Busy Year

Too, too, too long since my last post! I know, I know. As much as I love to blog about our life, we have been terribly busy this year and I've been too tired. I am happy to report though that this coming year looks to be slower and I am so looking forward to it! Evan and Lauren, this post is for you--I'm still hoping one day to get my blog posts in a book format so you can look back on them when you're older and be able to relive some memories.

We are going to start with Lauren, because unfortunately one thing about being the youngest is you don't always come first. Lauren, you've had a great 2014 so far! One of the best and biggest memories from this year was your competitive dancing with The South Y Dance Company which then changed to Y Diamond Dance Company. You shined like we knew you would--God has greatly gifted you with the art of dance. You of course were not shy in front of the audiences at competitions and you always captivated people with your facial expressions. You are a natural. The last competition was extremely impressive. Grandma and Grandpa from Colorado came out to see it. Both of your dances finished in the the top 3 for your age group! What was really special about that was the fact that 2 days before this competition one of the girls was asked to leave the team, so your dances had to be redone quickly. Also, at this competition you got to receive one of the rewards for the second place dance, got a medal, and the group received a check.

Piano has been another part of this year you have grown in. At your June recital, you played two pieces by memory. You also received a summer discount rate and two movie theater tickets because you are so diligent in your work. Miss Connie has told me you make her excited and she is so impressed by how well you learn your music.

Evan, one of your biggest memories is the Lego Robotics Team at WWHM. You were on a great team this year. You figured out a design for your robot, and completely made it around the practice course early in the season. When competition day came, your team got 1000 points--a perfect score! It was thrilling when the wwhm team came in 2nd place! It was funny how we were all hoping for 3rd or 4th place, and when our names were not called, we though for sure we had not done well again this year. So, when we were called for 2nd place we were stunned, as well as elated!

Sheltered Reality drumming became part of your life this year. We were introduced to them in January when mvps brought them in as a school event. We decided to join and you have done two performances. You are getting along so well with the other people you meet at the shows, and Steve and Jordan are so impressed with how quickly you are picking up on the songs and choreography.

No pictures in this post, but there were some taken and I plan on including those in a 2014 digital scrapbook I want to make when this year's over so that each of you will have that for your later years. You both are awesome and I'm proud of the things you've accomplished, and how hard you work at things. You are both maturing in so many ways and you make me glad and proud to be your mom!

Dance

Yea! A new year is upon us. I know that this is going to be a year full of change for our family. As I think back on the holidays, events, and activities and all of the pics I took but didn't post, I'm kind of sorry for that. I'm not sure that this year of blog writing will be any better than last year. In fact, I kind of enjoyed the break. Here we are already on the 7th day of January, and I'm just now posting. Oh well....

I was going through my camera today uploading pics onto the computer as well as a couple of videos. I thought I'd go ahead and post the ones regarding Lauren's dance team. In June she went through a month of training at the NorthWest YMCA and in July tried out for the competitive dance team. She made it! This year was the first year for teams under the age of 10. She was one of 4 girls on her team for the ages of 8-10. There is also another team ages 5-7, and then of course the older girls team that has been around for a few years. However, after a month of team practices, the other 3 girls on Lauren's team were blatantly ignoring her and not being friendly. I couldn't believe that I was witnessing these mean girls treating my daughter like this. I brought the subject up to the head coach and she wrote me back saying one of her pet peeves was mean girl behavior and she would change it. However, by this time it was too late for Lauren and she was ready to leave. Besides the mean girls, the head coach was also the head coach for cheer and you could tell that is where her heart was. She rarely came and worked with our girls, or got to know their names. Also, she was very pregnant, so I think between pregnancy, two new dance teams, and the responsibility of cheer and dance, she was overwhelmed herself. We pulled Lauren off the team in September, and thought about putting her in the Y advanced dance academy classes. This would support her love of dancing, hopefully she would be around nicer girls; she just wouldn't compete and Lauren was good with that. The next thing I knew, a friend of mine whose daughter is the same age as Lauren and had been dancing on the competitive team for the South Y contacted their head coach without my knowledge and told me her coach wanted to talk with me about the possibility of Lauren having a private audition and joining their team. I called the coach and we chatted about Lauren's experience and set up an audition. The coach kept telling me this group of 5 girls had been together for a few years and were advanced. I wasn't sure what that meant for Lauren, but she had a great audition. About halfway through the audition, the coach came out to talk to me and I was holding my breath as to what she thought of Lauren's abilities. I told her Lauren was a more outgoing then what she was showing, and the coach said she could tell and she could also tell Lauren was a little nervous, but was still doing well. I also told her Lauren's weakness was ballet because she hadn't had a lot of practice, and the coach said all of her girls on the team were the same way. She said she was impressed with Lauren and could see the potential she had and said invited Lauren to join the team! I was so happy for my daughter!

