This weekend Mackenzie participated in her first performance since being a part of the "company" at her dance studio. It was called Company Showcase. Basically, according to Ms. Lauren, the owner/director of her dance studio, this was a dry run to get ready for their first competition that will be at the end of April.
The performance took place at a local arts center. We had dress rehearsal on Friday night, and then the the actual show was on Saturday evening at 5pm.
We had a meeting a week or so ago, getting instructions on every detail of the make up application, the hair style, the correct tights, and all the accessories required for the girls to wear. I am a girly girl, this should not be any problem. None, nada, zilch. Ha Ha Ha.
First, the hair style, half up, half down....easy enough. UNTIL, we cut her hair pretty short recently. After using a lot of hair spray, I was able to accomplish this first task. Then on to curling the back so it looked cute. That was like curling the hair on a monkey's head. Mackenzie is like a moving target when it comes to fixing her hair. She has to be in the know about everything, so she is constantly turning to look at whatever is going on around her.
Next, the makeup! I have been wearing make up for many years. I wear it everyday. Putting makeup on my daughter should be easy, but, remember that monkey...yeah. I apply her foundation, blush, lipstick, everything is going good. I start with the eyes, apply the shadow, it looks good, I am proud. I tell Mackenzie to go show her teacher, get her approval...I know I have done good....right? WRONG. Well maybe not completely wrong, she says it looks good, but needs to be much darker. So I reapply, and reapply, and reapply some more. Then I move on to the dreaded eyeliner. Mackenzie hates eyeliner, so she starts to fret and fuss, complaining that I am hurting her. Once I have finally accomplished this task, and Mackenzie is absolutely not having fun anymore, it is time to apply the mascara. Before doing so, I give her a good look over, making sure that my masterpiece is almost complete. I am pretty impressed, she looks like a little model. Just perfect.
I start the mascara ordeal. I am almost completely done, when she suddenly moves and the mascara wand pokes her eye. Oh Lord this is not going to be good. Her eyes well up with tears. I am frantically telling her to stop crying, sounding extremely unsympathetic, but knowing if the tears start rolling down her face, we will have a complete disaster. Streaked foundation and blush, smeared eyeliner, and black mascara running everywhere is not what we needed five minutes before call time.
It is finally time for the show to begin. I have already taken at least 20 or more pictures. Mackenzie looked like an angel. A grown up angel, but an angel none the less. I kept staring at her, thinking to myself how gorgeous she is. When she smiled, her entire face just sent out rays of light. She just looked beautiful.
She performed a tap routine, wearing a red and white polka dot costume complete with black gloves, and a head piece that had black feathers attached to it. The costume had a belt attached to it that had a diamond like buckle. She had diamond like earrings to complete the look. Her costume fit her perfectly. She looked awesome in it.
The tap performance was a little on the side of not being really ready to perform yet. According to Mackenzie, they just finished creating the dance in the last week or so. It did not matter to us moms though. They looked pretty darn cute to us. I think it will be cool to see how far they will have came at the actual recital compared to this performance.
Her second and final dance was her jazz. It is so apparent by the photos that Mackenzie really enjoys this routine. Her smile just shined while she was doing this dance. Ironically, she was dancing to "Momma, I'm a Big Girl Now". She looked it for sure. The costume for this one was pink, sparkly, and had the same diamond like buckle for the belt.
The girls really did a terrific job on this number. They had been practicing this one much longer and it really showed.
As we were leaving at the end, several people complimented Mackenzie on her performance. One friend of ours told Mackenzie that she reminded her of her little girl when she was that young by the way she was smiling on stage. Later, on our way home, Mackenzie told me that it was nice that people were there to "support" her, and she knew that Tina really watched her, and was not just saying that, because, she said she was smiling. I think this might have been the first time that Mackenzie cared....I mean, that she was proud of herself for something she had been working on. As her Mom, it was a proud moment for me to see her "shine" even more as other people complimented her. It is one thing for Mom to tell you that you did a good job, and I did, a lot, I was so proud of her. But, still, to have other people make a point to find you and tell you how great you did, that is a whole different story. I was happy that Mac had that.
Mackenzie is going to be a very lucky girl. She is that girl that girls like myself are jealous of. She is the total package. She is beautiful. She is funny. She is very outgoing. She is not shy. She is smart. She is going to be a talented dancer. All I can say is her daddy is going to very busy keeping the boys at bay in a few years.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
I goofed.....again!
There are times when you just know you made a mistake. I have made many. Mother of the Year Award....not planning on getting it this year...again!
Chase has been swimming since fall for Blue Devil Aquatics. Every meet he as competed in, he has made improvements, cutting his times. We have been so proud of him, and so thankful for coaching he has received. Chase enjoys swimming and he is good at it. He has worked real hard all year long.
He competed in a final meet this past weekend. It was sort of a championship meet, but for children that did not qualify to go to State Champs. As good as he is, there are some amazing kids that swim incredibly well. We have no doubt that if Chase continues to put as much effort in his training he will too be at State Champs one day.
