Dance Competition #3

Dance Competition #3 is a done deal, and it was by far the best this season! The dance team did GREAT, and the adjudications certainly reflected the hard work they've put into their routines.

Here's how the girlz did:

Furrocious (jazz super group) -- Platinum adjudication, 1st place overall
Lollipop (tap large group) -- Platinum adjudication, 1st place overall
Electri-City (production) -- High Platinum adjudication, 1st place overall
Double Dutch Bus (trio) -- Platinum adjudication, 3rd place overall

Our studio was also awarded the Studio Of The Day. The Stage Manager chooses the recipient of this award, and it's entirely based on integrity, character, and how we treat others. It's a HUGE honor to be chosen!!

It was an awesome weekend. Way to go, Dance Team!

Wordless Wednesday

Brought to you by our Monday evening after-school, after-dinner scooter ride...

Happy Easter!

The girlz were relieved to find their baskets full of gifts this morning. The Easter Bunny took very good care of them!

We went to church, even though the Easter Grinch in me didn't really want to deal with the crowd. Easter is pretty much the Super Bowl of our faith, and I feel like I need to make an effort to look beyond myself and set the right example for the girlz. Plus, I was recruited to help during the Children's Sermon, so we didn't really have a choice!

It was totally worth the hassle. And once we were there, I didn't mind it so much. We made an effort to take it easy the rest of the day.

Campbell's basket

Cassidy's basket

Pretty girlz in pretty Lilly Pulitzer and Betsey Johnson dresses!

After church, the girlz and I explored the neighborhood. I walked, they scooted. Or scootered. Can "scooter" be used as a noun and a verb?

Adventure Girlz!

With the Cinderella statue in our neighborhood's prissy rose garden...

The fountain water is COLD!

Throw what you know, girlz...

It was a lovely way to end a wonderful day. Happy Easter!!

Church Egg Hunt

Our church hosts a HUGE Easter Celebration for the children every year. The kids spend the first hour in the Family Life Center, where there are an endless numbers of crafts and games. The second hour is devoted to hunting for thousands of eggs that are hidden in the church yard. This is a much-anticipated event in our house!

Even the rain couldn't dampen the festivities this year. We hunted for eggs inside, which was almost as fun as being outside! The kids had a ball, and barely noticed the change.

Spending the morning with some of our favorite people, at one of our favorite places, learning about one of the most important events in Biblical history?

It doesn't get much better!

LT feels most comfortable behind the yellow tape. Those are his words, not mine.

Testing The Easter Cookies

The kits I bought for Campbell's classroom party came with a few too many Easter cookies for what we needed.  I also had decided to buy a completely different set of decorations and icing for the kids (it costs more, but will make it SO much easier), which left me with two extra sets of decorations and icing tubes.

What better use for the leftovers, than to let the girlz test the Easter cookie craft before we go live in the classroom tomorrow?

They had a great time! And I was relieved to find the cookies were actually somewhat soft -- not anything close to the rock-hard piece of cement I was expecting.

You get one guess. Whose plate is whose?

It's a no-brainer! The mountains of sprinkles on the top plate are clearly the work of our sugar-loving Campbell. And who else would meticulously align the candies and draw flowers on her cookies (with sprinkles carefully added in the leaves) than our detail-obsessed Cassidy?

So true to form, those two!

Wordless Wednesday

Mrs. H's Easter Basket

This is what happens when you put the practical-to-a-fault Room Parent in charge of the classroom Easter party...

Yes, that's an Easter basket. And yes, it has Clorox wipes in it.

I have Campbell's classroom Easter Party this year, and I decided it would be fun to make an Easter Basket for Mrs. H. At the beginning of the year, the classroom welcome packet contained a list of several items that she needs all year long. She asks that parents send these items to school throughout the year if possible. I typically buy a bunch of supplies and send one item a week to school with Campbell. We did the same thing when Cassidy had Mrs. H and it worked well for everybody.

For Mrs. H's Easter basket, I filled a bright green container full of those supplies -- 2 packages of paper plates, 2 large containers of Clorox Wipes, 3 packages of plastic spoons, 6 bottles of antibacterial soap, and 1 large bottle of hand sanitizer. I also added in a package of dark chocolate (her favorite) and a Happy Easter balloon to make it look pretty.

We'll see how well this goes over. I suspect I've either 1) completely ruined her Easter Basket, or 2) filled it full of awesome.

My bet's on AWESOME.  I mean, really. What says Happy Easter better than hand sanitizer and bleach wipes?!?

A Special Day At School

The girlz had a program at school Friday morning. A group of us were asked to manage the refreshment set-up, re-stock, and clean-up -- so I drove the girlz to school. It was a gorgeous day, so we walked around the campus and watched the school wake up.

Campbell pointing out the bunny she colored!

Cassidy pointing out the Easter Egg she colored!

We took turns guarding the food table from scavenging high schoolers, so I was able to watch both girlz perform. They did great!

Throwback Thursday

Back to the days when Miss Sassafras still had her curls...

The Best Night EVER

I've mentioned many, many times that I'm a H~U~G~E fan of Tim Hawkins. He was in the area over the weekend and I had scored 2 VIP tickets. The VIP passes included a special VIP lanyard and tag, a reception catered by Chick-Fil-A, preferred seating in the sanctuary, and a meet and greet with Tim.

They had me at Chick-Fil-A.

Our seats were on the second row!

LT and I with Tim Hawkins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was seriously the best night EVER. The food was great, Tim was hilarious, and LT and I got a short (and much-needed) break from the girlz.

It doesn't get much better!

Throwback Thursday

Baby Campbell -- just hatched, still jaundiced!
June 2008

Spring Break 2014

This week is our Spring Break, and we decided to do something a little different than we've always done. This is the busiest time of the year for dance and our school's Spring Break doesn't align with the dance studio's Spring Break, so we decided not to spend the week at the beach house. We really wanted to go, but the girlz would miss two full weeks of dance almost back-to-back. Not good.

We went to Great Wolf Lodge right before Christmas and the girlz really wanted to do the MagiQuest scavenger hunt. We were only there one night and we had already booked appointments at the spa for them, so we decided we'd come back for a few nights over Spring Break.

We got both of the girlz Paw Passes this time, which we haven't done in the past because they've always wanted to go to the spa instead. The Paw Passes were definitely worth the money - we had more than enough to do and girlz loved all the activities we got to do. I did catch them gazing through the windows of Scooops with wistful looks on their faces a few times, but they stayed too busy to really miss it.

They had so much fun, they didn't want to come home. They're already planning our next trip!

Wolf Ears!

Playing MagiQuest with their new wands!

Breakfast at the Loose Moose Grill

 Cassidy got a shooting star painted on her arm

Campbell got a Rachel Raccoon face!

The girlz with Violet the Wolf (Cassidy's favorite)

 The girlz with Rachel the Raccoon (Campbell's favorite) 

Campbell coloring her pillowcase

Cassidy coloring her t-shirt

 Campbell stuffing her new wolf friend (that looks just like Juno).

And Cassidy stuffing her new wolf friend!

Campbell and Oliver the Raccoon

Glitter tattoos!

Cups and keychains with their favorite characters

We'll be back soon, Great Wolf Lodge!