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.

Busy Weekend

Last Friday and Saturday were very busy. On Friday I went to the homeschool convention from 8:00 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon and then on Saturday Roger went with me to the convention from about 8:00 in the morning until 2:30 in the afternoon. It was a great one this year. The key speaker was fantastic--Todd Wilson from Familyman Ministries. I attended some really valuable workshops too. And, I was able to buy some curriculum. The entire time I was there, the kids were in Adventures in Character. They were in that last year as well and really enjoy it. It is held at the same place as the convention and they are assigned to a group with teen aged leaders who engage them in skits, songs, and games. I pick them up at lunch, and then check them back in afterwards. Believe it or not, the convention takes a dinner break and then you can check your kids back in after that for another couple of hours, so if you really wanted to, you could be at the convention about 12 hours. We didn't do that because Friday night we ended up going with some friends to see the parade that starts off our River Festival celebrations here in the city. Saturday we left the convention earlier because Evan had to get to church to rehearse for the next days church service which was being held in "big people's" church with the kids doing the praise time and the children's leadership conducted the service, sermon, skit, and games just like they do in kids church. Our pastor's sermon series has been We Are Family, so for last Sunday we were celebrating the children. It was so much fun, and you can read about it here.

I don't have any pics of the homeschool convention but I have some from Friday night's parade. We really enjoyed it.

Working on some logic puzzles before the parade starts.

Yes, we had jackets. It was June 1st in KS but only 60 degrees--very unusual!

Goddard Fall Festival 2009

Another year of Evan's cub scout troop in the Goddard Fall Festival Parade. Evan was happy that one of the bands was behind their float because he got to listen to music the whole parade route, but was very tired of waving by the end. Lauren's Girl Scout troop also marched but Lauren didn't. She was very upset for 2 days when we kept telling her no (she doesn't like to walk long distances--next year she will get to), but when she realized how cold it was today, she was happy to just wave at her Girl Scout friends as they walked by. Plus, she got to sit and gather candy as parade participants walked by and handed it out and was happy to do that. After the parade Roger and Evan rode the Sizzler ride and Evan got dizzy but liked it. Lauren and I rode the ferris wheel and she enjoyed that.