Congratulations!

 

My oldest daughter graduated this year. She technically finished all of her requirements last year, but her and I decided to hold off on her official graduation until this year.

Making Greetings

Iam in love with these new - well, new to me - scrapbook greeting cards kits by Basic Grey. Each kit includes everything you need to make 8 cards, plus extra pieces to use to embellish the insides or to use on any project of your choosing. All of the pieces are numbered so they are so simple to put together. Maybe a little too simple for those of us who love to get the creative juices flowing, but sometimes it is nice to not have to think and for perfectionists like my daughter, it is so beneficial in reducing the stress factor. Remember the old paint by numbers sets? Well, this is basically scrapbooking by number. There are even black-and-white detailed instructions and the packaging is a full color display of all the completed cards. So no mater what your style: like to read and follow instructions, like to follow a color sample, or like to just figure it out buy punching out all of the numbers - this card set seems to work for everyone.

I was lucky enough to be able to take a class with a close friend at a local Archivers. While putting together our cards, I thought what a fun activity it would be to do with our two teenage daughters. Well, we have not been able to work out the timing on that, but I was able to set aside a day during our break this week - a wet and blustery day - and do a kit with Sierra. I had another kit I got at the clearance scrapbook place for under $2, so I set Chloe up to work on that one. Of course, she ran with it and used all of her extra pieces to make several cards of her own - she is just bursting with creativity. We all had a lot of fun. There is nothing better than being creative and encouraging it in others. Plus, there was ice cream as a reward for all of our hard work.

The kits are $14.99 at Archivers. If you use there 30% off coupon, which why would you not, cuz they email them to ya almost every week, it runs about $1.31 per card excluding tax. I know I pay way more than that when I get cards, and let me tell ya, we have a lot of cards to get.

Dancing on a LImb

I received an email from one of my various yahoo groups several months ago about a local production that was needing to cast some dancers. I know that Sierra is very passionate about dance and immeasurably braver than I was at her age (okay, braver than I am now). So I printed out the email and handed it her for her to do with as she wished. I am all about giving the options, putting the info out there, and then letting her decide if it is something that interests her. Well, all the starts aligned and she jumped in both feet. She began choreographing an interpretive dance immediately - this was one of the requirements of the audition. She had exactly one week to perfect it before auditions. She worked and worked and worked. Mom watched and commented; watched and commented; and watched and commented - and spent too much time to be admitted to cropping down her song to the 1 minute required for the audition.

Well, audition day arrived and we both drove to the theater. I can not say for sure that I was more nervous than her, but I can say that I was FREAKING OUT, but only on the inside. Ya gotta display that calm motherly exterior in order to reassure your child. Sierra sat down to fill out the paperwork for the audition as she was briefed by the choreographer on how the audition would go: 1st dancing with the choreographer, 2nd singing with the vocalist, 3rd on stage to do some acting with the producer. After the choreographer walked away, Sierra looked at me and said, "Should we leave now?" I wanted to laugh and cry all at the same time. She was never informed she would have to sing or act. She was only prepared to dance. I looked at her and said with the very calm, reassuring mommy voice, "No," fully expecting my precious daughter to fall apart at any moment. But, being the braver of the two of us, she hiked up her big girl panties (not literally) and proceeded with the audition - which never required her to perform the interpretive dance she worked so hard on. They were told they would find out the results the following day.
She was cast as one of the leader dancers for the production - The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I can not begin to tell you how proud I am of her; her determination and bravery astound me.

Halloween

 

We started off the day with some pumpkin carving and held our breathe as the rain came and went all afternoon. At 5:30 the rain had stopped. We were thrilled. We got the girls in their costumes and headed out the door just in time for some more rain. We brought along the umbrella (to keep Chloe's hair color from running into her eyes) and loaded up into the car. My husband and I drove the girls around the subdivision . . . well, we mainly just followed them, as the rain turned to a light drizzle and they decided they would rather walk. We stayed close by, though, just in case the rain came again. It was a chilly night and no one needed to have a long walk home in the rain.

Meanwhile, the boys (Dakota and my nephew Brady) hung out in the back of Dakota's truck to hand out candy, so the little ones would not have to travel all the way to the front door.
Here are pictures of my girls, Chloe and Sierra, and my niece, Megan, on Halloween.

Despite the weather, I think a good time was had by all.

Happy Birthday!

Whirlwind

I can feel the rush of getting back into the full swing of things coming upon us.

Sierra started back up with her dance classes this evening. This will be her fifth year doing hip hop and she is very passionate about it. She found out at the end of last year that her instructor was moving out of state. She was devastated. What would the new instructor be like? Would it even be worth continuing to take classes? Well, my heart was so pleased to hear when she hopped in the car after class, that she loved it. The new instructor was wonderful and she thought it was going to be a great year. What a huge relief!

Dakota is playing fall baseball this year and practices will be starting up this weekend. I am so thrilled for him as baseball is his passion. He eats, sleeps and breathes baseball, but has not been able to play for several years. This may be his last opportunity as he will graduate this spring, so I could not be more pleased for him to be able to participate in something he is so passionate about in a laid back and fun way.

Chloe will be taking a year off from dance and will be participating in a coop instead. She will be taking an art class, music class and science class. Throw in a homeschool park day and our usual Friday with friends and I am thinking her very social appetite will be filled.


Now, for mom to find time for school and all the other household stuff while playing chauffeur . . . that will be my organizational challenge.