Birthday marathon

I am always trying to come up with ways to sneak in more one-on-one time with each of my kids, but it's not easy! However, I think I've filled Kinley's bucket for a while after the last several days.

This was her "off" year for a birthday party, so she got to choose what activity to do as a family. It turned out that she was invited to go to a dance convention in Denver over her birthday weekend and the offer was that it would be just the two of us. The decision was made!

New dance shoes called "foot undies" for the big day

After a nice round of influenza made it through our house, I was worried Kinley wasn't going to make it, but Tamiflu saved the day! We had to be at the hotel in Denver at 7:30 a.m., so it was a very early Saturday for us. At 8:00, her first class started and she had 3 hrs of class, lunch, and then 3 more hours of class just on Saturday alone--jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, musical theater, and tap! The convention was put on by Hollywood Connection and they are a group of dancers, actors and actresses, most of whom have ties to the music/dance industry. They tour around the country and host these conventions and competitions. One of her favorite instructors named Brooke works on the set of Glee, has worked with Katy Perry, and was in the Hannah Montana movie and Vanilla Sky! So cool!

The hotel convention room we called home for 2 days

Let the classes begin!

With her fav instructor, Brooke

Barely out of the parking lot to head home

Her dance studio had many older kids competing in the evening, so we also got to watch that. It was very LONG, but so fun to watch all the talent that was there. Dancers from her studio did amazingly well!

When it was all over at 9:30 pm, they had a short pizza party for all the kids and then we crashed! I think Kinley was asleep 10 seconds after her head hit the pillow. She then had class again the next day from 8 am - 2pm and by the time the last class rolled around, she was beat! We got in the car to head home and she fell asleep before we hit the freeway!

Kinley was the very youngest one at the convention (you were supposed to be 7 to go, but she was close enough) and she did so good. I have no idea how she memorizes so many choreographed numbers at such a young age. They tried to teach the moms one of the dances and it was all I could do to keep up. She worked really hard and really held her own in a room of some very serious, competitive kids. I'm really not sure she will be in this for the long haul (I still have issues with all the make-up, some of the costumes, and the time/money commitment), but for now, she is enjoying it.

As soon as we got home, we had family over to celebrate her birthday and fortunately, she got a second wind. We had a very nice night.

Nice swimsuit, dad

Ready for spring training next month!

Her beloved iPod

The requested giant, heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie

The next day was a fun day at her school. I helped in her classroom all day, including both of my girls' Valentine's Day parties. I'm still recovering, but it was such a great day. The neatest part of the day is the way Kinley's teacher recognizes birthdays in her classroom. She has the birthday kid sit on a chair that is on top of a desk and has each student say something they like about him/her (we need to do this for each other as adults, by the way). I had tears in my eyes as I listened to what the kids said and then especially her teacher and her teacher's aide. Most all talked about how she is a friend to everyone, is always positive and funny. Sure love this girl!!

Getting sung to in the cafeteria

Listening to kind words from her classmates

Some of her best buds in 1st grade

Her Valentine's box

Love, love her teacher!!

Hard to see, but you can hear how intense this dance instructor was!

Yet another dance