Dance Dynamics Nationals - Denton or Bust!!!

I'm leaving literally in moments for Denton, TX (near Dallas) for our dance team's Nationals!!! We had our team pep rally on Wednesday despite the tornados and deluge of rain! Here are some fun picks from the rally and from the 2008-2009 dance season.

Kimmie & Monica - no time to change from Wiz of Oz to solo finals?!?!

We have to dance after the pep rally?!

Bonnie - precious little dancer

Ann Marie's ridiculous tilt - get it girl!

Pep Rally Sign Making

Flex Class - Olivia, Jackie, Mel Bel, & Monica (me too!)

My crazy babies, Jane, Kitty Sydney, Kayla & Kendall

You need to act more angry - get cracked out girl!

Coolest dance teachers ever...Christine, Whitney, me and Jenny

So we weren't expecting this photo hence the super surprised looks

Madi & Kimmie did some pep rally artwork on my leg (it's zebra stripes...)

Pumpin' up the hip hoppers before they go on at comp

Pep rally - Olivia, me, other Olivia, Sarah & Mel Bel

Really? Hot OLD lady??? C'mon - I'm not old...yet
They graffiti'd my car at the pep rally - all four sides before the rain!! :)

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Chew up all my bubble gum

Liam has a new favorite delicious treat - bubble gum. He's a little addicted to it I think?? This morning he chewed 4 pieces before school (I just counted the wrappers in my trash for verification) He is however, very good at not swallowing the gum oddly enough. He loves to chew gum with me, watch me blow bubbles, *blow* his own (I'm using that term lightly, it's a lot of sticking his tongue out) and then pop my bubbles.

Liam and I were doing some crafts this morning before school time and I hear this HUGE belly laugh from my office. "Mommy come and look, come and look!" so I come running in having no clue what to expect (potty training, so you can assume what I thought I was going to find...) and I walk in to these two cuddle bugs that typically steer clear of one another. I guess it's the rainy weather but they were happy as two peas in a pod to be cuddling with each other. Kind of reminds me of the Bible picture you see in kids Bibles with the lion and the lamb?? Little Stoli has no idea she could be eaten at any moment if not for Thor's gentle spirit :)

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Precious Moments...by Liam

Liam eating his potty present Ring Pop, and practicing his pom routine with Mom @ work :)

When Jackson is out of town Liam sleeps with me in my bed (sorry Jackson, I know I know, the rule -but I get paranoid when you're gone!!) So I just couldn't resist posting some of the little precious things Liam has said to me over the past 3 days as we are getting ready for bed.

Night 1:

L: Mommy - what you doing

M: Going to sleep bubby, close your eyes

L: Mommy -I want my mommy and daddy

M: Mommy is here Liam, daddy is on his trip but will be home soon. Go to sleep

(Here is about 30-45 minutes of silence so I'm truly thinking Liam is asleep since it's late!!)

L (whispering): Mommy - Thor tooted.

M (laughing): It's okay Liam, just go to sleep.

Night 2:

L: Mommy why it dark in here?

M: Because it's night night time, go to sleep bubby

L: I can't see your face mommy

M: It's okay, touch my face, I'm here.

L: Mommy I have friends

M: Really! I'm happy you have friends

L: Eban my friend (this is Evan our neighbor who is Liam's age as well)

M: That's nice, Evan is a good friend to you

L: Hunter too (this is our other same age as Liam neighbor)

M: Good! Hunter is a good friend too!

L: Yeah, Hunter & Eban are my friends mommy.

M: Sounds good bubby, now go to sleep okay.

L: Mommy - I like your hair. (Now caressing my bangs) Mommy it stuck in your hair!!

M: It's okay Liam, it's a bobby pin, it holds my hair back.

L: Take it out mommy.

M: Okay it's out, now go to sleep bubby.

Day 3 on the way to tumbling class:

L: I see my daddy today?

M: Yes! Daddy comes home today! He'll pick you up from school.

