Talent on Parade

After starting out with the alarm not going off and waking up when we were supposed to be there, arriving 45 minutes late and not having tights for either dance - Madalyn's second competition, Talent on Parade, was at the Performing Arts Center in Kyle this weekend. Madalyn's on the 'Darlings' dance team which is the starter team for Dance Unlimited's competition teams. They absolutely rocked the TOP competition. The Darlings compete with three group dances - tap to Devil in a Blue Dress, which they won first in their division - jazz routine to Trouble, which they won third in their division- and last the group production of Hercules which won second place. Madalyn came home with a trophy, 3 blue ribbons, 3 medals and their team won $150 for winning their category. They talked a lot about how to spend the money which it looks like they will 'bling out' their robe cover ups.
The three older teams also did a great job and won tons of awards. Dianne was even brave enough to have her three 'pre-teams' compete and they all placed as well. It was a very successful run for Dance Unlimited and we couldn't be prouder of Madalyn and the rest of the Darlings.
I will just say that aside from the alarm not going off and being totally rushed all day long (I didn't know that I could eat a hamburger that fast) these competitions are a huge undertaking and I'm glad there are only 4 this year. When it was over I was shocked that it was still light outside. We ran in at 9:15 and didn't walk out until 6:15 - it's a total time hole, and I don't know if my nerves can take any more. Thanks to Mom and Brandy for helping keep me sane, and to Beau for helping me make fun of the lyrical dancers. I just don't get that type of dance... :)

Showstopper Pics

Here are some pics that my friend Lanette took at the competition. These are awesome, and hopefully we'll have more at the next one. Like I mentioned, they did a great job and we were all impressed with Madalyn's improvement from last year. It's amazing to watch her do all of these moves and poses and dance like a crazy girl - especially with her back. She's a rock star, but we already knew that. :)

Girl Scouts Cinderella Ball

Today was the Cinderella Ball with the Girl Scouts at Texas Old Town in Kyle. It's a great event location - Shelly Dennison's and Nicole Stoffel's weddings were both there- and they were kind enough to donate it for the day. So, Jeff took Madalyn to dinner at her favorite place, Logans, and then to the dance. They got to hang out with her fellow troopers and their dads, and Madalyn even got to hang out with Sydnee her Big Sis from the Dance Team. They danced to the Cupid Shuffle, Macarena and Jeff even requested 'It Takes Two'. Good times! It was their first Father/Daughter dance and they both really enjoyed it.

Valeria's First Birthday

Beck taking a whack at Elmo

Emily Hernandez

Madalyn, Bristol & Valeria

Madalyn & Valeria
We had two birthday parties this weekend, Ryan Tang turned 2 and Valeria Guzman turned 1. I worked with their moms at E&Y and they are still good friends. I didn't get to Ryan's party until the very end, and didn't get to take any pictures but the kids had a blast! It was at an indoor inflatable party place and our three wore themselves out. Then we headed to Aimee and Gerardo's for a backyard party complete with a balloon arch. There couldn't have been anything better than hanging out with friends watching the kids play and enjoying the amazing weather.

