Dance Makers 2014

Her new bull buddy gift....named "Bully".   (FYI the school's mascot is the Bulls)

 waitin on sissy :)  She had such a great attitude curled up in the corridors!

and...we...wait some more.

Look who's here!?

Aunt Sue and Maddie surprised her with bringing some family support!

This is Brianna again, she's been a great bull buddy this season!

Sue waited until we were alone in the parking garage to clobber the Bit with squeezes and kisses.  Those two have such a precious connection!

once again, Brian rocked as a dance dad!

 We found a back empty hallway of the convention center to let Abigail rest.  Her last call time wasn't until 11pm!

she perked right up with enthusiasm for the late number, it is her favorite after all!

 I was so star struck for this class.  It took me a while to figure out why her teacher looked so familiar to me.  Then I realized it was Kathryn McCormick from So You Think You Can Dance.  She is one of my all time favorites.  I couldn't believe she was teaching my daughter!!!

This is the first weekend competition of the season.  It's definitely the hardest one for all of us. For starters it's in the downtown heart of a big city so traffic and parking is tricky. The pace is intense.  The kids are required to take multiple classes of all different styles which is an awesome opportunity and they learn so much from professionals.  The hard part is just the kids get so tired after all those hours of intensity then competing afterwards late into the night.  It's a crazy full weekend but luckily this year we had some help.  Brian was able to come with us that made such a big difference with a chaperone to make us feel safer and and extra set of hands to keep up with the crazy events.   And my dear best friend from my childhood Amanda was willing to keep Chloe for us on our late competition night so she wasn't stuck in Abigail-land all weekend long.   Abigail did amazing and had some great experiences in her classes.  It recharged and refreshed her when her Aunt and cousin showed up and surprised her for competition time.  Once she got a break in her numbers we snuck away for a hearty cheeseburger dinner with Sue and Maddie and it was heavenly.   Watching the Bit and Maddie together was so cute.  They have such a sweet friendship. It was also fun to show my sister a taste of the crazy world we live in now.  You can try to explain to people what a dance competition is like but until you see it in action it's hard to grasp. 
  Brian and I had no idea how she would do to be pushed so hard. This year has been so much harder for her compared to last year.  When they moved her up it has been a challenge to keep up with these older kids.  She is so young to ask that much of her.  We held our breath and hoped for the best to keep her going so strong for so long and then expect her to take the stage at 11:30 at night.   If she were to ever break down and fall apart I don't know what we'd do to help get her through.  When she's the only 7 year old on a team from 7-17 year old's the other kids are counting on one another to keep it together and perform at their best.  The seniors are wanting top scores as they end their dance education years so it's a lot of unspoken pressure.   I squeezed Brian's hand hard when finally saw the kids in the wings for the performance.   The dancers all brought so much energy and especially the little one's that he and I both were wiping tears away after they were done.   It's such a great feeling when you watch your children surprise you. 
    We had a great family weekend supporting Abigail again and hanging out together and with our dance family buddies.   Chloe had a blast with my friend's daughter and all the dancers did so wonderful with their numbers.    We wrapped up Sunday afternoon with a real rock concert style party for the awards ceremony.   I can't even imagine how fun these experiences are for Abigail and these other young kids.  With the room pumping with music and the lights then add the performances from all the professional teachers it really gave all the kids a taste of the performance world.  It was thrilling to watch.  They all sat wide eyed in awe of the talented teachers showcasing insane amounts of skill and choreography on stage.  It was such a special family time together.   Strange to be at an event like that with a 4 yr old and 7 yr old, you hold on tight to them in the crowds and have back up meeting places if we get separated but we had a blast.  Never a dull moment together.  Abigail walked away with her head held high pleased with all she had accomplished and learned in the long hard weekend.  We were equally proud of her.    She is something else that one!   Looking forward to the next one!

Finally some snow!!.....woa wait!!!....that's enough now!!!

 "mommy! Dey are ugly!"  Chloe hated her snow clothes....until she learned how warm they kept her.  Maybe it was cruel to photograph her mid tantrum but she just looked so stupid cute!!

 Don't worry,  he only likes to scare his girls.  He didn't snow bomb either of them!

 Thursday we thought we were done, and it had only begun.  Day 2 was even worse!

 Our lawn furniture disappeared and below is a picture of our neighbors cars.  Let's just say we were sooo thankful we have a carport!!!

 day 3 once we shoveled out we had a blast playing.  I've always wanted to dig a snow tunnel!

