Monday {Afternoon} Musings

Well, I had this written and thought I clicked publish, but turns out I didn't.  So now it's more like Monday AFTERNOON Musings.  Oops.

This weekend was SO insanely busy I feel like I didn't even have a break.  I really don't like weekends like that because it makes my week feel really long.  However, I'm thankful that this weekend was full of things I love and memories that will last forever.

As I posted about on Friday, my dance team went to State this weekend.  Here they are before loading the cars.

And at our dinner stop...Olive Garden.  YUM.  They look skinny and perfect - every single one of them - but I'm telling y'all, these ladies can EAT.  :)

We were thankful that we didn't have to get up in the middle of the night (AKA 4:00 AM for the past 3 years) to compete.  They were able to "sleep in" (7:30) and have a nice, relaxing breakfast.  Here they are before leaving the hotel, ready for Pom.

 The girls performed AMAZINGLY.  I have never seen them dance so well.  I was so proud of them.  They ended up placing 4th in their Pom category and 3rd in their Jazz category.

Saturday, our family went down to an adorable little Christmas in the Village where there was yummy treats, fires, live music, shop fronts, and shopping.  We always love celebrating Christmas with these little traditions.  It was FREEZING this year, but we enjoyed it anyway.

And on Sunday, I had my very first baby shower.  I sat through most of it in complete disbelief that this is really happening to me.  As I opened gift after gift, I fought back tears at how blessed I feel.

Under the punch bowl - adorable!

The hostesses with the mostestes - and my two favorite women on the planet.  I love them so much.

Yep, that's alot of gifts for Baby Girl.  The big white thing?  Her crib mattress.  :)  I have to write this so I don't forget, the big pink bag on the far left of this picture says "Tickled Pink" - but Maicey kept telling people it said "TiNkled Pink" - that kid cracks me up!  :)

This is one of our very talented dancers, who doubles as a very talented baker/cake decorator.  She MADE this beautiful cake - it was SO adorable...themed after the Very Hungry Caterpiller.

Shout out to this beauty for stepping in as part pack mule and helping me haul all of the goods home and up the steps in the ridiculous Iowa weather Mother Nature blessed us with yesterday.  I don't know what I would've done without her!

Here we are.  Just a few new items for Kamdyn.

How adorable are these?!

I couldn't hold back tears when I opened this.  How absolutely, positively perfect is this?!  I cannot wait to put her picture in there.  And it's the perfect colors of her nursery.

And here's the same corner I posted about here - it's taking over the room.  Please Christmas, be over with soon so I can begin finding real places for all these new adorable things.

We only have 2 more weeks of school before break, so I'm going to vow to enjoy time with my students and try to spend time each day living in the moment and not wishing away time.  {It's ironic I'm writing that sentence directly after I wrote the caption to the picture directly above...oops.  I said TRY}

Happy Week, Friends!

Dear Platinum,

{The dance team I coach is competing at the State Competition today, so I'm just writing my heart to them}

Dear Platinum Beauties -

Today is it.  The single day we have had our sights on since April.  This year our goal was simple, leave State with no regrets.  Whether we win or lose today - I think we've accomplished that goal.  I believe we will be able to look back on the past 8 months and say every single one of us has done everything we could do to prepare for this day.

This season has been full of really amazing moments

And some really hilarious moments

Lots of moments when lots of people were watching you

And I love being your coach during all of those times.  But the times when I am most proud to be your coach are the times like in this picture

The times when nobody is watching you.  The times you're sweating in the studio, or busting your butts in the weight room, or watching videos and critiquing them late at night or early in the morning.  Those are the moments that make me the most proud of you because those are the moments that make all the big moments when lots of people are watching even more sweet.

When you look back on this season (and more importantly, your time on Platinum in general), I hope you remember all of these moments.  Not just the really big ones, but the little day-to-day ones where your relationships with each other grow, or where you become a better dancer, or more importantly where you become a better person.

More than all of that, I hope you always look back on your time with this program and know that I could not possibly love you more.  You are so much more to me than dancers I coach.  I have known many of you since long before you were in high school.  The relationship I have with each of you is so far past the relationship most coaches have with their athletes.  You were among the first to know about Kamdyn - even before some of our family.  :)

You make me laugh when I'm having a horrible day, you make me smile when you get something you've been working on forever, and you make me proud of the young women you've become.  I tell you all the time how honored I am to be your coach - but I'm going to tell you again.  The simple fact that I get to be a part of such an incredible part of your high school career is something I cannot possibly say enough thanks for.  I am honored to be your coach, but more than that, I am honored to be your mentor, listening ear, second mom, and friend.  I hope you never forget that your biggest cheerleader is me.

