One more day. We leave tomorrow afternoon. This is my favorite time - the first competition. We get to see all the new numbers in costume, on stage for the first time. Kids who had major solo anxiety for years are getting out there this season. Kids will be picked to be on a performance team. Speaking of which, J qualified for this team last year, so is automatically on it this year. This team is performing before the award ceremony Saturday, so J needs to be there Friday by 6 for this rehearsal. I'm calling out of work and hopefully getting to the hotel by 4. Last minute costume purchases - wig, black socks, false eyelashes, MAC lipstick, safety pins, bobby pins, hair spray, and lint brush are all in costume trunk. The large props will fit nicely in the new minivan. And the whole family now has studio "team gear" - flaunting the name of our studio at everyone we walk past, lol.

K spent last weekend at my mom's house. It's good that she gets a change of scenery once in a while. They ran a lot of errands and shopped. Mom bought K a black NorthFace jacket and is getting J the same one in blue. I personally dont see how my kids need a $165 jacket, but whatever. Mom needs to spend her money on them. It's a huge pleasure for her. So be it.

Tomorrow we're going to a nature center with the homeschool group. It's for preteens/teens and it's 2 hrs long. I like finding activities for the older kids. So many homeschool groups cater to little kids and there's never anything for the older ones. That's why so many choose to go back to school when their older. I'm so happy that my group has a lot of 10+ kids and lot of activities planned just for them. It really helps to have this kind of outlet and support for them.

On the home front, we've been keeping busy. We still have 5 baby hamsters, 3 of which we keep procrastinating to give away. They are just so cute. We have all males left: 1 tan long-haired, 1 black long-haired, and 3 black short-haired. The long-haired ones are incredibly fluffy. All the hamsters soundly sleep in our hands, climb up our sleeves, and race over when our hands go in the cage. K has all the babies in her room, and W has the mama in his. She is back to normal now and is just like she was whe we first got her. No more nipping at us or hiding all day. I know they've learned so much throughout this whole experience.

Other than that, I feel we are happily unschooling away. W amazes me every day with the connections he makes and how much he retains. The girls are at the age where they can keep themselves busy and never say they're bored anymore - mainly they spend a lot of time together and will read, work on website layouts, write to celebrities, or just sing real loud and record themselves, lol. Life is great.