The South Y team has been so welcoming to her. The girls are not mean and Lauren has especially bonded with 3 of the girls. I really like the coach. She is only 21 years old, and has been the coach since she was 17. She is young, but talks very nice to the girls, but yet disciplines when she has to. All that being said, I'm not sure what next year with this group holds. I don't like the 25 minute drive one way to the practices, especially since the NW Y is only 7 minutes away. Also, some of the dance moves in the routines seem a little too mature. I'm not the only one who feels that way either. Roger has noticed it and so have some of the other moms. Also, Lauren thinks she might want to take acting lessons and a break from dance, so next year remains to be seen. I'm kind of hoping that things might work out at the NW Y some how, or she might be able to dance for the place she is thinking about taking acting lessons from, Christian Youth Theater. In the meantime practices continue in preparation for 6 competitions between the end of February and April. Two will be out of town and the rest in town.

The pics are from the Haysville parade the girls walked in October representing the South Y. She looks so cute and had a great time with her new friends. The two videos are from December when they danced two of their routines at Breakfast With Santa. The girls weren't at their best, but they've gotten better in the little bit of time since then. I wish I was computer savvy and could pop up an arrow on the screen above Lauren's head that would follow her around the screen as she dances, but since I can't, enjoy the girls dancing, and if you can spot Lauren then enjoy her performance.

A Great Summer To Remember

Wow! Almost 2 months since I've written a blog post. And, I have to say, I've kind of enjoyed the break. In fact, I've been trying really hard to be off of the computer more often in general. I kind of decided that there are times when you just have to revel in the moment instead of worrying about remembering it with pics or journal entries, so that's what I focused on doing this summer. I always hoped to some day use one of those websites that turns your blogs into a scrapbook/journal type book, but I don't know if I'll ever get to that. At the same time, I've realized that there are times I wished I had blogged about things just because when I'm 80 years old I can look back at my journals and it may be the only way I remember anything. I really, truly do have one of the worst memories ever. So many times people will talk about things or ask if I remember an event, and honestly I don't. If it wasn't for pictures, I probably wouldn't even realize I had actually been to this or that event. It's terrible!

This summer has been one of the best that I remember in a long time. In part due to the weather. The past two summers were record breaking heat summers and we were miserable. This year has been quite the opposite. In fact yesterday was July 28th and the temps only got into the 60s for the high and it rained all day. There have been some days perfect for going to the pool to cool off and other days when the windows could be opened to let the nice cool breeze blow through the house. Love it, love it, love it.