L: He pick me up from school?

M: Yes!

L: Why?

M: To play with you when he gets home from his trip!

L: Daddy wear his pink shirt to pick me up?

M: I don't know - maybe he'll wear his pink shirt to pick you up. We'll see.

L: My daddy silly - pink shirt silly.

On a side note from Liam's precious little conversations, my wonderful sister did such a nice random act of kindness for Liam (and me) the other day. Liam really wanted a picnic table to eat snacks at outside and after seeing his friend Evan's picnic table and getting to eat there with his friends, he REALLY wanted that table. I just couldn't afford the quite pricey (pricey to me for a kids table!) plastic kiddo picnic table and couldn't find a used one quite yet. I found out Walmart was having a sale, then showed up, found out the sale ended the day before (sigh) and had to put the picnic table back. I knew Liam would be crushed but would understand. Well, my sister, Aunt Sissy to Liam, decided Liam deserved that table (especially after his good potty habits!) so she bought Liam the table for a surprise present! Liam was super excited when he got home and was able to eat both dinner and breakfast on his new table. He also spent a lot of time playing with the umbrella attached. Here is Liam's new backyard hideout - he just couldn't be happier. I couldn't be happier either that I have such a wonderful family that is very generous :) We love you Aunt Sissy!

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Soccer Tots & Noodles of Fun

Liam started SoccerTots today - he's on Team Koala! He really had a good time - not to mention Mommy having a good time watching him! It was SO cute - he would kick the ball, miss the ball, pick the ball up and just run with it. Truly funny - I thought he did a great job for his first practice!

They played with some other toys as well for motor skill development - they were supposed to jump over these noodles. See what my son chose to do with his noodle...so proud. The other moms & dads took pictures of Liam with his noodle as well - we were all cracking up! Of course, they ask Liam which noodle he wanted to play with and he picks pink. The poor single girl in the class didn't even get the pink noodle!!

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Events of the Dawson Weekend

Whew- what a weekend! I feel like the last three days and ALL of Spring Break flew by!! Most entertaining though had to be the past couple days. Liam is officially potty trained! I won't go into the gruesome details :) but it was like the flick of a switch and boom, done! Below you will see my lovely lima bean learning to pee pee (this was like an hour after our first success on Friday) and he wanted to pee on everything in sight! I walked inside to get my camera, and walk back outside to this...Liam up on the dog bowls, peeing. I literally was shaking I was laughing so hard trying to take this picture!!! Sorry Uncle Sid - I'm sure this is not how you would have wanted to see your hand-me-down doggie bowls being used...

Then Saturday morning Liam and I woke up early, let Daddy sleep in. We did some serious painting, Little Einstein watching, and then decided we were hungry. Here you will see my little Chef cooking up some great french toast liquid while sipping a juice box! Cooking stirs up quite a thirst!

Next we went to my in laws house with the kiddos and the whole family went swimming. We all managed to get some nice sun and have some fun times in the pool (minus the final water gun fight Jackson started when I had showered and was fully clothed again...boo). Liam learned what a Mohawk is (he is giving Daddy this style below) I think we all have some tan lines today! Thank goodness I have an aloe plant at home - we made good use of it even with 50 sunscreen on!! Liam learned also to jump in the pool with a little more gusto. He's never been a big fan of water in his face (hello Aunt Sissy - who is this kid related to!?!?) But this weekend he did a great job!! Video of his big jump below!

We ended Saturday night with a ravishing game of family Wii. Now, I did get a video of my mother in law hoola hooping, but under penalty of death I'm not allowed to post it :) But, Jackson is fair game so here is his hoola video! Sorry it's sideways, haven't figured out how to flip it yet :)

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home phone

Just an FYI, we are cancelling our home phone service since literally we get 2 calls on it a month! I just couldn't justify paying $40 a month for that so if anyone has the home phone number, it will not work after 8:00pm tonight just FYI. You can always still call either my cell or Jackson's.

