Dance Competition Season... 2013

First experiences ever being a "real" dance Mom.

Sure, Brenna's been dancing a couple years now, but this is the first year it has gotten serious for us. 

Competition season is in full swing.  

Last weekend Brenna had her second of four competitions and I must say #2 was much easier on my nerves than the first, BUT for some reason things didn't play off quite as smoothly as the first.  

Prior to the first competition I was a wreck.  Anxiety THROUGH THE ROOF.  As a control freak myself, not knowing what to expect on comp. day was not sitting well with me.  I felt very un-prepared and we were still two weeks out from competition.  As comp. day drew closer my nerves continued to spiral out of control.  

You can read more about this HERE.

I was put as ease about this competition stuff very quickly.  Brenna's first competition was FUN!  I learned very quickly that my fellow dance Mom's were all just AMAZING.  If there was the slightest struggle with anything or any of the dancers, the Mom's were quick to pull together and settle the issue quick.  

Brenna and Jocelyn heading out for their first competition together.

All smiles after their second dance and our first competition.

Posing for their 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Taylor, who came to watch them perform.

Trophy time.

I admit, I've watched that dumb Dance Mom's show on T.V. and I was really stressed about the possibility of experiencing that sort of cattiness.  Though I knew better, those crazy dance mom moments that play out on T.V were still in the back of my mind.  

Our group of dancers, Mom's, and teacher's couldn't be any more opposite than that Dance Mom's show.  

I learned that we are a family, and that first competition I felt I finally found my place among them all. 

Can I just say, I LOVE OUR STUDIO and all the people involved in it.  Maybe it's the small town effect, but I must say that every single person is sincerely there for all the right reasons.  It doesn't matter which girl shines bright in the spotlight at any given moment... every parent, student, and teacher's heart just swells with pride watching every dancer do their very best. 

It's very heart warming.  

Anyway, back to the competitions.  Last weekend was our second competition.  Our studio did AMAZING!  Though I had quite the hair fiasco that morning that may have pushed me to tears... the rest of the day went smooth and Just Dance Studio walked away with many first place trophies. 

Our little Gems (Brenna's team) walked away with first place trophies for BOTH of their dances AND they both took a platinum ranking.  I'm still learning about what all this means myself, but I'm catching on.  In case you don't know every dance is scored on a point system.  Where your total points fall determines your ranking.  The ranks range from Silver to Platinum.  Silver being lowest, Platinum being highest.  Needless to say, to have both dances rank Platinum was AWESOME!  Not only did they take First in their age bracket, they even walked away with a first place overall (which means they scored highest of all dances in that catagory).

DOUBLE AWESOME!

Warming up.

I love this girl SO MUCH!

So beautiful

Ready for dance two...

Proud Mom, Tired Mom.

Silly girls.

Dance party on stage.

I'm so very proud of our girls. 

Their team spirit is like none other I have experienced.

These girls truly love each other and LOVE dancing together.

They mesh well, and it shows out their in the spotlight.

This weekend is our third competition.

I'm so excited I can't stand it!

And to think this once made me nervous....

Dreams of a Dance Mom

Brenna's first dance competition is fast approaching and I am feeling the stress of it all.

Last night I dreamed over and over and over again that no matter how hard we tried we just couldn't make it to the competition prepared.  With each disaster I would wake up, shake it off, and fall back asleep only to be welcomed by the same type of dream, different scenario, but same outcome.  I would wake up and repeat. Over and Over and OVER this would happen.  

Needless to say I didn't sleep well. 

When I woke up I told Brenna, "Mommy is a nervous wreck about this competition stuff!"  I began to tell her about the various disasters that would get in our way of her very first dance competition.  Like the heavy traffic that didn't seem to have an end in sight... for as far as the eyes could see were red tail lights with no other route to get where we needed to be.  Like how I forgot to bring the hair and make-up supplies necessary to pull off the required hair and make-up.  Like how when we pulled her costume out of the bag is was the wrong costume entirely.  Like how we went to put on her tights and ALL THREE PAIR were covered in holes and resembled Swiss cheese.  Like how I overslept and we didn't have time to get her to the competition in full hair and make-up ready to perform.  

