One more year of Piano Festival finished...

You'd think each year would get easier on the parents and kiddos but nope... each year is just as stressful as the last.  Against my better judgement I let Ainsley go to a sleepover the night before with instructions that she needed to actually get some sleep!  She was well prepared and so I wasn't worried.  She  was a bit groggy Saturday morning and when she practiced just before we left it was not good. She couldn't get a certain part to work right and the more she tried the more freaked out she got.  Made her stop and take some breaths and give her the  "you've got this" speech and into the car she went.

Walker has a love/hate relationship with piano... someday days he loves to practice and go to lessons and other days... It's "I don't like piano!!" If he doesn't get it right away he gets frustrated because he actually has to take time to  learn something instead of it being easy. He seriously has one speed in life... fast with all things he does.  It's been a good lesson this year in patience, and understanding for kiddo and parents!  He too did a warm up in the morning and the song he's had down since January was all of a sudden having mistakes all over the place.  Again the more he continued the worse it got... he too was given the "you've got this" speech and reluctantly took a few deep breaths. Into the car he went as well and as we drove I start to freak out as well... this is Walker's year for his gold cup and if he didn't receive a superior rating he would not receive it.  I knew if he didn't do well it would be hard for him to mentally want to continue to play after working hard all year.

The waiting at the college is always tough... there are lots of kids... they are always behind and so even though you arrive at your scheduled time it's a long wait until your turn... which just increases the anxiety for all.  Walker is a "constant talker"  kind of waiter and Ainsley is a "don't talk to me" waiter.

Walker went first this year...

and as usual... pulled it out of the hat and got a perfect score!!

Ainsley was second... and time she was in playing for the judge seemed longer than usual...

much to her relieve she did just great... an almost perfect score which is a Superior as well.  Whew... another one done and in the books.

Hard to believe this is happening right now with Little Bug...

He decided to pick Choir and for his acceleration he hopes to get Dinosaur Studies or Ceramics.  Really excited for him to explore all the great things about middle school but having a really hard time wrapping my brain around that the "baby" is ready for this!!

A couple weeks ago Ainsley asked if she could get an ombre color for an early birthday present.  So an ombre hair color is when you leave the hair close to your head "normal" color and then you transition down to a lighter shade... 5 years ago it was called "Needing to get your roots done" but in 2015 it's trendy for almost 13 year olds... eeks!

Here she is getting her foils on... super cute!!

Here is the before and after pictures too..

She absolutely loved it... jeesh first color at 12 I believe I was over 21 before I had some highlights done... and I was freaked out about it the entire time.  This one has no fear when it comes to fashion!!

Today she is trying out for Franklin singers... a singing/dancing group!  She is so much braver and sure of herself then I ever was... so very proud!! Keep fingers crossed!!

Between 5-7pm most nights its a blur... there is dinner, homework, piano practice, kids other activities, laundry is humming along, dogs are barking and the cat is picking the cabinet and a many sane cells are lost during this time... it's literally a BLUR.

Sometime during this blur we talk about school... how the day was etc, we usually go over the schedule for the rest of the night and we talk about anything upcoming.  Somewhere during this time Ainsley talked about  Spirit week for the remainder of the week.

The time approaches after 7pm and Ainsley says, "So what am I going to do for Super Hero day tomorrow??"  CRAP is my first thought... I totally forgot to think of something.  I put my Mommy mode in gear... did a little Pinterest looking... rummaged around in my craft room and 45 minutes later I emerged...

With a makeshift Green Lantern costume and an approval from a 12 year old...

This was the look just before we left for the school day... can she seriously get any more beautiful!!?!!?

(yes her hair is lighter... that's a post for tomorrow).

It's official this time... Ainsley got her braces off!!  She didn't want to get her hopes up when I went to pick her up at school.  She kept saying, "If I have to wait a couple weeks it will be fine but I REALLY WANT THEM OFF."

She watched YouTube videos on people getting them off so she knew what to expect and it just so happens that 2 other friends got theirs off the week before so she was in constant communication with them about the process too.

Here are the before and after pictures..

Last Friday was a day off from school which means there was a lot of this going on...

Driving Ainsley to choir practice at school... then to the grocery store for her much beloved nightly snack of ice cream... then home for a bite to eat and then driving her over to a friends house for more choir practicing... picking her up at a friends house and then over to an extra piano lesson for the week!..Whew.

Saturday her choir group ensemble performed for the parents as a little pre-practice for the choir festival.  She was most excited to wear this new dress with her combat boots...

Such cute girls... who sang Amazing Grace together...

Today they perform in front of the judge... she's nervous and excited and thinks that next year she'll just to a solo instead of trying to organize a group.  Middle School... full of all kinds of life lessons!

It really never gets old watching your child shine...

So very proud of her and her confidence to audition for a solo and sing in front of an audience... she truly does shine!!

We are back into Saturday Basketball, but this time it's Walker's turn.

I decided to switch teams for him this year... aka making sure he was NOT on a specific team.  It's been really good for him... they are back to the basics of basketball... how to do a lay up... how to block... working on passing... it helps when the coach teaches the entire team and not just their own child!  It's been a good month for him and it helps him to know a few more kids that will be at middle school with him next year.

He needed new shoes... imagine that and so lately this is how I shop with the kiddos... I text shop!!

They'd rather stay home then go to a store nowadays and so I send pictures back and forth and they comment with a yes or no!  The Under Armor neon yellow shoes won this round of text shopping.

Today was the day the braces were to come off... or so we thought.

She did such a good job wearing her bands at night that her teeth shifted a bit too much!!  So 3 more weeks of braces!!  We had prepared her enough that she was fine with the outcome.  She did get her permanent retainer in today... so her tongue is a bit sore tonight from feeling it this afternoon.

Back into the world of blogging after taking a bit of a break.  The first of the year I always get burnt out from taking pictures, blogging, and scrapbooking... basically all creative outlet is just gone.

Hard to believe we are well into the new year with January just about over!  Ainsley finished up her Basketball season just before Christmas and is glad to have a break for a couple of months before Volleyball and Track season starts.  She had the opportunity to go skiing with her school for 2 days last week. She was really excited and nervous all at the same time because it was her first experience...

I actually didn't know if she was going to make it back the next day because she texted me that her knee hurt so bad while she was trying to get the wedge down to stop.  I asked her how she was able to stop then and she replied, "Falling to the side and also crashing and rolling hard!" She said she took a fall that entailed gloves, hat and skis flying off... she was so embarrassed when the ski patrol ran over to see if she was okay. She was also not thrilled when all the other beginners in her class headed off to the chair lift while she had to stay with the instructor for 2 more hours!  We got her a knee brace to help the next day and it was a much more enjoyable experience for her!

Walker is just now starting his Basketball season and has been really into stop motion animation lately.  So cool to see his hundreds of  pictures turned into a little video.  Currently rocking the stop motion animation is his minecraft figures... imagine that!  Having friends over to play on the minecraft server is also currently high on his priority list lately as well.

Having a hard time wrapping my mind around that in a few months he will be picking out his classes for Jr. High!!

January always has us busy organizing, and purging items... so it was at the beginning of the month I had the thought to rearrange a few rooms.  We moved the TV into the front room and the piano into the family room.  It makes better sense to have more piano practice time and fewer interruptions while homework is being done at the dining room table.  We decided in the new room the doggies wouldn't be able to lounge on the couch... so dog beds for each.  They had their own ideas as to who was getting which bed... ha!