Basketball and Dancing

On February 28th we had a crazy busy weekend. We had our last basketball games and Madalyn competed in the Showstopper dance competition in San Antonio. Which meant we left the house early and didn't get home until super late.
Ella played with the Monarchs this season and Jessie was kind enough to let me rope her into helping me coach the team. The girls 3-5 are WAY easier than the boys 3-4, but its definitely still like herding cats. Ella did a great job and I think she that enjoyed it, or at least she spared my feelings and said that she did. :) Beck continued to do well this season even though he moved up an age group. He was back with his friends and more than half of the team is from Blanco Vista. They still don't keep score for and Beck and Ella's games, and thank heavens because Madalyn's games are enough to give you a heart attack. She also moved up an age group this season which meant she was playing with girls from 9 to 12. As you can see from the pic, we had a girl on the team that was 5'8 with my 9 year olds-crazy! We had a good season and won 2 of our 6 games. It was a really fun season, but I have to say its a relief for it to be over. :)
Madalyn had to rush from the dance competition in San Antonio to make it back for our 7 o'clock game. (note the makeup in the pic) The Darlings team won golds for their tap to Devil in a Blue Dress and jazz dance to Pink's song Trouble. They also won 3rd for their production dance to Hercules- where all of the kids from all of the teams particpate. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pics at the competition but there is another one this coming weekend with all of the same costumes.
And last but not least, we went to a housewarming party at Danny and Kim's new house. They bought a super cute two-story in Kyle near Madalyn's old school. I have to say that Danny's Mexican Martinis are enough to try and get them to have parties every weekend! Congrats to them though, we just hope that we'll be next.

Viva Las Vegas!

One of my favorite clients - AIDS Services of Austin had one of their big fundraisers for the year at the Austin Music Hall on February 21st. After a long day of basketball games I pulled a presto change-o at the gym and was ready to party. We had an amazing time with great food and great friends. The party was at a new venue this year and it allowed them to have a fashion show that was AMAZING. I've included a pic here of the finale with the Diana Ross impersonator. Super cool and way fun, I've never been to something like that and now I understand why all of the celebrities are lining up at fashion week. It was also nice to have a date night with Jeff. I love any reason to buy a new dress and to get dressed up- it's a plus when its for a good cause though!
Best thing of the night was the silent auction. We got a lot of really cool stuff from it last year and I was dead set to win a Quan Cosby signed DVD and t-shirt from the Fiesta bowl this year. It was in this really cool ceramic football tray that had Doritos and queso in it - great presentation. I loved the tray a kept raising the bid and won it for $50, and when I picked it up the tray was plastic. D'oh!

3D Dance Teams

We're almost to dance competition season. The first is the last weekend of the month in San Antonio at Kels' old stomping grounds - Trinity University. Here is a picture of all of the teams taken at the Lock-in last month. That's a lot of dancers and they actually do a production dance that all of these kids are in together. Madalyn is in the second row - second from the left. Go team!

Bristol's Green Thumb

Bristol's birthday present turned around a lot more quickly than Madalyn's did. Elmo's Green Thumb was in Austin for the weekend and we caught the last show this afternoon. It was the first time that we had taken him to something like this and he did a great job. He loved his Elmo spinner and his favorite part of the show was the confetti at the end that they sprayed out over the crowd. He also liked Sunny the Sunflower, the ladybugs and the beetles. My favorite parts were getting to sing the Sesame Street song and that they decided to plant Sunny next to the magical mushrooms. LOL! Sorry, maybe I was the only one who thought that was funny or even noticed. Bristol did a great job and was a total angel until we pulled in the driveway to come home - he must have realized that his time as an only child was over. Poor thing!

Spiderbeck

Spiderbeck, Spiderbeck does whatever Spiderbeck does. Does he swing from his web, no he can't because he's a Beck. Alright, for anyone that hasn't seen The Simpson's movie that may not make sense. Anyway, Beck got invited to Sydnee's birthday party (from school-see other pics) which was a fairy tale tea party theme. The invitations were GREAT, very cool scrolls with toole. I had talked him into going as a Jedi - his Halloween costume from this year - thinking that it would kind of gog with the theme. Well, he decided that he needed to be Spiderman and couldn't be talked out of it. Needless to say, he was a hit at the party even though there was one other boy. Jeff got a huge kick out of watching him with the other kids and has confirmed that he is going to 'slay' the girls. Apparently his muscles were a huge hit.

