Rewind Back in Time - 20th Year Celebration

I am going to attempt to post only the couple videos I was able to take with my phone while "playing" stage manager this past week.  These were all taken last night (closing night).

Simply Irresistible was performed by Just For Kick's Senior Performance Team.  It was choreographed and directed by mother/daughter team Jen and Taylor Scott.  Amber is wearing pink, 2nd row (middle when it starts), 2nd from right.

Just click on the words below and it will take you to the video.  May want to pause it to let the buffer fill before starting so you can watch it straight through without it stopping.

Simply Irresistible


Hey Ricky was performed by Ethan and Amber's tap class.  It was choreographed by the studio owner, Tanya Bleil-Johnson.  Amber is second in from the left.  Of course, they all look exactly the same!

Hey Rickey

Back in March/April, Tanya asked the three boys if they would meet with Ryan Posey and learn Smooth Criminal.  Their friend, Jonathan joined them, and the four boys had a crash class on this piece.  It was so fast and difficult.  From what I understand, this particular number has been done quite a bit over the years.  The one dancing closest to the camera is Ryan, who choreographed it for them this year.

Smooth Criminal

A few weeks prior to recital, Christine Luders, the ballroom teacher, asked Evyn, Ethan, and Amber if they would do the East Coast Swing number, Crazy Little Thing Called Love.  They would be dancing with the team.  Christine used a couple of the other older kids from the teen class, too, who had done the number the year before.  (It was being done because it was part of the anniversary celebration.)  So, in about a day's time, Ian taught Evyn the moves, and then he picked up the rest at practices.  

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

And that is all I have in videos from backstage.  Enjoy :)

To Graduate or Not to Graduate, That is the Question

All these graduation pictures on Facebook ... and all our poor boy gets is a shove out the front door and a hug when he reenters.  No gown, no mortarboard hat, no rolled up piece of paper with his name on it, no "Pomp and Circumstance" or cheers from a crowd.  But, I couldn't be any more prouder of his hard work and determination.  As far as homeschool goes, he is done and graduated in my eyes.  I will no longer be teaching him at home.  (Granted, he still has a couple more weeks to wrap up his KONOS studies and his mathematics.)  However, in the eyes of the school district, he is a Junior in Running Start ... his education isn't quite over.  Because of that, he is NOT officially a senior in their eyes.  So, we will keep his studying going with small unit studies to earn his BSA merit badges.  He'll walk again in two years, but then it will be with a bit more ceremony.

On a Creative Frenzy

Creating dragons - first an foremost is a dragon sock.  I have the body.  Not quite sure about the nose.  May have to revamp that.  I have also been asked to design a small Christmas sock for the yarn shop, as well as some other designs.  They'd like to sell them at the shop!  I don't know if I'm quite up to that.  Debbie (Macomber) really likes my wee tiny socks, and she off-handedly asked me last December to maybe teach a couple classes at the shop.  I'd have to use original designs, because the others are patterns I get as part of the Wee Tiny Sock Club.

That being said, the creative juices are brewing, but nothing has come to fruition yet.

The final piece played by the Jazz Band ... no more band :(  They went out in style.  This was captured with my cell phone.  Better on the video camera, which we have to download and then figure out how to upload!

Mother's Day Fingerless Mitts

I designed these fingerless mitts just for Mom for Mother's Day this year.  They were fun to do and came out as well as I had hoped.  I love the design on the back of the hand with the beads.  I also like how the palm designed turned out as well.

I took a "formula" for making fingerless mitts and a couple pattern ideas from a book and began writing.

I finished knitting them on Mother's Day and got them into the mail Tuesday afternoon after sharing them with my friends at the local yarn shop during our Tuesday social knitting time.  Mom got them in the mail today and is very happy with them and reports they fit very well (something I was a bit worried about when making them).

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  I love you :)

Where did my little boy go?

Where did my little boy go?