In each scenario the outcome was the same.  We let her team down, they lost, all because we weren't ready.

That's a lot weighing on your shoulders. 

Being a "competition dance mom virgin" I am sure that I am WAY over thinking things.  I'm sure that this competition stuff isn't nearly as intimidating or stressful as I am assuming it is.  I'm sure that all will be fine, BUT still what if??

Come Friday night/Saturday morning I may need someone to bring me a brown paper sack and remind me to breathe.  

We are one week away from Brenna's first competition.  For the most part I am VERY excited and anxious to watch these girls' hard work pay off.  I know I'll be a blubbering idiot in the stands, but that's okay.  Us moms are entitled to those moments when it comes to our kids.  Brenna has worked SO very hard this year and I know sitting there watching her shine in the spotlight she so deserves will be a moment I will never forget.  I'm so proud of her and all her hard work and dedication.  She has far surpassed my expectations of what kind of dancer she could be at such a young age.  Much of that she is responsible for through being so committed, but the amazing teachers at her studio hold a great deal of credit as well.  I'm grateful they have been able to challenge her and push her to limits that she is completely capable of reaching. 

As I had that conversation with Brenna about how nervous I was she looked at me in a way that she just couldn't believe that I was making such a fuss.  She politely says, "Mom, you think YOU are nervous... I seriously think I might go out there and throw up." 

Oh dear.... what if???

No. I can't even go there.  

Any guesses what I will dream about tonight? 

Owls and Mustaches... Totally acceptable ways to show the love...

I've been working SO hard to make the kids valentines this year ones worth remembering.  I incorporated a few different ideas I saw online, my kids personalities, and of course added my own little personal unique touch.  I'm SO PROUD of the end results and have been SO anxious to share them.

Who doesn't love those fun photo booth pics? 

I had forgotten just what a fun little reminder of those good times with friends they were until I had some done with the kids and their friends a couple months ago.

My kids are always pulling those little photo strips out and laughing at them.  So much personality in them too.

I thought that it would be the perfect way to showcase my kids personalities on their valentines.  I also wanted the ever so popular chalkboard look along with them so I headed over to my dad's place where my little sister has a very large chalkboard painted on the wall, camera in hand, and took some shots of my kids.  First I had intended on writing the little messages on the chalkboard, but quickly realized I wasn't all that great at making it look good.  I decided I would later attempt to create the chalkboard look in photoshop.  I'm WAY more comfortable with that.

Brenna is a huge Beatle's fan and I wanted to incorporate one of her favorite songs they sing into her valentines.  All things considered, especially on Valentine's Day, "'Owl' You Need Is Love".

Brenna will be handing out some cute little owl suckers along with these cute little photo strips.  

Sam on the other hand is such a goof ball and having seen online a valentine that read "I "mustache" you a question, will you be my valentine?" I decided to go along with that same theme, but used a little different phrase I also found online that I felt suited him better.  Such a perfect fit for this little guy! 

Unfortunately I couldn't find some pre-made mustache suckers to go along with his valentines so I made some foam mustaches, which I then slid onto the sucker stick so when the are eating it it looks like they have a lil' mustache.  

I had both the kids valentines printed this weekend and I am getting anxious for them to hand them out to their friends.  

I already gave a peek of these on facebook, but these beauties below are what is being mailed to other close friends and family.  

Are you doing anything fun and creative for your kids to hand out to their friends?  I'd love to see!

Tomlin's Go Ice Skating...

