Kaylee's Senior Pictures

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Sharing Space

Last week we did something I thought we'd never do with a 5 bedroom house.  We moved the boys into a room together.   With a 5 year age difference and plenty of space, I never anticipated a reason to put them together.

I also never anticipated that Max would sleep in my room for five years!  Yes, you read that right.  He's been sleeping in my room on the floor for the last 5 years.  When he was a year old he figured out how to climb out of the crib, so we moved him to a fun firetruck toddler bed.  He liked having the bed in his room.  He played on it sometimes but he never slept a whole night in it.  He always ended up in our room on the floor next to our bed.   Eventually Derek made him a big boy loft bed in hopes that might entice him to sleep in his own room.  But, it didn't.

Sometime this summer, Nate decided he didn't like sleeping in his loft bed downstairs so he took over Max's and has been sleeping there for a few months.  Last week Derek & I decided that since Max doesn't like to be alone maybe we just put another bed under his loft and have him share a room with Nate.  

It has worked out wonderfully.  Nate has always been our earliest to go to bed and basically puts himself to bed around 9:30.  Now Max is going to bed with him and sleeping in his bed all night!    As an added bonus, sometimes during the day, we find them in the room together playing with their iPods!  

It's only been a week, but its been a great week of brotherly bonding!  Hopefully they'll enjoy being together for at least a few more months, and when they need their own space, I'm glad we've got the room.  It makes a Mama's heart happy.  

NOW Dual Meet (October 27, 2012)

Today was Max's first official swim meet.  He had a very good day.  He cut time off his 25 Free & his 25 Back and he also swam the 50 Free for the first time.  He finished 3rd in all 3 events.  He also swam on the 100 Free Relay which came in 1st so he earned his first Blue Ribbon!

Nate had a slightly off day.  He's been fighting a serious cough and cold all week.  He had some DayQuil before the meet but it wasn't quite enough.  He added a little time to his 200 Free and after a goggle malfunction added quite a bit of time to his 50 Fly.  He also swam on the 200 Medley Relay which came in 2nd and the 200 Free Relay which came in 1st.

Both boys came home with Blue Ribbons and we had Stevi B's pizza buffet with a bunch of friends.  So all in all it was a good day.

Kaylee had master classes at Oakland University's Michigan Dance day and reported that it was a lot of fun, especially Indian Dance.

Well, hello, there.

Hey, you.  Yes, you there.  The last person still lurking around this blog waiting to see if I post anything witty.     Swim season has started back up and Max is swimming this year too.  He is a hoot, so stay tuned.  I may just have something humorous to share!

In the meantime, here's a quick recap of the last 5 months just to get you caught back up.

In June, Kaylee & Max had dance recital.  It was a great experience for everyone.  Max really seem to enjoy himself then promptly announced that he was done dancing forever.

In July, Nate went to sleep-over camp for the first time.  He "had a great time even though this kid picked on me the whole week."

In July & August, Nate & Max participated in a swim clinic.  Max didn't drown so we decided to put him on the Marlins Swim team.

In July & August, Kaylee participated in CIY and a couple of Dance Camps.  She also got her Driver's License.  We occasionally see her around the house.

In September, everyone started back to School.  Kaylee is a Senior at Merritt Academy in New Haven.  They boys are attending 2 homeschool co-ops. Nate is in 5th/6th Grade.  Max is in K/1st.  (We consider them in these split classes because due to their late fall birthdays they could be in the older class and we try to keep them at that academic level but if they were ever to go to public school we'd put them down a grade due to their young ages.)

In September  Derek got a job!  He is teaching part-time at Homeschool Connections.  His first paid position in over 10 years.

In October,  Nate & Max had their first swim meet.  Max finished 2nd in the 25 Back and 3rd in the 25 Free.  Nate swam the 200 Free, 50 Free,100 Free  & 50 Breast.  He took time off in all his event and finished 2nd, 2nd, 4th & 5th.

We have another meet coming this weekend and we are expecting audition results to be posted any day for this years Dance Competitions.  So stay tuned.  I'm going to try to get back into this blogging thing.

Reaction Dance Force 2012

Our last dance competition for the season was May 19.  Almost a full month ago!  Time flies and with three kids it seems like we are ALWAYS busy.  But for my loyal 8 readers, I wanted to post the results of that last competition.



We really like Reaction Dance Force.  Its a small competition, but they do a full range of awards.  The highest is Platinum the lowest is Bronze.  At many competitions, they only award three levels but at Reaction less than 10% earned the prestigious Platinum.



For the first time in Kaylee's years on the competition team, one of the Group numbers won a Platinum.  Coming Home, which is a small group Lyrical consisting of the entire team, took a Platinum, First Overall Small Groups & A Choreography award.  It was a great experience, very team unifying!  The other 2 groups Kaylee is in both took Elite Gold.  Progressions, the Ballet number also took 2nd Overall & a Technique Award.

In their Duet, Kaylee & Shelby received a Gold and 1st Overall in the Teen Duet Category.


For her Solo, Kaylee earned an Elite Gold and placed 2nd Overall in the Senior Solo Division.  She was also crowned Ms. Dance Force!



