In case you didn't get an email....

Hey gang,
Sara's Dance Team made it to the final 20 in America's Got Talent Video contest. It's time for America to vote...go here.. http://www.youtube.com/agt and you can vote. I'd love it if you'd vote for West Springfield Dance Team. :) If they win the video submission contest, they get to go to LA and perform live and compete for the big prize...$$ :) Please pass the link along to all your friends and they can pass it along to their friends and so on..and so on..and so on.. ;) Oh, you can vote every day until July 8!! :)

Thanks for your help and I hope you all are having a wonderful day! :) Hugs and kisses...Cindy :)

storms and painting

I'm finishing the painting in the next few days. It looks so good. I love fresh paint. Right now I'm working on my bedroom. It's taking me a long time since I'm having the move furniture around, tarp EVERYTHING, and going over each wall with a second coat cuz I'm covering up a different color. I don't mind, but I want it done...I want to just be able to look at it. :)

Last night some crazy storms blew through. I'm not sure if the thunder woke me up, but I stayed up a while and listened to it. I'm a little tired today, but hopefully I'll get to bed early tonight.

Dance practice has started for Sara already. We're having a fund raiser tomorrow at Outback. Yummy, but I'm not sure if I'll get to eat. Last year I spent most of the time outside with the kids holding signs. We'll be doing lots of carwashes and dance camps over the next year...ugh, but it's nice to fundraise instead of having to fork out the entire chunk of money it takes to be on the team, and Sara can help contribute...that's the best part.

Anisa is in WI right now for a couple of weeks. She went out to visit friends and go to Country USA. She's super excited about that, and will probably have lots of pics to share when she gets home. She's been seeing friends and riding Aaron's dirt bike. Poor Aaron. He probably hasn't had much time on it cuz Anisa is a bike hog.

Not much else is going on here. Sara's last day of school is Monday..technically Tues. is the last day of school, but I'm told that NOBODY goes on that day. I guess the teachers would be happy to not have anyone there so they can clean up their classrooms and not have to come back in. I'm not sure what our summer plans are...we are not taking our Ireland trip...long story and I'm pretty bitter about it. I'm sure we'll come up with something. My bff is moving to Texas, so I know I will be making a few trips down there, possibly one this summer...we'll see. Sara has a week-long babysitting gig lined up to earn money for her Wisconsin trip in a couple of weeks. I'm planning to go to the Capital for the 4th of July this year. It MIGHT be our last chance if we get to move back home next summer. So, that's my update. Not much excitement, but that's ok. Life is exciting enough without all the added stuff. :) Hope everyone is great. love and kisses!! :)

Our 3 girls

One of my cute little friends just bought an Element. I'm so happy and I hope she loves it just like we love our little Foxy girl. She also asked me to post a pic of the new little preciousness by her big sisters (yes, you all know I'm a freak and all the vehicles are names and gendered...whatever!). So, here they are. Baby, Foxy and Little Girl (still haven't figured out her appropriate name). You can see how itty bitty she is, but she's oh so fun to drive. :) And she only sips gas unlike our other 3 rigs, which is great at STILL over 4 bucks a gallon.

The Arnold Family visit

We had company from Sturgeon Bay about 2 weeks ago, but now it seems like forever ago. Randall, Mary, Em and Olivia came to stay with us over a long weekend. We had a COMPLETE BLAST~ It was so fun to see our VERY FUN, AND AWESOME friends. ;) We totally exhausted ourselves by seeing as much as humanly possible in 5 days. Monuments and Memorials, National Cathedral, the Capital, Library of Congress, Arlington and we even got an air show in at Andrews AFB. Oh, and a shopping trip too. :) heehee

It all started on Wed, they arrived in DC in the afternoon. We got them safely home and got Popeye's chicken, red beans and rice and biscuits for dinner at home so we could catch up. The next day we headed into the city to see the Library of Congress and do the Capital tour. The big time bummer about the capital tour was that they now do not allow ANY, NONE, ZILCH food or liquids inside no matter what. We threw away a bunch of food and 5 brand new water bottles. Ticked us off, but we wanted to go inside. Lucky for us we had already had hot dogs from a cart! :) Or wieners, as we so lovingly called them. :) On our tour, we found out that we could get passes from our senators to go into the Senate gallery. Yeah, you know the place where you see on CSpan?? We got to sit up in the balcony and see what happens there. The day we were there, not much was happening, but it was still cool. We rode into DC on the Metro so the A Fam could experience THAT. :) I still think it's kinda fun to ride metro.

