Ava Grace

She makes me laugh.

Of course, if you've read my blog at all, you know this.

But seriously.

She's like me in many ways.

One of which being that she's not a very "girly" girl.

Unlike her older sister, who is the girliest girl there is.

Ava likes to be pretty...

and sometimes likes her nails polished....

And that is the extent of her girl-i-ness.

She doesn't care about clothes, or shoes.

Hates her hair being done.

Doesn't like playing with dollies or Barbies.

Doesn't like wearing jewelry.

For Christmas I got both girls a little bottle of perfume for their stocking.

Emma would spritz a little on every day,

and beam when she was told she smelled beautiful.

The most fun Ava had with her bottle was chasing her brothers with it,

threatening to "Mate you smell lite dirls..."

(make them smell like girls)

Wanna know what Ava's favourite toys are?

I'll show you.

These are it.

A broken Swiffer Sweeper handle,

and her Dora garbage pail she got for Christmas from her Granny,

that she never uses for garbage.

'Cause using a Dora garbage pail for garbage is completely wrong.

She's a knight.

In case you couldn't tell.

She walks around like this for a surprisingly large amount of the day.

She peeks out the bottom to see where her feet are going...

but I still don't understand how she navigates around without bumping into everything.

Excuse the dirty (filthy) clothes.

This is my real life.

Every so often she lifts her "helmet" to see what's going on.

But being a knight is not the only thing she does with her toys.

Oh no.

Here she is in her ship.

She doesn't sit for too long, 'cause she says it "Hurts Ny bum."

So then she stands, and rows.

And sings, "Row, row, row your boat."

Another favourite toy.

An old pair of sunglasses.

She's a bug.

I asked her if she was a Ladybug,

and she said,

"Ny HATE Ladybuds."

So then I asked what kind of bug she was.

She thought for a bit.....

Then said, "Otay fine.  Ny'm a Ladybud."

A Ladybug face.....

A Ladybug Fail.

I want to keep her three forever.

I have a pretty good chance, 'cause she doesn't want to grow up either.

She still says she's my baby.

And she is.

The end.

Champeens

Nathan and his Novice Rep team made it to the OMHA finals.

They were pitted against Blyth,

and it was to be a best of 3 series.

It is the equivalent of the Stanley Cup Finals for this age group.

The two teams are pretty well matched,

so I knew it was going to be a good series.

They played game one in Blyth,

and won 1-0...

and, as Daddy said, "I didn't care for the reffing." 

Seaforth played the last 6 minutes of the game short-handed,

due to some questionable calls,

and one ridonkulous bench penalty.

But the boys pulled it out,

and gave it their all.

Game 2 was last night in Seaforth.

Because of the "donk" bench penalty, they were short one of their coaches.

Nathan was pumped for the game.

He wanted to WIN!

He had been bugging me all through the play-offs to dye his 'hawk green.

So I finally did.

This is in the change room before the game.

He wanted a picture from every angle.

I think it pumped up his team mates pretty good.

soooo.... yeah....he rocks.....

(I took a bathroom break, came back and found the above written in... courtesy of Quin.)

Anyway.

So, the game started.

There were a lot of fans out to watch, and every one was pumped.

The most cheering I've heard all year.

Seaforth started out kinda slow.

I don't know how to explain it, but they just weren't "on."

(Except for 2 defence-men, and the goalie.  They played their hearts out.)

(And yes, Nate was one.)

It definitely looked like Blyth wanted it more,

and it ended up being 2-0 going into the 3rd.

Long story short,

we tied it up with just a few minutes left,

and we went into sudden death overtime.

Now it was on,

and the excitement,

and nerves were going crazy!!

There was a shot on net, with a juicy rebound,

and Raymond tucked it nicely into the net.

They WON!!

It was exactly like the Stanley Cup finals.

Sticks and gloves went flying,

and all the players piled up on the ice, hugging each other and cheering.

The crowd went wild.

I was too busy going wild to get a shot of the initial celebration and hugging,

but here's the aftermath.

Then it was time to line up and receive their awards.

One of the coaches talking to Blake, in the red helmet,

who scored both goals to tie it up.

Nate on the far left.

Our goalie, who played a great game,

receiving his hat and medal.

Nathan getting his.

And cheering for the rest of his team-mates.

A few players accepting the trophy's.

There is two, because they finished first during the season,

as well as winning in the finals.

Out of all the "CC" centers, they are the best.

The winning team!!

A very happy boy.

I am SO happy they won, 'cause Nathan's never been on a winning team, unlike his older brother.

The celebration continued in the change room...

it was awesome.

Each boy had a turn drinking out of the cup..

Nates turn.

A few of the players...

The trophy's.

There is a tradition in Seaforth,

that if a team wins a Championship,

they get a ride through town on a Fire Truck.

Seriously.

Quin did 2 years ago,

and Nathan did last night.

I think it was what Nathan wanted most...

Here they are lined up to climb up on top.

Up high on the top of the truck.

Nathan's not a big fan of heights,

even though he wanted to ride the Fire Truck more than anything.

