Last weekends results and this weeks blah, blah, blah

Okay, I should back up to last Thursday. Thursday was the HS Choral performance. It went okay. A little chaotic, but okay. The kids in this school really need to find a sense of performance. They lack that everywhere. Band, Danceline, winterguard, chorus. They have all these ideas and are a great bunch of kids, somehow they always pull it out, but its chaos getting there. Well I rushed home after the show, packed, cleaned house, and did laundry. DH was not home because of his big audit so I was flying solo. No big surprise there. Friday morning I get up and meet at Misti's to take off for the beach. I drive down there making excellent time and it was actually peaceful(despite the tv's not working). Tried to keep up with Misti but did not really happen. No big deal because DH gave me directions. Or so I thought. Seriously, I was ill by the time I made it to the hotel. Its okay. Nothing a margarita can not handle. Its National Margarita Day anyway! Dinner at Lulu's! Love it! After the kids went to bed I had a great time out with Misti and DH. We even tumbled in the sand! The next morning we all headed out to the Competition.
The kids did a great job. I mean they relly did. It was a decent way to end the season. Rye is already talking about next year. He can not wait. We headed home Sunday. DH had come down Friday night and we decided to stay the extra night. We ate a Lulu's again and drove home the next day.
It was an exhausting weekend and my week really dragged at the beginning. Monday we had a decent Winterguard practice. Big Competition coming up. We are headed to Tennessee Saturday. Very long day and our first performance in Scholastic B. It should be interesting and there should be some great schools there. Can not wait to watch! Thats it for now. My brain is fried because of lack of sleep. Had a lot on my mind lately. So later!

Quiet around here this week

At least on my blog. Its been really busy. We leave tommorrow for Orange Beach at 7:30 am. I am not packed, my house is a mess, I have to take the dog to the kennel , and it looks like my day will be full! I am working out this morning because I have too! Next I have Chorus rehersal today. The HS Chorus is singing tonight at the Theatre, its their annual Sweet Singing performance. I have been working hard all week with them adding choreography into their songs. One week was definetly not enough time to do this in. I am invited to come back in April/May and I hope to have more time. This is very rewarding work though and I love it. Ms. Melissa should be back to her clogging classes tonight so I can go and help out with the show. Yes, Dynamic Edition was kicked off ABDC last week but they had such a good run and I know they are proud of their accomplishments! Good job guys! Melissa I missed you!!!! So did your students! Any way , that is my day and somewhere I need to teach my Ballet class get my house in shape and pack! The reward is sweet though. The weekend at the beach! Dinner and drinks at Florabama Friday night with friends. Cheerleaders going crazy on Saturday. I think we may stay a extra night. RElax on the way back Sunday. Maybe take a detour to see my friend Ky.........especially if she has the baby this weekend!!! Girl take care. Love you!

Anyway, thats it for now. I am working on another post about Italy, but each day is like a novel. So I will get that done and post it soon. As months go by the memories slowly filter out of my head so I have to get this done. I have been going through my ticket/paper stash from the trip to refresh!

Ciao!

Results from Competition this weekend!

My winterguard group went to Oak Grove, Birminham for competition. It was just a crazy unorganized competition, but they did well! We personally thought it was a good performance. So did the judges apparently. We got 1st place in Novice class, plus a bump up to Scolastic B class. A little more competition in this class for sure! This was our ultimate goal for the year, but when it did not happen at Field Day we thought for sure it wouldnt. Very happy for them!


Here is some cool photos I took of the warmups! It was a beautiful warm day!!!!





Unfortunately Cheerleading did not go so well but on a positive note we saw what was out there. There are some major competitors out there! We were in Birmingham on Sunday for that competition. The girls and my boy tried very hard. They did not give it their best and were not focused. Still I am proud of them mostly for getting out there being the serious underdogs. I came away from that competition wondering what we could do different. Our studio needs some help in just the terms of space. A better place to practice. We also need to get pumped up. The parents and the kids. We also need to find a way for the kids to understands this in Competition. They need to have fun but also get focused. I believe I will face the same challenges with my upcoming competition dance group. I already have this challenge with Winterguard.

A few things.

A few things today.

First of all.....Laugh at this!



I laughed so hard I spewed my coffee.

