Emma's Birthday & Baby Animal Days

I found photos from a few recent events to share.

Emma's 6th Birthday!

Baby Animal Days Field Trip

Idaho Clogging Competition Videos

We had a fun weekend in Pocatello, Idaho at the Idaho State Championships clogging competition.
Very late nights at the competition, but fun times with friends.
The kids look forward to the opportunity to travel with their friends to a competition and stay overnight.

I love watching my kids and the dancers from our studio get up there on stage and perform.

I was able to record almost all of my kids dances. I missed 1 of Isabelle's & part of Zach's freestyle because they were happening at the same time in different theaters, but hopefully I can record them next time.


Claire dancing to We Like to Move It.
She is on the end on the right.
This is her first year on a competition team and her 2nd time performing at a competition.
I think they did great!

Zoe dancing to Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend.
This is their first time doing this dance on stage.
Zoe is in the front on the far right.
Yes, that's her being lifted in the air on the right partway through the dance.

Zoe dancing to Friend in Me.
I love the cape work!
Again, she is in front on the right.

Isabelle dancing to Disco.
She starts in the back on the right side.
They look so sharp!
I missed her other dance. :(

Zachary was super busy with his dances on Sat. night.
He is on a boys team and two mixed teams so he had back to back dances and costume changes.
This is his last year on teams so it's bittersweet to watch him at each competition.

Zach dancing to Back in Time.
This is a fun dance and was a big crowd-pleaser.
Zach is on the far right.

Zach dancing to Beatles.

His wig didn't get enough bobby pins in it. :)
He starts out 2nd from the left.

Zach's mixed team Precision dance.

A fun, traditional dance. He starts out in the back on the right.

Zach in Sing, Sing.
He starts out on the far left.
I love all the swing moves.

Zach in Hoedown.
He starts out the 2nd couple from the right.
The class only finished learning the dance 2 days before the competition and it the first time they did it on stage. Pretty impressive in my opinion.

The last part of Zach's freestyle. The cloggers all come forward at the same time (this is called a 'rise & shine') to do their freestyle (everyone does something different) and then they come forward again solo, then they come forward for a last rise & shine. I only made it there for the last rise & shine.

And last, sometime after 10:30 p.m. after all his other dances and then standing outside in the cold for 30 minutes after someone pulled the fire alarm, Zach did his duet. This is another dance that was only finished 2 days before the performance.

Dance Pictures 2012

 Jazz- "Fame" by David Bowie

Lyrical- "Pretty" by The Cranberries

We are missing the copy of Isabelle's clogging photo, but I will add it when I get it.

Isabelle took a break from jazz for a couple of years, but gave it a try again this year and really enjoyed it.

Ballet- "When You Wish Upon a Star"

Clogging- "Splish Splash, I Was Taking a Bath"

Tumbling- "ABC"

Emma did so well at the recital this year. She went on stage without any problems and was very serious about doing her dances.

Ballet- "Send in the Clowns"

Tumbling- "We Like to Party"

Jazz- "Heaven Hop"

Clogging- "You've Got a Friend in Me" Spanish version (Toy Story 3)

Zoe is great about smiling both when she is on stage and for her pictures.

Tumbling- "We Like to Party"

Ballet- "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"

Clogging- "Old Time Rock n' Roll"

Claire gets very excited about any upcoming events, including our recital. She has her own calendar that she uses to count down to every event.

These are the many faces of Zachary. He acts like he doesn't like getting his picture taken, but he really does, as you can see by his posing here. His favorite photos are the ones with his female dance partners, but I didn't post those here.

Ballroom- "Jewish Town"

Ballroom- "Mercy"

Clogging- "Precision"

Clogging- "Sing, Sing, Sing"

This year our recital theme was "Dancing Through the Decades." We started with the 1900s and went through the last century with music from every decade. It was a fun recital with lots of variety and it turned out fantastic.

Violins, Haircuts & Weight

A few quick updates.

Zoe has been asking to take violin lessons for months. She finally attended her first lesson last week. Here she is with her new violin standing in the play position.

We also went for haircuts last week and Claire decided to go back to our favorite style on her.

And last, here are some before and after pictures of my weight loss progress so far.  

I have lost 26 pounds as of today. Woohoo!

Jan. 2, 2012

Feb. 27, 2012

 

 

 

Jan. 2, 2012

Feb. 27, 2012

  Here's my happy, thinner face. LOL. I have been trying to decide if I have lost any weight in my face, and when I looked at the first picture above I can see that I have. Sweet!

Feb. 27, 2012

Bear Lake

Our recent outing to Bear Lake. 

We found a nice shallow spot for the kids to play in and spent the entire day.

Claire is the rock collector. 

She also liked to stay close to shore.

Emma catching some rays.

They loved playing in the sand.

 Zoe loved getting out in the water.

 The girls thought Charlie needed a life jacket too.

Isabelle spent most of the day floating in the lake with her friends and tried to stay away from the camera.

Dancing in not so sunny St. George

This weekend Zachary, Isabelle, Zoe and I traveled to St. George. The purpose- clogging competition. What the kids really wanted- outdoor swimming with friends.

We had a caravan with friends, with kids swapping vehicles to be with their buddies. I got the van full of 8-10 year old girls and they had a good time. It went much better than I had hoped it would. I just put on some good tunes and chauffeured them down. Most of the drive down was rainy and then snowy (at the freakin' end of March!). St. George was cool and rainy most of our 2 days there. The kids made do with the indoor swimming pool and seemed pretty content. Zach ran around town (literally) with his friends when he wasn't at the competition. I got to enjoy late night dinner laughs with friends.

Zoe's team received a 1st and she also received a 1st on each of her All-Around Solos. Isabelle's 3 team dances each received a 1st and one of her dances received a High Scoring Team award. Zachary was in 2 mixed (couples) dances, which each received a 1st and one received a High Scoring Team award. He was also in 2 boys dances which each received 1sts and Soul Man received a High Scoring Team award. Overall, a very good showing.

Zachary also gained a few female fans at this competition. One of the other directors told both him and our director that her dancers loved his muscles, which were featured in his Slam dance (he was wearing a basketball jersey). He got some good teasing from his buddies over this. :)

Here are a couple of the dances from the competition.

Zach is on the far left in this video and yes it is him doing the flip.

Isabelle starts out second from the left in this dance. I wish the video was a little better quality, but we'll take what we can get.

Clogging Competitions Begin!

Spring is a busy time for us with dance. Our studio attends four clogging competitions between March- May. This weekend we attended our first clogging competition of the season. 

This was Zoe's first time competing on a team. Her team danced to Cowboy Sweetheart in the beginning level and they were so cute! She also competed two All-Around Solo dances. (The solos are danced by multiple dancers at the same time, but each dancer is judged individually). Zoe got a 1^st place on each of her solos and her team received a 1^st place high scoring team. Here are videos of Cowboy Sweetheart and her solos. In the team dance Zoe is on the left side of the center diamond formation.

Zach and Isabelle also clogged at this competition, but Isabelle’s camera died before we got to record their dances. We will record them at the next competition at the end of the month. They both did great though! Isabelle danced to Genie Jam (1^st place), Ease on Down (1^st ) and Grundy County Auction (2^nd). Zach danced with his boys team to Slam Dunk Da Funk (1^st) and with his mixed team to Rock This Town (1^st) and Precision (1^st). At the next competition his boys team will add another dance that we are looking forward to- Soul Man.