Brian had started to really complain recently that all the snow this season was dumping all up and down the east coast and missing his city.  Maybe we could blame it on him but he finally got his request and we got slammed this week.  We got around 19 inches over 2 days.  Brian was as giddy as the girls and even the winter grinch Alli kind of loved it!  We tried to head out to go sledding the first day but quickly found that Chloe couldn't walk in it since it was past her knees, and Abigail was very slow moving.   We made it as far as the street and finally used the few tire tracks in place as a track to sled down.   Not much traffic on a day like that.   They sledded down the hill a couple times but the kids really wanted to just explore the snow buried neighborhood.  After a while the snow started up again so we headed back inside.  I threw the kids in the tub and quickly they reminded me of the unpleasant sting of red snow skin in hot water.  Poor Abigail!  Funny the things you forget from childhood!  We brought them hot cocoa in the tub to cheer them up and they simmered and stewed until completely thawed.  
   By Thursday we thought we were done.  The clouds were high and the air was clear.  But by late morning the second wave hit and it was more intense then the first.  That continued for another 5 or 6 hours dumping an extra 6-8 inches on the previous days amount.   It was a cozy warm day together.  We kept the fire going all day and made some chili to finish out the evening.    The girls batted their eyes and asked for another sleepover (yes, they know how to use their eyes already).   We let them play in bed with the lights off and they giggled their way to exhaustion for a second night.  Like we would say no!  

   On Friday Brian had to return to reality so he hit the ground running by 7:30 to attempt to shovel his way out and return to work.   It was a big mess to shovel through and he sadly got the SUV pretty darn stuck once he backed into our sloped street.   I put my boots on over my pajama pants and headed out to help.   We shoveled, panted, giggled and pushed working together to position the car.  It had slid into a massive snow bank, but the worse part was it got buried perpendicular to our street (which is a pretty nice hill).  So there was no giving up or taking a break to rest.   It took us probably 20 minutes to dig it out so it could have been worse.   The funny part was half way through he realized it was Valentines day and shouted over to me "oh hun!  Happy Valentines day!".   We had a good laugh saying all this mess was probably our fault, spreading our Valentines day curse to our whole city!
  Our ongoing marital joke is that we have horrible luck on this holiday.  By a mass majority we have had some monumentally bad Valentines days in our past.  Scattered with a few good ones but mostly really bad.  It's humorous now, but not at first.   Our first attempt at calendar issued romance as a married couple we had a horrible fight over dinner.   My moods were out of control on some new birth control pills and I'm pretty sure Brian was thinking he had married Satan himself.   Didn't take me long after that night to get off that brand and quickly returned to myself much to Brian's relief!   The second year wasn't bad but the day after we received orders of his impending 18 month deployment to Afghanistan.  The year after that he was gone and I not only spent it alone but went to a very sad funeral the day of.  He did succeed in getting through with a phone call to cheer his weepy wife that night.  It helped immensely to hear his voice, I'll never forget it. 
    One year we tried to have nice dinner out and I got hit with a lovely stomach bug mid date and Brian had to pull over so I could puke on the side of the road.   By then we knew of or Valentine curse and we actually laughed out loud while I squatted very attractively on all fours in the winter wind vomiting in my little black skirt.   It was I think the first (and only)  time in my life I ever laughed while puking.  Only Brian could manage that scenario but what else could we do!? 
   This year, other then the romantic digging in the snow we actually came away with a good Valentine memory.  We went to a lovely dinner downtown.   He humorously positioned the car into a snowbank for lack of available cleared parking spaces.  I had to crawl over to the drivers side to exit the car but again, he had a good laugh at me.  I had to wear ugly black tread shoes with my dress  to get around the icy sidewalks,  but as soon as we got inside I took out my sexy red high heels out of my purse.  The hostess behind the counter chuckled at me but I didn't care.  Hey,  Mamma was out on the town and I was going to enjoy my new red shoes!!!
   It was an amazing meal with an adorable teenage waiter eager to please us so Brian left a good tip. We finished up and I was able to gracefully get back into the car even after my 2 martinis.  Brian got us home safe and sound by 8:30.  I know,  we are a couple of wild and crazy kids to stay out so late!   But the kids were at their Grammy's house so we lit the fire and snuggled up to watch the Hobbit movie together in our new HD satellite service, nice and loud too, no one to wake up!    It really was a wonderful time.  We didn't dare say so out loud until the next morning.  We didn't want to jinx it until the sun came up safely on February 15th!!  
Eleven years married together and I still would rather spend a laughter soaked evening with him then anyone else in the world.  Thank God for giving us a successful end to a snowy week.   We didn't let the snowmageddon 2014 ruin our fun and it was a great finale to a crazy few days.    I'm sure the girls will be ready to return to school tomorrow.  There will probably be a delay as the streets still have a good bit of snow to melt and freeze but hopefully we've had our fun memories and spring can come on anytime now!! :)