Anyway....here we are, the eve before his "champs." Chase has this nice cough that sounds horrifying. It is allergy season, which he has a tough time with, and there are about 100 bugs in the air at school. We come home from practice and start to get ready for bed. Cough....cough.....cough....cough. How pitiful. I think to myself, he needs sleep, this meet is important tomorrow. Knowing him like the back of my hand, if I don't do something, he will not sleep at all.
You see, his nerves always get him. He starts to worry and then he gets so worked up he cannot sleep. Normally, (without a horrible cough) after some coaching, he will finally slip off to sleep. Add that cough in the mix, sleep seems to be not in the plans...unless....I just give him a little night time cold medicine. Seems like a good idea, right? WRONG.
We wake early on Saturday morning, since we are expected to be at the pool at 7:45, and the pool is almost one hour away from our house. Everything seems to be okay. Until........
It is time for Chase's first race. He dives off the block, in slooooooooow motion. He swims in slooooooow motion. It was almost as if he were on tv and they had singled him out to show how exactly to do the stroke or something. His freestyle looked really nice. Nice and slow. Sheldon and I just looked at each other. We immediately started repeating back and forth to each other, "He does not feel well." Followed by more Mommy and Daddy excuses for our perfect child.
I go down to the deck after his race and check on him, he feels warm to me. He insist he feels fine and does not want to leave. Sheldon justifies that there is so much chlorine there is no way he could share his germs with other swimmers.
Two more swims to go. Freestyle done, backstroke and breast stroke to go. 50 Back, and 100 Breast, that is four lengths of the pool. Oh my. Not good.
He started each race out pretty good, but got slower and slower and slower. I felt about one inch tall. I know that combined with the sinus/cough issue, night time cold meds the night before the big race....just not a good idea.
If there was one good thing about this meet it was that Chase felt so crappy he did not care. Normally he is so hard on himself and so nervous before every race. Not so much this time. He hated that he did not cut time off his races, but it was a passing thought.
In case you don't see what is going on here....I am trying to make myself feel better here. If I convince myself that Chase was not upset about his bad performance, then I won't feel like the worse Mommy in the world. I don't want to have to put another thing on the list of why I will not get Mother of the Year Award. My list is long enough. One day, maybe, I will get to walk down the Mother of the Year Red Carpet. At best, I can just hope that my kids will forgive me for my mistakes, Lord knows they are the ones that will be picking out my nursing home.
Chase has been swimming since fall for Blue Devil Aquatics. Every meet he as competed in, he has made improvements, cutting his times. We have been so proud of him, and so thankful for coaching he has received. Chase enjoys swimming and he is good at it. He has worked real hard all year long.
He competed in a final meet this past weekend. It was sort of a championship meet, but for children that did not qualify to go to State Champs. As good as he is, there are some amazing kids that swim incredibly well. We have no doubt that if Chase continues to put as much effort in his training he will too be at State Champs one day.
Anyway....here we are, the eve before his "champs." Chase has this nice cough that sounds horrifying. It is allergy season, which he has a tough time with, and there are about 100 bugs in the air at school. We come home from practice and start to get ready for bed. Cough....cough.....cough....cough. How pitiful. I think to myself, he needs sleep, this meet is important tomorrow. Knowing him like the back of my hand, if I don't do something, he will not sleep at all.
You see, his nerves always get him. He starts to worry and then he gets so worked up he cannot sleep. Normally, (without a horrible cough) after some coaching, he will finally slip off to sleep. Add that cough in the mix, sleep seems to be not in the plans...unless....I just give him a little night time cold medicine. Seems like a good idea, right? WRONG.
We wake early on Saturday morning, since we are expected to be at the pool at 7:45, and the pool is almost one hour away from our house. Everything seems to be okay. Until........
It is time for Chase's first race. He dives off the block, in slooooooooow motion. He swims in slooooooow motion. It was almost as if he were on tv and they had singled him out to show how exactly to do the stroke or something. His freestyle looked really nice. Nice and slow. Sheldon and I just looked at each other. We immediately started repeating back and forth to each other, "He does not feel well." Followed by more Mommy and Daddy excuses for our perfect child.
I go down to the deck after his race and check on him, he feels warm to me. He insist he feels fine and does not want to leave. Sheldon justifies that there is so much chlorine there is no way he could share his germs with other swimmers.
Two more swims to go. Freestyle done, backstroke and breast stroke to go. 50 Back, and 100 Breast, that is four lengths of the pool. Oh my. Not good.
He started each race out pretty good, but got slower and slower and slower. I felt about one inch tall. I know that combined with the sinus/cough issue, night time cold meds the night before the big race....just not a good idea.
If there was one good thing about this meet it was that Chase felt so crappy he did not care. Normally he is so hard on himself and so nervous before every race. Not so much this time. He hated that he did not cut time off his races, but it was a passing thought.
In case you don't see what is going on here....I am trying to make myself feel better here. If I convince myself that Chase was not upset about his bad performance, then I won't feel like the worse Mommy in the world. I don't want to have to put another thing on the list of why I will not get Mother of the Year Award. My list is long enough. One day, maybe, I will get to walk down the Mother of the Year Red Carpet. At best, I can just hope that my kids will forgive me for my mistakes, Lord knows they are the ones that will be picking out my nursing home.
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