Dance Comp. II - The Sequel

The girls had their second competition of the season this weekend at the Macomb Community College Performing Arts Center.
As this is relatively near my sister Stacey's, we used that as an excuse to visit. Plus, I'm cheap and didn't want to spring for a hotel. Plus, she let Maggie sleep in a little on Sunday, and even did the mini dancer double bun hair-do and got her to the venue for me.

We went to dinner Saturday evening with Aunt Stacey, Alicia and Beau, and Katie and Andy (her boyfriend of one year as of tomorrow - YIKES!). Also got to try out Rock Band. If you think Guitar Hero is fun, add a drummer and vocals!
Sunday was a long day for the girls, but they did really well I'm sure in large part due to the support of all who came to watch -Stacey and Alicia, Katie and her friend Holly, and then later, Uncle Chip.
This competition had a rare opportunity - photographs allowed, as long as no flash was used. So Stacey got pictures of a few numbers for us. Maggie's are a little blurry. We figure it's because she was so much smaller on stage.
We got home shortly after 11 and I sent my crusty haired dancers to bed. Thanks to all who came to watch. Results follow the pictures, if you're interested.




Hamster Dance - Em's Jazz small group.
I think there are 10 in the group.












Crazy Choir - A.K.A. Sister Act. Tap Line (a bunch of girls)








A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes. Jazz small.
She's with the same 4 girls for the small tap, too. And yes, I meant 4. I know there are only two others pictured, but there are a total of 5 in the dances, including Maggie.


Scoring for this one was a little different than last time. Highest is Diamond, then Platinum, Gold, Sterling Silver, Silver and Bronze




Maggie
A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes - Gold, 4th Overall
Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Gold, 1st Place Overall
Who Let the Frog's Out? - Gold
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo - Gold
Overalls for Maggie's groups were for all intermediate entries regardless of age (less than 3 years dance experience or less than 3 hours a week) and I believe the first place for Crazy Little Thing even earned a cash prize!

Emily
Wild, Wild West - Platinum
I Saw Him Standing There - Platinum, 1st Overall for Mini Lines and a choreography award.
Sister Act - Platinum
Hamster Dance - Gold
Dance To The Music - Gold
The Green Room - Gold
Seasons of Love - Gold, 3rd Overall for Jr. Large groups

If you're curious as to why Emily is in both Mini and Junior, those are based on average age of all the dancers in the group. So three of her dances were mini and 4 were junior.

Our studio was by far the largest group there. Chip and I got a chuckle out of the Studio Appreciation "Award" - Body Language got recognized for having the most entries. I think the other studios were pretty sick of hearing our name during the awards. It was a good day for our dancers.

Thanks again to those who shared bedrooms, allowed their lives to be 'taken over', shared video games, did hair, watched, photographed, applauded, etc…

Obsessed

Emily and I are both weirdly obsessed with this song.

Yael_Naim
We are both pulled toward the television whenever the mac notebook commercial comes on.

Just thought I'd share.

Family

And now a little salute to my family. Not the one I've built, but the one I was born into.








Here's mom and dad. They are an awesome team in the kitchen. This Easter we had Roast Beast (Prime Rib) to celebrate the sale of their boat Fortune Cookie.

And here, faithful readers, are my siblings. I love them one and all, parents and siblings, for who they are and who they've helped me become.

Yes, that's me in the middle.

And now another family story. I got to take Aubrey with us to mom and dad's for Easter. Everyone had left for church except me, Maggie and Aubrey. Not knowing what the Easter service kid care situation would be, I filled up my big 'grand-mom' bag with snacks, paper and pens, and a small Magna Doodle. Maggie saw that and said "I'll carry this one", meaning the larger (Laptop size) Magna Doodle. I said "No, let's go". She argued a bit, but finally came downstairs after me, grumbling about how she wanted a nicer family.
Later that afternoon as I'm packing up to leave I come across this:










Lucky for her I am not afraid to let my children vent their frustrations.
It actually gave me quite a chuckle.

And I mean it!!

