We Had A Ball!

Last night we went to a Fairy Tale Ball that our school had for our kindergarten classes. The teachers have been teaching on fairy tales and the parents a few years ago decided it would be special if they ended that unit with an actual ball. If you had a daughter in the class then the Daddy would take them and if a son then the mommy would. I helped out so that's why I got to go. You could dress up as fancy as you wanted (parents and children). Some kids wore their 'disney' costumes, ball gowns, or regular 'Easter Sunday' dresses as my Emma wore. Of coarse Emma decided to tell me the night before the ball that she wanted to wear one of the older more worn dresses. I took a deep breath and decided that it was 'her' night and she could wear whatever she wanted.

As soon as she put her dress on you could immediately tell that she felt beautiful! She insisted that her shoes have heals so that when she danced they made noise. Thankfully she also approved of the way I did her hair. We added some bling and a pretty tiara and you could tell she truly felt like a princess...... oh and we definitely couldn't forget the sparkles.

Larry looked handsome as usual and dressed up quite nicely for his baby girl. They both boogied on the dance floor, made a royal goblet together, ate some yummy dinner and had a memorable night. Emma was so bummed when the ball was over she made if very clear the clock hadn't struck midnight yet.

Hard Lessons To Learn

Both of my girls tried out for cheerleading this year. We've already gone through all this just last year when Caley tried out. Hard to believe it was a year ago already. The intense stress and nausea were fresh in my mind. These tryouts are pretty brutal as I recall and more than half the kids get turned down. There were two cuts. They had a couple of clinics where the girls would all learn a cheer and try out with a given partner.

Sadly, Caley got cut the first round and handled it incredibly, though it was hard. Hannah made it to the final round. She had to make her own dance to a given cheer as well as learn a dance in only a couple of hours that the whole group of girls would learn. It was unbelievably difficult! This time they would be performing two routines all by themselves in a closed off room with a panel of 12 judges. (I about cried for her, talk about nerve wrecking!)

Hannah was number four. When she came out after her turn she decided she didn't want to wait for an hour and half to get the results and that she wanted to go home. I'm so glad she did! I should mention that Caley was very supportive through all this to her sister and friends. Talk about making me proud! Well, we found out that Hannah didn't make the team either which broke her heart because she had worked so incredibly hard for this and wanted this so much!

Her chin is now up, a lesson has been learned, and both of the girls are already talking about trying out again next year. I'm so proud of both of my girls for not giving up on something that they want! They may not have made that particular cheerleading squad but they sure are my cheerleaders and anyone is lucky to know them! They naturally love to encourage people and cheer people on in all they do! Go girls go, I love you both!

The last few days have been pretty jam packed to say the least. On Thursday was the cheer try-outs (the first cut) which I couldn't believe how stressful it was. I don't care if the girls are cheerleaders or not......it's their feelings I'm more concerned about. Both girls did great but we have to go from about almost 50 girls down to 24 at the most. Yikes! That's more than half to say no to. Well, I really thought both the girls would make the first cut. Hannah did make it and Caley did not. Both of the girls were quite shocked. Hannah thought she wouldn't make it and Caley was sure she would. Caley got over it really quick and already wants to go to cheer classes and prepare for next year. I should note that this is the second time Caley tried and didn't make it. The only reason for telling you that is that I think it says a LOT of her character. She's an incredible girl! Hannah knows how proud we are of her and has been working her butt off since she got home from school on Friday and every spare chance she gets. She really wants to make it. I believe she can too! The finals are next Wednesday so we'll see how that goes. The same day as Christians birthday unfortunately but oh well, that's life.
Thursday was also the night of the talent show which was fun. I wished it wasn't on the same week as cheer was but nothing could be done about it. We made it work. Both Emma and Hannah were in the show. Emma in the beginning and Hannah was the second last. Both of the girls did great! Emma stepped on what looked like a block and was actually a prop that her foot got stuck in. She was giggling trying to get her foot out. When she finally did she went on with the show. At one time she also ran out at the wrong time which was still very cute and funny. Hannah and her friends did a great job dancing and staying in sink with each other. It was such a long and tiring day that we all came home and conked out pretty quick.
Today I woke up at 730 to go running with my friend. We had 3 miles to run today. We have a race in June at Camp Pendelton that we're trying to train for. It's actually a 6 mile track with an obstacle course to boot. I've heard it's really quite fun and am really looking forward to it. I guess there are some block walls to climb over and some nets to crawl under through the mud. You get so dirty and muddy that you are told not to plan on keeping what you wear. Anyways, we're following a marathon training schedule and are only at the beginning of it but it's been fun so far.
Caley has a party tonight where she needs to dress semi-formal. We had to go buy her a dress being as she's not had a need to have a semi-formal dress really before. We found one and on sale I might add. She looks absolutely beautiful. It's for a birthday party for her friend. They're going to go see "Guys and Dolls" which I heard was really great. I'm sure they'll have a good time.
While Caley's at her party, Christian and Larry are going to go to watch a basketball game. That leaves Hannah (probably practicing cheer) and Emma and I to have a much needed time of veggin' out!

Calling All Talent

So I have about ten minutes before today kicks into high gear (for the second time today) so I thought I'd atleast try to recap my day yesterday. What a day it was! The morning wasn't too crazy and some plans actually fell through and I had a chance to catch up on some much needed house work which was nice. After I picked up Emma is when the craziness started. I picked her up at 145pm then took her to her talent show rehearsals, picked up the elementary kids, went home for about 20 minutes which flew by like it was 2. Got Chrish ready for his baseball game (luckily his clothes were dry.....pheeeeew). I then took Hannah to cheer where her sister was going to meet her. They're both trying out for cheer this year! Which means cheer clinics every day after school for a bit. Dropped Hannah off, said hi to Caley (check) luckily within walking distance was Christians baseball game. Dropped him off walked back to cheer, whispered sternly to Emma to NOT climb up and down on the bleachers while the girls were trying out. Took the girls home to change and get ready for the talent show rehearsal. Picked up a friend and dinner to go (thank you Carls). Got to the school 20 minutes early thought we'd have time to chow down......no people started flooding in, had to go cheesecake MUST wait ;( We got there about 530 and didn't leave until 9pm. Emma is in the 'circus' act as a ballerina and is the second act on. Hannah is dancing to the song Toxic (I know I didn't pick it) with her friends (they're really good too) literally closing out the show. Guess what number? Act 36. It will be a great (LONG...........) show. It's just rough on a school night. Well, even though it was crazy and I felt like I was constantly thinking 'what's next?' there were lots of smiles exchanged and laughs that were had. I'm glad every day isn't as crazy as that but am thankful for every day I get.