That night we headed to Chipotle because it was also Sara's 17^th birthday. She was a pretty happy chickto get a Chipotle gift card and a Robek's (her favorite smoothie place) gift card and a pair of Toms shoes. Click on Toms to see what THAT'S all about. :) Her pals, Hannah and Dori joined her for her delicious burrito.

Friday we headed to Andrews AFB to check out the air show. It was SOOOOO.COOOOL! I really liked the Thunderbirds and their extremely loud jet blasts! Oh, and Travis' plane. :) The weather was perfect. Overcast and cool, but that also meant we didn't prepare for sun rays! We all got a little crispy. Em got super crispy. When we are all done looking at planes, we found out that Anisa was out of school and wandering around Georgetown, so we decided it was the perfect change to hit Georgetown Cupcakes – famously known as DC Cupcakes on TLC. So, we headed to that side of town, found Anisa and her school pals, got our cupcakes and figured since we were so close to Arlington National cemetary, we'd take a chance and see if it was still open (it was late afternoon by then). We got there with an hour to spare! We went to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, then looked at the headstones on our way to the old Arlington House where we got a fabulous view of DC. By then, it was time to head out since the park was closing. We found our way to the Iwo Jima statue and took pictures before a huge school group showed up.

Saturday, we went to the National Cathedral (one of the Nolen family's favorite places). There was a wedding going on at the end of our trip, but while we were wandering around looking at the cathedral, the musicians were practicing. There were 2 violinists and the organ player. OH MAN. The music sounded so good in that church. Wow. We sat and watched them practice for a bit, then took the gang downstairs to show them where Helen Keller was buried, then we got in the elevator to the top and looked out all the windows over the city. We wandered through the garden before it was time to load up in the van again and head toward DC to check out the monuments and memorials. We saw the Washington Monument and the Lincoln, Jefferson Vietnam, WW2, Korean War and Martin Luther King Jr Memorials and feed some squirrels - really, what is a trip to DC without feeding some little fuzz balls? :) Too bad that the Reflection Pool is being refurbished and wont' be done for 2 years, so it was kinda ugly with tarps, cranes and dirt. It was hot and we were all pretty drained from the rest of the weekend, so we headed home to chill.

Sunday morning we got up and went to church. After all that we had done and seen in the last 3 days we were all ready to just relax, so we went shopping at Tyson's Corner (not relaxing at all, but fun). :) We enjoyed a late lunch at Gordon Biersch and got home to enjoy the last part of our visit.

Monday, we had to say good-bye to our wonderful friends. What a super time we had, tho. I love company, and when it's FUN company, it's even better. :) But, of course, my family and friends are all fun. :) heehee

Our life lately...

It seems like I have started a lot of my posts with "I haven't updated lately". Ugh. Life is so crazy busy, and I don't even know what I have done. Luckily, I have pictures!! :)

Poor Husband! Travis' allergies are killing him! This year is one of the worst years for allergies (they say). Here is what is getting him! There is so much pollen floating around. This was actually about a week and a half ago, but Travis is still suffering with sneezing fits, stuffy head and puffy eyes. My poor honey. The one good thing is that EVERYTHING is green now. I love the LOOKS of VA in the summer. I hate the humidity, but the trees and all the different shades of green are so beautiful. It really is a beautiful place. :)














I got to see one of my dear friends from SB a couple of weeks ago. Lori came with a group of exchange students and I got to visit with her for a few hours. It was fun to get to see her! :)