Another reason I'm thankful for the cooler temps is our air conditioner went out on us. We were gone on vacation for a week at the beginning of the month and when we got home it wasn't working. It seemed to run nonstop and was not cooling the house down. We finally had to start using the fan part of the a/c, the attic fan, ceiling fans, and standing fans to cool us off, but it wasn't too bad. Six days after vacation the kids left for church camp in Oklahoma. While they were gone the temps in the house got to about 83-86 degrees so I'm glad the kids didn't have to be home to endure that. We had some people come look at the unit and our pressure was really low. They could put freon in it that they said could last about two weeks or another year. They suspected there was a valve leak somewhere. We opted for no freon yet until we decided what exactly we were going to do. Last year during our house buying inspection they told us the a/c was a dinosaur but was still working, so we new this would be a not too distant thing we would have to replace. We decided to go ahead and replace the whole unit along with the furnace and there might have to be some new duct work done too. After we made that decision they gave us freon the day before the kids arrived back from camp. The new unit was scheduled to be put in last Thursday but we had a funeral to go to so rescheduled and it will all be done two days from now. I think we are spoiled people when it comes to a/c. It wasn't that many generations ago when they didn't have a/c, and there are plenty more people around the world who live without a/c.

The funeral we had to go to was for our beloved children's pastor's husband. She was in OK at church camp when she was told her husband was found dead. I believe what happened was he did not show up for work, so I think our pastor was called. She then called her son who went to their house and discovered his dad. Their other son who we are good friends with called Roger Saturday morning from Brazil where he had to go for work and told us what happened. His dad had a heart attack. He had a heart attack 7 years ago and I guess the doctor's had lost him during surgery, but revived him. Our pastor had always commented on how grateful she was that she's had her husband around as long as she had. He was only 58 years old. They were an awesome couple with awesome marriage and coming to know Christ testimonies. He was just as much a huge part of the pastoral staff and church body as his wife who is a paid staff member. He will be sorely missed, but he really does leave behind a wonderful legacy for and in his sons and his grandchildren. Roger was a pall bearer and I hope there are other things in the future that we will be able to help the surviving family with when they are in need.

Our vacation was wonderful! On a Tuesday night after Roger was done working and Lauren was done with her dance class, we drove to OK City and spent the night in a hotel so we could get up really early the next day and catch a plane to Houston, and then on to Orlando. We stayed one night at a Disney Resort, and then the next day were on a 3 night Disney cruise. This was the third cruise for Roger and I, and the second Disney cruise for our family--the first one being 5 years ago. We were on Disney's largest ship the Dream. We had a stateroom with a veranda which was fun to go sit on. We had one stop in Nassau, but didn't go into the city because last time we found it boring unless you take some kind of excursion, but we didn't. We also stopped at Disney's private island Castaway Cay which is one of our favorite stops. However, it was actually kind of chilly this day. We got into the ocean for a while, but I couldn't stay in as long as the rest of the family, so I enjoyed the sunshine on the beach. The broadway shows were fantastic, the food and restaurants were fantastic, the on board activities were fantastic--you just cannot go wrong with a Disney cruise. It is hands down our family's favorite type of vacation. When we got done with the cruise, we spent a couple of nights at another Disney resort and spent one day at Magic Kingdom, and one day at Epcot. The only way we were able to do any of this is because we had points in our Disney Vacation Club to "pay" for the resort stays and cruise. And, driving to OK City, staying in a hotel, parking our car for a week, flying out of OK City, the price for filling up the car saved a couple hundred dollars than flying out of Wichita.

The day we flew home from vacation was a Tuesday. We jumped in the car, drove home, got home at 5:30, then rushed Lauren to the YMCA to be there from 6:00-8:00 for her first night of competitive dance team try outs. Her second night of tryouts was Thursday and we found out the next night that she made the team. Thus begins a new adventure in her dance career--competitions. That is all still yet to be determined, but in the mean time they are meeting Tuesday and Thursday nights to work on dance skills through August and then in September more details will have been worked out as to what her year of dancing will look like. We know this is an exciting opportunity for Lauren, but the cost is crazy. I think I've already struck a nerve with the head coach because I am asking a lot of questions, but for two weeks now they have not had a parent meeting yet but want us to spend certain money already and I want answers as to why things can't be cheaper or why they are necessary at all. I have two other moms who agree with me and we are all trying to get answers. I am not a stage mom, but I'm also not going to sit quietly and just put up all of this money without asking questions first. Surely there has got to be some things that can change. Their response is to participate in fundraising and I counter that with if we could do away with some things or find cheaper alternatives then maybe we wouldn't have to worry about fundraising.  We'll see how things move along.