When Rick and I were first discussing combining our households and building someplace big enough to put everyone, I explained the 'upstairs kids rooms' philosophy of home design. That is, if the kids' rooms are upstairs, and are not exactly at their Brady Bunch best as far as cleanliness goes, no one has to know. In other words, out of sight, out of mind. Hey, it was good enough for my mom, so it's good enough for me.
Mom did get fed up with our mess on occasion and give us a time frame in which to rectify the problem. We'd go up with the best of intentions. Then we'd find a stack of Archie comics and a bar of the world's finest chocolate left over from the band booster fund raiser and, well, get distracted. Hours later, we'd hear her coming up the stairs (they were old, wooden stairs, so we'd always hear her) and then scramble to get things set to right to avoid the grounding or lickin' or whatever the threatened punishment du jour was.

Em's room has been quite neglected lately. We've been pretty busy so I've cut her a little slack. But I did have one of those "I've turned in to my mother" moments this afternoon when she called to see if a couple of her friends could spend the night.
"Get that room clean first", I told her, "Or I'm going to take pictures of it and post them on the blog!!"

Fresh Fish

Part of my non-paying job profile is cook. Notice I say 'cook', not 'chef'. I do like to prepare nice meals. Sometimes, however, motivation is hard to find. Especially when I spend my time and energy searching for just the right recipe, then preparing a dish that I think is seasoned to perfection, or has a lovely accompanying sauce, only to present it to the….um…..unsophisticated palates living with me and then watch in horror as they liberally sprinkle my carefully prepared masterpiece with salt. Or cover up a delicate sauce with KC Masterpiece. Or worse yet, ketchup! Not only that, but certain heads of the household who shall remain nameless have recently taken to pronouncing the bland, red condiment 'CAT SUP'. Why, you may ask, when it is clearly spelled KETCHUP on the Heinz bottle would anyone pronounce it CAT SUP? You tell me. I have my suspicions. But I digress.
Every once in a while a rare culinary opportunity presents itself and I cannot resist the temptation to pretend that I'm the next Food Network Star.

Rick brought home some Pompano caught right off the beach on his recent vacation in Gulf Shores. Pictured is the successful preparation of Pompano with Crabmeat and Citrus Beurre Blanc. Positive reviews from all the diners. And not a ketchup bottle in sight.

Mystery Chick

Ran in to Kristen and Aubrey at Target last night. Aubrey was quite intrigued with all the Easter decorations. She was pointing them all out to me. Then she pointed far away and said what sounded like "There's a mystery chick!" We looked around to see what in the heck she was talking about. Sure enough, a mystery chick.

Results!

The girls before the glam.


We made it through our first competition without a hitch. The new packing system was fantastic. The girls were great. We got there early enough to stake out a corner spot in the dressing room. And the girls were very pleased to find out that Uncle Chip was in the area and got to see all but a couple of their numbers.



Magpie back stage. Yes, the hair is fake.

We had a great day, then stopped for dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise with some friends. The girls were quite a hit when the live music started and they made their own dance floor.


Results follow for those that are interested. If you're not, you can stop reading here.


Each number is scored by the three judges and receives an award based on the combined total.


300-270 Platinum
269.9-260 High Gold
259.9-250 Gold
249.9-240 High Silver
239.9-230 Silver
229.9-220 High Bronze
219.9-210 Bronze
209.9 & Below Honorable Mention

For the record, we didn't see any High Silver or below awarded.


Also, if there is more than one entry for each dance style per age group, a First Place for that group is awarded.

Maggie's results:


A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes - Gold, 1st place
Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Gold
Who Let the Frogs Out- Gold, 1st place
Bibbity Bobbity Boo- High Gold, 1st place

Emily's results:
Wild, Wild West - Platinum
I Saw Him Standing There - High Gold, 1st place
Sister Act - High Gold
The Green Room - Gold
Seasons of Love -Gold, 1st place
Hamster Dance - Gold, 1st place
Dance to the Music - Gold

Then all the different groups scores are compared, regardless of dance style, for the overall winners for 8 & Under and 9-11. None of my girl's dances made the over-alls, but our studio did pretty well. We were quite pleased that the studio was also given the Back Stage Performance Award for being good sports, making quick costume changes, and generally being nice to work with. That's why we love it there!

One other thing I wanted to mention. Our friend Katie L. is in a small ballet group. They made their entrance. Then the announcer told them there was a problem with the music and asked them to leave the stage for a moment. He re-announced them. They took the stage and the music began. After about 20 seconds the music cut out. But the girls kept dancing! They performed their entire piece, beautifully together, without music. It was very cool to see just how well trained and professional these young girls can be. We were all quite proud of them.

