (she played an awesome piano piece) 

It didn't actually matter what place she took.. As long as we left there with a crown and a trophy.  

Score.

Also:

 Note to other moms....

When clothes shopping for your very first, Utah County pageant, Justice, and Hollister are out...

Burlington Coat Factory is in.

Who knew?!

Okay.. So

One of the major things that has happened since we last chatted is.. We moved.

We moved from Lehi, to South Jordan...

We weren't sure where we were going to be moving, but had been in the market for awhile, and knew that the odds of Tatum going back to school at Fox Hollow were slim to none..

So to celebrate (overcompensate) we had a killer end of school party.

I let

Tatum invited her whole 4th grade class, and all of her other friends to her party.

It actually ended up being really easy to organize, plan, set up, and clean up, for.

All parties should take place outside.  Much better plan. 

We had a fun little bounce house/slide, hot dogs, Popsicles, sun, and fun.

I am so glad that we did this party.

My assumptions of us buying a house over the summer was right, and it ended up being the last time that she will see a lot of those kids.

Tate.. Trying her hand at cosmetology... 

I think she shouldn't quit her day job..

The first weekend in our new house, Tatum and a friend had a "Candy Stand"

She rounded up all of the random candy in our house, threw together some poster boards, and told me she was headed to the corner.  

"K.. BYE" Said I.

A little while later, I decided I better go check on her..

She was FAR away from our house, 

at the intersection of the busy road that leads into our housing subdivision,

 with our HUGE HUGE rectangle banquet type table.  

It seats like, 20. 

(I assumed she was taking my teeny folding nail table to like, our driveway, maybe down the street?)

Nope.

Her and Hollie were dressed in Jazzercize gear, doing some sign dancing (not to be confused with any other type of dancing) on the corner.  

They had made 11 bucks.

Not to shabby.

When I asked her how the heck they got down there she responded nonchalantly

"Well, this table was REALLY heavy, so a nice old lady stopped and asked if we needed some help.  I, of course told her yes.. She she strapped it to the top of her car.  But don't worry mom.  We just had her drop it off on the corner, and we ran next to her car.  We didn't get in."

Well good.  

I'm sure that old lady was more than thrilled with the new family in the neighborhood.

Anyways..

The whole point of that long story was that during her jazzercizing/candy selling, she made a new friend.

Hannah (above)

She very graciously gave Hannah and her family a discount on some less desirable candy pieces.

Hannah's family had just moved into our neighborhood the weekend before.

The same as us!

The girls are on the same school track (we are on year round up here) and in the same class.

That was an inspired candy sell I tell you.

Hannah made all the difference in Tatum's transition to a new school.  

So, anyways.. 

The pictures above are of Tate and Hannah preparing to have strawberry lemonade stand.

They found a recipe online for lemonade, and made some cookies.

I took them to the store to buy supplies.

Tate used the money she had made from the candy stand,

and ended up tripling it at her lemonade stand.

Let's hope she stays so lucky.

And finally,

This is Tate on the 3rd day of school.

The first and 2nd days or school are always a little too hectic for a pic.

Let alone doing some nice art work on a custom chalk board stating which year of school she is starting.

I can only dream of such cuteness, organization and serenity in the mornings.

Tate and I.

We don't do well in the mornings.

We (I) wake up late. 

It all goes downhill from there.

We tend to not be the best of pals under duress.

We started school on July 25th, and are now getting things to run smoothly.

Just in time to go off track for a month.

Perf.

So.. 

There ya go..

There is a little taste of what Tatum has been up to in the last 6 months.  

She is adjusting AMAZINGLY well to her new environment.

Sure there have been moments of sadness over missing her friends, neighborhood, and school, but for the most part, she has been awesome.

I was expecting the worst (seriously), and hoping for the best, and it worked.

Tate has met friends, been positive, and really likes where we live.

It's also been awesome that a lot of our Lehi friends have parents that have been great at keeping in close contact with us, and been willing to take/pick up for play dates. 

Things are good.

**For those of you that are reading this and rolling your eyes because you get 4 kids under the age of 8 out of the house with a home lunch, hair perfect, AND brushed teeth, 

I know.

I need to get my act together. 

I know.

Just love me.