Helping Mommy...

Here are a few pics of Kaiti and Sam "helping" me at Dance Team practice. They warm up with the "big girls" and try to dance with them at every practice. The girls on the team spoil Kaiti and Sam and make a point to stop by Kaitlyn's Kindergarten room and wave whenever they can. I know that teenagers can come across as selfish at times but this is one of the reasons I love teaching this age - they really are just sweet little kids at heart who really take the time to make my little girls feel special. :)

Dance, Dance, Dance...

After all the practicing and last minute details, packing lists and uniform mishaps, June 20th, the first day of Dance Camp, arrived. The toughest part of my day was saying goodbye to Duane and the girls. Duane took a few days off to stay home with him and his mom drove in from Oklahoma but I have NEVER left the girls overnight. I'm sure I drove Duane nuts with all my instructions, none of which he really needed, but he humored me. :) After managing to shove all the gear and food that 16 pre-teen girls require into 5 different vehicles and making a quick stop at Starbucks, we hit Hwy 98 to Panama City Beach and the Edgewater Resort. After arriving and signing in, the girls started right into choreography and technique classes with the home routine competition that night. We soon realized that we were the youngest girls at the camp with the majority of teams in our division being from Jr. High (7th, 8th, and 9th grades) compared to our Middle School team (6th, 7th, and 8th grades) and that we were at the camp with the defending national champions for the last 5 years in addition to some very strong teams with long running programs. The girls were definitely intimidated but they stuck it out. Dance camp is no joke for those of you who think it might include a lot of flitting around in pretty little ballet outfits. The girls dance from 8:00am until 9:00pm with brief lunch and dinner breaks and are expected to practice with their coaches after they finish their 9:00 pm class. To describe the whole experience would take a book, so I will just sum it up:

• I am now completely positive that my 2 little girls will be enough. After spending 4 days with 16 pre-teens, making sure they shower, making their breakfast and keeping track of their things, not to mention keeping them away from the Babe Ruth baseball tournament boys who were also staying at the resort, I am EXHAUSTED!
• I will be investing in ear plugs when my own daughters reach middle school. It seems that EVERYTHING a pre-teen girls says must be said in a screech or a squeal........
• In spite of the aforementioned distractions, the girls did amazingly well....better than I could ever have expected. As a brand new team at a very competitive camp, I did not expect anything at all except for them to be exposed to other dancers and instructors. We walked away with a 3rd place Trophy for our home routine, a Superior Team trophy for the most amount of blue ribbons of any team in the division, 2 of my girls made the national All Star team, we received our bid to Nationals at Disney World on ESPN and an invite to the Capital One Bowl performance. I could never have imagined how well the girls would do! I am very proud of them and VERY, VERY tired.

Practice Makes Perfect

Most of you know that as soon as school ended, I started 4-5 hour practices with my dance team. I've always coached either dance or cheer but when we moved to Florida, the school already had someone coaching a small dance team so I got to take a few years off and just help her out instead of heading things up. Well, this next year I will be taking over the team. Our school is very small so the team has always been small and never competed. I decided to increase our numbers this year and take the girls to UDA Dance Camp to get them used to competition and provide them with a little extra technique instruction. Tryouts went well and out team increased from 5 girls to 16, the largest our small charter school has ever had. I acquired a wonderful assistant coach who happens to be Kaitlyn's kindergarten math teacher. We did a few fundraisers for uniforms before the school was out and had a few after school practices to get to know the girls and their abilities. Once we ended school and uniforms were ordered, we started preparing in earnest for camp. Universal Dance Association Camps are 4 intense days of learning choreography and technique and also offer a competition for originally choreographed "home" routines. Most established teams hire a professional choreographer to create the home routine and have months to practice with their many returning members. With this being a new program, we only had a few weeks between the end of the school year and the beginning of camp to practice with all of our new members and to choreograph a routine that utilized their skills. And of course, we did not have the budget for a professional choreographer so it was just me and my team captain. Many teams also have a trainer who works on cardio and strength training. We don't have that but we do have ....Duane! Duane worked out a training regimen for my girls and came several days to instruct. Some of my girls nearly cried when they saw him come the second time.......but they stuck it out. :) Duane is a tough task master for anyone but for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade girls who have no experience with preparing for any sort of competition, he is a bit intimidating! Here are a few pics of all of our preparations.....

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

On June 9th (I know, 3 weeks ago....) the girls had their annual ballet recital. Mom and Dad flew in the day before to visit so they got to see the girls dance. Kaiti and Sam were both in the same Ballet and Tap class this year so they had matching outfits and got to dance together which they loved. I was the class mom and had the rather debatable pleasure of sitting in a tiny backstage room with 16 little girls and changing them from ballet to tap shoes and back again, organizing them in their formations before the curtains rose, fixing hair and costume mishaps, entertaining and feeding snacks for 4 hours. The girls were adorable and not frightened at all of performing - in fact, they ate it up, grinning and blowing kisses at their fans. I only have a few pictures from before we took them backstage so here they are, dancing around with their little friends. They danced their official performances to "Tutti Frutti" (Tap) and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (ballet).