Bristol's 3rd Birthday

After all of the games on Saturday we headed to Chuck E Cheese to have dinner and let the kids run amuck. Bristol loved it and got lots of cool stuff from my parents and Cody - who scored with the Hot Wheels haul again. Bristol got tickets to see Elmo's Green Thumb from Jeff and me and most importantly new underwear from my parents! The pizza was great and I love going there because it makes me think of all of the times that Grandma Beckham took us when we were kids. The only down side was that Cody actually beat me 2 out of 3 games on the basketball game. Totally lame! My NBA and WNBA shirt didn't even help me win. But that's fine because then Jeff broke the game right afer that. A good time was had by all and our baby is officially 3.
We also want to wish Bristol's birthday buddies - Aimee and Louis - a very happy birthday as well!

Bristol's Pancake Birthday Breakfast

Madalyn had a sleepover on Friday night, so we had a pancake breakfast to kickoff Bristol's birthday. The kids enjoyed it and really like the hazard cones in their pancakes with the Cars decorations. Bristol sported the new outfit he got from Jessie and added one of Madalyn's hairbands and some safety shades. Ali G anyone?!

Valentine's Party

The boys had a party at the Kid Ranch for Valentine's Day on Friday. I'm not sure if you remember parties at school from when you were kids, but they haven't changed much. Seriously. Shoe boxes that have been painted with bright colors with hearts and glitter and a hole cut out of the top. Mostly Valentines from the store with popular characters and some type of candy attached because certainly these small children need large quantities of sugar in addition to the party goodies to eat on the way home. I tend to take the 'blow it all out' approach and just let them eat everything at once. A bold move with three kids, but at least the sugar rush is over in one blaze of glory and doesn't drag out for days.
The whole class sang Happy Birthday to Bristol and Sydnee who both have Valentine's birthdays. Bristol really liked all of the attention and all of the sugar!
Madalyn also had a party at her school which I didn't attend because they had a dance after school that I was banned from attending. (Parents are SOOO embarrassing!) Second dance in one year, but she didn't come home with any special Valentine's from boys so we're safe for another year. No pics to share, but she wore the same shirt and matched her friends Hannah and Willow- ah, the days when matching was the best thing ever and you planned it.

Legally Blonde

Yesterday, Madalyn's birthday present finally paid off when we went to see Legally Blonde and the newly re-done Bass Concert Hall. We (Mom, Madalyn, Julie, Susan and I) went to Cantina Laredo for brunch- which was amazing by the way. I think that place is one of my favorite restaurants for sure. After brunch we went to the show and really enjoyed it. The lead was out, but her understudy was one of the girls from the MTV Reality Show the Search for Elle Woods. Madalyn was excited that one of the girls from the show was there. She's wearing her pink shirt and new backpack to school today (of course) and I think we all have Omigod! stuck in our heads. It's a great adaptation of the movie and the FedEx guy was a definite highlight!

Basketball Week 3

Bristol doesn't quite get how to put the tattoo on

Crazy faces-again!

I've still been horrible about taking pictures at the basketball games. During my girl's games I'm either out on the court (with Ella's team) or too busy yelling from the bench (with Madalyn's team) to take pictures. For Beck's team, the T-Wolves, I'm designated bench wrangler so I have some more time. I took some funny pictures of Bristol and then the other pics were too dark to really see anything. I am lucky enough to have Trina (we're on the PTA together) as a team mom - she's a professional photographer and took the team pic of the boys after the game. Aren't they a mess?! It's hard to believe the season is already half over. It always goes too fast.

Kids off to School

We are in week 2 of Jeff traveling 3 of 4 weeks and the kids actually woke up and were ready early on Monday to go to school. If you haven't heard me talking about it lately- I work from 6-2 and Jeff drops the kids off and I pick up, when he's gone I have to do both which seriously cuts my work hours- yikes! Anyway, you can see our fashionista Madalyn and I gave the boys 'fauxhawks' to reward them. They were all actually great at school, so the fauxhawks didn't go to their heads. :) Bristol is carrying on with the face making as well - these kids are certainly a handfull!

