Birthday Parties!

Hmmm...my last blog post was last July, what happened?  I'm blaming facebook - it is just too easy to 'surf' facebook instead of doing anything productive.  And I'll admit to being a horrid procrastinator.   Maybe I will start doing better....tomorrow.

So this blog is linked to The Dance Company website as a way to showcase dance photos and videos - but I also like to keep family up to date on photos of our kids!  So this post is a combination of the two - Jalyn's Belated Birthday Party at the Dance Studio.  We have been having lots of fun parties lately, and after putting off Jalyn's November Birthday party until May (who said I was a procrastinator?), she finally decided to have a Fashion Makeover Roller Skating Karaoke Party - it was way fun.  Here's some pics...

We had fashion.

We danced.

We had makeup...or war paint in some cases...

Silly poses for the camera,

And Friends.

Did I mention Karaoke on Roller Skates?

Birthday Parties at The Dance Company are a really fun way to celebrate with lots of kids, without having lots of kids at your house!!  They can run and go crazy and you don't have to worry about spills or broken furniture.  We can Roller Skate, sing Karaoke, Dress Up, Dance, Tumble, Cheer - and Celebrate!

Happy Half-Birthday to this wacky girl!

Summer Fun

I am not ready for summer to come to an end.

Why does it have to go so fast? I suppose it's because we're running from one activity to the next and time flies! We finished our 6th Summer Dance Camp last week - in my opinion it was the funnest year of Summer Camps yet. We had a great group of kids and I thoroughly enjoyed spending the summer with them!

Here's some pics of one of our favorite family activities this summer. Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows on the new patio!

We've lived in our house for 3 years, so there are a lot of projects we still want to get to. In May I convinced Phil to move the garden shed to the backyard so I could put in a patio for our grill and table. We have had this chiminea - not sure how to spell that - for a long long time but it hasn't ever had a 'home'. We have loved it this summer in the evenings!

Here's a good pic of the patio. Its usually in the shade and a great place to hang out to grill or sit by the fire.

In June we went to the Smoky Hill River Festival in Salina. We had never been - and were surprised at how kid-friendly the atmosphere was! There was crafts and face painting for kids, all free, and a childrens entertainment stage. The music was also great and the aisle of food vendors went on and on. Any kind of food you can imagine...and if you know me very well you know that was my favorite part of the weekend!!

And here's my Dad and Jalyn on the 4th of July!

I know there are a lot of other fun pictures on my camera...if only I could find my camera. It has disappeared and I have a bad feeling an 8 year old girl left it out in the yard. The day before it rained. We have turned the house upside down...so I'm crossing my fingers!

Garage Sale...my place...tomorrow

Be there! My house tomorrow from 3-6:30pm. Thats FRIDAY only! Jace did major cleaning in his room and there are lots of 'boy toys' like cars and trucks, dirtbike magazines, books about legos, star wars and tractors! Lots of kids clothes, a golf bag, lots of books for grown ups and kids, an antique dresser, small table, kitchen stuff, 2 kids tents that are made of thin PVC pipe and have characters on the plastic cover - Cat in the Hat and something else.....

I'm totally stoked about parking in my garage next week. Phil is laughing right now because he knows this is probably not going to happen. In the 13 yrs we've been married my car has never been parked in a garage. But hey, I can dream, right?

Oh My!

Oh my - I haven't blogged in a long time! 'oh my' - who says that anymore? I also have the tendency to say 'ee gads' and 'yikes'. Maybe I spent too much time with Shaggy and Scooby when my kids were younger.

We've been keeping busy with projects around the house, like building a patio, dyeing my sofa brown, painting the garage white and the shed green, and even painting for a few other people! We've also spent time at the Smoky Hill River Festival in Salina, Pillsbury Crossing in Manhattan, Milford Lake and lots of softball games! Who has time to blog?

But I did want to mention that Princess Camp Week begins tomorrow! It is so much fun for the little ones - and there's still time to enroll! In Clay Center we're meeting the mornings of June 16-18 and in Concordia the following week, June 23-25. We dance, do crafts, read stories, play games and eat snacks all with a Princess Theme! Here's some photos from last year!

Hope to see you there!!

Backstage Photos

Here's some more backstage photos from a most Awesome evening in Concordia! Your Recital was beautiful and everyone did a super-fantastic job!! I don't have the official photos from Jamie yet, so here are some scenes from backstage - there are a lot of photos floating around on Facebook too - check us out, and become a fan, by searching The Dance Company of Clay Center and Concordia! I posted lots of pics, and a video from the Concordia Basketball Performance. (still working on all the others)

Also wanted to say THANK YOU for the Ipod Speakers!! It was very thoughtful, and I appreciate you pulling together to do something so special! I have never had an Ipod - so I'm still figuring it all out! Yes, I'm a a little behind! But I'm very excited, THANK YOU Very Much!!!

Concordia Spring Recital...this weekend!!

I can't believe it - but our End of Year Recital is this weekend in Concordia! It's bittersweet...I'm excited for the Recital and to see all the kids shine! And I'm ready for our Summer Break!! (who isn't??) But I can't believe our Dance Season is almost over! Wow - hasn't the year gone by fast!! (I say that every year!!!) We've had a great one - I'm so proud of all the kids! And we have a great show in store for you this weekend! Our Recital is Saturday evening at the Brown Grand Theatre in Concordia. 7pm - hope to see you there! Here's some Concordia Snapshots from last year!

Backstage in Clay Center

We made it thru another awesome Dance Recital in Clay Center! The best one yet, I would say!! I am so proud of all the kids - they really did their best and had fun doing it! I am not good about remembering to snap those Kodak moments backstage...but here are a few pictures!

This is a side-ways view of our Dance Company Logo cookies - it was part of my gift on Sunday - Thank You! They were delicious by the way!! And Thank You SOOOOO very much for the Pink Ipod!! I have never had one, but borrow Phil's once in awhile. (his isn't pink.) So I'm going to have fun adding music - and it will be much more convenient when taking music to the studio. What a GREAT idea! Thank you!!!!!

Here's Jalyn dressed up and ready to go on Saturday morning for rehearsal.

Nice crocks, Ballerina Girl.

We had lots of help backstage this year - Thanks to all of you! Our TV wouldn't work to watch the show from backstage, so they colored...played ring around the rosie - what fun!

It was a great Recital and I've had lots of compliments - the kids really shined!! Thank You!!

In other news..... Jace graduated from DARE on Tuesday:

Jalyn found lots of baby snakes in my rock garden...right by our bedroom window...:(

and Sammi Jo jumped into the bathtub with Jalyn last night. This is her 'disturbed' face:

We're gearing up for Round II -- Recital in Concordia this weekend! It's at the Brown Grand Theatre on Saturday evening, the 25th, at 7pm. I'll post some more pictures tomorrow - Hope to see you there!!