Maddie's Turn

Way back a few weeks ago, Maddie had a dance competition. Maddie dances with her studio, Art's Edge. She is in the "company" and has four different dances that she competes. She loves it very much. This coming weekend we are going to another competition in Orlando that is called "JUMP" which features classes with world-renowned choreographers. If you watch "So You Think You Can Dance" as we do, you know a number of their choreographers at JUMP. They travel all over the world and host this competition and convention. The most famous of the choreographers is Mia Michaels and it is my goal to meet her. I'm so excited for this opportunity for the girls to take classes from these people, especially Mia. I'm so excited at the possibility of getting a picture with her. I could just faint.

Anyway, back to Maddie's previous competition.... I finally got the pictures I was waiting for. The photographer was none to good, but there are a few shots worth posting. This is the tap dance to "Beat It". Notice (how can you miss it) the red Micheal Jackson jackets.

This is a jazz dance to "It Don't Mean A Thing" and it is so cute. The costumes aren't cute until they are on stage dancing and then they transform into just the right thing. Although, they make Maddie's legs look impossibly long!!
This is the modern piece called "Flight" and it makes me cry every single time. The music is just beautiful. Rozzie will be dancing in this one at JUMP this weekend, filling in for a girl who is in Germany.
This is the contemporary piece called "Let It Go" and Maddie has a solo at the end. She is very intense!!

Top o' the Mornin' to You!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! I should be including a picture of our cat Patrick here. It is his birthday. He is such a nice cat and we are so happy to have him around. He is easy to get along with and is nonjudgmental. He doesn't mind other cats. He is always willing to sit still for a petting. What a good cat. (Licky is the opposite of everything I just mentioned - especially judgmental.)

Last night, Rozzie had some friends over and we made Shamrock Shakes - just like McDonald's. It was pretty good, actually. This was a new experience for the girl in the foreground who is from Taiwan. She moved her to live with her dad's cousin's family to go to school. I don't know why. So she is in our ward and is Rozzie's age. Rozzie and Hannah have done a great job at helping her feel included.

It is interesting to listen to all of them together. Rebecca doesn't understand a lot of their jokes and she isn't shy to ask. Roz, Morgan, and Maddie have a joke about "rash ointment". When Morgan would see Rozzie at school, she'd yell out, "Hey Rozzie, don't forget your rash ointment you forgot in my car!" They do it to each other. Last night, I picked up Maddie's eczema prescription on the counter and said (without thinking), "Maddie, don't forget your rash ointment that is here in the kitchen." This time, I literally meant that there was actual rash ointment. Rebecca didn't understand what a rash was and why it was funny. They just explained it to her. They watched funny youtube videos and had a great time. I like Rebecca's Facebook posts - they are in Chinese characters and I don't understand that!!!

As promised - here is a picture of Rozzie at her Nationals competition. Many of you have seen this on Facebook, but I thought I'd put it here for the non-users. This picture is the exact opposite of her personality. Many people just ask who it is.
This is the team as they finished the dance. I really like this shot.
Yesterday, I got to work at 6:45 for my teacher planning day. I had about 4-5 hours of work to do. I was really looking forward to it, too. It would be nice to get this stuff done. Third quarter is over and there isn't much left of the school year. What a blessing!!

At about 7:45, Travis called to say they had been in an accident. I called the assistant principal, but she was off to Europe, so I told her secretary the problem and the other AP was sitting right there and he said to just go. I was told later that they didn't want to see any paperwork, to that is a real bonus!!

According the the witness, the lady driving this car was going about 45 mph and drive right into the next car. There is speculation that she was on her phone. She was unable to get out of the car on her own. She was transported with injuries to the hospital via ambulance. You see the bumper of the car she hit embedded in her front bumper. You also see the back window of the car she hit embedded in her windshield.
This is the car she hit. It was a car sandwich. There isn't much left other than his speakers in the back. The car ends at the wheels. He was also unable to get out the car on his own and was transported, with injuries to the hospital via ambulance.
Travis' car isn't too bad. It is hard to see, but the outer shell of the car is buckled above the tire. It is a little more than just a fender-bender, even though it doesn't look so bad from here. He was definitely fortunate that the middle-man wasn't following closely. Travis and his carpool buddy, Jack, were fine.
I took them over to Urgent Care, just in case. It just makes for a lost day. Now we have to wait and see what insurance says about the car. We might get insurance back on Morgan's car so that Travis has something to drive in the meantime. What an inconvenience!!

Now for Spring Break!!

March Madness

March started out with a trip to the National Dance Alliance dance competition in Orlando at the Hard Rock Live auditorium. I'll have some other pictures of Rozzie dancing on a later post. Many of you have already seen the scary picture of her that is on Facebook. Here is a less scary picture of her at her school away from school, Hogwarts.