Roger and I had a fun week of date nights while the kids were away at camp. Monday we went out to eat and then to a Boy Scout parents meeting. The Wichita homeschool troop that is sponsored by the Wichita homeschool organization is disbanding because the new rules and regulations they voted on do not align with our Christian beliefs. The homeschool organization will sponsor us through December so those older boys earning their Eagle Scout have a chance to finish, but they will not support anything that requires giving more money to BSA like popcorn sales that happen in the fall. Roger and I are in support of this. There is a brand new organization that is trying to form called On My Honor and that looks like the direction our troop will be taking. We'll find out more as the months move on. Tuesday we went and saw Man of Steel and we both liked that movie. Wednesday I think we ate out for dinner, went to church, then went for yogurt afterwards. Thursday we went to Pacific Rim. I did not want to go to this at all but went and am sorry we spent the money to see this movie in Imax 3D. Roger liked it, but robot/machine movies are not my thing. I told Roger he owed me with a chic flick. We tried to find some chic flicks to rent for Friday night, but weren't successful, so we stayed home and I chose to watch a couple of movies we owned--Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and Princess Bride. This week of date nights was so much fun for us because honestly we go about twice a year and that is not an exaggeration. It also got us out of the hot house due to the a/c problem, and I enjoyed my uneventful days to myself while Roger was at work. I planned on doing prep work for my homeschool co-op class I'm teaching in the fall, but ended up just reading and doing chores.

We put our old house up on the market at the end of June and have only had two showings so far. My prayer was that our house would sell quickly, but now I'm just praying for God to bring the right buyers along. We had an professional inspection done which has given us a list of things for Roger to work on while we wait for a buyer. We also had a professional cleaning crew come in and clean the house before we put it on the market and that was a huge mess. If you ever want to know who NOT to use to clean your house, ask us and we'll be glad to tell you. It's a long story that I'm not going to get into, but let's just say we were duped hundreds of dollars than what we were told, this is sad because this is a Christian woman who used to go to our church, and she will be reported to the Better Business Bureau. After all of this happened to us with the cleaning company and word got at about our ordeal, we were told by several people at our church about their own problems in dealing with this woman and her company. 

Other things we've done this summer was go to Botanica twice, the zoo and Exploration Place. We've been to the Y waterpark a couple of times, and the kids have enjoyed playing with the neighbor kids.

Last week the kids' curriculums arrived in the mail. The plan was to start school today, but they both ended up sleeping in until 11 a.m.! So, we will try for tomorrow. We always start slow and ease into a full blown routine. Plus, their friends and neighbor kids all have about two more weeks before their schools start, so I want them to be able to enjoy as much play time with them as possible. In the meantime, the kids did start reading their literature books that are part of their curriculums, so they are getting a jump start on that. I am hoping we can finish by the first of May!

Well, now I have to end and go bake some cookies for Evan's Boy Scouts Court of Honor dinner tonight. They receive any badges they've earned, or people get recognized for things. I've never been to one since I look at it as a special father/son time, and Lauren went once and was bored, so us girls may just stay home tonight. However, it would be a free meal for all of us and I don't have to cook except for the cookies that need to be brought.......

