{Friend Send Off}

The Stardust dance tech girls sent Maisey off with a trophy, balloon, and a whole lot of love, oh and sad songs!

We love the All Star Girls and will miss them!

 

 One of the sweetest things, the "big girls" (All Star teens) came in and hugged Maisey goodbye. She was flattered.  

The FINAL p-a-r-t-y.

My girl loves to skate like I did at her age. With all the time we've spent at Skate World, it was only fitting to hold a final friend farewell there. This was a good turn even though we missed a couple friends.

Maisey's best friend Lexie (and her dear mother of course), hosted a sleepover in her honor last night and she's gone at another tonight. It's not typical that she would be gone 2 nights in a row, but with 4 nights to go, she's enjoying the socialization.  

 

And, that's a wrap. We had many mini gatherings, girls nights, double dates, and happy hours too to send us off. It's kind of like a band-aid, and I'm ready to get on the road and settle in now.

 

 

We will miss everyone and love visitors. It will be the best stay ever!

And, that's a wrap!!!

 

{Farewell}

Last Saturday we invited family and close friends for a farewell. We had 82 attend and that wasn't even the tip of the iceberg... We are beyond BLESSED with supportive family and many, many friends!

 Cousins Ruby (15) Maisey (9 1/2) and Peyton (11)

 The girls and boys, Elliot (6), Ryley (4), and Colby (10)

 Cousin Marlisa, Dave, and their beautiful girls Miranda (11) and Michelle (8)

 My paternal grandma Sherry, great aunt Dottie, great uncle Evert, and grandpa Mel

Sister in-laws (Jill and Carey)

I was too distracted to take many pictures but at least I got a few!

{Final Convention}

 

Maisey's last convention.

There were several well known dancers featured on television shows like "So You Think You Can Dance" leading the classes. It was a total treat to see them in person.

 I don't watch tv (well, one to two shows a week at most), and so I did my research on them and was impressed.

 Josie and Maisey

 Michaela, Maisey, and Melissa

 Ellie, Devin, Taylor, and Maisey

 Devin, Maisey, and future All Star Dancer baby Vivienne

 The line up- Maisey was in Oregon Ballroom A

 

 Twitch and Allison Holker (the sweetest couple)!

Some of the All Star girls.

{Ped Goodbye}

Since our move to Beaverton 5.5 years ago we have had the best pediatrician, Dr. Hillary Devoe. Today the kids had final "goodbye" checkups!

Here they are before the pain.

 1 wart removal later for each and kindergarten shots (5, but 3 pokes) later...

 A sleeping boy in the Nike employee store cart. Neither of my children had ever passed out like this, anywhere but bed or their car seats really.

After lots of complaining (and they deserved too), Ry passed out.

Here he is after the cat nap- playful as always!

His tiny wart on his finger had him holding it like a gun the rest of the evening.

{Spotlight}

I do not know what my problem is... I get to these dance competitions, I am there for hours, and I manage to forget to take pictures! They don't let you take them during the performance, so I am cutting myself a little slack. Today I actually bought some, although they are low resolution and are supposedly for Facebook.

I hope they are blogworthy which means photo book worthy.

 Awards

 (Our company is actually not pictured, but the MC in the pink pants was totally fun)!

 

 Maisey was nominated to accept some team awards- Her three teams came in 2nd 2x (Ruby) and 3rd 1x (Emerald). 

Here is Maisey accepting a category award for Jazz "Upside Down."

Stay tuned for more pictures.

My sweet niece Peyton accompanied me for the very long 10 hour day. What a trooper! 

The girls hanging in the portable dance studio, aka All Star bus.

Goodbye bus. You are so cool and the daughter of the Billings owner asked her daddy for one! Jealous! 

 

This was Maisey's final competition before moving. I am so bummed she will miss out on the rest of the season; however, she is in good spirits. She can also get some more time with technique before starting anew.

{Too Easy}

It's too easy to skip blogging these days with Facebook and Instagram, but it's still something I want to do for the sake of journaling. And, I have lots of loved ones who don't use social media. 

SO, if this is a bore, no hard feelings, cruise on by!

{Valentines Day}

Valentines Day was VERY uneventful here.

So calm, I think we need to reschedule it! Monday looks like a good day with no school. 