The fire truck drove all the way through town,

(didn't take long)

lights flashing and siren blaring,

and all the parents drove behind honking horns and cheering out the window.

I think we woke up the whole town.

The parade ended at the Fire Station,

and here's Nate climbing down.

Posing for more pictures...

The local paper was there,

so the kids made the news!!

Tired and happy boy.

Not sure why the peace sign......

He's still wearing his hat and medal today.....

The coaching staff.

I have to say,

I could not have asked for, or gotten, better coaches.

They taught the kids,

encouraged them,

made them work,

but made it fun too.

The improvement of the team from the start of the year to the end was phenomenal.

Best coaching I have seen in all the years my kids have played hockey.

And that's it.

So proud of Nathan, and how he played.

I've said it here before,

but the kid plays with such incredible heart....

he holds nothing back.

And I'm glad that all his hard work was rewarded.

My Tiny Dancer

Sorry,

I crapped out last night.

By the time pics were finished uploading, I was done.

Seriously could not keep my eyes open anymore!!!

But now.

Now I can share my wonderful tiny dancer with you.

All these pics were taken by my sister with her rockin' Rebel,

because I have a krappy Kodak, and would have gotten a bunch of black squares for pics.

I was the videographer. :)

All these pics are from Emma's solo,

(and actually Ethan filmed this one, I was backstage).

Emma performed 3 routines,

a Group Jazz,

a Hip-Hop trio,

and a Lyrical/Acro solo.

Today I will showcase her solo.

She was so excited this year to learn a solo routine.

She thinks solo's are way better than group routines..

First off,

what you need to know about Emma,

is that she is incredibly social.

She makes friends wherever she is,

and if she spends a day somewhere pretty much everyone will know her.

She performed her solo last, at the very end of the day.

I think she went on stage about 6:30.

Remember, she had been dancing since 10am, and she is 7.

So I was worried that she would be tired, and just, well, drained.

I got her all ready,

had to re-do hair and make-up,

and then she sat on my lap for a bit and watched some routines,

waiting for her turn.

Then her teacher came down and said we could go backstage,

that Emma was coming up soon.

And it was like someone flipped a switch on that girl.

Her eyes started sparkling,

huge grin on her face,

and she was positively bouncing.

As we made our way through the bowels of the building to get to the proper side of the stage,

she was skipping and cartwheeling along,

and I kept having to tell her to wait.

Eager and excited does not begin to describe her.

We finally got to the proper spot backstage,

and she was wired.

Jumping around, just not able to contain her excitement.

I, on the other hand,

was dying.

Shaking, nervous, just so.... I don't know.

Worried?

She kept creeping up to the stage, and I kept having to pull her back,

telling her she had to wait till they called her.

And finally they did.

She looked back at me,

flashed me a huge smile,

and out she went.

A huge stage,

bright lights,

in front of a bunch of people.....

she was so confident.

She got a big cheer when she walked out,

people saying, "YAY EMMA!"

All the friends she had made through the day.

And then she started.

This is her beginning pose.

Her solo is to the Mandy Moore song,

"We're Dancin'"

and it's about the love of dance.

Suits Emma perfectly.

One armed cart-wheel.

Some ball-changes..

I don't know what this is, but it looks pretty cool.

Same with this.

Yes the girl is freaky flexible...

but not naturally.

She had to work at it.

If you notice in her these pics,

her arms and legs are straight,

fingers and toes pointed...

very important in Lyrical.

It's all about the lines.

I think this is my fave of all the pics.

Her arabesque. 

She exited on the other side of the stage,

so I ran back down through the belly of the building to meet her.

I was shaking,

and I actually cried.

And I am NOT a crier.

I was just so freakin' proud of her.

And she loves dancing so much.

And she's my baby,

and she works hard for what she loves.

She met me half way,

ran up and gave me big hug.

She said,

"What did you think?"

I said,

"You were beautiful.  You did SO well, and I am SO very proud of you."

There was only one more routine after her,

then a short break before judging and awards.

I got her changed,

and everyone we met said,

"Great job, Emma!"

She beamed at every compliment.

I teared up at every one.

Finally, it was time for awards.

Emma got 3rd, which kinda surprised me.

But she was in a category with Hip-Hop dancers, even though her style was Lyrical.

There was no other dancers her age doing a Lyrical performance.

And those other kids did rock their Hip-Hop performance.

Hip-Hop is more high energy, and a lot about attitude.

Very different from Lyrical.

Anyway,

her teacher came over after and explained that Emma did extremely well.

She got a VERY high mark,

an 81.5

and the highest mark given the whole competition was an 85.

She got third by a matter of decimal points.

But really,

it's not the placing that's important, it's the mark.

And she did well.

She made a couple mistakes,

got ahead of the music 'cause she forgot one move,

but for the first performance of the year she rocked it.

She got to bring home a Crystal Trophy,

and as she said,

"It's no different from the first place ones.  Only a little smaller."

So she's happy.

And that makes me happy.

Here's her song:

Will post on other routines soon.