For Mother's day weekend, we all (yes, all 4 of us) went to Richmond, VA to explore (Travis had earned 2 free nights at Holiday Inn Express on one of his CG trips and they were getting ready to expire, so we had to use them). It's the state capital, and we want to see everything we can while we're here out east. We went car shopping (but didn't find anything) and regular shopping (there is a huge outdoor mall there, Short Pump Plaza or something like that..very cool), eating (I had my first Reuben sandwich at a cute little deli) and exploring...we went to the Edgar Allen Poe museum, the capital building and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. We wanted to see the Picaso exhibit, but decided it wasn't that important at $20 a person! We did a drive-by to see the Richmond International Speedway where Nascar races happen. Travis is a Formula 1 fan, so this wasn't super thrilling, but cool to see anyway. :) heehee We also walked around on the waterfront, over a river to a little island (Belle Isle) and saw a hawk and some kayakers. Luckily, we had great weather and even saw some squirrels. Oh, we saw a dude with a sign that said "Family killed by ninjas...need $$$ for karate lessons". That was hilarious! On the way home, we stopped in Spotsylvania to get Sonic. It was Travis' first time. :) Then we saw Renee, Syd and Ava coming home from the grocery store! bonus!!!



























So, if you caught that sentence above, we have been car shopping. We need something that we can run around town in that gets better gas mileage, since we're filling up at $4.25 a gallon right now. Plus, Sara will need a car soon, and just like with the Element, we wanted to get something that WE can use, then pass on to her when she leaves the nest. While we were in Richmond, Travis and Sara sat in and played with a Scion xD. We have been looking at Civics and Corollas mostly, but they both really liked that little xD. So, like usual, Travis came home and did ALL KINDS OF research on the little car. Safety ratings, mileage, customer satisfaction.... well, on Saturday, we told the kids we were running to Walmart and Target. They were both just waking up at noon, so they accepted that and we left on our way up to Fairfax to look at cars. ;) We got to the dealer and found 2 xpressos, 1 black and 1 black currant (purple) xDs. Travis saw online that they had a Magnetic Gray Metallic one, so we asked. They had one, but it was at their sister lot. Sooo, we drove the little purple one and decided to have the Gray one brought over and went inside to start with the 4 hour process to buy a car. We are the new proud owners of a 2011 Scion xD. She is precious and fun to drive and SMELLS DELISH! I love new car smell. We are still in the process of finding a name for her. Some options are Ellie, Bear, Chanel, Coco, & Phiphi (pronounced feefee). Here is Sara with the little girl. It reminds me of when we bought Foxy girl, and how happy Nisa was. Silly girls. SPOILED girls. :)































This past Friday night/Saturday morning, Sara and I were at the Relay for Life. We were supposed to stay up all night, but ended up NOT. It was amazing and cool to see the cancer survivors there and their families/loved ones. Stupid cancer. But to see that many people supporting a cure was very nice. $141,419 was raised! :) And we saw Elvis!














I've been painting the inside of the house. I got all the walls and trim downstairs done. There were/are some places I needed to fix since they had been "fixed" by someone in the past, but weren't done right and they drove me crazy. You can't really tell that it's just been painted, but I can tell cuz it's fresh, clean and some of the drips and patches are now GONE! :) I'm happy, and after all, that's what counts, right?? heehee I will work my way upstairs after next week....

We have company coming (so the painting is stopped for now) TOMORROW! :) Our friends, the Arnold's from Sturgeon Bay are coming out to visit/see DC. We are SO excited. Randall, was Travis' chiropractor in SB, and we've known them from church there. They also are bringing their 2 girls. Olivia is friends with my girls, and Emily, who lives in Chicago is 30. We haven't met Emily, but are looking forward to getting to know her. Randall and Mary are incredibly cool people, and I know this weekend will be a total blast! :)

Oh, something I don't think I've posted was a quilt I finished a couple of weeks ago. It was for a friend's new grandson in SB. My friend's daughter was a friend of Anisa's in school there. She's now a Coastie Wife and they have just added a son to their new family. I have a hard time making boy quilts since I love working with pinks and purples and the more GIRLIE colors, but I'm pretty happy with this little quilt. it has frogs, lizards and bugs on it.

