Dance Competition #1

Yesterday we got the first dance competition of the year out of the way. Phew! And boy was it a long day. But there were some trophies so it was okay! Our girls danced their hearts out. The princess danced her solo and 3 group numbers. One group number was a typical jazz piece. One was a musical theater number in a combined group with additional dancers to "America" from West Side Story, and one was a contemporary piece with no music but set to the announcement that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. We were unsure what the judges would think of it, and I really thought it would blow them away, but in the end it only scored about as well as the other group numbers she was in. Still it was amazing to me, and brought tears to my eyes. The next competition isn't until late April for her, and we might have company for that one, so we are excited!!

Val fixing her hair for her solo.

We love Val. She is so talented!

Below: that's a lot of hairspray!

Below that one: with Val before Pearl Harbor

"America"

She HATES her purple tutu, but she's the "good" girl in the dance!
Waiting nervously for her catagory to be announced.

"High Gold"

Check out Val's excitement for her below her!

She took 9th over-all in her catagory with lots of stiff competition.

We are very proud of her!

Pearl Harbor took 1st place in it's catagory.

Their other group dance took 3rd.

It was a good day!

Awesome shot!

Never again will I get a shot like this (you'll have to trust that it's the princess). She's on my side of net but facing me, hitting the ball backward over the net, and I even have the ball in the photo. I wish it were a little less blurry, but I'm really not complaining! One in a million for me!!

They didn't win any games tonight though I do think some of the games were closer than the score indicated. Good job ladies!

Tomorrow...we dance! Woot, woot!

Final (I Think) Cruise Post

This might be the last cruise post for awhile...maybe forever. It seems like I've now posted every photo we took. These are just a few of my favorites that didn't make it into a previous post.

The "Set Sail" party.

The king is already in full-cruise mode.

Okay, this is NOT what it looks like. I think the conversation went, "Please throw these away." Not, "Please pose with this alcohol you didn't really drink."

That's better...nothing but Coke in those glasses.

How sour is a Toxic Waste candy?

I don't know, but I'll try one too.

Don't want to miss a drop.

Also known as "Boys make me laugh."

Oh how I love to travel with these chuckleheads!

Under the Sea

Jeanette took these pictures when she was snorkling on our trip. Awesome underwater camera. I have no idea what any of it is so I'll leave you to enjoy it. Well, okay, I can pick out the star fish!

Cool Ship Photos

These are photos of the interior of the Navigator of the Seas. It's a great ship. I never think to take photos of this sort of stuff. Most of these photos were taken by Grandma.

This is the floor in the casino. It's the Mardi Gras casino and this section is trinkets covered in glass. It's weird to walk on the first few times...you think you'll fall through...but eventually you get used to it and don't even notice it anymore.

Grand staircase and sculpture in Promenade area.
Blown Glass lighting display.
This reminded us of the blown glass at the Bellagio in Vegas.

Chandelier in the main dining room.

It's much bigger than it looks in this photo.

More blown glass.

This is the floor of the elevator. All elevators have this floor. The day of the week changes at midnight because truthfully, you lose track of what day of the week it is when cruising. This comes in handy!

I need new sunglasses!

I need new sunglasses. I love these sunglasses because A) they are cute and B) the princess thinks they are way too hip for me. Alas, as you can see, they broke when we were cruising. I guess in this picture I'm praying for a new pair. (In truth I think I was unsure how much cleavage was showing so tried to cover it.)

Jared thought that, even broken, they were pretty sweet.

In Cayman we went sunglasses shopping.

I tried on this pair that were close to my old pair.

An an added bonus, they flipped up.

Even better, they magnified my eyes in some strange way.

Pass.

I ended up getting these.

The princess approved, which means I hope they break soon so I can justify getting a cooler pair!

"This"

I just noticed I started 5 of 9 sentences in the previous post with the word "this". That would never fly when writing in middle school!

"V is for Vengeance" by Sue Grafton

I gave "V is for Vengeance" by Sue Grafton three stars. This is a series that I started years ago. Grafton doesn't get the new books out quickly enough for me. This series is about a female private detective. This book is set in the 1980's--pre cell phones--and so it was kind of fun to go back to that era. This isn't my favorite Grafton book, but she kept the pages turning nicely for me. This is one series you wouldn't need to read from the beginning. I think you could pick this book up and not feel like you had missed something. Good reading!

Who Wants Ice Cream?

Andy
Whoa, dude. Not so fast!

The princess said, "Mine look like intestines."

Perhaps the perfect cone!

Nice! She made a good one!

Sometimes we take our ice cream in other formats!

The cruise ship boasted 3 ice cream machines...help yourself. No messy toppings, just cones and a soft-serve machine. We enjoyed a lot of ice cream. In the beginning, some of our cones were a little funny looking, but with time, and help from those of us who worked at the Tastee Freeze and McDonalds, we were all soon ice cream cone experts. For those of you without our experience, the trick is to hold the cone still and relatively close to the ice cream. It will circle by itself. It really will.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Me--through the ages!

