Monday, May 18, 2009

All about Love & Hate

I have discovered I have a love/hate relationship with May. I love it because the weather is finally warm, the flowers have started to bloom and the grass is turning green. I apreciate so many things about nature that when living in Australia I didn't really notice (or care for), for that matter. I absoloutely love May because I don't have to bundle the kids up before they step out the door and generally they don't even need gum-boots, they are actually able to wear shoes for the first time in 8 months!!

I hate May because it is such a crazy busy month. Anna and I are both in dance and April and May is when competitions begin. This year we had her first in Airdie on the 25th of April which is about a 3 hour drive south. Thankfully the schedule was such that even though she was in two dances there, they were both all over and done with in just a few hours. Their tap routine got a silver with 'Best Choreography' and their ballet recieved a high silver. As luck would have it Airdrie had a little 'post winter' storm that weekend so we decided to pack some pj's in case we got stuck, but we made it home just fine.

Because that festival was on our anniversary weekend we celebrated a week early. We organised for Jake to be in respite and Ray and Emily very kindly looked after Anna and Orrin. Because having the house to ourselves never happens and I mean NEVER, we decided to stay home. As you can imagine it was a very relaxing weekend.

The first weekend in May was the 2nd dance festival at Grant Mcewan in Edmonton. Because Anna's dances were spread out over 2 days we decided to make a weekend out of it. I had enough airmiles to book a hotel 5 minutes from the festival for 2 nights. We drove up on the Friday night as her first dance was at 9 Saturday morning. We had the rest of the day free so we watched some of the dances and then went shopping. Her Ballet was on Sunday afternoon so we were able to take it easy in the morning and then watch some dances during our free time. They recieved 2 silvers and a 'Most Promising' plaque for tap. It was lovely to be able to have a 'girls weekend'.

In the midst of all of this hun-bub Anna and Orrin started soccer. For some reason I felt I still didn't have enough to do so I put the kids in soccer. Anna has been wanting to do it for a few years, but I have always said no as it clashes with the last month of dance. At the end of May the kids do their final performance for all their friends and family that weren't able to make it to any of the festivals and for the younger kids that just take dance for recreational purposes. So instead of having practices at the studio we are required to go practice on the stage that is about 15 minutes from Breton. However Orrin was old enough to play soccer this year and he really wanted to do it and since I was taking him, I might aswell take her. Anna has dance on Monday's, Tuesday's and Thursday's, so of course soccer would be on Tuesday's and Thursdays! So far it has been a bit of a gong show, but they are both really enjoying it.

The weekend just gone (15th & 16th May) was at Sherwood Park the last Dance festival for our dance year. Anna had three dances and I had my Musical Theatre. She got a high silver for tap and 'most promising', high silver for Ballet and 'most promising' and Jazz they got a high silver. Our performance got a high gold.










2 comments:

Dick Family said...

Sarah, I'm pretty sure that your family is the busiest family I've ever met :) Good job to Anna and you on all your achievements!!! Hopefully with June coming you'll get a bit of time for yourself!

lilaussiemum said...

Well it is self inflicted...I have no-one to blame but myself!