Next up in our busy lives is Dance Recital.  Dress rehearsals start this Saturday.  Max will be in the 2 numbers in the recital and Kaylee will be in 10 or 11 (the schedule hasn't been finalized yet).  Hopefully it won't take me a full month to post about that!

Star Systems 2012

Kaylee had another dance competition this weekend.  This time she didn't come home with an arm full of awards.   At first she was discouraged, but after thinking about it for a while she came up with three great things about this weekend:

1. Team Unity- There was no fighting or bickering on the team. And Kaylee had a chance to really bond with the 10 year old on the team.

2. Watching Great Dancing- Kaylee loves dance and enjoyed watching some really great performances. Even though we were disappointed with our adjudication we fully appreciated seeing the Power House Studios perform.

3. Kaylee's teacher brought her almost 2 year old daughter to watch a little dancing and the last awards. Kaylee loves preschoolers and had a good time playing with Payton.

  

Cathy Roe's Ultimate Dance Competition

Kaylee's first competition of the 2012 Dance Season was yesterday.  This was our first experience at Cathy Roe's Ultimate Dance (although our Studio used to go many years ago).   It was a smaller competition, only 101 entries so we were all done by 6pm which was nice.  Kaylee did amazing.



Her solo received a Platinum adjudication.  She received a Judge's Choice Award for Stage Presence/Storytelling.  She came in 2nd in the 16-19 age category and 3rd overall the whole competition.

Her duet with Shelby received a High Gold adjudication and came in 1st overall for the Duets/Trios in the 13-15 age category.

Overall our Studio did fantastic.  Of our 10 entries we received 2 Platinum, 4 High Gold, 4 Gold, 4 Special Judge's Awards, 5 Scholarships, 1 Performance Invitation, 2- 1st place in age division, 3rd & 4th Overalls & One of our Students was crowned "Mr. Teen Ultimate Dance."

Nate's Awesome Season

This is Nate's 4th year on the Macomb Y Marlins Swim Team.  He's always enjoyed swimming and being on the team but back in October something clicked for him.  He figured out that these are races and its fun to win! He finally figured out what we meant when we said he needed to "finish the race."  (Swim your hardest at the end to try to beat everyone else to the wall.)  He started getting a lot more blue ribbons in the dual meets and started placing higher & higher in the invitationals.  And all of a sudden the times required to qualify for the State Championship Meet looked obtainable.

Nate swam his guts out during the whole regular season, but that State cut was just out of reach.  He was about a second away in 3 events!  During the last regular season meet, he swam on a 200 Free Relay Team that got a State Cut.  He was very proud to be part of the group.  But only an individual cut guarantees a trip to the State Meet.

The first meet of the Championship Season was the Eastern Cluster Meet.  Nate wasn't having his best day ever but he cut time off his 200 Free and the 200 Medley Relay Team he was on swam a Zone Cut! (Zone is the next level above the State Meet).

Since Nate didn't have an individual State Cut, he qualified to swim the District Meet.  Its a meet only for kids who don't have a State Cut and its the last chance of the season to earn the individual time to qualify for the State Meet.

Nate was less than 1 second shy of the time to qualify in the 200 Free.  He went in swam his best and cut a second and a half off.   He came in 1st place and HE QUALIFIED FOR THE STATE MEET!

At the State Championship meet, he took another 4 second off his 200 Free and came in 6th in the State.  It wasn't quite enough to earn an individual Zone cut, but we are so proud of all his hard work this season.

Overall he's improved tremendously since the beginning of the season.

50 Free- improved over 5 seconds
100 Free- improved over 17 seconds
100 IM- improved over 16 seconds

and most amazing, he dropped over ONE MINUTE since the beginning of the season on his 200 Free!

Way to go NATE!!!

The things he says

Lately Max & I have been having some funny conversations.  He is really "thinking" about things and frankly, the way he says them is pretty funny.  I know everyone is amused by their own children but some of these I'm just going to have to share with y'all.

Yesterday on the way home from church:

Max: Why didn't you name me Jack?

Me: Because I like the name Max better.

Max: Well, I like Jack better.

Me: Well, when you have a son, you can name him Jack.

Max: What would my name be then?

Me: Your name would still be Max.

Max: (Outraged) WHY WOULD'NT HE CALL ME DAD?!?!?!

I don't know how I'm supposed to keep a straight face. He's completely serious!  Yes, Honey, He'll probably call you Dad, but your name will still be Max!

Earlier in the week, he was dancing around the living room naked.

Me: Max go put some clothes on. You are too old to run around the house naked.

Max: I'm not naked. I'm wearing socks!!

Again. He's not being sarcastic. He's dead serious. And he was wearing socks.  How am I supposed to argue with that?

And one of my all time favorites...

After telling him to do something that he didn't want to do.

Max: You'd better be nicer to me or I'm going to tell my (stuffed) dog not to protect you when the aliens come.

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Stationery Card

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I just ordered these really cute note cards from Shutterfly.  Kaylee will be able to send cute thank you cards after her sweet 16 party.  I can't believe that she's going to be 16 in 2 weeks!