Dynamite Babe White

Marlie danced on a competitive dance team this year.  She tried out last August and made the Babe White team at Stacey's Dance studio.  We couldn't believe she made the White team! Her team was made up of 1st - 3rd graders and Marlie was probably the youngest.  Their teachers were Ms. Jordan, Ms. Ally and Ms. Emma!  The girls did 2 dances - a military and a novelty which was a pirate dance and Marlie was in heaven!

I wasn't near as nervous for team dances as I was for Marlie's solo.  The girls had fun and I think Marlie did great.  Our first competition was exciting and when I wasn't freaking out about having to do some sort of hair-do, I was behind the camera trying to capture the laughs and excitement of it all!

I think these are the videos from competition #3.  By this time Marlie was really putting on a show and I was proud of how amazingly confident she was out there.  She did say that she got a little nervous but mostly just had fun!  

 

The girls went to 4 competitions. 3 were in Houston and the last one was Nationals in Ft. Worth.  The girls had a blast at Nationals and the Moms did too.  Friday night the girls performed their novelty around 8:30pm which is 30 minutes past Marlie's bedtime!

Strutter colors are purple and green so of course Dad wore his purple shirt and he even bought green kicks to go with it!  I know you all aren't surprised considering Doug's love for shoes!  Marlie was also very excited that my cousin Mallory and her husband Duy were able to come watch too. And they brought her beautiful flowers!

We got to sleep in a little.  Marlie's solo was around noon and their military was a few hours after that.  So it was nice that we weren't rushed.  Since Mallory was there we finally got a pic with all the girls and their Mommas! I tell you this dance thing is a total team effort.  The girls do the dancing but getting them ready can be a bit stressful and it's so nice how everyone jumps in to help each other!

They placed 2nd with their military and 3rd with their novelty and they were super excited about it! They got 2 big trophies at the awards ceremony which was at about 11pm!  I guess I must have given up on lugging my camera around by then but man I wish I had a pic of them with those trophies!

We ended the year with a really fun banquet where the girls got trophies and awards.  Marlie's awards were Best Technique (WOW! thank you Clara) and Most Dependable (Huh?).  My sweet Marlie is definitely not dependable but Ms. Clara explained it was because she could be counted on to know the dance and and to be solid at competitions.  This made much more sense than what I was thinking!

Marlie we had so much fun watching you this year and I loved watching you have the time of your life with so many new friends.  Even Matt got really good at judging other teams and commenting on your performance.  We were ALL so proud!