Maddies dance intensive with Fusion

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Maddie had a fun week of dance at the studio today with the traveling dance company Fusion. They are really amazing and are so good with the kids. Maddie ended up going in late today after not feeling well last night and this morning but around 11 decided she really wanted to go in and when I asked her if she was sure she said its just my dream (In almost tears) and who am I to mess with a girls dreams?! I stayed at the studio just in case she didnt feel good but she did great and the teachers and girls were so excited to see her. I had a really nice conversation with someone from our studio saying what a great addition she is to the company and how happy they are to have her and how great she is doing, what a great dancer she is and then was thanked for sharing her with them! It was really really sweet! Maddie had a great time but I could tell by the end that she was done, she wasnt all chipper like she had been but at the end they get to perform all their dances that they learn and she really wanted to. The first couple I could tell she was fine and then you could tell she just didnt feel great and in between she looked like she was going to fall asleep. Poor thing just did not feel great. But she did great and did have a great time she said!! Here are the videos of the dances!!

Oh my she is cute!

Im always afraid to talk about when Malia has had a sweet streak because it usually means the next day she proves me wrong.. but she has been quite sweet lately, she has her moments but there havent been and time outs lately. I think I finally realized a couple weeks ago that the way I was parenting her wasnt working and that I really needed to change myself and my reactions if I wanted any results. So I have been focusing on how I react to her behavior and it really seems to be helping with her naughtiness!!

Shes been very loving and sweet and there havent been any major meltdowns woohoo!!

She just looked so darn cute today that I had to take her outside for a few pics and I guess since it has been awhile she was ready to go and perform for the camera, she was being just do dang cute!!

The sun was bright haha and so then she was hiding from it... love these!

Kaden has been a busy boy with friends and activities, so he had a little catching up to do today and I made him start with the yard!

Maddie had a fun week in store for her. This was her first week of intensives at dance, the Fusion dance company came to her studio for a in house convention of sorts and she was so dang excited. After 6 hours of dance 2 days in a row she came home exhausted yesterday and wasnt feeling well, I thought it was from not eating or drinking enough but it soon became apparent that it was more than that, I think she has a little flu or something and now she is home rather than finishing day 3 of the intensive. I feel so bad for her because she was so dang excited after a couple week break. And today they were going to perform their dances that they learned for the parents. But I talked to the studio and they said they are so impressed with her dancing and hard work and what a great addition she is to the studio and that made her day!! We are hoping she might be able to go in later today if she is feeling better but its not looking likely :(

Girlfriend gots a new do

Well Madison has been begging for a hair cut forever and I kept putting it off for different reasons and excuses.. one being recital and after that I just couldnt think of anything else so we finally got her and Malia in for a cut!
Maddie loves her friend Abby's cute short hair but I was relieved when she decided she wanted it cut to her collar bone! We went in with an idea and a pic and Maddie was so freaking excited to get it cut she was all giggles. When it was done she said "oh Im a hair model" I dont think she has spent to much time away from her mirror the last couple of days because she loves it so much. She was really excited at how much easier it was to wash it and comb it, and it was super fast for me to curl it.. bonus!
She had at least 6 inces cut off.. I have a pic of a huge chunk of hair and her and Malias before and afters but they wont load for some reason :( But here are the unofficial befores right before we left to get it cut.

I have been letting Malias grow out too, what can I say I have like 2 inches of hair but I love my girls to have long hair! But she has had this weird chunk of hair at the back of her neck that has been a few inches shorter than the rest and it just seemed to get worse and worse with the difference, so I decided we needed to cut hers too and even it all out back there!
Well I love her cut too! Its so darling, we through it some shape and texture and she says she looks like the sunshine, which I think means she loves it too!

The sun was way to bright!

Looking way to grown up!

Gotta love the wind?

Well they sure did the other day! They wanted to go out and the wind was ripping but I said umm sure? So they filled up a water bottle with watter and threw it around and Maddie kept letting the wind blow her over. I didnt care what they were doing because they were having fun together and now that Kaden is approaching his teen hood I am sure these moments will be farther and fewer between so I relish in these sweet sibling moments!

Summer Fun

We have been a very busy summer so far! Between dance and baseball I have felt like we are constantly in the car.. who said summer was supposed to be relaxing?
Well now that dance recitals are over it should slow down a little bit. But we found out yesterday that Maddies audition went really good and she made it into the Dance Dimensions company and will be one of the their "Rising Stars" She was so excited and was even more excited to see that a couple of her friends made it into the same group!!
There will be a few summer intensives that she will do but otherwise she gets a pretty good break!
In between all of this craziness I have surprised myself by how often we have been going to the pool! Im not much of a pool person but the convenience is so nice that we have been going multiple times a week which is pretty much how often I go in a year with the kids!
Maddie is becoming a really good swimmer and Malia is a natural and Kaden is having a lot of fun getting to include friends!

The Recital

The girls recital this last weekend was the best recital I have ever been to! The costumes were fantastic, the dances were amazing, the way it was ran was first class. It was just really really great.. exhausting but amazing really!
We were a bit nervous how Malia would do because she has a little bit of a tude sometimes when people try to get her to do things.. kinda weird but she decides that shes just not going to move! But she did GREAT! They way they do things is you leave your child in the back, they get to watch the performance on a TV as it goes and then they dance and you wait until the first act is over and then you go pick them up. Well she did great! And she loved it! She danced the whole dance and we could see that she was singing as they went! It was adorable! I cant wait to get their video so we can actually watch it, since our version is ummm not so great!

Maddie of course was great! She had no nervousness she was just really excited and ready to go! She was in the matinee with Malia and had 3 dances. She did so great. I cant even tell you how much fun it is to watch her in person, she seriously has so much personality jumping out of her that you just smile and want to join.. or at least I do!! During her Conga dance the people behind us were talking about her and afterwards because we shouted at her and were cheering the lady bent forward and asked which daughter was ours and when I told her she said OMG she is the best one, she is so good, congratulations! It was really neat!
In the evening she had 2 dances, 1 in both acts. She seriously is such a little star. She just eats that stage for breakfast! During the rehearsal she had a couple mess ups but she nailed everything! I love watching how much fun she has during these performances!

After it was over and she was dressed we were walking down the very crowded hall with another parent and her little friend when the company owners daughter Amanda (Who is a very well known dancer/choreographer in California but was here for the show) walked by, turned around and stopped me and asked if Maddie was my daughter, I said yes and she just started shaking her head up and down and then said shes good, shes good, shes good. I said thank you so much and that she loves it and she said no really shes good, watch out for her shes a firecracker on stage. It just made our night! It is one thing to have parents compliment her but to have someone who knows dance and doesnt know us to pull me aside in front of a bunch of other parents and say that really meant the world to me and when I told her she was so excited too!

It was their 25th anniversary and this company really has it down. I am so happy with the move we made and I really hope that Maddie continues to grow and dance with them! She auditioned yesterday to be part of the company so we will see what happens!