We're Back!

Nationals this year was GREAT!  J got an "Elite" placement award (the highest they give) for her solo and came in 3rd overall.  Two of J's large group numbers were chosen for the final challenge on the last day.  After each day's competition was 4 hours of master classes in Tap, Hip-hop, Jazz, Contemporary, & Musical Theater.  The kids had such a wonderful 5 days together.  Now we're all back to our daily routines. 

J is going to start reading her 2 books for school.  I'm getting everything ready for W's 5th grade year.  We are going right into AO Year 3 in September.  We pretty much finished everything we needed to for 4th grade and he's ready for a new year to start.  The plan is to pull back a bit on the reading and math, focusing a lot more on history, science, art, music, geography, and field trips.  This was W's idea and I think it'll work out really well.

Summer is in Full Swing

Camp is going well.  W loves being busy every day and going on trips.  They went to the American Museum of Natural History this week.

Dance is going well.  J teaches for 3 hrs on Mondays and takes classes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays.

Work is going well.  K is still saving for a car.  She should be getting her driver's permit by the end of summer.

My sister had a beautiful baby girl on Thursday. We're all at mom's house on Saturday visiting.

And you know it's that time again...NATIONALS!!  J's dance Nationals are next week!  We're leaving for Connecticut on Wednesday and should be back sometime next Sunday.  J is doing her solo, duet, and 5 groups.  She's also doing several master class conventions.  The hotel gives free breakfast and has an outdoor pool.  We are set.  We just did some last-minute shopping - bobby pins, hair nets, eyelashes, eyelash glue, safety pins, and bandaids.  We got some booty shorts, tights, and a leotard in the mail today.  I'll go over all costumes and shoes on Tuesday as well as get all the packing done.  Can't wait!

July 4th Weekend

Camp so far is going very well for W. He is up and out by 7:30am. I pick him up at 5:15 instead of 6, since it's easier for me to make it to work. The girls have been keeping busy, too. K's working and trying to get to the beach as often as she can. She spent this weekend with her boyfriend and his family in the Pocono mountains. J had a pool party this week and 3 evenings of dance. Her summer classes include: Strength & Flexibility, Ballet, Tap, Combinations, & Lyrical. She will be assistant-teaching 3 classes every Monday - 3-5y/os, 6-9y/os, and the 10+ class. This is considered work-study and she'll get the summer classes at no charge. J went to her friend's summer bungalow for the weekend. W has been spending the weekend with friends and at the playground. He's building stuff again at home - he made a cool mallet and hatchet out of sticks, pieces of brick, and wire. You know, in case we need to kill some wild game to eat out here in this NYC wilderness, lol.

J's summer reading includes The Book Thief (Markus Zusak) and either The Death of a Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson or Longitude by Dava Sobel. The latter 2 books are for Earth Science. I'll try and pick those up this week. W is still reading Hatchet, a few pages every now and then. I do wish he enjoyed reading more. Maybe it's just novels he dislikes. He reads plenty on the computer and anything having to do with Pokemon. At least it's something. I'm trying to get some math and spelling in on the weekends, too.