Identity Issues

Maggie is aware of, and often bothered by, the fact that she looks different than most of the people in our community. She routinely laments her shiny, straight, dark hair, her beautiful dark skin, her non-existent eyelashes and her little, flat-ish nose, all the things that we think make her beautiful. If it were up to her, she’d be Barbie.

We were at a party this weekend where Maggie was playing with Katie’s two cousins, who are Japanese. Martha witnessed this exchange in the kitchen as they ran through.

Maggie: “So we’re the same, right?”
N and L look at each other, then at Maggie, shrug shoulders and respond “Yeah”
Maggie again says : “We’re the same?”
N and L say “Yeah”

And off they run.

Star Girl

Emily is currently reading Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli in her English class.

The novel recounts the junior year of a boy named Leo at Mica Area High School, when a new student, "Stargirl" Caraway, sends the school, which up until that point had nothing unusual about it, into an uproar. Her unusual antics include wearing kimonos, Indian buckskin, 1920s flapper dresses and pioneer dresses to school. She carries her pet rat, Cinnamon, around with her in a bag with a life-size sunflower painted on it. During every class periods she puts a table cloth and a vase with a daisy in it on her desk. When it rains, instead of running inside like the other students, she runs outside to dance. She strums a ukulele during lunch every day and sings "Happy Birthday" to kids she has never met. She cheers for everyone at football games, including the opposing team.

At conferences last night, I was told by the English teacher that Emily is their Star Girl.

I couldn’t be prouder.

Hair Hair!!

School is out.

Dance performances are done for the year.

Time for a fresh haircut!

Maggie went first.

This is before, of course

She complained the whole time that I told them to take too much off.

Here's the results. Healthy and shiny.

Mom was next. Here's before - frumpy dumpy

And after.

Let's use the summer humidity as a styling too.

Also note the V-neck Cedar Point suntan.

And here's the most drastic.

This chickie's hair was getting so long.

It was also very damaged due to all the dance ponytails and buns.
So...
How stinkin' cute is this?
Look how shiny and healthy it is.

And what a kid.

She made sure that they took 10 inches off

so we could send the hair in to Locks of Love.

Of course by the time we were done Maggie wanted to get

back in the chair and get hers chopped off, too.

Keeping the balls in the air

Here's my weekend -
Friday night
4-8 Dance end of year picnic/carnival
6-7:30 Maggie goes to birthday party of a friend (on Maggie's birthday. I warned the mother)
6-10 Em has school Bible study end of year hoo-hah

Saturday
8 am - Maggie soccer game - bring snack
10 am - Emily soccer game - team picnic after at assistant coaches house

Sometime Saturday I have to bake and decorate two cakes for the Family Partnership fundraiser for the Girl Scout end of year bridging/celebration at 6:00. And not forget to bring 2 crock pots, 2 coolers, rolls of tickets and the 'bridge' that's stored in my attic, plus all the cakes.

Between now and then I have to order two cakes from Costco (do I need 2 for 100 people?), come up with a 'carb' side dish for the dance picnic. Buy a birthday gift for Lindsey. Make a dozen leader thank you gifts. And somehow make Maggie feel special on her birthday - Friday.
We'll probably drive up to the lake on Saturday night right after the GS thing so I can decompress all day Sunday.

Stay tuned to see if I actually pull all this off!

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!!"

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!)

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?

Preview

It was stage rehearsal day. All the larger groups practice on the big stage so they can get their spacing, entrances and exits down.


Maggie's two large groups are hip-hop and tap.

Check out this sick freeze!

That's her above, looking off to your left.

She was very exited that she got to try out her stage make-up, complete with false eyelashes. She said to write "Maggie likes it!"

Emily's large groups are hip-hop, tap, jazz, ballet and lyrical.

Maybe I'm just a proud mom, but I think she has really improved since last year.

Check out her arabesque in the center below. Great form, eh?

Here's a closer look.

Bittersweet

Actually, there was nothing Bittersweet about it except the name of the place. Emily and Katie Livingston planned a ski outing for the Girl Scout troop. The rest of the Livingston girls came along. Our Katie was home for the weekend and said she'd help Maggie on the bunny hill, so they joined us as well.

I was a bit nervous about taking Maggie. I wanted to make sure I could be attentive to the Girl Scouts that were new to skiing. But I didn't need to worry. After a trip up the magic carpet (picture a conveyor belt that you stand on) and helping her up the tow rope once, she was off! I think next time we go I'll try to get her on a chair lift.