Basketball Season Begins

This isn't a good picture at all although Beck is listening and has his hands up on defense. Basketball season has started again and I'm coaching three teams this year. Madalyn and Beck of course, and I added Ella's team to the mix. It's been a pretty entertaining season so far or at least the first games were fun. Ella's team is the Monarchs, Beck is on the Timberwolves and Madalyn is playing for the Stars. My Stars team has girls ranging from 3rd grade to 7th grade which is a definite challenge. I'll get better pics this weekend and post them.

Stacey Heller's Shower

Last weekend we had a baby shower for one of my oldest EY friends- Stacey Heller who was in my start group in 2001. She and I became fast friends when we met at the airport on our way to our first day at training in Houston. Ah, the good old days. Stacey doesn't know whether she's having a girl or a boy, but we'll find out soon enough! Here all of the hostesses are: Carly Faubacher, Shelly & Kolby Dennison, Rachel Tang, Miss Stacey herself, Nancy Liu, Andi Gaspard and me.

Girl Scout Cookies are Here!!

It's that time of year again, time for the cookie sales. Madalyn worked very hard on her email tonight and sent to many of our friends and family. It's really funny to hear things from her perspective and the way that she words things. I had to laugh at several points and then let her send it any way. We were very entertained by her cookie photo shoot tonight, she has lots of fun ideas. Cookies are $3.50 a box, and I deliver, so if you're interested shoot her an email at madalynraymond@gmail.com - she earned a computer patch from her efforts last year.

On a side note, we wanted Madalyn to be in scouts for enrichment and for her to learn some leadership, teamwork and other skills that are hard to teach on our own. The funny thing is Scouts turned out to be more than that. Madalyn really wanted to go to camp last year- Miss Independent always- and the Scouts require a physical to attend. Madalyn hadn't been back to the pediatrician since her 5-year well check because it wasn't required (no shots, etc.) so we had been when she was sick, which had been once. When we took her for the camp physical our pedi noticed that her left rib cage was slightly higher than the right when she bent over to touch her toes. She signed the forms for camp and told us to come back in 6 months, so we did. They took x-rays, measurements, and so on and concluded that Madalyn has scoliosis. We went to an orthopedic specialist last week who confirmed the disagnosis and confirmed its severity. She's being fitted for a night brace tomorrow with an orthotist, but the good news is that she'll only have to wear the brace at night. She doesn't have to change any of her current activities and any physical activities actually help her condition. She has a 22 degree curve in her L3 vertebrae which we hope the brace will keep from getting any worse. We'll go back to the specialist every 6 months and really have to watch it when she hits her growth spurt during puberty - like we weren't already dreading that enough!! So, who knew that the Girl Scouts would have such a huge impact on our daughter? Needless to say, we are very grateful to have caught this when we did, and its all thanks to camp.

Kara's Baby Shower

One of my best friends from college is expecting her first baby at the end of March. It's going to be a boy and she and Tim havent decided on a name just yet, so they are calling the baby Ike. Maybe I should mention at this point that their last name is Turner. :) The shower was very fun and I was excited that I found a bib that said 'Lock up your daughters' and with a name like Ike Turner, it's true!!

Beck Turns 5!

Beck turned 5 last Thursday, and although he had already done a lot of his celebrating with the Monster Jam trip, he still had tons of fun. We did cupckaes with his class and I did my best to make Beck's wish for Monster Truck cupcakes. We ate dinner at Taste of China - the best Chinese buffet ever. Beck had a 'As Seen on TV' birthday which included an Air Hog airplane that you can fly in the house and Billy May's Big City Slider mini-burger skillet. It's AWESOME! We ate mini-burgers three times over the weekend. And Cody gave him a bag of Hot Wheels cars, trucks, motorcycles, tracks and collectible cars. My favorite was a shirt I found at Old Navy that says 'Smooth like Butta' with a stick of butter in it. I don't know why that struck me as being so funny when I saw it, but when Beck had it on and said it I knew why. :)