New years eve we had passes for the SLCeve event downtown.  This event is basically a huge party with a variety of activities for all ages at various locations downtown.  All within a few blocks of one another.  Tracks runs free downtown that night (may even be every weekend night actually) so you basically hop on and ride from location to location to check it all out.  We stayed close to the Gateway mall the majority of the time as this is where all the kid friendly stuff was taking place.  Unfortunately for us, we weren't really aware that the kid new years countdown ended at 7pm and that the insane amount of people would really limit what the kids could participate in.  Face painting line was a minimum of an hour long... just for some amateurs to paint a firework on their face?  Crazy.  The room with the light bright and glowing mega blocks was so small that the kids (and adults) were feeling very crowded and anxious to get out of there. We did spend a fair amount of time at Discovery Gateway, but even that place was a crazy disaster.  What it boils down to is that by the time 7pm rolled around and the kid stuff fizzled out we were left with two very antsy kids who had yet had their fill of fun for the night.  We decided to check out the movies playing at Clark Planetarium as they were playing about every half hour to 45 min, and they went late into the night.  These movies just so happened to be included in our passes.  Unfortunately for us again, it wasn't made known at the time of purchase that these tickets were limited and that you had to reserve your movie ahead of time. This meant we didn't get to see a movie either.  My mom purchased the tickets and at this point she was very frustrated at the waste of money they were.  All they did for us really was get us into discovery gateway for the kids to drop one plastic ball into the air lifting thing, play in the water with some broken boats, color on a color wheel with some already used paper, and make a party hat with minimal supplies.  Eventually we did venture down to temple square.  We enjoyed an exciting first time ride on the trax train and wandered around enjoying the Christmas light display.  We even were able to catch a little mini-concert as we were warming our toes in one of the buildings there at temple square.  New Years eve really wasn't a total bust.  We enjoyed one another's company very much and in the end it turned out to be a pretty enjoyable experience.  Wasted money aside.  

That night though, what my kids really wanted to do was to go to the Galivan Center and ice skate out on their outdoor rink.  I knew after already having been allowed to do very little with our tickets due to crowd that if we were to attempt the ice skating the kids would just be let down again.  It wasn't worth it to fight the cold (15 degrees mind you) any longer to show up and the rink be at full capacity as I knew it would be.  So instead we wrapped up the night early, headed back to our car on trax, and arrived home just before 11pm with two kids that were already zonked out for the night.  

Because they had to miss out on the ice skating that night I decided that this weekend I would take them to an indoor rink not to far from our house.  I unfortunately woke that morning feeling under the weather, but pushed through and took them anyway.  They didn't know what we were doing, I only informed them I had a surprise.  They spent the morning Saturday trying to guess what their surprise was.  At different points in the morning both kids expressed that they hoped we were going ice skating.  Little did they know they guessed right, but they didn't really think that a mom with a cough would take them to the cold.

We headed out to the ice skating rink, where Grammy and Uncle Bronson were going to meet us.  The kids didn't know they were coming either.  

Upon arriving we were greeted by a huge billboard of a speed skater.  Immediately they knew that we were indeed going ice skating.  While Brenna was jumping up and down in the back seat screaming "THANK YOU MOMMY!" over and over agian, Sam thanked me with a big kiss!

It's good to know your kids appreciate your efforts and there is no better way to express that than with some loves for Mommy.

The kids had so much fun.  Brenna just hopped right on that ice and took off on her own, circling that rink over and over and over again.  Sam remained a bit timid and just couldn't get his balance so I rented him a little walker to assist him and after that he took off just like his sissy.  Eventually he got brave enough, with a little boosted confidence, and ventured out without the walker and did remarkably well.  They both thought that their pre-fall twist, turns, and tumbles were real ice skating tricks and that it was pretty cool they could do tricks without even trying. HA! We spent a good couple hours skating.  Neither of the kids wanted to leave and both suggested that we come back again the next day.  This is definitely a repeat activity for our family, only next time I will insist that Dad join us.

Who else wants to join us?

It was a great weekend.  Today Bill took the kids to the gun show with his Dad (Grandpa T.), while I am stuck in bed with a miserable cough, headache, and itching ears.  The invisible heavyweight that is sitting on my chest is welcome to leave anytime (preferably NOW!)

