I guess I'll just start from the beginning and hope you all bear with me. :)
First of all, during Christmas break, we cat-sat for a friend of mine, Ashley. It was our first experience with a cat around full time--ever. Her name was Lucy and the girls LOVED her. She took up with Brian's new chair and wouldn't let him sit in it at night, but then she took up with the reading chair in Olivia's room. We got pretty attached to Lucy and the girls hated to see her go.
Then, we got our passports in the mail...WE ARE GOING, BABY! (on our cruise, that is!) It's official! WooHoo!!!
After that, Isabella's school made up their Christmas program that got canceled due to the ice we had in December. Super cute. And she did so well on stage--I was surprised she was so comfortable up there!
Since my dad was sick on Christmas, he and Yvonne were not able to come out between Christmas and New Year's as they had planned. So, they came out the weekend of Brian's birtday instead. We had our 'Christmas' with them on Friday night, and then on Saturday, they took the girls to Build A Bear and let them make bears. They had so much fun! Then on Sunday, we all went to Outback for Brian's birthday before they left to head back home. It was a fast trip, but we had a great time.
The weekend after that, Alan and his fiance' came to visit. It was a 'dance' weekend for us with the first competition being the next weekend, but we still had fun. Also that weekend, my studio 'officially' reopened for business... It was one of my busiest months with some record-breaking sales. I am so blessed!
The next weekend was Primetime, our first competition of the season. Only 3 of Olivia's dances went--her duet Love Shack and two of her large group dances: lyrical, Angels Among Us, and tap, 5,6,7,8. It was great! 5,6,7,8 won 1st place over all, Angels won 3rd and the duet came in 4th. But the best part...Olivia had several family and friends coming to support her this year! My mom, sister, Justin, and Cooper came for her duet. So did her teacher, Mrs. Meek with her husband and daughter. How awesome is that? They even brought her flowers and stayed through the awards...and CAME BACK that evening for the group dances! It meant so much to us that they made such an effort.
Mr. and Mrs. Meek, Annie, and Olivia...
Awards...
Her tap costume...
Her lyrical costume...
To end the month, we got Olivia's grades...STRAIGHT A's! We are so proud!
I have more pictures to add from the family visits, but they are having a problem downloading right now, so I'll add those later (and I'll blog about Feb too...)