I believe in you always -

Dear Platinum {camp summary}

As mentioned in my earlier posts this week, I spent the beginning part of the week with my high school dance team at UDA camp.  This camp is our bid to Nationals and the official kick off to our season, so it is CRITICAL that we have a successful week.  Success isn't necessarily defined in my book as winning, although that is certainly an added perk.

Here's the run down of the AMAZING job my girls did at camp:  1st Place in Home Routine {a routine they learned before camp and brought with them to be judged against the other teams at camp}, Full Out Award for Team Routine {a routine they learned on the first night of camp and had to work together to create formations and alter the choreography to be unique and creative}, Superior Placement for individual routines, 6 of my girls were named UDA All-Americans, Won the Leadership Award {all teams at camp get one vote and are asked "if you weren't on your own team, who's team would you want to be on?"

So with that, I wanted to take a moment to write a little note to them to speak my heart.

Dear Platinum, 

I know camp is super stressful and extremely exhausting, but I am confident that you left camp a much stronger team than when you arrived.  I hope you've learned a lot more this week than routines and technique.  

I hope you've learned that you are MUCH stronger together than apart.  I have loved watching you develop this week as a team - it's always interesting to watch who emerges as a leader and who is more comfortable following.  As a coach, it doesn't matter to me which category you fall under because the bottom line is that our team needs BOTH.  

I hope you've learned that it's not only important to work hard, but to play hard as well.  Nobody can be serious all the time - life is all about balance.  There is certainly not a lack of FUN on this team.  But, to be honest, it's one of the things I love most about you.  You are some of the funniest people I've ever met.  The fun times are what will get us through the upcoming hard stuff we have to do {puke practice, anyone?!}.  I adore when you come running into my hotel room to tell me something funny that just happened or to show me a ridiculous video on your phone.  You make me smile every single day and that makes my job SO much easier.

I hope you remember the moment captured in this image.  The moment they announced that you WON.  The moment that every second of sweat and hard work paid off.  While these moments are few and far between, moments like these are certainly what makes the work we do worth it.  Obviously only one team can win, and it won't always be us - but when it is, I just love to watch you.  The pure joy and excitement in each of your faces was worth every single early morning alarm and sweaty hour in that hot gym this summer.  I sat there watching you with tears streaming down my face because I am so blessed to be your coach.

And lastly, I hope you always look back on this past week at camp {and our entire season really} and remember that our team would not be the same without each and every single one of you.  Each of your strengths and weaknesses and quirks add up to be one of the most remarkable groups of young women I have ever coached.

Each season is special for different reasons and this one is no different.  I will look at that Gatorade container at each practice and think of each of you and this week we got to spend together.  It was an amazing start to what I know will be an awesome season.  Thank you for working hard.  Thank you for playing hard.  Thank you for being humble.  Being the coach of this team is one of the greatest blessings of my life.

I believe in you always -

10,000 and a camp update

For the past 10 years my sister and I have coached a high school dance team at our alma mater, Pleasant Valley.  There was no program for dance when we attended there, so it has been a pretty huge task to build this program to what it is today in 10 short years.  We are so thankful to the supportive parents in our program and our extremely talented dancers make our jobs SO much fun.  

This week we are at camp with them learning new routines, bonding as a team, and hoping to earn our bid to Nationals in Orlando, FL in February.  The camp experience is a TON of work for the girls but inevitably winds up being one of their most memorable experiences as a team.

Before we left for camp, one of our families graciously allowed us to invade their home for an afternoon to swim, eat dinner and then have a sleep over.  The girls had a BLAST!

This is SO them.  They are silly and fun - but hardworking and dedicated all at the same time.  We love them so much!

Ok, now for the 2nd part of this title - 10,000.  Does anyone know what that is?!

That is the number of page views this little blog has gotten!!  

Unbelievable.  Thank you so much for your interest in our story - I find it so amazing that other people have found this little online home of mine and enjoyed it so much that they continue coming back.  I wonder if that will ever cease to amaze me?

Have a super day friends

Off to UDA

I'm off to Camp with these lovely ladies until Wednesday.  I am hoping to update this blog throughout the week with both personal and Platinum updates from UDA Camp. 

