First Performance

Finally, the pictures I've been meaning to post are here!

Quite frankly, this post is all things Sydney.

Parade practice in the lot behind Oreganos

Here is the Dynamite Express float the morning of the Gilbert Days Parade.

Warming up before the parade. It's about 8:00am, and she's been up since 5:00am.

Almost 2 miles later, she's still dancing in the streets.

Santa was the final parade entrant. He must have been steaming in his Santa Suit, it was about 85 degrees by this time in the morning.

I was able to snap a pic right after the parade, and before she demanded water.

First stage show performance was about 3 hours later.

Second stage show performance. I love this pic because I think it shows how seriously she takes her dancing.

Another pic from her second dance. I know you can't see it, but she's standing on a chair on a (not so) sturdy stage and she didn't lose her balance, luckily. We're approaching 3 in the afternoon in this pic, and she's still smiling!

She is not all things dance (MOST yes, but not ALL). Since volleyball is over, she now plays softball at school. She takes organized sports just as seriously as dancing. Girl is competitive!

Even though she has fun doing everything that takes up her time, she does get to spend SOME time at home. Here she is playing 4-square in our next door neighbor's driveway with 2 of her friends that she had sleep over.

So here is what's been keeping us all so busy in the last week. I don't know if I'll be posting anything this week. Mom is coming!! I can't wait. I know I'll have pictures to post after she flies back to Iowa, but in the meantime, I'm going to make her enjoy AZ weather, like it or not! :-)

Coming Soon

Ok, so it's been a week since Sydney's first performance of the year. Last Sunday I posted that I'd be putting up some pictures and time has gotten away from me. Ok, I admit it, I procrastinate. For those of you that know me, you know that this (unfortunately) is nothing new. Well, I'll be putting pictures up later today. First, I have to do some cleaning before my mom comes to visit in, oh, T-Minus 50 hours. So back to cleaning and music before I settle back in to post some pictures.

Whew!

Well, we did it! The first DE performance of the year is finally under our belt. Thanks to a lot of hard work, time and talent, I consider it a huge success.

It's 7:15pm right now, and I've been up since 4:15am without a nap. I'm getting ready to watch a movie and call it a night (especially since I already know I won't make it all the way through the movie).

It's been a wonderful day, and I'll share more tomorrow. : )

Dinner and Dance

I don't think there's a day that goes by that I don't think about food. This morning, while sitting at work at 8am or so, I got this mad craving for party potatoes. It's definitely a comfort food that I haven't really had since leaving the Midwest. I even talked myself into making it (with a little persuasion from a co-worker or two). I took a recipe that I've made before, one that I got from my sis-in-law, who got it from a friend, who got it from their mom. This recipe is my favorite! So good, it's worth sharing!

Party Potatoes:

1 cup sour cream

8 oz chive cream cheese

2 cups cream of celery (2 cans of your favorite cream soup is fine)

2 lbs. frozen hash browns (small cubes works best)

1 cup diced onion

2 lbs shredded cheddar cheese

garlic powder, salt and pepper

4 slices of bacon (I use a whole pound of bacon)

butter (about 1 stick)

1 cup corn flakes

In a greased (rub butter on pan to form a thin layer) 9x13 in. pan, put a layer of the potatoes. About a half pound, also make sure the potatoes are still frozen. Then lightly season with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and crumbled pieces of bacon. Then in a separate bowl, combine sour cream, chive cream cheese, soup, onion, and 1.5 lb of cheddar cheese. Stir until well mixed. Then add the rest of the potatoes. Again, mix well and add any seasoning then (salt&pepper). Pour that on top of the potatoes in the pan and spread out. In another small bowl put about 1/4 cup butter. Microwave until melted. Pour that over the Corn Flakes and mix until the flakes are coated. Spread over the top of the mixture along with the restof the cheese. Bake covered for about 1/2hour then1/2hour uncovered or until everything is hot in the center and the cheese on top and corn flakes are golden brown. Delish!

Too bad my pictures don't do it any justice. (Also, I used about 1 1/2 lbs of cheese total and it was still gooey. But according to my family, you can never have too much cheese)

On another note, Sydney's first performance is coming up this weekend. Saturday is going to be a very long day for this little trooper. She'll be up at 4:30 in the am to start getting ready. The Gilbert Days Parade begins at 9:00, and she'll be dancing her happy little self down Gilbert Rd for about 2.5 miles. Then she'll have time to get a bite to eat before the stage show, which begins at 2:30. She's going to have a friend spend the night, I hope she can stay up past 5pm!

I did a quick braid of the hair to make sure I could do it the way I'm supposed to, and here are a couple pics of her costumes that she'll be wearing on Saturday. You'll have to wait until after Saturday to see what she looks like in them.

Parade Practice

The braid... I think I did ok.

This year's DE costume. It's pretty bright.

This year's KnockOut costume, sassy!

I can't wait to see how this weekend goes! I'll have more pictures to share. : )

It's About Time

I haven't been doing very well with keeping you all informed with what's been going on in our daily life. It definitely hasn't been boring. Instead of trying to come up with clever ways to put our happenings into words, I've decided that it's time for more pictures. This will give you a peek into what exactly it is we've been doing that has kept us so busy. Enjoy!

Anniversary Dinner at the Melting Pot

One of the last volley ball games of the season. The team's best players together on the bench. (Sydney is #4)

Girls against the parents, the official last game of the season.

Dinner after the game with the parents. Every girl is taking a bit of mac n cheese pizza.

Kyle almost to the top of the rock wall at the CTK Fall Fiesta

From left to right... Rod, Sydney and Kyle's carved pumpkins. Yes, they did them all by themselves.

HotShots all dressed up the day before Halloween.

PEACE! Sydney and Courtney in their matching hippy costumes.

A benefit walk for work in downtown Tempe. This was the day after Halloween. And yes.... that is a real camel!