The start of a new year brings with it the start of some new traditions...

If you missed my post about resolutions...

GO HEAR

Because you will see that these new traditions ARE NOT resolutions.  They are simply my first steps at attempting to achieve some of my goals. 

Goals 4 and 15 to be exact.

I really need to get better with this blogging thing.  I know I've said that a million times over, but I swear I mean it whole heartily every time I have said it.  I don't need to get better at it because I think I have a ton of readers or because I think that the potential for a ton of readers is even there, but rather for myself and my family.  Blogging is a great way of documenting life.  It is so easy to just bypass life's little moments without a second thought, which then results in forgotten memories all together.  In light of all the loss that last year brought to our family (you can read about that here if you missed that post too) I have come to realize that I am SO GUILTY of allowing those special moments and memories pass me by without properly embedding them in my mind.  I don't want to allow any more of those moments pass me by, I don't want to forget another moment of the life I have have been so graciously given, nor do I want my children to even have to forget.  It is my job as their parent to ensure that they have beautiful moments worth remembering and that they have the proper documentation to share those memories with their children and children's children.  

I'm not good at scrap-booking.  I've tried and failed miserably.  Not only that, but it is just a far too tedious way of documenting for my personality.  I don't do well with time consuming, and scrap-booking is EXACTLY that.  

Though it is a great way of beautifully documenting life, It's just not the way for me.  Believe me, sometimes I wish it was because the things you can do with scrap-booking these days is AMAZING.  Don't get me wrong, I do want to have some hard copies of pictures, in books, that we can pull out anytime we want, but I those just need to be quick and easy.  There is a way of doing that now with instagram and all the cool photo printing options that are available now.  I just haven't decided exactly what I want to do quite yet.  

I do love writing.  It is has always been an area of great interest and enjoyment for me.  From a young age I got a high out of writing and the ability to be creative with it.  I may not be all that good at it, but I sure do love it.  This is why blogging has such importance to me.  I feel that I am more capable of painting a good picture of those beautiful moments through writing than I am through scrap-booking. Some may think that writing is a far more time consuming way of documenting than scrap-booking, but believe me if you have ever spent a day with me attempting to be a creative, original, fun, and impressive scrap-booker then you'll know that it's not my forte. I'm not horrible at it, but it literally takes me like 8 hours to create like 4 pages.  I just don't have that kind of time.  HA!

Not sure how this post turned into a whole book on trying to justify why I want to get better at blogging, but I'll get back on track now.

This post touches on two goals.

Documenting/Blogging and recording more home videos.  This also kind of touches a bit on my desire to create some form of memory books as well.  This year I decided that I wanted to start recording my kids at the beginning of each new year.  Interview style.  Me behind the camera asking them questions.  Things about themselves that are likely to change throughout the years.  Questions that will highlight their personalities at that particular time.  After recording that first video I decided it would be a good idea to add a few pictures to the video that highlight some important moments of the past year.  Granted there isn't the ability to tell the story behind every picture, but at the very least you can see the changes that occur in them over those 12 months.  These videos can then be shared via social networking with family and friends and can also be put on DVD and slipped inside a memory book for myself and the kids to enjoy for years to come.  

Please forgive me for the poor quality of these videos.  First off my camera really isn't made for video making and secondly it's my first attempt at ever using video editing software.  Maybe I ought to add a video making/editing class to my 2013 Goals?  

