Dancers and Illness - a crappy duet!

Oh the Spring brings many things, sunshine, flowers, dance competitions, allergies and flu....ughh...

As I prepare for our second competition (and I use the term our in the sense that I do the grunt work and Miss Megs does the hard work!), it seems that everyone around me is dropping like mad from colds and flu...I have considered wrapping Megs in a bubble but realize that it is not feasible unless I get an identical one for everyone in her numbers!

This morning my best friend posted that her daughter, Piper (Megs' bff) was under the weather with a cough and upset stomach (which Piper assured Kelly was the result of too much coughing!).  I noticed that our studio director is fighting a bug, one of our choreographers was off with a bug and when I picked up Mr. Mac he was in tears over his ears that "really hurt when I yawn".  Trust me there are not enough Lysol wipes to avoid my little dancer coming into contact with something.

And then I remembered a poem I read on a fav webiste created by dance moms for dance moms - Dancemom.com.  I thought I would include it here.  I found it last year when Megs and Piper came down with chickenpox, right before competition I might add, it really put humour into what is a dance mom truth!

The Night Before Competition

'Twas the night before Competition, when all through the house
Not a creature was worried - not even my spouse.
The rhinestones were glued to each costume with care,
And certain to blind every judge with their glare.

Our dancer was nestled all snug in her bed,
While visions of Platinum danced in her head.
And dad in his t-shirt, and me in my sweats,
Were just kicking back with a beer and some chips.

When up in the bedroom there arose such a clatter,
I fell off the couch and yelled, "What the hell is the matter?!"
Away to our girl's room, I flew like a flash,
Tore open the door and caught glimpse of...The Rash.

The red on the face of our girl let us know,
That this illness could threaten her spot in the show.
When what to my husband's mind should occur,
But the we'd invested to register her.

With a little calculation done frighteningly quick,
He said "we'd waste hundreds, if she truly was sick."
More rapid than switchleaps, the treatment they came,
And I diagnosed quickly and called them by name.

"Try Advil! Try Nyquil! Try a couple Aleve.
Put on Aloe or Cortizone or Benedryl Cream."
From the medicine cabinet at the end of the hall,
I dispensed every treatment and said, "Use them all!"

With thermometer in hand, I demanded a chance,
To check for a fever. "Damn, I hope she can dance!"
We took our girl's temp. and suspected the flu.
And I nearly passed out when it read 1-0-2.

And then in an instant, we lost sight of our girl,
Who ran into the bathroom and started to hurl.
As she wiped back her tears she sobbed, "This isn't fun."
"Competition's tomorrow, and I could have won."

She'd have been dressed to kill, from her head to her foot,
And no one could have beat her.  She's really that good.
A bundle of talent with a smile to delight,
Would have brought her top honours-- her God-given right.

Her jewels would have twinkled.  Her costume? Cranberry.
Same shade as her lipstick, as she'd shake to "Proud Mary".
She was born for this dance, and could nail it cold.
Leaving the judges to award nothing less than High Gold.

Her hairstyle--expensive, like the costume beneath,
And we'd mortgaged the house, just to straighten her teeth.
All in all you could say, we'd invested a ton,
It was like the stock market, but now she's Enron.

Alas, full of meds, dancer lay back in bed.
To console our dear daughter, we stroked the child's head.
We spoke not a word - too consumed with our fret,
Until dad broke the silence, "Why's her forehead so wet?"

I checked for myself, for I feared a cruel joke,
But found hope had returned, yes, her fever had broke.
We sprang form her room, and we danced down the hall,
With a good night of sleep, she'd compete after all.

We had rescued this weekend, for our daughter so dear,
More important: preserved hope for her Broadway career.
And we heard her exclaim at the next morning's light,
"I'm ready to dance, mom, yep, I'm feelin' alright!"

http://www.dancemom.com/articles/text/016.htm



Legofest...the beginning

They say that you want for your children what you did not have as a child....if this is the case I obviously have some deep seeded resentment over the lack of handmade birthday invitations!

From the time my kids have been able to give me input on what they would like their theme to be for their party (or in some cases the theme that I have given them!) I have been making their invitations.  Some of Meghan's past invites have included seed packages for a garden party, backstage passes for a Hannah Montana dance party and flip flops for a make and take flip flop party.

This was the invite that I made for Mr Mac's 2nd birthday party - a farm themed party on my parent's farm complete with pony rides and a cow pinata!

But I have to confess...Mac is truly is a second child!  Last year, his birthday fell in the midst of dance season and his sister's First Communion.  Unfortunately, his birthday was merely glazed over.....

But in true "Guilty Mama" fashion, I am back to focus on his birthday with a vengeance!

I asked my dear boy what he would like to do for his birthday...his 3 wishes ~ bowling, Lego and a cake!  And that is what he will have.  He nearly skipped into the bowling alley when he went with me to book his date and he was patient as he has ever been as I dragged him through Michael's, to get what I needed for his Lego invites.

I decided to keep it simple (amazing, I know and so like me lol!) - the invites needed to say Lego but I had to keep in mind that I had about 20 to make!  I decided on using the infamous Lego brick for inspiration.  What I came up with was a 6 stud Lego brick (which I now have found out doesn't exist) using 5 colours of card stock, some white cards & envelopes and my 1" circle punch.

I punched out all the circles needed and originally glued them to pieces of card stock that I planned to glue to the cards.....

But it seemed much too 2 dimensional for me, so I tried sticky foam squares......Success!

They look like giant Lego pieces...just what I wanted!  All that was left was to fill in the details of the event and decorate the inside and envelope!

I love stamping....so easy to make things look nicely finished!  Now time to pack some into the message bag for school tomorrow, hand deliver some locally and send the others in the mail......I just hope my plan for the cake turns out as well....good thing the day before is Good Friday....it may take some work!

Dance Like No One is Watching!

This weekend, the kids and I made a trek to our neighbourhood Michael's to get materials for Mac's birthday invitations (check back for details).  While scoping out the store Miss Megs found this garden flag and I had to buy it!

First of all I love the way the Peanut characters dance....if you look at their faces they are lost in their own musical happiness just carrying out the beat as a message of musical joy!

My second reason for this flag is that it is the perfect flag to be flown during competitive dance season!  This sentence is one of the last words I whisper to Miss Megs as she heads out on stage because although she dances for her teachers, the judges, her team, at the end of it all it is all about her and her happiness!

The whole quote is this

"Dance like no one is watching -  Love like you will never be hurt -  Sing like no one is listening - And live like it's Heaven on earth"   ~ William Purkey

It is a terrific quote reminding everyone to live life to the fullest.  So we will fly this flag until the end of the season as a reminder as we pull out of the driveway on route to the studio or the competition venue....that we all need to be dancing like no one is watching!