Happy Weekend!  :)

8 months...

...is a long time without a post.  This is really pathetic.  But here's the deal, I was locked out of my own blog.  It was tied to an email address I no longer use and had frankly been too lazy to change and/or back up like blogger recommends.  Add that to the time dilemma that occurs in my life - and that'd be how and why 8 months has passed since my last post. 

So, after much research, I figured out how to get back into my blog and exported it to a new blogger log-in.  While I was going through all the trouble, I figured a name-change and face lift couldn't hurt, and wah-la!  Here we are, back in business.

In an effort to get caught up, here is a very incomplete list of what our family has been up to the last 8 months:

• I got a new job - still teaching 5th grade, but in a new school district and a brand new school (I'll share the adventures of that soon!)
• Kaitlyn entered 5th grade and is at a Middle School
• Kevin has put many hours into getting his studio in order and has only some finishing touches left.
• Riley (our 6-year-old boxer) continues to be dumb.
• We took a 10 day trip to Yellowstone with my parents, sister, and her family - perhaps that will be the topic of another post?
• We celebrated the following holidays: Mothers Day, our 1st wedding anniversary, Fathers Day, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, & New Years (essentially ALL of the US Holidays are listed here since it's been so long - oopsie daisy!)
• I continue to work on organizing our home and purging the unnecessary items we seem to attract around here - I plan to do a little weekly project and post some updates in the new year
• Kevin bought me his business a new Nikon camera that I like to fiddle around with - when he lets me, of course.  ((sigh))
• Platinum (the high school dance team I coach with my sister) won the Iowa State Dance and Drill Team Competition for the 3rd straight year in jazz and for the first time ever in pom - SO amazing!
• Platinum also was awarded the American School Spirit Award by Universal Dance Association - to see the announcement, go here!  We will be featured on ESPN in February from Orlando, FL at Nationals!
• We have spent the past 6 months seeing a fertility specialist - without success.  (I plan to blog more about this soon - I know I have benefited SO much from hearing other women's stories, and pray my story will help someone too)
• I did not accomplish even 1/2 of my 2011 goals - perhaps I'll just recycle those to 2012?

I think that's about it - plenty of excitement has been had and there is still plenty to come!  I hope the 3 people who read this blog are happy about my return!

I will post more tomorrow - after all, it is one of my resolutions from 2011 :)

Disney, the flu, and catch-up

The title of this post has been my life for the past 2 weeks since I have updated this blog.  So, we're going to have a bullet list recap, to be followed later tonight or tomorrow by a picture update and an organizational project reveal.  Welcome back, friends!
On Thursday 2/3, I hopped on a plane headed to sunny Orlando, FL to cheer on my high school dance team as they competed in Nationals.

• My 1st flight was delayed causing me to almost miss my connection in Atlanta.  {I ran from gate C37 to A1 in 18 minutes...}
• I arrived in my hotel room at 1:00 AM - ugh, long day
• Friday, we had breakfast with the characters and spent time in Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom - great time!
• Saturday we competed in Pom, but didnt advance to semi-finals
• Sunday we competed in Jazz and advanced to semi-finals!!  {one of our team goals for the past 2 years}
• We competed in semi-finals and were 2 points from making finals - such an amazing time!
• Monday the Magical Express picked me up at 2:30 AM to go to the airport - HORRIBLE
• I flew home and was here for Kevin's birthday {stay tuned for a late birthday/Valentine's Day tribute to him this week}
• On Monday night I started feeling very sick
• Tuesday I tried to go to work but ended up feeling terrible and coming home before lunch
• I was attached to my bed or couch until Friday night when I finally started feeling a little better
• I had grad class all day Saturday
• and have been catching up on work I missed last week ever since.

So, as you can see, I really haven't had a lot of time for blogging/picture taking/organizing - but I'm vowing to make it a priority starting right now.

Welcome back!  :)

A much needed trip

Well Blog friends,

I am headed to sunny Orlando, FL for a much needed break from this horrible winter weather!  My dance team is headed to Nationals at Walt Disney World and I couldn't be more excited!  The girls have been fretting about how they would get there considering the blizzard of the century hit the entire Midwest, but alas - they are in Chicago right now and their flight to Orlando appears to be on time.  I am working today and heading to the airport in about 15 minutes to fly down and meet them.