1st grade

4th grade

9th grade

Central Park

1988

College graduation

1991

Can you spot me?

Kindergarten

Hint: my glasses sort of match my teacher's.

By the way, that's Mrs. Anderson.

She even taught my dad!

How old am I?

Yesterday I sent Jeanette an email, telling her that in 6 months I plan to send out an email to all my friends, suggesting they start making their travel plans as I expect a lot of visits from everyone when I turn 50. She was quick to email back, reminding me that I won't be turning 50 next year. I did the math. She's right. I'm not turning 49 this today. Phew! I was kind of starting to stress out about turning 50. I guess I can put that on hold for another year.

Is is a bad sign that I don't know how old I am????

There's Trouble in River City!

Yesterday the birthday celebrations began. The king promised to make me a cake--he's really good at that, and he knows German Chocolate is my favorite!

While I was running the princess all over creation yesterday, he made me a cake. When I got home, it was apparent that something had gone terrible wrong. One layer of the cake was on the counter, but it didn't look much like a cake. It looked like a jumble of cake and frosting. The king said that, thinking it would be easier to get the cake out of the pan while it was warm, he had turned it over only to have it fall apart. He "glued" it back together with frosting. I wasn't complaining, but it did look funny. He said the other layer was in the frig, cooling, in hopes there wouldn't be a repeat.

Sadly, there was a repeat. So that layer was placed on top and also glued together with frosting. Again, I'm not complaining. When we cut into it--after the proper round of "Happy Birthday" sung beautifully by the prince, princess, king, and Grandma--it was the most moist cake I have ever eaten. Delicious!!!

Yum!

Today's Game

The princess played her second game today. I got a few good action shots, mostly of her serving. Game on!

Last Game of the Season

Last night we had our last 2 games of the season. Both were divisional play-off games. Winning meant going on to the state tournament; losing, well, then they were done. Our girls lost by 3 points and the boys by 2. It was a tough loss for the kids, and it means no road trip for the prince, but it was a great season. GREAT JOB, FALCONS! Can't wait for next year!

This is perhaps the best cheer photo I got all year. I know it's the best one I've gotten with my new camera! WOW!

What makes a good volleyball coach?

Yesterday, during one of the princess' games, the coach called a time out. She said, "Look, we're obviously going to lose this game, so here's what I want you to do. Go out and have FUN. Spike the ball, have a crazy volley, LAUGH at your mistakes. HAVE FUN!"

That's a good coach!

The girls followed her advice and it turned them around. They didn't win that one, but they went on to win the next couple! GREAT coaching, Mrs. S!

Who?

Who had a run of 9 unanswered points while serving in her first volleyball match of the season?

THIS GIRL!

Great game for our school winning 4 of 6 games. :)

Out Of School Suspension

Our school tries to curb bullying. We have bully slips all over the school. A kid fills one out and gives it to an adult. The adult passes it on to the principal who deals with it. Unfortunately, the kids being bullied rarely fill out the slips. Instead, he gets a lot of, "He pushed me once," or "She was giving me strange looks." I am not saying bullying doesn't happen. I think it happens a lot! But the bully slips aren't working out as planned, in my opinion.

Yesterday, though, we had a good laugh with a bully slip. In a totally unplanned event, all of the adults who work in my part of the school all wore purple yesterday, with the exception of one teacher, who was wearing brown. We were commenting on it before school started, and she said, in her best middle school whiny voice, "So you guys all planned this? And you left me out? That's really not fair. Now I feel stupid and need to go home and change! You guys are so mean! I'm going to fill out a bully slip!"

And she did! :) And she gave it to the principal. After he got done laughing, he told her we'd all have a week of Out Of School Suspension WITH PAY! Basically, she was left alone for a week with all the kids, and we would be home enjoying a week off w/pay. :) When she complained about this to him and how unfair it was, he pointed to his own shirt/tie...they were purple!

Good times at Middle School. I work with really fun people. That makes the job just that much better!

Fascinating! Especially the photo.

I'm not Barbie-bashing, but I found this fascinating!

• If Barbie were an actual women, she would be 5’9” tall, have a 39” bust, an 18” waist, 33” hips and a size 3 shoe.

• Barbie calls this a “full figure” and likes her weight at 110 lbs.

• At 5’9” tall and weighing 110 lbs, Barbie would have a BMI of 16.24 and fit the weight criteria for anorexia. She likely would not menstruate.

• If Barbie was a real woman, she’d have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.

• Slumber Party Barbie was introduced in 1965 and came with a bathroom scale permanently set at 110 lbs with a book entitled “How to Lose Weight” with directions inside stating simply “Don’t eat.”