Silver Anniversary and other stuff

Yep, Travis and I celebrated our 25th anniversary on the 13th of this month. I have a really hard time with the fact that I have been married for 25 years. I am old enough to have had my silver anniversary. At least I don't ACT that old. :) heehee Whatever. We're still very much in love and enjoy each other for the most part. Sure, we would like to kill each other sometimes, but who doesn't?? He's not fully trained, and I know he never will be, so I take him like he is. HA! We celebrated this year by going to Chima Brazilian Steakhouse. I have never been so full of meat in my life. :) Well, maybe once or twice. If you haven't been to a Brazilian Steakhouse (this was our first, but not last time), there are guys who walk around with huge skewers of all kinds of meats. Beef, Pork, Chicken, Fish...you name it, they have it. Plus, there is a huge salad bar with awesomely incredible foods on it. It was SO FUN, and it was nice to have a night out just the two of us. :)

This week is starting out to be pretty busy. My cousin, April, came down from New York on Monday. Our main goal was to see the butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Natural History cuz it's free on Tuesdays. So, we went into the city on Tues and it was SO INCREDIBLY packed, we didn't get to go. We had some fun adventures, tho. We saw the flooded Tidal Basin (that's the picture with Anisa on the bench. There is a sidewalk in front of that bench that goes out probably about 6 feet), tulips, the Jefferson Monument, took a paddle boat ride and went to dinner at Capital City brewing and then checked out the Postal Museum. We had a great time with the semi-truck front end in there. Here are some pics for your enjoyment. :)

WSDT

Well, Coach J did it again. Go HERE to see the incredible video that he made to promote the team in some different avenues other than just high school and college dance competitions.

He is lovingly called Buh Buh Juh, Barbara, and J. Jason King along with Tara Perez, AKA TP and Coachikins, work ALL.THE.TIME to get this team of dancers to the top. They hand picked each one because they could see that spark in every one of them. This is a FAMILY of talented kids who are all willing to literally sacrifice almost everything for dance and their team.

Once the school year starts, every single practice (Tues - Fri 3-6 and some Mondays and weekends from Sept. to March) is mandatory. They cannot miss for anything...driver's ed, studio lessons, family vacations...NOTHING. It's a sacrifice for the families too, since we have to schedule things around the team schedule, but we all do it willingly and only whine about it a little, because we know it's SO worth it. The rewards for each dancer are so huge. This is what we all hope for our kids to have in their young lives. A family outside of their parents and siblings that they can share their ups and downs with, and this team has definitely had it's share. Our Senior guy, Julian, danced for weeks with a torn ACL. He was in some serious pain, and has just gone through a painful surgery and faces some painful PT, but I know he doesn't regret a second of it. A couple of the dancers have blood pressure and asthma issues. We've seen some pass out after performing. Frustration, exhaustion and pain are a few things that they all willingly subject their bodies to for the goal of going big!

Trophies are nice, but they do it for the love of it. And each dancer is a splendid kid. Yeah, they all have their issues, but since they are all teenagers, that's to be expected. They don't take it for granted that they get awarded for their hard work. They take their awards and go back and work even harder for the next event. If our world was full of people who were so dedicated and willing to sacrifice for others like these dancers have done, it would be a way better place.

I am so incredibly proud of each one of them. I can't even describe what it's like to be called Mama No, have their trust, and be allowed to participate in the events with these awesome kids. I love them all. Keep an eye on this team....they're going places for sure! :)

Cherry Blossoms and other adventures

Last minute, Anisa and I decided to go into DC and have lunch with Travis. They have these yummy, delicious tacos at his building for really cheap. After we ate, he changed into his play clothes (jeans and tennis shoes) and we headed in to the Tidal Basin to see the Cherry Blossoms.