Chad and I were both tired from being up a lot with Ryley the night before. Poor guy missed his school parties. He has a nasty cough and fever.

 

 All I really wanted was a nap and I got it!

 

I did enjoy some time with my gal Lisa. She treated me to a pedi and we had lunch. We always have fun no matter what we do together.

 

The kids loved their Valentines love, and we had the traditional Krispy Kreme filled heart doughnuts for breakfast.

 

The night ended with dance (typical), and school work.

 

I hope you felt Valentines love!

 

{Washington Girls Weekend}

This past weekend Maisey had a competition and convention in Tacoma.  After spending the first day in Seattle at the AG store, we arrived to this fun view of the Tacoma dome.

 

We didn't use this much, but the style was fun.

Ready for a long day of dance. She had to eat at 7am and danced until 3:30pm each day. On Saturday she competed with only one of her teams. The girls did great and it was fun to watch the video replay since it's hard to catch everything the first time.

 I went with some dance moms to Pikes Market on Sat. while the girls were in the convention.

It was fun to hang out kid free.

 

 The gum wall.

 These grapes had a sign on them "Big --- Grapes." They were big.

 Maisey was excited Aunt Sally, Angel, Randy, and Peyton came to watch. It was great to see them and have dinner together.

 Maisey's team got second silver star.

Only fitting to give Maisey a ballerina. I love my little dancer.

{Final Hoorah}

Was this my last glimpse of her childhood?

For a girl who has never like toys, I haven't minded her American Girl phase at all. It is the only thing about her that reminds me of a little girl. Sometimes I think her spirit is older than mine! 

We were in town for a dance competition and convention, so we made, likely, our last trip to the store. Hopefully, the girls in UT like AG dolls since that is the only time she plays with them.

She bought her third and last doll, I'm sure.

{Girls}

Maisey's been getting in all her girl time before we move. We are also trying to use all the gift certificates and Groupons I've purchased.

 

Things sure have changed. Look at all these electronics these girlies have! Kids today!

Too cute!

Horsing around like girls do!

{Catch up}

Maisey has always loved fashion and her favorite store is Forever 21.
Like the patterned fishnets?

Where have we been? Everywhere! And, for the next couple weeks we are booked solid with dance. The competition season is in full swing and Maisey is LOVING it! It is so fun to see kids this joyous.

Above is her hip hop team outfit.

 

A couple weeks ago Maisey officially fell in love with hip hop. She has taken it for years, but she was ecstatic spend a whole weekend doing nothing but that.

Above, Tabitha and Napolean "Nappytabs." They were AMAZING! It was so SO cool watching hundreds of kids (3 levels) dance and learn choreography so quickly.

Ryley LOVED watching too, especially seeing all the boys.

 

The Junior level

 

Maisey's hip hop team minus 1.

*

 

One new and exciting thing this month has  been teaching co-op. One of Ryley's two preschools is an AMAZING co-op teaching the "Smart Cookies" curriculum. It has been so fun to teach from perfectly articulated lessons with this bunch of delightful kids.

Costumes came into play the week we talked about "People Homes."
In the first picture with wood they made houses and a neighborhood.
The lessons even tell you what to have for snack. This week they made pb & j houses and graham cracker smores houses another time. The lessons on homes were my favorite.

 

*

This past weekend Chad and I (thanks Williams) went to Florence to celebrate my parents silver 25th anniversary.
My dad remarried when I was 5 and it was pretty cool remembering back to the wedding and reception. 

The original beautiful wedding cake.

The replica, obviously not as pretty.

My brother Daniel and I. I wished he was there for this.

Some of the part guests. My parents, brother, sister, grandpa, grandma, Chad and I.

*

Chad worked up an appetite packing, or was it unpacking. He is trying to help and really hates when I need him to unpack things we still need! 

A burger from Helvetia tavern did the trick. It had been over 10 years since we visited there and so it was on the list of things to do before we move. 

Ryley has been eager to pack to!

Recycling our shredded docs- great packing material!

I hope the next post won't be so far apart, but I will do my best in between my last term, work,  dance, packing, and everything in the middle like F-U-N!!!

Lastly, to our loyal customers of over 200 Girl Scout cookies, we are NOT selling this year after Maisey resigned and committed to 13 dance classes a week. We appreciate your loyalty and hope a new cheerful scout comes your way!