Also I found this. Dynamic Edition on the Ellen Show! By the way they did awesome last night! Vote 1-877-RJCREW4. By the way Melissa your classes are going good, but I sure could use your mad skills back! LOL ! Love you!




And last, but not least

Go FPHS Winterguard. We head to Oak Grove tommorrow! Wish us luck! We are back with a vengence and have completely finished the show! I can not wait! I made you something!

One more thing to add. America's Best Dance Crew

Watch tonight and Vote. 9pm central on MTV. Vote for Dynamic Edition. This is Melissa's group who I happen to work with. In fact I am covering her clogging classes while she is gone. Big shoes to fill. Melissa is the dark haired girl. They are doing a fantastic job despite being very different from the rest.

Check them out here.




This is the best I could do, most of the youtubes were removed for copyright issues. But you can check them out on Myspace, Facebook and MTV!



We miss you Melissa! Good Luck!



Here is me an Misti getting our votes in! LOL

Tour of Italy(Well, the parts we saw!) Part 1

Since I did such a lazy job of updating my blog for way to many months I have never written anything about my trip. So I have decided to take you on a little tour of it. Mostly for my own memory and so I can have it all recorded for when I finally do scrapbook it! Seriously want to get this done. But it may be Summer before I do! So I will do just a little bit at a time. Here goes.

November 2008

Chris and I said goodbye to our darling children(this was the most nerve racking part for me!) and flew from Bham to Phoenix. Where we spent 2 days shopping, seeing friends and family. I spent a great night out with my friend Laura. We ate dinner, shopped, and generally acted silly. Just like old times! OUr plane left at 8pm ish from Phoenix to London Heathrow. My sister T, my brother in law J, Chris and I impatiently waited to load the plane. Once on the plane, my BIL dutifully handed out prescription sleeping pills(don't judge me) and this is all I remember. I kid you not. I do not remember taking off , I do not remember a meal(which apparently I denied), I do not remember anything. Until about 2 hours before the plane landed. If you ever get a chance to fly like this. Go for it! Felt great. I was totally rested if not a little disoriented!

Heathrow, London Airport -- 6 hours layover. Nothing more to be said other than, we played the DS(brain age game), Jason practiced Airport Yoga, read, ate, and looked at each other. Miserable!!! Next time get a day layover and go get a hotel and at least see some of London!!!

Next flight was from London to Rome. This was about a 3.5 hour flight. It was night time could not see anything, and I could not sleep. So I read, but I was so ready to be off planes!

We arrived in Rome(Fiumicino) airport in the middle of night, which is a little creepy. Not the best thing to do in my opinion. We were bombarded by people trying to give us a lift and all were looking pretty shady. But who knows. We hailed a cab out front and took a 30 minute drive to our hotel. This was one of the scariest car rides I have ever been on. There are not alot of rules when driving in Rome. But these are the ones I think they have.

Rule #1 - Just go, don't look, just do it. And do not make eye contact. Look straight ahead and go. This applies to walking and driving. If you do not make eye contact with the oncoming cars they have to stop for you.
Rule #2- Do Not stop, only yield.
Rule #3- Have good breaks for when you need to stop which only happens when someone makes eye contact and continues to walk, thus breaking rule #1
Rule #4- Know a few shouts, hand jestures and make sure your horn works. You need these for the dumb people that break rule #1.
Rule #5- It is perfectly acceptable to rear end someone to squeeze into a parking spot. Which is why they all drive mini cars in the first place.

Some how though, we arrive safely at our hotel. The Kennedy Hotel. Thats all for now. I will give you another installment later!

Knoxville Cheer Competition- Soffee Open

FPSPA Cheer Stars did such a awesome job yesterday!!! I am so proud of my boy! There were two boys in the entire show. Rye and the kid who was about 18 and fabulous! He was out of this world. He did such a great thing for my son though. He came up shook his hand and said what a great job Rye did! I was so proud and I think it made Rye so happy! We had such a great day. The drive was good and the competition went by fast. Some great groups there! Our kids did such a great job competing against some huge groups! They stuck every move and looked wonderful. Still they got 3rd place, but they only came in 2 points behind the group in front of them. Plus they got a bid to nationals which is a great compliment! I am so glad Rye is having a great time. He is such a great little athlete.