On the shuttle, from Travis' work to the shuttle stop, we saw cops sitting on overpasses....for no apparent reason. Then, as we got closer to the water, we saw traffic was STOPPED, cops were EVERYWHERE and a helicopter was flying around overhead. Travis said, "get your cameras ready, he's gonna drive by". The presidential motorcade came down the road. Starting with motorcycle cops, then cop cars, then the limos, then suburbans, then vans and other vehicles, then more cop cars, then more motorcycles. The girls and I have seen this before. One time in LA when I had rear-ended a Suburban, Clinton drove by with the whole motorcade. It's kinda fun to see whether you like the guy or not. :) The video is here if you want to watch it. It's about a minute long. :)

After we got done taking pictures/video, we headed over to see the trees. They are beautiful, as usual. Plus, the monuments make everything even better. :) I love this city. We took tons of pictures and walked around the water...freezing. It was about 50 out today, but it was really windy right there on the water. Once we had done the entire loop, we (I) decided we should walk to the Pentagon and catch the Metro there. After all, when you looked, it seemed to be "right there"...close. We had to walk along the 395 freeway over the Potomac River (SUPER WINDY). We had to RUN across an offramp, then walk on the inside of the railing to get over there. Next time, we'll go back to the Smithsonian stop on the National Mall. It was a fun adventure, but it would have been more fun if it hadn't been so darn cold. We survived, so all is fine. :) We caught the metro right away, and got home safely to download our pics to share with you....so, without further ado, here are some of my favorites. :) If you click on the pics you can see them bigger.

*You can see Anisa's braces in a couple of the pics. She only has the brackets on for now with the expander. Once they take the expander off (which will be soon, since her teeth are REALLY moving) they'll put the wires on. I'm already looking forward to the treatment being over...and so is she! :)

**Do you like Anisa's sweatshirt? She's liked the Fox Motorsports brand for years. We were out shopping last week and one of the stores that we love had 70% off the clearance price of all their sale stuff. So, we checked it out and found this sweatshirt. It was originally $100, marked down to $40, minus 70% came down to $12, BUT they give a military discount so we paid 11 bucks for it~ I.LOVE.BARGAINS!!! :) And it's fuzz lined, so it's super warm.

Dance update

Here are the links to the Dance Team Nationals performance.

http://varsity.com/event/1456/2011_nda_national_championship.aspx - This is the Varsity.com video. Type West Springfield into the search bar on the top right of the screen. They cut a piece of the routine out of the middle, but you can get the main idea. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDd4FdRzYxY&feature=related - This is one that someone video'd from the balcony. The sound is horrible, but you can see the whole video. When we get the DVD's I'll post the entire GOOD copy of the routine. You can start preparing now to be COMPLETELY AMAZED by these kids. They rock.... :)

Food and Flowers

Ok, so have you all seen Peepsters? They are little candies by Peeps. They look like Rolos but they are chocolate covered marshmallow creme. It's not marshmallow like what a Peep is, and not like Marshmallow Fluff...it's kind of more solid. I don't know...hard to describe, but there are different flavors. I don't like dark chocolate..I'm a milk chocolate girl, so I got these. :) Go...get them...try them. You might love them. :) You can thank me later.

Since we're talking about food, what makes a sandwich EVEN BETTER?? Goldfish bread! OH, YEAH, BABY. :) Alright, it's not better tasting, but it's more fun to eat since it's the shape of a goldfish cracker. I might not eat it if it was the shape of a squirrel, but I'm not sure and since that's not an option, I'll go with the fishie. Here is my yummy, delicious fishie turkey sandwich.. I've found that tuna is even better in a fishie shaped bread. :) Makes sense.

I got a new camera. My little faithful Canon either got something INSIDE the lens or (Travis' theory - which is probably more accurate) a pixel has gone bad inside. Anyway, I've also wanted a video camera so I could video dance team performances, so we decided it was time to upgrade to a better camera with an HD video option. I got this... a Sony Cybershot. Don't know if there is a model number or anything, I only know what it's called cuz it's printed right on the front. Heck, I don't care what the number is, I only care that it takes good pictures.