There was this little boy I used to know.  He had dish-water blond hair with curls in the back, and he was the most interesting little man I'd ever met.  He was logical, analytical, and overtly curious about everything.  He was orderly, precise, and smart.  For example, he would take books out of a bookshelf and line them up in size order across a room.  He would remove storage containers from kitchen cabinets and line them up across the kitchen floor ... all in order.  He would investigate odd things he'd find, like packed coffee cakes (for cappuccinos) ... and then taste them to see if they were good cookies.  He would sip from cups, taste from plates, and push any buttons he could find.  He would sit on the floor and investigate his toes, and search under sofas and beds. He would sit in a high chair, still unable to walk, but able to select a game and put it into a computer and press the right buttons on the keyboard to "Jump Start" and play.

Where did this little boy go?

He has grown up.

Now he has closely cropped light brown hair, with a quirky wave in the front and an occasional curl over the forehead.  He is the most interesting young man I know.  He is logical, analytical, and overtly curious about everything.  He is no longer orderly, as his world surrounds his being, filling the space he occupies.  He is precise in his studies, and extremely smart, amazing me with the knowledge he has garnered over the years.  The books no longer sit neatly on a shelf, but lay in stacks around his desk and chair.  No longer do the books lay in a simple line across the room, but lay helter-skelter wherever he sits, available to grab in any spare moment to be devoured by the still curious mind.  He no longer removes containers from the cabinets to line them up across the floor, but pulls them out to mix, stir, and cook up meals ... storing those things which may remain as leftovers.  He no longer occupies the middle of the kitchen floor playing with lids and spoons, but uses them in a creative way to prepare meals, snacks, and goodies for his family ... and helping in keep order in the kitchen.  He investigates the great outdoors, enamored by frogs, birds, and fuzzy creatures.  He investigates tidbits of information, delving into the world wide web of information on the computer, creating images, papers, and stories for himself.  His creativeness extends past the computer into make-believe, music, dance, and art.

Where did my little boy go?

He grew up.

Okay, this is very strange.  I haven't been away for that long and already Blogger has changed things.  Facebook did the same thing.  Oh well.

The reason I decided to write tonight was because the purpose of this blog was to keep in touch with family.  Recently I tried to connect family with a photo of Amber from dance that someone else happened to take.  In the process of tagging, family got up in arms because they thought some other random person was linking their name to a photo they weren't in.  The sad part was, those two family members didn't even recognize Amber!  Here her picture has been on this blog and in e-mails and no one knew it was her. 

That being said, I guess this blog is not doing its intended purpose, which was keeping family that is far away, in touch with us out here.  I try to get photos up about once a month if I can, but if no one is even looking at the blog, I wonder why I even try.

I have since removed the FB photo tagging links to those family members.  I cannot and won't double photos in both places.  It would be too time consuming.

Family who want to stay in touch on FB may do so.  Others can read blog entries as they desire.  I will continue to stay in touch via e-mail, too.

Our daily lives are a ritual of schedules.  We go from one hour to the next, day after day, one event to the next.  Until the school and dance year is over, our schedules are pretty set in stone.

Every day we school at home.  The rest we fit in as we can.

Mondays are allergy shot days, dance, and scouts.
Tuesdays are violin and dance.
Wednesdays are volunteering at EPO and TAing at the studio, then more dance.
Thursdays are band day for the entire morning, followed by TAing at the studio, and then more dance.
Fridays are violin again, and more dance.
Saturdays are teaching dance, and whatever else we can fit in or perform.
Sundays are a day of rest ... unless someone is dancing.

Dance fills our lives in this house.  If someone isn't taking a class, you can hear feet tapping in the kitchen or in the playroom, music playing and someone scribbling on paper as they choreograph a new number, or humming and singing rehearsal pieces.

So, if you don't hear from us on FB, or read an entry on this blog, or don't get an e-mail, it's probably because there isn't much more to add ... or we simply do not have time to squat in front of the computer and do lots of creative writing and editing and photo editing.