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my son the flirt

Since it's Spring Break a couple of my dancers, Kimmie & Monica, and I went out for lunch the other day and swimsuit shopping (they did, I did not! :) Both girls said they wanted to play with Liam so we went and nabbed him from school to come home and play with the ladies! I don't know who had more fun, the girls with the play dough food kit, Liam with the girls doing anything (big flirt!!) or me watching all the kids play and cooking them dinner! Liam found a new favorite game called spin me that his lady friend Kimmie played with him. We were all quite entertained by the game as well since Liam was struggling to walk a straight line after spinning! Here he is with his friend Kimmie after a good spin! I think it's precious that he plops right away, then gets up, looks around like where is my mom, then finds me and makes a bee line to me like I can save him from his crazy walk! What a precious little man.

This morning he was goofy! It's super foggy here and I realized that the way I speak is rubbing off on Liam! We were driving in the fog and he said "mommy, it's CRAZY foggy today." Whoops - what a goober. I say things like "Liam don't touch the pan it's crazy hot" so apparently he now understood crazy when speaking of the fog today :) He's also really starting to learn to negotiate - we were playing with some toys this morning when he found the Monopoly box - I of course say "Don't open that Liam there are too many small pieces in there, Thor could eat them!" to which Liam replies, " I not touch it mommy I just look at them." What a smart little man! AND he was telling the truth - he just looked, didn't touch!

On a SUPER side note - I have officially reached my pre-Liam weight thanks to some good old fashion excercise and healthier home cooking instead of my deep fat frying everything! :) Since I started teaching dance in August of last year I have lost 20 pounds! Now looking back at those pictures I do see the difference when I didn't before. Yay for wearing a swimsuit in Mexico now for our anniversary trip!

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happy st. paint your tractor day

We had a great time together on St. Patrick's Day. The day started with some GREEN MILK! YUMMY!!!!! Liam loved it - as you can see, he slurped every last bit up with his spoon. We then worked on saying Happy St. Patrick's Day which came out as Happy St. Paint Your Tractor Day from the video above.

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he's a dance machine - watch him get down

I just found out that you can upload videos to blogs! Oh boy!! :) Liam was in a great mood the other night and I asked him to dance for me while I video tape it. He is in his jammies, hair still wet from bath time, and he required his light up shoes in order to dance!! I call these moves his aggressive dancing :)

Liam has been super precious lately in my opinion (completely unbiased right?) The other morning he woke up, got out of bed, came in my room and climbed into bed with me while Daddy was at the gym. He rolled over and was snuggling and said "Mommy you smell good". I literally got teary eyed - how cute is he? Now he's always the first one too to tell me when I don't smell pretty but I'll take what I can get! Enjoy the dance moves!

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big weekend

We had a pretty big weekend - Liam found a new love, the tape measure. He loves releasing it and letting it slither around back into place - we get a good belly laugh out of that one for about 30 minutes! We also found out that Liam DOES watch TV - I know GASP! He is in love now with Little Einsteins, it's like the toddler version of baby Einsteins but these 4 kids ride around in a red rocket to explore things. He loves it - especially the hand motions associated with taking off in the rocket ship (see blast off arms above) Jackson & I also went shopping for our anniversary presents for one another this weekend - Liam decided he wanted to help pick things out for us! I got a beautiful ring from my beloved - I've wanted a solid yellow gold band for my 5 year anniversary ring to add to my wedding set so Liam (and Jackson too!) helped pick it out with me at the jewelry store. It's getting sized and I should have it by Thursday at noon hooray! :) Jackson had no idea what he wanted for his present so he opted for an Xbox 360 video game (sigh - but he asked for it) and I promised him a margarita in Mexico as well :) We the finally made our last stop to get a small cheap digital camera since our nice one is bigger and bulky - I wanted something a little more portable to take on our anniversary trip. Liam ever so willingly posed in the "dear me" closeup as I tested out the new camera settings!

