A day in the life....

Whew! I'm whooped. This has been a day and a half....to say the least. And I know I'm one of a billion people who have a lot going on, so I'm not looking for any sympathy. We've done it to ourselves....and the whole 'it's the end of the year and we MUST have a recital/party/concert' is our just dues.

The first thing on the docket today was Julia's dance competition. The biggest part of being in the Company class is going to competition in the Spring. The kids have been working on these dances since July...for 10 months....in preparation for today and it was a big deal. We received our schedule on Tuesday....Julia's class was dancing at 8:52 and 9:19 this morning. That's A.M. At the PAC. And we had to be there an hour early. Yes. An hour early. That's roughly 7:45 A.M. 30 minutes away from where we live.

I am not a night person. By 10 o'clock, I'm starting to fade away. I'm not really a morning person, either, but I do much better in the morning once I'm out of bed. On Saturday, I don't set an alarm unless I absolutely 'have' to. And today, I 'had' to. 5:15 A.M. Yes....5:15 does in fact come on a Saturday morning. Honestly, I thought 5:15 only came 6 days a week...and Saturday wasn't one of them. But today, it did. And I got up. Begrudgingly.

Joe got Julia out of bed at 6 and after she ate her french toast, I proceeded to put some light makeup on her beautiful face and gel her hair. There are very specific 'rules' we have to follow in competition. All the hair off the face. No bangs. Hair tied in a low ponytail with their crystal gemmed ponytail holder.

When Julia made company last summer, I asked her to look around at all the big girls at the dance studio. To a girl, they all have long hair with no bangs. Julia has always had bangs, so we decided we would try and grow them out for dance and see how she does. We've made it through that awkward stage, finally. She can almost tuck them behind her ears. But, they still get in the way. Knowing I had to get them completely off her face, I bought a can of hair glue. Yes. Hair glue. Actually, it's a freezing spray. Recommended by a church friend who has a daughter that dances.....and wow does this stuff work.

Julia's hair was absolutely perfect.

She had to go to the PAC with her costume on and makeup and hair completely ready. I think she looks fantastic. Her team performed their tap routine first...then their jazz. The tap was absolutely awesome. My jaw literally dropped at how great they were. For their teacher to get 17 8-9 year olds to work in sync like that is just unbelievable!

The jazz number was great, too...and in fact, won first place for their age group and category! Their tap number won second place. Not bad, huh. Two dances. First and second place. Way to go Petites!

From there we ran to the soccer fields to watch the end of Daniel's game...grab him and head home. I dropped off Daniel and Julia and picked up Trey to take him to his ball game....and boy, what a game it was. Trey's team, the Braves, was playing the Indians....who just happen to be coached by a very good friend of ours. Their son, Cory, has been friends with my boys forever....really, ever since we moved here. They've been in Sunday School, Kids Choir, and VBS together for years and they always have a great time together.

Trey had a great game.....on base three times and made some great defensive plays as the second baseman. He even earned the MVP Game Ball.

Josh's game was right after Trey's, but thanks to some thunder, lightning and a whole bunch of rain...the game was called after half an inning. So, my long day got a little shorter. We came home and collapsed. Julia has fallen asleep twice since we've been home and has now gone to bed. Joe is putting the boys to bed now...and then we're going to sit and watch an episode of Bones we missed.

And the hero throughout all of this is Joe. No, he didn't do the running around, although he did bring the kids to the field at 3:00 for Trey's game. While Julia and I were gone this morning, he straightened up our bedroom (which was a flaming disaster), had the boys sweep the garage and clean up the guest suite, revamped the kitchen a little bit...swapping the Tupperware and some pots and pans, did three loads of laundry, and mowed the grass.

Who knew Mother's Day came on Saturday, too?

Thank you, dear. I love you very much.