What would you do . . .

. . . . if your child's bill for his/her favorite activity came and it was $705 for one month? Stunned? So were we. Sometimes being a parent means making very unpopular decisions and yet, this one was really a no-brainer.

Miss Kinley was invited to be in a jr. dance company in May and had just been loving it. She had 4 parts in the Nutcracker coming up in December and was living at the dance studio. We knew there would be some extra fees associated with the Nutcracker, but when they threw in a handful of mandatory conventions and competitions and started charging for rehearsal time, it became a joke. They have always charged about double their cost for costume fees, which irritates the crap out of me, but then multiply that by 5 and it started to be comical! So, when that $705 bill was presented, we pulled her out.

She had some pretty big tears at first and still has some sad moments, but has been a real champ about it. It didn't hurt that we told her she could start going to the dance studio at Kaiya's gym, who just recently started their own Performance Company. Just one week into it, she is loving it and she and Kaiya have been so cute together talking about being at the same place for dance and gymnastics. And, it was a huge benefit that one of Kinley's bestest buddies decided to bail and come to Mountain Dance as well. It made the transition so much easier and they already have their first performance in two weeks. Add that to the fact that Kaiya's fall meet season starts this weekend and we are gonna be busy!

Both girls got to be in the Louisville Labor Day Parade on Monday and they had a ball! And, I just found out that they won 1st place in the parade in the kid's division! So, there will be a big trophy waiting at the gym when they get there tonight. Kinley just walked along the parade route and did cartwheels and handed out candy while Kaiya's group did a little gymnastics performance for the judges. They really had a fun day!

Ready for the parade!

Performing in front of the parade judges

Getting a little help from sis after so much walking!

Rounding out the week was a fun day yesterday with Cooper at his 7th grade field trip to the Rockies game. I was a chaperon for a small group of kids and we had to walk all over downtown Denver doing math and geometry problems. The game was fantastic as we watched the Rox come from behind and win 6-5 on a stolen home plate move that you almost never see.

Hanging with Kaden at the game