The dance competition went well, although not as well as last year. This year, every team was really good. We came in 8th place and are really happy with that. There are some really fantastic teams out there and we are glad to be one of them. The team that won is the team that won last year and also went on "America's Got Talent". West Springfield Dance Team is amazing to watch!!

Today, my Fashion Design class finished out a project where they had to create an article of clothing or outfit out of "trash". They weren't allowed to buy anything, and they weren't supposed to use fabric. They used a lot of trash bags. They had a lot of fun coming up with different ideas. Today was the judgement day. I had a panel of judges come in to be my judges. The school TV station also reported on the show. I jokingly told them that first place gets an A, 2nd place a B, 3rd place a C, etc. They were so shocked at the grading system. There was a great sigh of relief when I told them that I was joking and then I handed out the grading rubric. I was pleased with how they used their time as well as their creativity. They worked in groups and one person in the group had to model.
This is the winning group!! They made her jacket from a shower curtain. They actually cut out pattern pieces and hot glued it together, including a hood. They also hot glued a zipper in it. Her tank top is newspaper. Her skirt is a garbage bag that they spray painted. It was really cute.
Now we start our Spring Break!!! WOOT WOOT. I can't believe that when we go back to school, it will be 4th quarter. Inconceivable!! (and it will be my birthday!!)

February Follies

February started out with our favorite weekend of the year at The Cloister Resort at Sea Island in Georgia. Travis attends the Georgia Foreign Trade Conference each year and we look forward to this weekend ALL YEAR!!! This year, the kickoff to the conference was on Super Bowl Sunday (see what I did there?). Everyone was instructed to wear their favorite team's colors. Despite the dismal season, Travis and I donned the purple and gold. During the party, a lady came up and asked if I was from Minnesota. We talked for quite a while on the virtues of living in Minnesota. She lives there currently and I had to tell her how lucky she was. Then her husband came up. I noticed that his name tag put him with Target and so we discussed the virtues of Target. Then Travis found me and we chatted a big longer. The next day, Travis came back from his big meeting and said that my Target friend was the keynote speaker and was a HUGE bigwig with Target. Luckily I was on my best behavior and didn't swear or anything.

February brought about Maddie's first church dance!! She turned 14 in November, but hasn't had the opportunity to go to a dance until this month. Rozzie warned her that guys will ask her to dance and will somehow manage to ask the girl's age. When you answer, "Fourteen," the young man will simply say, "oh." So, Maddie was asked to dance a few times. One young man was a high school senior. He chatted with her a bit and then nonchalantly got in, "how old are you?" She answered, "Fourteen." .... .... .... "Oh." At least the guys know the rules and when someone is off limits, they are off limits. Rozzie, Maddie, and Hannah all had a good time at the dance.
The same weekend that Maddie danced her heart away, Uncle Shan was in town for a visit. We always love to have Uncle Shan around!! He brought his brother-in-law, Clark, along for one night. Clark has a few cats at home that Shan figures he misses quite a bit. When Shan came in for breakfast, Clark was reading Maddie's Cat Fancy magazine!!
This past weekend, Maddie had her first dance competition. She has been looking forward to this for a long time. She was in 4 dances: Tap, Jazz, Modern, and Contemporary. They did very well and we are sure proud to be associated with Art's Edge. She loves her friends in the Company!! These are "The Blonds".
January seemed to go on forever. However, February flew by. It has been very nice to have a break from Cheerleading. I was in bed by 9:00 every night last week. It sure made a big difference. Too bad I can't always do that!

Cheer Champs and Dance Champs

Well, well, well. The last you heard from me was that all was lost. Sadly, Loretta posted her last post. Meet Monique! I have finally figured out how to change the pixel size on pictures so that I can post them on this blogging program.

January was a very long month. Cheer was at its height with basketball games 2-3 nights a week, plus three competitions. It was pretty rough. I knew it from the get-go. I told Travis that January was going to be band and I didn't know what was for dinner...ever. He never complained, I guess knowing that it was just for January (kind of). We survived and February has been a bit better.

The big highlight in January was that both Cheer and Dance won championships and the same competition in Daytona. My girls did so well. We had our struggles throughout the season, but they really pulled it together and performed so well. They went up into one of their stunts and the flyer closest to me looked right at me and saw me jumping up and down, clapping and yelling and she SMILED!! She couldn't see anyone else on stage but she knew everyone made it up and was holding!! They finished the routine and hadn't dropped anyone and we were all so happy. At this competition, when you win, you get a Championship jacket. I handed those out and we posed for pictures - even the coach gets one!! My girls finished out in the early afternoon with their trophy!! We took all that back to the hotel and then went back to the venue to see the dancers take the floor. At that point, Rozzie knew that I had my jacket and she DID NOT want to leave Daytona without HER jacket!! So the dancers showed up and got a lot of stares in their outfits. Here is the entire team: Rozzie is front, just to the right of center.