These are some of the daffodils (Anisa's VERY MOST FAVORITE FLOWERS) in our front yard. Someone before us planted them, but we are happy that they did. :) My very most favorite flowers are hyacinths. I've planted some and they're coming up. They smell like what Heaven must smell like. :)

Anisa and I are THINKING of going into DC today to see the cherry blossoms. They are in FULL BLOOM right now but will fade quickly. I need to go try out my new fancy camera AND get some good shots of Anisa with her metal mouth...I mean braces. :) For now, I need to go get ready for the day and pay some bills. ick. I hope you all are having a wonderful day!!! :)

Anisa

Well, she's on her second round of braces. Poor kid. She had spacers put in last week. She could barely eat, which is bad since she's skinny enough! She had the brackets and expander put in yesterday and next week will be all wired up. Buy stock in Advil and Tylenol...there's an insider tip. :) If she lets us, we'll take pics and I'll post later, but for now, she's just trying to learn to talk with all that metal in her mouth.

Nationals 2011 - WINNERS!! :)

I log onto Facebook way too often. My crops and animals have to be harvested & pet. I am so distracted by all the activities of my friends that my poor little blog has been very neglected. Well, I'm here to fix it...at least a little bit. :)

We just got back from Orlando from the NDA National Dance Championship. The WSDT has been hard at work since May to perfect their routine to perform and compete against 16 other teams from around the country. This is where all their hard work pays off or they learn what not to do next year.

It all started on Wed, March 9, 2011. We arrived at one of the dancers' house to get bags checked. We loaded most of the luggage and dance bags into another dancers' Dad's Suburban. Thursday, March 10, the Juniors had to get to the school at 6:30 a.m. to take a test before they left for the day. We met our drivers at 10 a.m. and headed to Reagan National Airport to catch our 1:00 flight. We arrived in Orlando a little after 3 p.m. and caught our coach bus to the Swan Hotel at Disney. We all lugged our junk up to our rooms.....They messed up our rooms AGAIN...3^rd year in a row...we're supposed to get a block of rooms, but they had rooms all over the 5^th floor. The next day, they got us all together, but it meant several kids and some parents had to pack out to their new room. Whatever. We dealt with it. Anyway, the kids basically chilled the first night and the kids who were on the team last year showed the kids new to the team this year where the hot spot to eat is...Picabu cafe.

Friday, Anisa and Travis flew down. They stayed in another hotel, but came over to see us after they picked up their little Ford Fiesta! Cute car. :) We walked around, looked at stuff then went to get those two checked into their room. They took me back to the hotel and headed out to explore. I had to get back to give the key to the coaches to my van. We rented 4 vans down there to get the team back and forth to the competition. The team basically practiced ALL DAY. I was hoping to get to see some friends, but it didn't work out. Hopefully next year. ;)

Saturday...PRELIMS. They didn't compete until 9:00 p.m. Lots of us parents were there to watch our talented kids/coaches ROCK the place. The theme this year was the Matrix. Uniform...black trench coat, black jeans, black Chucks, black sunglasses....and WHITE contact lenses. There was tutting, botting, and even vogueing. They popped and locked. Isolations. All the latest, greatest dance moves. We all bit our nails while each team performed and the scores were read. The scores ranged from 7.503 to 9.434....except for West Springfield's score.... 9.954. One of the highest scores EVER given at this competition. EVER! :) The parents and team went crazy. WSDT got a standing ovation from the entire audience. It was super cool, but their work wasn't over. They returned to the hotel to practice MORE. Finally around 1 a.m. they got into their rooms to rest. Finals were the next day and they had to be on their game! The other teams were hard at work really polishing up their routines too.

