We Made It Through First Competition!

March 26, 2012

Last week was an absolutely terrible week around here.  Dad was out of town, and Mom spent 3 days not feeling well, and then Cymbre got a migraine, and Cooper got a terrible upset stomach.....all right before dance competition.  However, we all rallied, and made it to competition.

The girls had a wonderful time with the friends that were also there to compete, and they did a tremendous job on their solos and group dances.  Here's the rundown:

Cooper:  Baby You Got What It Takes, tap solo....High gold and 10th overall

You Can't Buy Me Love, tap solo...High gold and 9th overall

Standing There, jazz solo.....high gold

For You I will, contemporary small group...elite gold and 8th overall

Don't Stop Believin', tap small group...high gold

Cymbre:  Ain't We Got Fun, tap solo...high gold and 8th overall

Don't Stop Believin', tap small group....high gold

So, all in all they did a great job for themselves and for Ms. Traci and Ms. Andee!

And today, I have a pile of dirty costumes to wash, repack, and organize for next weekend.....in order to do the same thing all over again.  I have pictures of some of the costumes, so I'll post them later.

Cymbre is home today with another headache...at least we have the medicine that works somewhat for her.

My Sunday School class was doing the allegory of the olive tree....so I took them outside, assigned them each to be a kind of olive tree and had signs for different continents for the scattering of Israel.  As I told the story....we had a master of the vineyard and a servant acting out the parts.  I took some garden tools and small branches of greenery and duct tape and scissors.  As we told the story about the pruning and grafting of branches...they removed branches or grafted them in with the duct tape, to a ficus tree I had taken. (Just a side note....you can't graft the branches unevenly because it makes the olive tree fall over if you do it more on one side than the other....just saying)  So we grafted the wild branches first....gentiles were baptized and joined the house of Israel.  Then had to remove some good branches and plant them other areas in the vineyard....so they took them out to the signs where some of the kids that were tame or natural branches were standing already.  Then the master discovered he had good and bad fruit growing on his scattered branches.  (Now a lesson in how you can have good things grow out of bad homes or influences in the world today, and you can have bad things grow out of good homes and good situations too, and a bit about how the Savior is constantly trying to work with us and help us.) They tell the teachers to apply the lessons to our times.  Then the final visit of the master to the vineyard where he discoveres all bad fruit.....but finally decides in the end to nourish and dig and prune the vineyard just one more time before burning all of it.  (A welcome respite for the kids still scattered over the world!)  So the master and the servant digged, pruned, nourished the vineyard one final time and everyone was grafted back into the original tree. 
(Then came the lesson that this represents the final restoration of the gospel in it's fulness on the earth today.  We have living prophets, we have all the ordinances and keys needed to return to live eternally with our Heavenly Father and the Savior.....but are we using them to the full potential, or are we just skidding by doing just the bare necessities? Are we really doing our part in the final grafting for the master of the vineyard, or are we still causing trouble and bearing bad fruit?)

It was interesting to watch as the realization dawned on the kids that this just wasn't a story in the Book of Mormon, but that it really pertains to them in living in the world today.  SCORE one for the teacher!!!...just saying!!!  What have I been telling them all these weeks?

The lesson in two weeks....we have General Conference on TV next week, will be about Enos, Jarom, Omni, Amaron, Chemish, Abinadom and Amaleki.  I'm not sure how we will get thru all that, but I will come up with something.

Just a little sidenote.   There was a younger class whose teacher had to go out of town, so she asked if her class could join mine.  I said ok, but that also meant that there would be 30+ kids in the class....hence the reason to take them outside to let them move around.  Now some of those kids want to know if they can just come to my class all the time.  I had to say no.  They need to attend the class for their age level....don't think that made them happy though.  However, my kids are the oldest ones, so they don't really want all the "little" ones in the class all the time.  I guess it sort of hinders their style....and their ability to tease the teacher!  I have 18 every week as it is, and some weeks some of them bring non-member friends.  This probably means that I will die before I ever get out of this job!  Just saying!!

Cooper has had some of her artwork selected to be put in shows, and one is going into a Goggle contest.  Who knew...she can draw and dance!

Cymbre is getting excited as the orthodontist told her at her last visit that something would be coming off her teeth on the next visit.  That means she will at least leave with some braces removed!  She is thrilled.  She has had some sort of metal in her mouth since she was 9.  She is 13 now.  And it doesn't look like we will have to do any cosmetic work as the orthodontist made the skinny teeth fit perfectly in their spot...so we don't have to make them bigger.  Dad is grateful for the money that will still be in his wallet.

And on that note, I must get busy on this pile of costumes...some can't be washed do they have to get febreeze and air out, the rest get washed, dried, ironed, and repacked....it's a full days job.

Remember to get out there and do what the Savior expects you to do in serving others.