Anyway, without further ado, I present to you

"Remembering 2012~Brenna and Sam"
(warning: they are kind of lengthy, sorry)

First Winter Snow

This month has really been a pretty mild one.  Temperatures have been consistently high for this time of year.  We did manage to get one good snow storm as of current.  It hit us a couple of weeks ago.  It literally snowed for over 24 hours straight.  Much of the valley got well over 6 inches, but some parts got even more.  It was a very wet and dense snow, which made it very difficult to shovel.  However, this is the BEST snow for snowman making.  I'm really a poor sport when it comes to this wet, white stuff.  I'm not a big fan of winter or the snow so I encouraged the kids to make a snowman alone.  It was a bust.  Neither of the kids could get a snowball started well enough to begin rolling it into larger balls for a snowman.  They sure did enjoy playing in it though.  We quickly learned that they had both outgrown their winter gear so we had to head out afterward and find some attire suitable for them now.  TALK ABOUT EXPENSIVE!  I was SO not happy about how much $$$ we had to drop on new snow gear.  Lets hope they can get some good use out of it.  Last winter was pretty mild with very little snow... I'm hoping that we at least have a white winter.  I will be content with that much snow.  

Catching Snowflakes....

Attempting to make a Snowman (Brenna is clearly unhappy with the lack of progress)

Tomlin Halloween 2012

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone let's talk about what we did on Halloween shall we?  

(I've got to get myself caught up!)

Our morning started WAY too early, as most mornings do.  I was rushing as usual to get myself and both kids pulled together for the festivities at school.  Fortunately for me (and unfortunately for Bill) Bill took the day off work so he could come and watch the kids in the Halloween parade at school (because now that I work at the school, I don't get to do that anymore).  This meant that he was home to help me get the kids ready.  As the minutes quickly passed and I was struggling to get us all ready and out the door, I summoned Bill to come help pull Sam's make-up together.  It's a good thing to because I'm not good at that monster stuff.  Cute I can do, but Scary..... Not so much.  

Mummy Sam

Claudine Wolf (A Monster High Doll)

Off to school we went, even I was dressed up.  Good thing about being a teacher is it gives you a good excuse to be young again.

Sam was first in line at the parade, right behind a teacher of course. Bill nearly missed getting his picture because he wouldn't have thought that our boy would start out the show.  His homemade costume was quite a hit though, so I think he was a very good choice to get the fun rolling.  

Lesson learned and he was ready for Brenna.  

Like I said, I got to join in the fun too... My little preschoolers were all so cute.  

Just a lil' Witchy

Halloween night was pretty mellow and low key.  We went to a nearby church for a trunk or treat then headed out in our neighborhood.  The kids tired quickly so we didn't go far.  I'm okay with that.  Our neighborhood was hoppin' and I felt really bad because we had this cool decorated house with no one home to hand out the goodies.  Next year we will have to do better with our planning.  Maybe I will just have Bill take the kids trick or treating and I'll sit home and enjoy the quiet. HA!

Know What I love about October... and Brenna's Monster Ball

I used to HATE Fall...

It meant that the snow was coming and summer was officially a thing of the past.  I totally dreaded this season... In my younger years anyway.

In my adult years I have really come to love Fall, more specifically October.  My first born entered our lives on a beautiful October day.  This is when my feelings about Fall began to change.  I now look forward to October.  We still have a few lingering warm days accompanied by some crisp cool/cold days that we get to bundle up in blankets on the couch or in bed with a cup of hot something to drink.  I love that.  In October I get to bust out all the spice candles/air fresheners, which in case you didn't know are my FAVORITE scents. In October we are given a little bit of the best of both warm and cold seasons.  October really is that happy medium. 

In my adult years Halloween has become one of my top favorite holidays as well.  On October 1st you had better believe I am busting out my Halloween decor. I LOVE decorating for Halloween and I love busting out my creative juices to come up with fun original costumes for my kids.  I have found that I get really bummed out when my kids choose costumes that come in a bag ready for wear.  They are boring to me and look cheap, no matter how much money you spend on them.  AND in all reality it takes away from my own personal enjoyment.  Last year was one of those years... Brenna was Alice and Sam was Super Mario.  I didn't get to make anything.   This year October has been wonderful and my kids didn't let me down in the costume department.  I am feeling very festive and my cup is overflowing.  Brenna decided she wanted to be a Monster High Doll.  She didn't really care which one, so when I happened upon a Monster High skirt at Ross for 5 bucks it was decided that she was going to be Claudine Wolf (the werewolf).  I made her ears out of sticky back felt and just wrapped them around a headband then glued a bow to one ear.  I used an old see through stretchy black shirt I had and cut it to shreds and placed it over a solid brown long sleeve shirt.  I found some cute purple leg warmers for a buck somewhere (sorry can't remember if it was target or the dollar store) and put them over some cute black spiderweb tights.  Easy and inexpensive costume that looks just as good as those $30 ones you can buy at the store.  