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pancakes, pigs, and dino-horse bones

Today is going to be a fun filled adventurous day! My beloved let me sleep in (thanks to the wonderful Fenergen the doctor prescribed me for STILL being nauseous last night) and I woke up to a lovely little voice saying "mommy wake up - I get you dirty with dino horse bones!" Somehow I didn't think I was awake yet, maybe in some weird dream but no, that was my little bubby with his good morning wake up call!

I got out of bed, brushed my teeth, and decided to see if I could eat. I feel MUCH better today so I opted to make a full fledged pancakes and eggs breakfast for the boys since they've had to put up with my icky belly for 2 days now. Liam chose heart shaped chocolate chip pancakes while Jackson wanted just circular (boring! I have 101 cookie cutters now c'mon!) regular plain pancakes. They were delish if I do say so myself!

Now the boys are off to dig for dino-horse bones at the Children's Museum up here while I go teach a quick makeup dance session from when I was sick. We will all reconvene at lunch to see what else the day holds!!

Quick note that made me giggle - Liam has just learned the toe game, this little piggy. He loves it, more so, Daddy & I love listening to it. Below is the "true" version and then Liam's version :)

This little piggy went to market -- This piggy went market

This little piggy stayed home -- This piggy is home

This little piggy had roast beef -- This piggy ate turkey

This little piggy had none -- This piggy had nuffin

This little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home -- This piggy wee weed all the way home!

Adorable?!?!

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why does it rain mommy?

After a very long night with stomach flu, (thank you Jackson for being wonderful and letting me sleep sitting up on the couch for a while!!) I woke up feeling *slightly* better this morning and decided I could handle Liam alone :) He was very well behaved for me after I told him I had a bug in my tummy (this is how we describe germs to Liam so he knows to be on his best behavior if mommy or daddy has a bug in their tummy/nose/throat/chest etc) So our conversation this morning goes:

L: Mommy you feel better?
C: Yes baby, a little better.
L: No more bug in your tummy?
C: No, just maybe a little bug in mommy's tummy.
L: We go to the park?
C: No bubby it's raining today so the slides and swings are really wet.
L: Mommy why it raining?
C: Well God decided to make it rain today so our grass and garden could get a bath.
L: Huh?
C: The park is too wet today, maybe tomorrow if the sun comes out we can go to the park.
L: Mommy I got a bug in my tummy.
C: Oh no! Really?
L: Ya, there's a bug in there (pointing to our tummy, shirt pulled up) I need some M&Ms.
C: Okay will M&Ms get rid of your tummy bug?
L: Yup - M&Ms make the bug go away.

Do we think Liam has a future career in medicine? Maybe he can cure something with M&Ms someday.

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alien or artist

We decided to get started early today on our craft project. We decided to make tongue depressor aliens. Liam decided his would be painted with our handy dot paint sticks and would be green, purple, have three eyes, and have a colorful pipe cleaner clothing ensemble. Now he's scared of it or says "no mommy, I no like him"

This morning we've been working on answering the question "how old are you Liam?" The picture below was the first answer I got from him (sounded like AHHHHHHH) But now he gladly answers with hand/finger motions and all "TWO!" Now we're having a discussion about why we cannot use silly string in the house anymore ( daddy, mommy & Liam got in a silly string fight indoors a couple weeks ago which prompted our trip to Walmart to get a rug cleaner!)

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grocery savings mission

Liam's trip to the "tractor scoop" with Daddy

With everyone feeling the tightening of the purse strings with our economy, I decided that we should do our part as a family to be more fiscally responsible. Being a mainly one income family (my dance income is really just "fun money" and savings) I know how sometimes you have to pick and choose what you want to do, what you can afford, and what you can't.