I hardly saw Emily all night. She was off with the Girl Scouts who had skied before. I did manage to catch her once at the top of a lift before she took off again.Katie decided that since she was on the bunny hill most of the night with Maggie she might just as well try snowboarding. She had gone with a friend once last year. She did get more comfortable and went up one of the chair lifts before the end of the night, but it seemed like every time I saw her she was on her butt!

Here's a picture of her coming down Creeping Myrtle.

I'll have to talk to our friend Holmes about getting the girls properly equipped for next season so we can do this a lot more!

Giddy up!

This past weekend was also the Park Elementary Daddy-Daughter Round-up!
Maggie wore the pink cowboy boots and jean dress that Alicia picked out for her last birthday. Rick even picked up a 'cowgirl hat' for her to wear.

They had a great time.

Wishing for a snow day

I do encourage goal setting so I had to support Emily's attempt to create a snow day for tomorrow. She got Maggie in on the plot, figuring they'd have twice the chance.
Here are the instructions.

1. Wear your pajamas inside out.
2. Flush ice cubes down the toilet
3. Put a spoon under your pillow. Or a fork.

She's heard both the spoon and the fork version, so figured she'd cover her bases and do both. Between the two girls, they flushed 8 ice cubes. While Emily was helping Maggie button her p.j.'s backwards, she did her best to prep her for the possibility that despite their efforts they may still have to go to school tomrrow. Then they went off to bed.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Yes we do have other children

Emily and Maggie take up so much of my time that it may seem like they are the only kids we have. But of course there are more. Today's entry deals with the two college students.
Daniel is in his third year at GVSU. Katie is in her second at Lawrence Tech. This semester, both of them have seemed to hit crisis mode in the 'What do I want to be when I grow up?' department.

Through a casual conversation with Daniel I discovered that he has not registered for classes this semester. He doesn't want to continue with engineering, but doesn't know what else to do. I mentioned it to Rick, who proceeded to call Daniel up and read him the riot act.

Similarly, Katie was struggling to fill her schedule and still be able to keep her part time job. She was also trying to decide if she should continue with the architecture program, switch to interior architecture, or go in a different direction all together.

It's so hard to give advice while letting them both make their own decisions. How can I help them decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives? I'm not even sure I know what I want to do with the rest of mine yet! And Rick is really pushing Daniel to at least stay in school so he doesn't wind up regretting it later, not to mention being able to stay on our health insurance.

Do I hold them by the hand? Or let them sink or swim on their own?

And it begins...

Emily and Maggie attended the New York City Dance Alliance convention in Lansing this weekend. It was a very long weekend of workshops taught by some interesting people. Among them was Sabra Johnson, winner of So You Think You Can Dance.

The weekends from now until early June are pretty much booked with extra rehearsals, competitions, recital and Festival.

The shirt I found for Emily pretty much sums up our lives for the next 5 months:

Karaoke Night

For those of you that don't know, I'm the leader of both Maggie and Emily's Girl Scout troops, and also the Hudsonville Girl Scout Neighborhood Manager. This past Saturday two Hudsonville Girl Scouts hosted a Karaoke Night to earn their Bronze Award. Of course we went to show our support. They did a great job planning, decorating, and running the event.

We heard about 20 renditions of "Fabulous" from High School Musical 2, but had a good time.

Check us out singing "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne.

And here's Emily getting her groove on!

She worked really hard to earn the 'Silliest Dancer' award, but alas was not chosen by her peers.

She did it!

BODY LANGUAGE DANCE COMPANY IS THE BEST!!






Miss Casie got noisemakers for the kids and brought in markers, posterboard and all kinds of decorations for the studio.



















J.P. forgot that he needed to be there early, but showed up after a reminder phone call and loaned his shoes to Carter.

Thanks J.P.!

Miss Katy taught Carter a few basic steps, then taught them both a short routine to a Christmas song by Run D.M.C.


The audience voted....

And


My Kid Beat Carter!!

Thanks to 105.3 HOT FM and the Todd Chance morning show for coming out!!

Click this link to hear the contest:

http://www.toddchanceradioshow.com/TCRS%20My%20Kid%20Beat%20Carter.htm

My Kid Beat Carter

Well, not yet, but Monday at 6:00 Emily will be tap dancing against 105.3 Hot FM morning show guy Carter.
Miss Katy at Body Language Dance Company has graciously offered to teach the combo for the DANCE DOWN. J.P. has also agreed to let a stranger borrow his tap shoes. Stay tuned!