Anyways, that's been our summer so far. I've probably forgotten some things, but those can always be written about at another time. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Lauren's Dance Pics

Lauren finished up her dance year with Encore a couple of weeks ago with a two day recital that was about 4 hours long each day! Crazy! We went to the recital on Saturday which started at 2:00 and finally left at 4:40 when her second dance ended. We left because she had to get to a birthday party at 5:00, but the recital still had 20 dances left! Then, Sunday was Mother's Day and I told the studio owner we would not be there that day. I think I would have gone absolutely out of mind sitting through hours of the same dances again. Needless to say, she will be trying dance at the YMCA next year. We went and observed their recital a couple of weeks ago, and I was so impressed with what we saw. Lauren's taking a dance prep class twice a week every week in June and then trying out for their competitive dance team in July. Even if she doesn't make that team, we will still keep her at the Y and put her into their dance academy. She's very excited and really wants to make the competitive team so wish her luck! Here are her dance pics from this past year. They wanted the girls to wear red lipstick, mascara, blush, eyeshadow, and false eyelashes were optional! I had a hard time with this, but finally gave in. We really did put the make up on as natural and light as possible, but you can definitely tell she has on red lipstick and eyeshadow. She looks absolutely beautiful, and I'm so glad she didn't have to end up looking like a clown with a bunch of colored gook on her face! The theme was "Let's Go To the Movies," and her ballet performance was to a Harry Potter theme, and her tap performance was to a song from The Mask. She loved the costumes, but the feathers from the red costume shed everywhere! Despite everything, she danced wonderfully and I'm proud of her.

Busy Weekend

I'm including Friday as part of our busy weekend in this post. On that day we had a skating party with from 10:00-noon with Maize Virtual Preparatory School, the YMCA P.E. class from 1:00-2:00, and then I had to run Evan out to a friend's house 30 minutes away so he could participate in a camp out on their farm that night.

Saturday morning Lauren and I went to a Pancakes and Pajamas breakfast at church. That was fun. There were about 10 tables each with a different decorating theme. I let Lauren pick which table she wanted to sit at and she chose a Hawaiian themed table. We both dressed in our pjs and slippers. Our pastor's wife spoke about choosing to see ourselves the way God sees us. After that it was time to get ready for Lauren's dance recital. It started at 2:00 and right after Lauren's final dance which ended at 4:40 we had to leave to get her to a birthday party that started at 5:00.

Lauren and her friend trying to win the toss and catch 5 pancakes game

Ballet costume

Tap costume

Sunday was Mother's Day and very quiet. Unfortunately Evan had developed a fever Saturday night, so I ran to church Sunday morning to teach Sunday School but then came home afterwards. Roger had been fighting a cold for several days, and Lauren had such a full Saturday that they all slept in Sunday and we simply stayed home all day. Naps were taken, movies watched, and it was kind of nice being lazy. I was given a pretty painting from Lauren, a Lilac smelling candle, and a t-shirt that says Awesome Fantastic Caring Understanding Mom! Oh, if only I could live up to those words more often. I have such a wonderful family!

Busy Tuesday Night

Last Tuesday night was busy. It was parent watch night for Lauren's dance classes. She is in ballet and tap, and parents only get to observe once a semester. Evan and I made it to ballet, then Roger made it for tap. She has enjoyed it very much. Their recitals will be in May and we got to see their pretty costumes they will be wearing. The theme this year is movies, and for ballet they will be dancing to a theme from Harry Potter in a velvety nutmeg colored ballet dress. For tap it's a song called Cuban Pete from The Mask in a red almost flapper-like style dress. That's not exactly the right description for it, but it's close. Lauren is in love with her tap dress. I didn't think the dresses were bad at all. The teacher did make a point of pointing out that the dresses do cover up the girls nicely because at their age they still like to be covered up. What?! Does this mean as she matures into a teenager they may have some costumes that may be kind of questionable? I sure hope not! I don't have any pics to show, so you'll have to wait until May.

About 15 minutes into tap class, Evan and I had to leave so I could take him to the ice skating rink where he met up with some of the youth group from church. Since the rink is downtown and there was really no where for me to go, I stayed and chatted with some other moms from church and watched the kids skate. The rink has an observation floor upstairs so we can get a really good view of everything sitting in some chairs and don't have to be in the cold rink itself freezing in the bleachers.