Sunday afternoon, the DT got into the Zone and went to compete with 10 other teams that were worthy to make it to Finals. Every team danced their hearts out. Some of the competition was fierce and some of us were actually a little worried that our kids might take 2^nd or even 3^rd. They had to be FLAWLESS. They arrived on stage at 6:03 p.m. And TOTALLY, COMPLETELY ROCKED THE STAGE~~~ They were AWESOME and the audience and judges saw it. They announced the winners one at a time from 11^th place up until the last 2 teams (WSDT and Fleming Island High) were left on the stage to hear their final scores and who was going to take the National Title of 2011. The announcer took his sweet time announcing 2^nd place with a score of 9.489........ Fleming Island. We had to hold back the screams until he announced WSDT's score of 9.969. Another record for the competition. One of the highest scores EVER given. We screamed, jumped up and down, cried, laughed and rushed down to meet our stars. Travis and Anisa unfortunately had a 9:00 flight. Luckily, they saw the awards given and got to give Sara a quick hug, kiss and congratulations, but had to rush out of there to get to the airport. WSDT became instant celebrities. TONS of other teams wanted their pictures taken with our dancers. It was so cool. And, of course, our dancers were happy to pose with them.

The team and the parents who were still there went to dinner at Bongo's Cuban Cafe at Downtown Disney. The dinner was yummy, but the mood was even better. All the kids had their National Championship jackets on and everyone was happy. Tired, but happy. After dinner we went back to the hotel to get some rest since Monday was going to be spent at Universal Studios all day.

The weather was great for our day in the park. We played, rode some rides, ate and walked at the park. I wasn't too thrilled with Universal, and hope that if we go back to Florida next year, we'll go to Disney again. :) Oh, we must not forget Sara winning a GIANT Domo. Luckily, we DID get him on the plane, but I didn't know if we were gonna get him home. Tuesday was our day to return home, but our flight wasn't until that evening, so the kids spent the day by the pool. A super cool ending to an incredible weekend.

For now, Dance Team is over for the season, but we are planning an end of season party and Try-outs for next year are in May, so we only have a short break from dance. Sara's getting some much needed catching up on sleep and homework. And we're enjoying not having competitions to attend on the weekends. :) But we love the team, the kids are more like a family than just friends or a sports team. The coaches are incredible, putting in tons of hours to make sure the team is on track. The greatest thing about this team is the respect shown to each other. Yes, they get on each other's nerves and sometimes I hear complaints from some of the kids about so and so's mood or whatever, but in the end, they all love each other and have a blast together. I pray Sara will dance again next year....we will see! :)

In other news, Anisa is getting braces....again. She had them on in 5^th grade for about a year, then we moved and I didn't get her in to get her a new retainer.....BAD MOMMY. Anyway, her teeth went back to where they were comfy...not where they were supposed to go. BAD TEETH. She had spacers put in last week, so she has been uncomfortable and unable to really eat much. We are all stocked up on soups and mini raviolis. Poor baby. She gets her brackets on tomorrow. I'll keep you all updated on THAT situation. At first she didn't really want them, but decided to do it now before she gets much older since it will be harder and harder for them to move her teeth around.

As for me, well, I hope to get some quilting done and some organizing. I'm hoping to get the house painted this spring...if we can get our landlord to BUY the paint. :) Travis and I are slowly but surely getting out to run on a semi-normal basis. We missed out a lot of days this winter because it was so messy out there with the salt, dirt and snow/ice on the trails. Yesterday we went out and while we were on the trail I stopped to see if I could see any frogs (there are tons of ponds/wet areas on the trail) and Travis moved a log and found a really cute salamander. I love nature.

Here in the DC area, we are waiting for the Cherry Blossoms to puff. I am planning to hit the city with Anisa and my friend, Rhonda next week to see if they're out. I love going in and just walking around and taking pictures of the beautiful trees. If you ever get the chance, you NEED to come to DC in March/April to see the trees.

I think that's all the updating I can do for now. I'll post some highlight pics of the team...if you're my friend on Facebook, you can see more there. :)