1st day of school -- 8th grade

Here is Blaine's first day of school photo for the 8th grade!

Dancin' at the Capital

A few weekends ago, Blaine and the dancers from All That Jazz were asked to come down to Austin and dance at the State Capital by Representative Doc Anderson. He had seen them performing at an event in Hewitt and was impressed with their dance school. So, off they went to dance one Saturday in the rotunda at the capital. Quite a few people gathered to watch their performance.

Here are a few photos from our day.

6 Girls + Birthday Party = Laughter, Loud Noises, and Finally Sleep

The birthday party started with a performance at Deck the Halls with all Blaine's friends there to watch. From there, Aaron and I took the girls to eat at Fazzoli's -- eating, playing Telephone (whispering words around to each other to see if it finishes the same as it started), throwing napkins at each other, and lots of laughter). Aaron kept asking every time I went to get something ..are you coming back? I think six girls scares him... :-)

From there, we left to go watch the Baylor woman's basketball game. None of the girls had any idea but Aaron had received the tickets from one of the coaches of the team so after the game, the girls went for a tour of practice facility and the locker rooms. They also got the autograph of Britney Griner (the new recruit who is 6'8" tall and can dunk the ball --which she did during this game for the first time during a game) and Kelli Griffin (a point guard for the team). The girls were all so surprised by this part of the game -- and were all chattering none stop on the way to the car and in the car on their cellphones calling their parents about it..it was so cute). Hopefully, it made an impression on all them to do great with their studies, practice and play hard, and work towards being in facilities like that when they go to college...

We also all sang Happy Birthday to Blaine on our way to the game... at the time that she was born...

SO HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY BLAINE ERIN ... We love you!

How a haircut can change an appearance...

Birthday Girl... Thirteen Years Old -- a Teenager

well, the day is here... Blaine is officially a teenager.

Thirteen years ago, Aaron and I waited through the day for Blaine to make her appearance (although we didn't know we were waiting on Blaine --it could have been Brody)... we have been blessed so with God's gift of Blaine. A few details about her birth day... we waited through the day with no idea of when she would be born, we watched movies, took naps, waited too long in the pain to get epidural, and then were blessed to meet Blaine. Aaron practically was knocking over the nurses to get to hold her -- such a very proud Daddy. We made calls to everyone to let them know and then they came...(some a little later than others after going to wrong hospital). We were all so excited about her arrival...

Thirteen Years ago

Thirteen years ago today, Aaron received a phone call from me saying...ready to meet your little baby tomorrow? I had just left the doctor's office from my appointment and they said that tomorrow was the day. I can only imagine all the thoughts running through Aaron's mind, as I had quite a few running through mine... excitement, nervousiness, anxious, but most of all, so ready to see the little one we had been waiting to see. That night, Aaron frantically worked on finishing all the projects he had started but not finished around our home, as if the baby would know that these were unfinished projects. We went to bed that night, wondering... will it be a girl? Or a boy? ......

1st Cross Country Run

Blaine ran her 1st Cross Country run on Saturday at Long Branch Park in Killeen. The run was 2 miles in length (they sent the girls down the wrong path so they ran the 2 mile course ran than the 1.5 miles). She finished in a little over 19 minutes. After being sick earlier in the week and still having a cough, she was very pleased with her results. She wasn't sure about running cross country at first but now she loves it and is ready to run every race.

Starbound National Dance Contest

On Wednesday, Nanny and I took Blaine to San Antonio for the Starbound National Dance Competition. In order to compete at this event, dancers must have competed in the Regional Events and qualified with a Gold Level performance. Blaine, Melana, and Patrick performed their trio rountine to I'm A Shine and received a Gold Medal again for it.
Then, Blaine, Kelsea, and Melana performed to If My Friends Could See Me Now and received another Gold medal.
She did a great job again.

Blaine's Dance Recital Photos

last slide reads:

What a year of dance.. Blaine did a wonderful job performing her routines for the recital and in all the competitions that she attended this year. This was her tenth year of dance -- that is hard to believe. She stood in the corner for the first few weeks and didn't want to have anything to do with it. Mrs. Gina told me to give her four weeks -- the fourth week, Blaine was carrying on with the rest of the group and has continued to enjoy it! She has danced every summer since then as well, with many years being the only one in class during the summer. She earned a partial scholarship for next year by her overall improvement and leadership that she demonstrated.

We are very proud of her.

Dance Recital 2009

Blaine and her Wednesday night class performing "Uptown Girl" (Mema's favorite because it's tap).

Krazy... it's the Krazy Dance. The Junior and Senior Dance Company performed a routine to Krazy that they learned in just a couple of Saturday morning practices. Each dancer got to pick a color and then accessorize themselves in that color..Blaie of course choose red.

End of School Year Party

End of the School year bash!!!!

Blaine had her end of the school year party on Saturday and had several friends over -- Alicia, Morgan, Karin, Marlin, Kelsea, Connor, and Chris. They swam, eat dinner and watched Mall Cop on the big screen.

It was a great and fun way to finish off the school year.

Polar Bear Plunge

First Swim of the Summer

77 degrees outside, partly cloudy with a pool temperature around 78 degrees....

only Blaine was brave enough to give it a try.

According to her, the water feels great.....

Coming Soon: Dance Recital

Blaine's Dance Recital
June 6th 7pm
June 7th 2pm
Jones Theater at Baylor University

She is performing so many routines this year that it is hard to list them all... be watching for her in the ballet, Grease II, the Flinstones, her solo, duet (with Melana), her trio (with Patrick and Melana) and many more dances with the Junior Dance Company.

Vet School Tour at Texas A&M

Blaine has her arm inside a "real live" cow. She was feeling what was in the cow's rumen. Her response was that was warm and had wet hay inside there.... this is called a fistulated cow -- she is used to obtain good rumen bacteria that is transferred into cows that are lacking this, she has this hole all the time and it is plugged until needed.

We spent the weekend in San Antonio at the Starbound Dance Competition. Blaine performed several numbers and all the kids from her dance company did a great job. Here are some photos from some of her rountines.....

"Back to School" from Grease - received Gold Medal

Blaine's Solo - Crush -- High Silver (we thought it was better than that though....) She did agreat job with it.

Isn't she beautiful?

Dancing in the stairwell for me before she performed with her dance group for Hey Jude, they received a Gold Medal for this performance as well.

Starbound San Antonio Dance

Blaine, Melana, and Patrick performing to "I am a Shine" - received Gold Medal

Yabba Dabba Doo Time -- Flintstones, Meet the Flintstones..
(Pebbles, aka Blaine is the one with red hair, back far left). They received a Gold Medal for this performance as well.

Blaine and Kelsey, performing along with the rest of the Junior Dance Company in "If My Friends Could See Me Now", a jazz number.
They received a Gold Medal for this number as well.

Just Gotta Move

Blaine's dance company is practicing their routine to "Hey Jude" at the Lake Shore Village Nursing Home. (Blaine is on the far left). Pictures below are the same routine. They will be competing at the I Love Dance competition in Houston on March 29th.

Gotta move it move it... spring is here and it is trampoline and outside music time...