Their "theme" this year is tribal/jungle and they looked really good! Here is Rozzie with her friends Nora and Chelsea. They looked like cannibals or witch doctors!! Then they got up on stage and danced and it was a crowd pleaser. Next day, they went and did it again. Lo and behold - they won!! Rozzie had her jacket now and I could wear mine.

Here are some of the dancers celebrating on the beach!! YAY!! The two bookends were injured.

All the girls (both cheer and dance) wore their jackets to school on Tuesday (Monday was MLK) and we got this GREAT picture of all of them together. What I really love is that they are not standing by teams at all; they are all mixed together. It really was a great experience!

Somewhere in there the girls participated in the Young Women's Sacrament Meeting program. They always dress alike or at least coordinating and this year it was white shirts and purple scarves. They did a phenomenal job and look how happy they are - both without braces!!

Last but not least, I had to post this of my cheerleaders at their official FHSAA State Competition 2 weeks ago. As they went up into the cheer stunt, the two middle girls realized they had the wrong signs and threw them to each other right during the stunt!! The judges were incredibly imposed with that save. The head judge told us he had never seen kids recover a sign problem like that and he was so impressed with it. Well, it wasn't enough to overcome a deduction from standing on a sign after a tumbling pass. We went from 1st place to 4th. I guess the lesson is that you don't always get what you want (Excelsiorites know the reference). I was really proud of them. I was also relieved that I could go home and be done for the season.

Travis just got home from Toronto - he loves to travel up there. Morgan has signed an apartment lease for next year at The Glenwood. She'll be marching again next year and needs to be close to the stadium. I think it is a great place for her.

Thanks for your patience. I'll post with more regularity now. Oh, our boys' soccer team just won state. Very exciting. Going to meet them at the school tonight. I have to go early to coordinate the banner making.

Weep not for those that are lost

At this moment, my computer is crashing in a fiery inferno on the kitchen table. I just wrote those words in a letter to Morgan and felt that you would all benefit from knowing what has just happened. I still have my Creative Memories pictures and "stuff", but all other docuemtns are lost. But are they really lost? I say, yes. My spreadsheet that documents everyone's Christmas Ornaments since the Dawn of Time - gone. My template for the Candygrams - destroyed. ALL MY LESSON PLANS - anihillated. I had pictures ready to upload for my new blog post regarding our championship weekend. That will have to either wait, or you can look at them on Rozzie's facebook.

Time to call The Guy in our Ward Who Fixes Computers.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Licky had a great Christmas Eve as the Cosmo PillowPets invaded his space. He was not amused. There was hissing!
However, I will pause here to say that Licky has been a different cat since Morgan came home. He has been on his best behavior and has allowed a snuggle or two. His hissing and growling has declined, too. We'll see how he takes Morgan's departure.

Christmas Eve was spent at the Collard's house for dinner, the Smith's house for a bonfire, and then back to the Collard's for dessert. Here is a great group of girls who have all grown up together. The girl in the red shirt and the girl in the red pants were both babes in arms when we moved here. It has been nice to stay in one place for a while and see all these girls grow up and many of them have moved on to college and other pursuits. Maddie is 3rd from the left; Morgan is 3rd from the right, with Rozzie next to her on the right, and then McCall in the red boots.

Here is the traditional Christmas day picture. This was after church. Rozzie and Morgan are wearing their new garb. Oh, and yes, Morgan colored her hair brown. Notice that Maddie is braceless - at least on top.

This morning, we went to the temple to do baptisms. Morgan has had a "limited" temple recommend that lasts for a year. She goes to the Provo temple regularly. She asked Travis if we could go as a family. Since there were no youth groups today (New Year's Eve), the temple allowed us to come and have a private family baptism session. As it turns out, the 1st counselor in the temple presidency used to be our stake president and Travis served on the High Council for a few years with him, and he was there to preside over our baptisms. He and his wife had us do one of their names that was very dear to them. This made for a very intimate time together in the temple, unlike I have ever experienced. We really enjoyed our time there together. We were done by 10am.

We wasted time for a bit and then went to lunch; we were all pretty starved!! Then we left Orlando and were back home by 3pm. That is when the fun started. The girls wanted to go nap and lay around, but I got them busy on the Christmas mess. It is all put away now and our house is back to normal for the first time in 3 months!! It feels very good.

I have finally finished the ornaments. I'm sorry they are late, but that is just the case this year. People ask why I continue to do the ornaments. My answer is that I'd feel bad for all the younger kids who didn't get any and their older siblings got a whole bunch. Maybe no one else cares, but I do. So there is the answer, it is really very simple.

The next 6 weeks will be pretty tough with basketball season and the last 3/4 cheer competitions. Once that is done, I will be happy. It has been a whirlwind, but it has been fun and I'm glad I did it.

I wish all my blog readers (3-4 of you) a very happy and prosperous 2012!!