The last bow

 It was a great show, tons of energy and breath taking routines with kids coming from every par of the auditorium singing so loud and with so much energy it made your chest pound.

But what always stops my heart is to see her smile from the audience, to know how her hard work and dedication for months has come to this result and its not just because she loves it, but also because she wants to make you happy with it.

And then when its the final Main stage show of her High school career and you know it isn't just this show for which she takes a bow, but for everyone she has stood on that stage for in the last four years. Every stich she sewed into every costume, every late night rehearsal, scabs and burses for toughing her self into her roll. Even the disappointments from auditions that didn't go the way she wanted, and the show where she was the lead and stood on the stage and wavered her arms and had command of the audience all on her own as every actress dreams of .
All of that was on her shoulders and mind as she stood center stage in her dancing napkin out fit and took her final bow for MT. Ridge High School Theater.

Bravo, Bravo!

CCI

I mentioned a year or so back, how much fun I was having with a new endeavor to teach kids cooking classes. Well here we are a bit later, for a report on how it is thriving. I not only enjoy it, but I have copy written my curriculum and have started a group of ladies teaching these classes. There are 4 of us now. All in AZ, but I have hopes to spread.

counting to 12 in Japanese

 Paige has been taking Judo for about 6 months now and decided she wanted to try out a tournament.
I had no idea what to expect, or how any of it works. I didn't understand the rules, or the scoring, or even what the referee's were saying. They were speaking all their commands in Japanese. Paige told me though. She schooled me in some basic Judo. You must be on your back for the pin to count, and she understands all of the Japanese commands, even counted to 12 for me.

 What neither of us knew was she would be fighting kids in the entire "Novice" category. There are 3 levels in novice. she is the lowest. Her first fight was an orange belt (2 levels above her) Paige didn't win, but she gave that girl a run for her money. The match actually timed out before there was a clear winner and they had to go on technical scores. (As I said...no idea) The next girl she fought was a yellow belt (One level higher than Paige) This girl plaid dirty and gave a crushing grip around Paige's neck. The harder Paige fought the harder she squeezed. Paige took the loss and was happy to breath again.

It might have been enough to be done with Judo tournaments, but we are trying to explain about not letting one bad egg ruin your fun. She was a bit shook up for a few hours after. unfortunately there were some tough coaches (like the bad guy in karate kid) and they had some mean kids because of it.
Our little community center Judo group might not be able to stand up to some of those rough DOJO's, but Paige gave her all and did well. We shall see what future we have in Judo from here on out.
At least she can count to 12 in Japanese !

Seth turns 14!

 Almost un believable, that Seth is now 14 years old and that he has friends with facial hair!
Well he is an avid gamer , so what else would we do for his birthday other than have a giant game truck come and him and his friends hang out playing video games....

Lots of fun to celebrate Seth and how great it is to have him around. such a sweet boy and so much fun! Happy Birthday Seth!