Mother's Day

pic of bracelet, power point and Mamaw
The weekend of Mother's Day, my Mamaw was planning on coming up for a visit. My Uncle Larry brought her up on Saturday and we decided to meet for Sunday lunch at Crazy Hibachi. He brought his bulldog, Harley, and Bella fell in love with her!

I woke up Sunday morning to a power point presentation by Olivia (SO SWEET!!!) and a picture drawn by Bella. After church, we met up with family for lunch. After lunch, Brian tried taking the girls to ballet, but it was canceled so they went to the mall. When they returned, he had a white bag for me. It was a Pandora bracelet with a ballet charm. I never thought I'd have anything like that...EVER! Maybe not the relaxing day I had had the year before, but still a GREAT day!

Talent On Parade Regionals

Olivia's solo was on Thursday afternoon. Because TOP uses your age as of the day of competition, Olivia had to compete as a junior (9-10). We had told her to prepare for the fact that she may not score as well since she would be one of the youngest in her category. Well, her solo looked great, and she got a DIAMOND ELITE and came in THIRD! We were going CRAZY! Olivia said she knew she would do well...such the optimist! Ha! Oh, and she also won the costume award! How exciting!

On Friday, we only had Liv's duet with Hallie. It came in second place (missing first by only 4/10 of a point) with a Diamond Elite as well! They also got a special judges award for Great Teamwork. What a great start to the competition!

My Guy and AR Swag were first on Saturday. My Guy came in first place in novice division, and AR Swag came in first and got a special judges award of Hometown Swag. Then, Magic went on the stage and won the category cup for jazz, got a DIAMOND ELITE and came in 2nd for 6 & under groups (NLR's tap group beat them).
NYNY came in first in the 9-10 Int. division, and so did Stand By You for 7-8 Int. (both got diamonds and category cups). RCDC also got the technique award! Second Line got an Elite and came in second in the Int. division.














Talent on Parade was the longest competition of the year! Since Olivia's birthday was before Regionals, she was in the 9-10 age category for solos. We had prepared her (and ourselves) for her not placing very high since she was in the older category. Well, her solo went on Thursday afternoon (we had to be there sooner b/c of Bella's photogenic. She came in 2nd!) Her solo looked pretty good, and wouldn't you know... The child came in 3rd overall!!!!! We were blown AWAY!!! She also came in first place for costume award! Now, she thinks that age category is "easy". LOL!

Liv and Hallie's duet was Friday evening.

Roxies!

On Friday night, May 13th, we had our first awards banquet with RCDC called The Roxies. It was amazing! Each table was decorated as a song title from one of the company dances. There was a silent auction, trophies awarded to all company members, slideshows, Dad Dance Down, and awards given out for excellence or most improved in the different areas of dance. Olivia received an excellence award for tap. We were SO excited!

The food was a buffet line of kid-friendly foods (chicken strips, french fries, mac 'n cheese, rolls, etc. So fun! Seriously, cannot wait until next year's!

Then afterwards, several of the adults went to Ferneau's for "an afterparty". That food was excellent, and fun

Funny sayings

I just had to stop for a second and type some of the funny things Bella has said lately:

"I've TOLD you twice times..."

"roller-scoller" (roller coaster)

"Mommy, my stomach is so jealous!" So, I say: "I don't know what that means". "It means my belly is getting bossy to everyone" I say "I don't understand, Bella" "My stomach is jealous... I told you that already". Clear as mud, right?

"You danced SO good so I will let you have some of my coke" (said to me after our teacher performance at the talent show)

"don't drink too much water, you don't want to pee in the bed"

I wish she still said "Don't fit a fit, don't fit a fit" (You get what you get, and don't pitch a fit)

My first photo shoot with Silas

RCDC car wash

(I have no idea why some of these are turned...)










On Saturday, April 16th, RCDC had a car wash to raise money for Nationals. It started out as a cold day, but it soon warmed up. The girls were BUSY! (and they made a lot of money too!)

Sadie...the new addition

We had planned on getting a new dog/puppy later in the summer... However, listening to Star howl every night was more than we could bear. So, we decided that after Olivia finished Benchmark testing on Friday, we would check out what was available at the NLR Animal Shelter. We found a 9 week old black lab... It was a female, which matched the name we had already chosen (Sadie--mix of the words "happy" and "sad" since that is how we felt about losing Riley and gaining a new puppy). The girls fell in love immediately. We let Star check her out as well and she didn't seem to mind so much.


However when we got home, Star didn't want to come out of the car. I am guessing she was scared because the little puppy came home with us...? I know she wonders where Riley is, and it breaks my heart. I hope these two dogs can get along like she did with him.

ETA: the next day (at the car wash), we realized the puppy was very sick. Brian took her to the shelter to have her checked and it was revealed that she had parvo and the shelter was going to put her down as well. We were devestated by this news... We decided to wait on getting another dog right now, and instead, bring Star inside.