Summer is Here...I think???

I would say that means I can relax and enjoy that quinessential benefit of teaching - summers off - but............that would be too easy. School let out for the kiddos on Thursday at noon and Friday was a post planning staff day (read: teachers come in to do all the paperwork that makes a school run). In addition to the massive paperwork and meetings required on Friday, I also ran a Car Wash fundraiser for the dance team I coach. To summarize, I spent my Friday running back and forth between the grades on my computer, meetings, and supervising 16 pre-teens with hoses and soap. Oh! I almost forgot the baby shower that I helped host for our Before and After Care Director as well. Whew! By the end of the day I was exhausted. My "free" summer break is shaping up like this:

Mom and Dad arrive on Saturday which is also the all day rehearsal for the girl's Ballet Recital, for which I am the room mom and will spend most of the day backstage with 20 little 3-6 year olds.

Sunday is the Recital, which takes most of the day and in which both girls and myself will perform. Oh yes, that's right, they make all us old moms learn a dance and perform too. They NEVER tell you about these types of things before you have kids........ Oh, and Duane leaves for Ft. Benning for Ranger Hall of Fame.

Monday is back to work for more meetings to close out the year.

Tuesday and Wednesday are blessedly free of any obligations other than hanging with my parents.

Thursday we begin 4 hour a day practices with the Dance Team in preparation for Camp. This continues without break (except Sunday) until the 20th of June, which is when we leave, at the crack of dawn, to drive to Panama City Beach for our Camp at the Edgewater Resort. I know that sounds exciting but imagine living on a roll out bed in a condo with 6 pre-teen girls who do not know how to do their own laundry or make their own meals. ........

We come home from Camp on the 23rd. And I almost forgot.....my parents leave the 18th and my mother in law arrives on the 20th, the day I leave, to help Duane with the kiddos.

The 24th - my 3rd free day of the summer, most likely spent unpacking and re-organizing.

25th and 26th of June - up in Pensacola for a Writing Teachers Conference.

Perhaps by the 27th of June, my summer will actually begin. SO, for all of those out there who feel the need to say "Teaching? That must be so easy, you end each day at 3:00pm (HA HA!!!) and you get the summers off! " the next time you feel like saying that to a teacher, be prepared for a nasty look, at the least.

Ahhhhh, Summer........I'll love it when it actually arrives..........

K is for Kindergarten

Graduation! On Monday night, Kaitlyn had her Kindergarten "graduation." It was, of course, absolutely adorable. The kids all wore their dress uniforms, recited the pledge of allegiance and the mission statement of the school:

"We are a caring community of learners, dedicated to making the world a better place through academic preparation, good manners, common sense, and 100% effort!"

They also treated all the parents to 3 songs in Spanish, led by their Spanish teacher and complete with little dance motions that were absolutely hilarious. Kaitlyn was one of a few that recited part of an acrostic poem (Kindergarten). She was responsible for the letter "R" and recited "R is for remembering all the things we've learned." Cameras flashed contiuously, Kleenex was distributed in large quantities, and little ones laughed and giggled in the risers and waved to the audience - it was a successful evening. On to first grade!!

Bare Feet in the Sand

For Memorial Day weekend, some old friends of ours came to visit. We were all stationed at Ft. Lewis together, they are now at Ft. Benning, GA and are getting ready to PCS to Germany. We had a good time showing them around Florida. A bunch of the guys took all the little girls boating out at Crab Island while the mommies went shopping on Okaloosa Island, we had Sam's birthday party, swam in the pool, and went out for dinner at the Crab Trap - a great restaurant right on the gulf with a playground on the beach. After dinner, the kids played at the beach playground and ran into the surf until well after dark. Here are a few pics of all the kids at dinner and in the sand...

Samantha Grace Turns 4

Sam had her 4th birthday over Memorial Day weekend. She decided on a Cowboy theme, complete with hats and a cowboy boot pinata. She had neighborhood friends over to the park where they played, made some cowboy crafts, and ate hot dogs and hamburgers grilled by Daddy. The weekend was so humid and hot here that as soon as we finished with cake and gifts, most of the kids went home and changed into swim suits to hit the pool.

It is hard to believe that our baby is 4 and heading to Pre-K this fall. In fact, I just ordered a few uniform skorts for the girls and Sam was thrilled. She tried on her "big girl school clothes" and paraded around the house, modeling. Kaiti, after 2 years of uniforms, was a little less amused. Sam loves to tell us how she is "growing into a big sister." This, of course, aggravates her sister who has repeatedly tried to explain to her that she will NEVER be the "big sister" because she is younger. Sam has other ideas. At 4, Sam is full of confidence and personality and is incredibly daring, as evidenced by her many bruises and scratches. She is a tiny little whirlwind, full of affection for everyone in her path. :)