Gianna's elementary school graduation

Well my baby is done with elementary school.  I can't believe it.  What a year it's been for her. Starting a new school in the fall which caused a lot of tears and anxiety, but Gianna adjusted very quickly and really loved her new school.  She adored her teachers and made lots of new friends.

Her school had a really nice graduation ceremony yesterday...

Gianna received two awards!!  One was the President's Education Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence (not many received that one) and even came with a letter from President Obama!  She's a smarty pants for sure!!

Her second award was the Citizenship Award for good behavior and effort for the entire school year (and not everyone got one of those either)...



Proud Mom and Dad...

Gianna and one of her new friends she met this year, Amanda...

Gianna and Kassie (who is moving to Vermont tomorrow)...

Gianna, Kassie and Maggie...

Gianna and Kate (also a new friend this year)...

Gianna and Abby...

Her awesome teacher Mrs. Miller.  We loved her!!

This is Gianna's artwork that was hanging on the wall at graduation.  This really speaks to who she is and what she loves...animals...dance...art...and her dream to be on TV!

Class of 2023!?!?  That kind of took my breath away when I saw that in the program.  And I'm sure that will be here in a blink of an eye!

8th grade grad dance

Last night was Nicholas' 8th grade graduation dance.  He looked so handsome...

Julia tagged along to the dance as part of 7th grade Student Council helper...

Big brother really didn't want anything to do with little sister at HIS dance...

 My beautiful girl...

Such pretty girls...

Orlando Nightclub Shooting

"We need to support each other's differences and worry less about our own opinion."

"There will always be more good than evil." 
 

Ten Years

Julia had her picture taken for this year's dance recital program to celebrate her
10th year of dance!

So here we are...10 years and 55 dance routines later...

2007 (age 4)

2008 (age 5)

2009 (age 6)

2010 (age 7)

2011 (age 8)

2012 (age 9)

2013 (age 10) 

2014 (age 11)

2015 (age 12)

2016...Julia now at age 13...

What a beautiful dancer and performer she has become.  We are so very proud of all her accomplishments.

Cute & Funny

Musical.ly is a new app that the kids just love.  Gianna has made some super cute and some very funny music videos.  Just had to share some...

Disheartening

Gianna was watching "So You Think You Can Dance Kids" this morning and I could tell it was making her feel sad and discouraged.  She was saying how it's all about the legs and she doesn't have "the legs".  Well, the young girl she was watching had her leg in a develope up next to her ear...yes impressive...BUT...her body alignment was all off and her foot was horribly sickled!!  If you're going to do a move like that...please do it correctly.  And for Pete's sake...please take points off for bad technique if it's not done properly at a dance competition. Which nowadays it appears the judges just don't notice. They are too busy ooohing and ahhhing over the moves.

So this is the direction dance competitions are going in these days. Can you grab your leg and jam it behind your head?

Can you develope your leg and hold it next to your ear for 10 minutes?

Can you do this ugly move...called a "tilt"...which has become super popular? There's not one thing pretty about it in my opinion...

Or how about this?

Or this one is so gorgeous!! 

Um...not sure what this is...

Ahhh....love this one...

And this is a very common contortion move I see these days in practically every routine.  Is there anything pretty about it?  Um no...

But it sure does impress the judges these days!!  Forget about gorgeous contemporary and beautiful ballet technique.  Let's give the contortionist the higher points!

And if you can't do this...well then...just forget about auditioning for "So You Think You Can Dance Kids"...because it's all about flexibility these days!!

And if you can't do this move...well sadly it may be time to hang up your dance shoes.

And don't even get me going about how standing back aerials, back handsprings a hundred miles an hour across the stage, and alternating one arm back handsprings are considered dance and can beat a gorgeously trained contemporary dancer.  

We did one competition this year where the first place teen soloist did an entire solo routine without one trick or one contortion move...and she won!!  Yes!!! Finally!!! A real dancer won!!  But sadly that's the first time I've seen that happen in years.  

So my girls are getting discouraged.  They can't develope their legs up next to their ears. They can't bend themselves in half.  They can't tumble a hundred miles an hour across the stage. But in my opinion they both have the perfect amount of flexibility and strength to make them good dancers.  And more importantly, they are fantastic performers!!  Isn't that what dance is supposed to be about anyway? Moving an audience?  Not making them gasp and say "how does she do that???" Let's leave that for the circus please.

Yes, my girls attend a dance/acro school and I love watching all the fabulous tumbling and tricks the kids can do.  But by all means, if we are at a dance competition and we're against a routine with beautifully trained dancers just dancing? Then by all means...I want them to place higher than our acrobats and contortionists.  After all...we are competing in dance competitions, right?  

Brittanee Drexel

Update: Finally an arrest was made in the case and her remains were found. God Bless her and her family. 

I've been following the story of this missing teenager, Brittanee Drexel, from Rochester, NY for years now after seeing an episode about her on the TV show "Disappeared". I love a good mystery, but this one has always bothered me.

Brittanee was a junior in high school when she snuck away to Myrtle Beach with some friends for spring break back in 2009.  She lied to her parents and told them she would be staying with a friend for the weekend after they told her repeatedly she couldn't go to Myrtle Beach.

Shortly after arriving, she separated herself from the kids she went down there with because they were doing drugs and partying and that wasn't something she was into.  She kept in constant contact with her boyfriend while she was there, texting him every ten minutes or so.  One night she was walking alone back to her hotel room when her texts suddenly stopped. Knowing that she was out by herself, her boyfriend knew almost right away that something was wrong. He panicked and finally threatened her that he was going to tell her parents where she really was if she didn't text him back. When she didn't respond to his threats, he knew she was in trouble so he called her parents. They all drove down to Myrtle Beach the next day to look for her, but she was never found.

Surveillance footage showed her walking in and out of a friend's hotel, but she never made it back to where the traffic cameras were on the street where she should have been seen walking back to her own hotel.  This suggested she was likely picked up along the way...and most likely against her will.  Brittanee hasn't been seen now for seven years.

Today the FBI held a news conference updating her case.  They say they have evidence that she was held for five days in the Georgetown, S.C. area and eventually killed. McClellanville, where the news conference was held, is about 50 miles south of Myrtle Beach where she went missing. Her cell phone pinged in that area shortly after she disappeared.

Hearing that she was held for up to five days makes me sick.  I guess I just never thought about that.  I really hope the person, or people, who did this to her are found soon and put away forever.  I also hope that people who may know something will speak up so the family can finally know what happened to their beautiful daughter and hopefully bring her home for a proper burial.

God bless you Brittanee.

Flying High

The story of my life right now...

Talent Show

Gianna had her talent show on Friday night and she was AWESOME!!  She performed her competition tap dance all by herself!  I absolutely loved how all the kids cheered each other on.  Lots of screaming, clapping and hugging. So wonderfully supportive!!  I wish I had a good video of her dancing but I don't right now.  Our local cable company videotaped the show so I am looking forward to getting a copy of her performance!  I am so proud of my girl!