Almost ready

In the past two weeks I have spent most of my spare time at the dance studio.
I have:
rhinestoned
tacked
painted
rhinestoned some more
hemmed
trimmed off some awful hot pink tulle and silver ric rac and sequins which were replace with white lace and pearls, and rhinestones
made chokers
helped velcro a table skirt
rhinestoned some more
did I mention the rhinestones?

Em brought her last costume home tonight (see 'hot pink tulle', 'ric rac', 'tacked' and 'rhinestoned' above).
I've got checklists printed, garment bags packed, make-up and hair stuff ready.

I'm exhausted. And very glad I don't have to dance.
The nice thing was, because I wasn't home after work and my hands were busy, I wasn't snacking. I think I've lost a couple pounds.

Check back for results and some pictures on Sunday. (No not of my weigh in, of the dance competition, silly!)

Add 'Dentist' to my job description

I'll let the pictures tell the story, then add a bit at the end.













We only have about half an hour on Monday's to get home from school and get ready for dance. This loose tooth has been really bothering Maggie since Saturday. She got home today and the whole front root was showing. She really wanted me to pull it but was a bit nervous, of course. I told her it would be just like when she got her ears pierced- it would only hurt for a second. She said "Do it!"
One good yank=One happy girl.

Wowzers! Check me out!!

I'm now one of carascreations!!

The new, not-too-cutesy, totally 'ME' blog design is all thanks to my awesome friend Cara.

Isn't she the best?

All is well...

In my world.

Rick is home.

The girls are both healthy again.

My car is fixed (It was a bad wheel bearing which chewed up the front breaks and rotors).

Met Stacey for lunch yesterday and picked up the Rac'N'Roll (awesome!)

Got the Nexstar competition schedule and was able to cancel our hotel.

Now if we just get Em's last costume in before this weekend's competition, we will be golden!

You know you're a dance mom when...

You try to kill a spider on your bathroom floor and realize it's a false eyelash.

Organization

The girls' first competition is next weekend. Last year with just Em, we had to transport 4 costumes with accessories (gloves, bows, yadda yadda), 2 pairs of shoes, make-up kit, hair stuff, jewelry, etc...


This year with two dancers we have 11 costumes with accessories, 7 pairs of shoes, 2 make-up kits, double the hair stuff, double the jewelry, etc., etc...


I actually bought a sturdy, double bar garment rack and a set of plastic drawers with the intention of mounting the drawers onto one side of the rack, putting all the costumes in separate garment bags, and all the shoes, make-up and hair stuff in the drawers. I spent about $50 on it.


But then I saw this...














It's at racnroll.com
Reviews I've read are very positive and say that the large holds up to 15 costumes. It costs about $125 and arrives within 1-2 days of ordering. Is the convenience of packing everything up and pulling it along with a handle worth the extra expense? I'm sure I could find someone that would want the rack I already bought.

Comments? Suggestions? Offers to come be my dance sherpa/make-up artist/hair dresser/costumer?

Murphy

I think someone moved in as soon as Rick left for Alabama. His name is Murphy. You know the guy. Yesterday I noticed the ABS light on in my car, and that it was driving a bit stiffer than usual. Today, after discussing it with friends at work, I thought maybe some snow or ice had gotten stuck in the brakes, so I ran through the car wash on my way home. Half way home, on the highway mind you, the stearing wheel started jumping all over the place. I could hardly stay on the road. I limped along to the nearest DOT lot and called a friend that I knew has Tuesday's off. (Thanks Patty!) I then dug out my Mercury Roadside Assistance card and sat on hold for about 5 minutes only to then learn that my roadside assistance expired on January 31. I'm sure it was Murphy that answered the phone. Patty picked me up, then stopped so I could get Maggie, then even got Emily from dance for me later. I owe her big.

I got home and looked all over for Dan's spare key. It's usually hanging by the back door. When I walked out to get the mail I spotted it on his front passenger seat. Sweet! Guess what? I think Murphy locked the doors. I finally got ahold of the boys down south (they were at the casino today). I got Mark's number for the spare key, and the number of our mechanic.

Hopefully ol' Murphy has had his fun and will leave me alone for a while.