My mission this week was to somehow widdle down our grocery bill. Eeeek - I had a minor heart attack just thinking of how to feed a full grown man (not a light eater), a growing boy (not a light eater), two dogs (one of which is the size of a horse and not a light eater, the other is fat and on weight control food which isn't cheap!), a frog - thank goodness Apple only eats every other day, and have some food left for me to nibble on :) So I'm going to share in my menu planning, grocery shopping and deal finds, and see how it works. I started today with planning out my dinner meals for the next two weeks. Here is the menu -

Thai Turkey Rolls & Rice

Rosemary Chicken Squares & Mashed Potatoes

Spicy Beef & Corn Casserole

Mom's Baked Spaghetti

Mexican Chicken Pot Pies

Baked Potato Pizzas

Desserts: Apple Napoleons & Bananas Foster Mountains

Okay, I know what you're thinking - Christie can't count, that's only 6 dinners. Well, part of my savings plan is learning to eat leftovers more effectively (not letting them rot and find them with a heartbeat 7 months later in the back of the fridge) Now, I went to the grocery store armed with some coupons and special deals from the Kroger circular as well that helped me plan my menu. Today I spent $129.19 which included 4 Lunchables for Liam, 4 orange yogurts for Liam, 2 packs of juice boxes for Liam, sandwich elements for Jackson & me to eat for lunches, 7 breakfast bars and 4 Rockstar drinks for Jackson (they're cheaper at the store than at CVS/Walgreen's) 3 giant tubs of ice cream when our desserts from above run out, miscellaneous toiletries for Liam & Jackson, and a fridge pack of Diet Dr. Pepper for me :) So, that balances out to about $65 per week for groceries. Sigh, I was hoping for more around $50 per week but it's a start.

Liam checking in on Apple the other morning

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evolution of liam's emotions this morning

CHEERY GOOD MORNING LIAM

This morning Liam and I woke up and decided to relax a bit in our nice green chairs on our new back patio we laid this past week / weekend. He was in such a good mood - lots of "hello chicken nugget!" were being hollered to me as he sat talking to me about his night (sleeping again in mommy and daddy's bed because he "was not alright" at midnight. We decided to get up and play in the back yard. Liam is still not used to the extra concrete and proceeded to take a nose dive onto it.

OUCHIE AND GROUCHY LIAM

OUCH - no tears, but lots of "owie mommy, OUCH, Ughh, ooowww, owwww." and then a pitiful little limp. Tiny drips of blood were on his knee so we went inside for a quick cleanup and then he ASKED for a band aid - Liam NEVER wants a band aid or if he does he just wants to hold it, not actually stick it on the boo boo. But this one went ON the owie! He was such a good patient and told me "you make it better mommy, it still stings." So I guess I did okay and then not okay as far as my nursing skills :)

VERY HAPPY HEALED LIAM WITH GREEN SLUSHY

I asked Liam what would make it feel better - he told me a little lollipop from the lollipop store (I have NO idea what or where this is but he told me Daddy knows where it is...he doesn't, I asked) and a green drink. I said well I'll take you to the store for a lollipop but I don't know what green drink you want? So we went to the corner store and he literally walked in and made a direct line to the green slushy machine. Here's the weird part, we've been in that corner store ONCE and it was about 6 months ago so this little kiddo remembered the green slushy drink from that long ago?!! Crazy what they remember right??

So we had a full circle of emotions this morning - what a day!

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He's reached his cute quota today!

Seriously, my son is precious. First of all, last night at 12:45am, he has a bad dream. It's official, he's able to communicate that something scared him in his sleep. I hear screams so I call dibs and let Jackson stay in bed. I get in to Liam's room, he's standing at his door balling. Pitiful! I swoop him up and say it's okay Mommy's here. He tells me "mommy the airplane scared me. it's really loud."Oh this is just sad! So I offer to let him to sleep with us (MISTAKE) I proceed to get judo chopped in the face by Liam's feet all night. My son finds it to be a physical impossibility to sleep straight up and down so I get feet to the face while Jackson gets his pillow stolen. I'm pooped...

