Talent on Parade National Finals '10

Wednesday, everything kicked into high gear!!! Olivia's solo was that morning so we had to get her dressed and at the convention center by about 9:30... It looked pretty good. Then, we had a break until the others did their solos, and awards were that afternoon. Olivia got an Elite Top First award.

Love Shack performed Thursday. It got a Diamond Elite Top First and was the Category Cup winner for the open category. It looked really good. Their sign looked good, and I was sad to see it on stage for the last time...ever. During awards, it came in 2nd over all.

The next day (Fri.) Olivia had small group tap, Jump Shout Boogie. It was a little traumatic because she fell down during the performance. She hopped right back up and kept dancing, but I could tell she was about to cry (although no one else could tell). As soon as she came off of the stage, she fell apart. She was, however, glad to do the dance again when their dance made the dance off! Olivia did it perfectly that time! They got a Diamond Elite Top First and came in second over all for 8 & under small groups. We were proud!

Large groups were on Saturday. Taking Care of Business was first (at 4 pm). Then after that, it was a quick change into Soul Man (jazz), and then straight into lyrical. Lyrical looked ok, but out of all three, I thought jazz looked the best.

When the dance off was announced, we were shocked that Taking Care of Business got in because lyrical had done so well all year long. So, they had 30 minutes to get changed and get back on stage (and NLR was the first group to dance). Well...the kids got dressed and started to warm up the dance real quick when Olivia's nose started bleeding...a LOT. I ran her to the bathroom, followed by a few other moms. I tried to get her nose to stop bleeding, while others cleaned up her costume. We couldn't seem to get her nose to stop bleeding, and Olivia was beginning to panic (the dance off couldn't start without them). Luckily, the stage guy for TOP, Eric, came to see what was going on (I believe some of the bigger kids ran down to inform them as to what had happened) and he was super nice. He suggested that we put gauze up Olivia's nose so just in case it started bleeding again, it would catch it. He said that if all else failed, she just keep dancing...even if it dripped on the floor--he would clean it up himself.

So, Olivia got on stage and 'I' fell apart due to the stress of the situation! Several parents kept saying what a trooper Olivia was and how that dance should be dedicated to her. Wasn't that nice?

Anyway, she went on stage and KILLED that dance! It looked incredible, but it came in 3rd overall with a diamond elite top first.

One night Olivia went to the Chinese acrobats and one night back to Kirby's magical show... Another day, (actually twice) we discovered a great ice cream place called Orange Leaf. It's a self-serve icecream place. Delicious!!

July 4th... Off to Branson!

After we met up with the Brazil's at the Cheesecake Factory for brunch and cheesecake (of course!) before leaving Kansas and heading to Branson, MO. The girls and I were meeting up with the Fletcher's and the Lee's that afternoon because it was the 4th of July (and the first day of our condo rental...thanks, Scott!)

We arrived to the condo about dinner time, and met up with everyone at the Lee's condo for tacos. Yum! We all hung around there for a bit and then headed out to watch fireworks at Chateau on the Lake. It was really nice (not too hot or 'buggy').








The next day, we woke up for a late breakfast at the Fletcher's and went grocery shopping. We planned on taking the girls swimming that afternoon. There were several pools on the grounds of the condo. Tiffany wanted to try out every pool. We went to the Fletcher's for dinner that night (spaghetti which was amazing!!!).





The next day (Tuesday), shopping was on the agenda! Brian finally was able to come up and brought Angel with him (one of the teenage dance teachers). He met up with the guys at the golf course, and Angel came shopping with us. Kellie, Tiffany, Angel, and the girls all rode with us to the outlet malls. After that, I went back and started working on dinner...it was my night to cook. I made chicken spaghetti, sweet green beans, bread, salad. It was good!






One of the nights, Ken had invited Olivia to go to the Kirby magic show with them like they went to last year. Again, she had a blast!


One of the best things about the codo (and probably the BEST thing the girls liked...) was the jacuzzi tub! It was awesome!! Luckily, we thought about having the girls "play" in it before competition started, because we knew there wasn't really much time for that once Thurs. hit!

Kansas-bound!

Renea and I had been discussing taking the kids to Showbiz Nationals in Kansas City for a few months. We decided to enter their duet and then later added Liv's solo (Kenny and Sydney were already taking their solos). So we decided to leave on Friday, July 1 to drive up together.

We met up at McAlister's around 12:30 and headed out. Liv rode with Kenny in his car while Renea and Sydney rode with Bella and me. We made a stop in Fayetteville before heading up to Overland Park, KS. When we got there, we ate at Applebee's and then I took the girls to our hotel (Peartree Inn).

The next day, I got Olivia ready for her solo. She went on stage about 11:00 (30ish minutes earlier than scheduled. In fact, Renea checked her in backstage while I was in the audience. Ken had the other kids eating breakfast and they did not even make it into the convention center in time to see Liv. I was nervous (and so was she...the first time for her to feel that way). She did ok considering how no one was clapping for her but me. I didn't realize how hard it was to be away from everyone else from the studio...







Liv was entered in the ruby level based on her scores from Primetime. The results were that afternoon. She got a first place award and was in the top 10 (10th place). We were happy!








The competition itself was cool. Much smaller than Talent On Parade, and it had a very cool kid area. It even had a sand box that Bella LOVED.




Later on that day, Kenny and Sydney had their solos (diamond level). The next day, the duet went on. It was the first time for our new sign that I made (at Karen's request). It received a High Point award and came in 8th in the top 10 (out of 9 duets in the diamond level).





We left on July 4th (Sunday) after meeting up with the Brazil's at the Cheesecake Factory (DELICIOUS!). Then we headed out to Branson for Talent On Parade. Yea!