I don't have pictures on this computer, but will be sure to upload when I get home.  Yesterday on my snow day I finished my classroom organization project, got most of the way done with my Home Management Binder, and got all caught up on my Scentsy business.  What a productive day that was!

I will be out of Blogworld until Monday at the earliest, but will be able to check other people's blogs from my phone!  I will get you all updated when I return early next week.

Happy Weekend everyone!  :)

Darts

This game is really awesome TERRIBLE.  I have been darted to floor MULTIPLE times today, which requires me to fall to the ground regardless of where I am, what I'm doing, or what I'm holding.  The last (and final) time I was darted today I was elbowed in the head resulting in a major CRACKING noise coming from my neck. 

I promptly made an announcement to the entire team that I am now in a "dart free bubble" and will not be affected by their attempts to dart me.

That's all.

A Blue Ribbon & the Amazon

The girls performed their Home Routine last night and this afternoon before lunch, they received their critique sheets and a ribbon - a BLUE RIBBON, which means SUPERIOR!  They did a great job and were really excited with the results.

This afternoon after turn technique class, the girls played a few team building games.  One of them was where the entire team had a pair of imaginary shoes - but only one pair.  Each girl could only wear these special shoes ONE time.  The shoes could not be thrown across the Amazon - they had to be worn by a girl on our team to get back to the rest of the team.  The girls had to figure out how to get this done - and man was it funny.  Evidently, this video is too long for me to upload to Blogger and imbed in my post - but you can watch it here. 

I am always so proud when I sit back and watch them work together, whether it be something big like winning State, or something small like crossing the Amazon - their teamwork amazes me :)

Good Morning from UDA

We're having a good day already!  The girls were up late last night working together on the Team Routine they learned yesterday.  Their mission is to take the basic choreography and change it into a routine we could perform at a game - formations, ripples, etc.  It's always amazing to me to see what they come up with.

Kim & Karly are working on rhinestoning our new Platinum sweatshirts...they are so cute!  :)

And lastly, our team is going to have a VERY long day.  But these two, are really going to be pushing their limits today.

 

My two white ballerinas will be gettin' down today in Hip Hop 4.  I can hardly wait to see!  We love to watch the girls grow and push themselves out of their security boxes.  :)

More to come later - check back!

PVP camp

I'm going to keep updating the blog for the Platinum parents back home so they can keep updated on all the fun going on here.

For those of you without a clue as to what I'm talking about - my sister and I coach a high school dance team, in the summer they attend a 4 day camp where they learn lots of dances and essentially go 8 AM - 8 PM.  We also stay in college dorms.  Fun for the girls - not so fun for the adults.  But we make it fun and end up having a great time. :)

Anyway, I'll be posting pics and video as the week goes on so everyone back home can keep up with our fun.  :)

This video is hilarious because they had JUST gone over the rules to this game called "Dance Down".  In the rules, it states that when there is a "coach is coming" command, you cannot move until they give a "take five" command.  Watch what happens when my AWESOME listeners get tricked by the Head Instructor.

*Sorry for the shakey video - I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants and couldn't stay still!!

Ohhhh, they make me laugh.  :)

....check!

As many of you may or may not know, my sister and I coach a high school dance team here in our hometown. Actually, we started this dance team at our alma mater Pleasant Valley a few years after we graduated and it has been SO much fun to watch it grow into the amazing program that it is. I very much enjoy my time with the team and it has provided me an outlet besides the studio for my passion for dance.

This year, our team has helped me check another item off my "things to do before I die" list. This list was created in my head when I was in high school and has evolved and changed as my life has changed and I grow older and dream bigger dreams. This year, at only their 4th appearance at the Iowa State Dance and Drill Team competition...WE WON!! We are the Class 5 State Champions in jazz!!! It has been 4 days and I still get goosebumps when I type those words.

I will never, in all my life, forget the looks on their faces. I will never forget the sound of them screaming and shrieking. I will never forget them diving over eachother to hug eachother and us. I will never forget the days following when they were completely satisfied - everything they had worked for, we had. Being a dance team, it is not often we get alot of attention in our school. It was SO heartwarming to hear all the positive comments and read the congratulations emails from teachers and building/district administration. It's so amazing to watch the girls be commended for all their hard work and dedication, even before anyone was watching them.

I am both humbled and honored to be able to be a part of such an amazing and life-altering experience in their lives. And as a self-proclaimed, type A, list maker....I am LOVING that I can cross another thing off my life-long list!!