Dance Season is Finally Over!!!

Now that A is no longer doing any sort of competition dance, recital weekend isn't quite the ordeal it used to be!!! She was only in 2 shows - only did each of her numbers once - and we didn't even go to one of them - because it was a number we'd already seen both at Access Broadway, and at the Vocal Recital. But Sunday, she was tapping, and we hadn't seen her tap at all this year (one disadvantage of no competitions!)

First, they reprised the "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" number - which was great - because it was the only one I didn't get any photos of at the vocal recital!


Then, it was time for tap!! A is so self-critical, I didn't know what to expect - but she and her class were fabulous! I don't know WHAT she was down on herself about! It was a cute number, with lots of complex tapping - I sure couldn't have kept up!!!



We've agreed - same type of schedule for dance again next year - it was just the right amount - and she does love to tap!!!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there.... here are most of my favorite Dad's!!! J and his bro K are in back, and my Dad, and J's Dad are seated. We had a great Father's Day dinner here on Saturday night - featuring some very yummy Salmon prepared and grilled by J, and a spinach salad that my MIL helped me fix bacon dressing for, and spring asparagus - that E just loved... we'll be having that again!

It was a great evening of family and fun... We'll do it again sometime soon!!!

School's Out for Summer!!!

School's Out For Summer!!!! (Sing along with me!)
School's Out For Ever!!!
(ok - not reallly forever - but it is out for the summer!!)

This is my new 7th grader - celebrating!!!! The new 10th grader was so busy with Marching Band, and Driver's Ed and Dance Team tryouts that I never got "school's out" photos of her. bummer.

Then and Now.... how much she's changed over the course of 6th grade!! Thanks Cara for the idea to take a Last Day photo!!! Too bad I couldn't nail down the older girl!!!

Catching Up

Well... this is it - the last day of school!! The past couple of weeks have been filled with Awards ceremonies, final band concerts, and lots of studying!

Yesterday I accompanied A and the sixth grade to the Wave Pool - that was lots of fun - it was a great day for it! I lapped the lazy river four times!! The only downer was that I developed this terrible toothache yesterday - and the pain would come and go in waves - I couldn't predict what would set it off, or how long it would last. Finally, by the time we got home, it hurt so badly I was crying. John sent me off to the Dentist - who didn't find anything MAJOR. He filed down the painful tooth a bit to improve the bite, prescribed some antibiotics, and gave me license to take 800mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours. Well, the waves of pain are coming less frequently, and marginally less intensely. I hope that will do it - they took x-rays and didn't see anything wrong inside the tooth - so keep your fingers crossed.... because when the pain kicks in - the whole left side of my face hurts. argh.

E starts driver's ed in an hour! Her finals end at noon, and then at 12:30 she goes to her first class! s-c-a-r-y. School may be out for her, but she's just gearing up for a busy few days! Tomorrow, she has Driver's Ed - followed by Freshman Mini-Camp - followed by the first Dance Team tryout clinic. Saturday is the 2nd Freshman Mini-Camp - and Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings are more clinics, and finally the try-out.

Both girls had a great 2nd semester - and took home several awards from their respective awards nights. We learned that until E is a Senior - we're going to duck out of the Awards night after she gets her awards... it's a LONG night otherwise - and it really is dedicated more to the Seniors. A HAD to duck out of her awards night early - she had her last Tap class before the recital!

No pics to post... I dragged the camera to the water park, and then never took it out, and we sat so stinkin' far back at the awards nights, that the pictures are terrible.... and I'm not sure E would ever forgive me if I showed up at Driver's Ed to take pictures!!! (But it would be funny, wouldn't it?)

Happy Belated Birthday

Although I'm backdating this post - it's still belated. The girls insisted that I take a silly photo of J showing his age, just like i did of them on THEIR birthday's - and that I blog it. So begins the 30 day period when J is "officially" a year older than me (even though he's ALWAYS 30 days older than me - for THIS 30 days, the age number is different!!!)

The plan was to make cupcakes - but after getting the cake batter ready to go, I made the unfortunate discovery that I have used up what I thought was the lifetime supply of cupcake papers that my MIL gave me - oh, I dunno - 10 or 12 years ago!!!! Apparantly it was only a 10-12 year supply - not lifetime like I originally thought!!! So, instead I poured the batter into my covered cake pan, and sprinkled it up and decorated it. Tasted just as good as cupcakes!!

And here he is - blowing out his candles! Happy Birthday J!!! Here's to many, many more years of you being 30 days older than me!!!!

I Did It!!

I customized my blog! Cara did her's and Tara's and Amy's MONTHS ago - but I was busy with GLMM - so all I did way back then was shopped and picked out my digital kit from Polka Dot Potato - I selected "If You're Happy" by Laura Ping of www.pingdesigns.com. It's been sitting on my computer ever since... nagging me to DO SOMETHING with it!

Today was the day. Not sure what inspired me - but I decided I was going to tackle it today! Once I got "into" it - it wasn't as hard as I imagined. Some knowledge of HTML is necessary - but with that, it was pretty easy to get the background images into place where I wanted them!

I hope you like it! Appropriately enough.... it makes me Happy!

Sing, Sing, Sing...

This past weekend was the vocal recital. It is incredible how much talent there is in Mr. Keen's students! A did a fabulous job... above, she's dancing in the opening number.

Do you know how difficult it is to get good photos of your kid who is singing and dancing, when you can't use your flash? You take a blue million photos, and hope one turns out. But it's harder with your own kid - because you get nervous for them - and that doesn't help the camera shake AT ALL. Anyway - above A is performing in her class number - "I Won't Grow Up" from Peter Pan.

Finally - almost at the end of the show, A got her solo "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray! It's a difficult song, and she kept right up with it! No video as of yet... maybe later in the summer!