We still may add some accessories to the costume before Halloween, but all in all it cost me less than $10 for the entire costume.  SWEET!

Sam chose a Mummy for his costume this year.  I was really excited about this because I knew that it would be another inexpensive costume to pull off, but I would still be able to enjoy making it.  I got a sweatsuit from Walmart (shhhh don't tell Sam, but he is wearing girl bottoms because they were out of the heather gray in boys) and 2 yards of plain fabric that cost less than $2 a yard.  I tore that fabric into strips and just hot glued it to the sweat suit.  Below is a pic of Sam at Brenna's party and his costume wasn't 100% complete yet, but even still I think it turned out well.  

As you can see there is still more sweatsuit that needs covered and come Halloween we will have his hair sprayed white and spiked up all over out of the head wraps.  He wants a little bit of dirt and blood splatters as well.  Not only was this costume cheap to make, BUT it will also be WARM on Halloween night.  Double bonus right?!?!  Though his girly friend would much rather him be her Prince Charming, I think she was okay with a "Mummy Prince" instead...

  

Yet another year of costumes to be proud of if I do say so myself!

All these above pictures come courtesy of Brenna's 7th Birthday Bash.  Brenna's birthday party theme selection was a PERFECT choice to put me in the Fall spirit.  I got to create a Monster Ball for my princess.  Surprisingly, I didn't break the bank with this party either... though I personally think it looks like I did.  The best part of homemade stuff is that in most cases it costs far less than what you can buy in a store.  Homemade also looks better (in my opinion anyway).  I have discovered that the dollar store really is the BEST place to get the bulk of stuff for parties (plates, cups, table cloths, spiderweb, goody bag fillers).  My number one tip for birthday parties it DO NOT buy the cups and plates with characters on them to match the theme.  They are rediculously priced and really unnecessary.  After about five minutes of food on them they end up in the trash anyway, so go to the dollar store and just pick a color that coordinates with the theme. The dollar store really does carry the majority of must haves for parties, and it saves a GRUNDLE of Moolah!  I can't tell you how many bags of spider web I used this year, but I can tell you that I was grateful for the dollar store for this one decor choice alone.  I have spiderweb spread indoors and outdoors. My black, white, and red living room really is the PERFECT place to create that creepy, but classy, Halloween environment.  

The Perfect place to host a Monster Ball...

Now Brenna's Monster Ball was no simple event.  It wouldn't have been complete without all the homemade Halloween treats I made... We really had it all....

And you had better believe that the majority of this food was devoured by all the little ones that attended...

We painted little pumpkins too...

(Which may not have been one of my better ideas because paint ended up in far more places than just the pumpkins)

I should have known better.

All in all though, I hosted a pretty good Monster Ball and Brenna was very happy with the event as well.  

 Brenna has been blessed with some pretty awesome friends.  She had a great turn out (above pic isn't even everyone who showed) and made out like the little princess she is.

October is in full swing and this is just a small amount of the fun I have been able to have this year.  Being a teacher opens up a whole other world of fun and creativity.  Up next in our month is all the Halloween celebrations themselves.  I have two days of Halloween festivities at school with my own kids and my preschool kids, then of course there is HALLOWEEN!

I sure hope everyone is enjoying the Fall and October as much as I have been... It really is a time of year that brings joy to my house.