Then, this morning, we're laying in bed, Daddy had just left to go to work and I hear the most precious little sound and voice "our Father, our Father, we thank you, we thank you, for our many blessings, for our many blessings, Amen, Amen." (this is sung to the frerejaca - I know I butchered the spelling of that!) How adorable?!?! He wanted to pray first thing in the morning.

I thought he had reached his "cute quota" today but NO, I was wrong! I go in to the office to type this blog, he's sitting on the floor looking through his craft been and he finds some letter flashcards. He proceeds to quiz me - holding up each flash card towards me, "Mommy what is this? - I answer - Liam replies "Good Job!"

What a little dumpling!

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one S or two?

I can never remember if dessert has one S or two, I guess spellcheck will let me know shortly!

I just wanted to upload this picture I took today at lunch. My good friend Bernice and I met up for a girls lunch and decided we wanted to split a dessert, this is what we got. We were in WAY over our heads...

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liam's random thoughts

My son is a regular comedian I've found. The problem is, sometimes he doesn't know he's being funny and I laugh and he gets upset with me... example in the car on the way home yesterday:

Me: Liam, you have a new friend at home!

Liam: My daddy's at home?

Me: Yes he is, but we got you a present waiting at home for you!

Liam: Where is it?

Me: At home!

Liam: You get me a present?

Me: Yes, it's a new pet! Mommy & Daddy got you a frog today!

Liam: A froggie?

Me: Yes! He's white and you have to name him - what do you think you should name your frog?

Liam: Toby the Train.

Me: Toby?

Liam: No, (long pause) chocolate milk.

Me: You want chocolate milk?

Liam: No french fry. His name is turtle.

Me: Your frog's name is turtle or french fry?

Liam: No his name is Apple Mommy.

Me: Okay, so Apple it is (a little Gwenyth Paltrow-ish but who am I to judge)

Liam: Mommy - God doesn't like frogs.

Me: Yes He does - He made the frogs!

Liam: No, He doesn't like them, they hurt Him.

Me: Okay, the frogs hurt God. But I don't think they did.

Liam: Mommy, I want Donald's (this is Liam for McDonald's)

Me: No we have to go home and see your froggie!!

Liam: No, I don't have a froggie. I have chicken nuggets and apples.

Me: Okay, sounds good. We'll see when we get home. Daddy's at home waiting.

Liam: (very loudly and waving) Hey Chicken Nugget!

Me: Yes Liam-

Liam: My Daddy is at home!

Literally, we went on and on and I really don't know if the frog's name is after a McDonald's Happy Meal or if it's really Apple. But, Liam loves his frog. He is also calling me Chicken Nugget (not quite sure why). And he was very excited that Daddy was home (thrown out back and all) So, I couldn't help but giggle throughout this entire conversation, too precious, but you could tell my chuckles were not welcome by the look on Liam's face...

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a dawson to be named later...

I know what you are all thinking - this is not a human Dawson to be named later. We had a new addition to our family today. Since the Triops are officially gone (Liam caught me flushing the water and said "mommy where my fishies??") AHHHH, I couldn't bare it so I had to add a replacement. Off to the store I run to replace the fishies. I originally set out for a beta fish, I wanted something low maintenance since most likely I will be doing the cleaning! While there, I discovered our new little buddy. I asked the pet man what kind of maintenance I'm looking at for this little guy and he said way less than a fish of any kind so I was SOLD! Our new addition to be named later is an Albino Clawed Frog. Yikes - not cute an cuddly but Liam has an obsession with reptiles so I figured this would be a winner. Liam has not seen his new pet yet, and we've decided to let him name it (hold your breath, we may have a frog named Chicken Nugget soon) He is an underwater frog (he will only come up to the water line and NO higher then man promised - what am I to do if I have a white crazy frog jumping around on my counter top!?!) So, as soon as our new little buddy has a name I will be sure to let you know what it is!!

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