Dance Recital

Dance season finally came to end a few weekends ago.  Marlie had her year end recital and it was very special because almost all of our grandparents came and Marlie's teacher, Mrs. Gommels came too!!  Marlie was beyond excited to have everyone there to watch.  Funny though I think she was more nervous for recital than she was all year.  Maybe because everyone came to watch?? I don't know but it sure was nice having everyone there.  She's worked so hard all year.  Marlie I can't wait to see how you do next year!! I love your beautiful smile!!

Pink Power

Again Mom was not excited to add another sport to our list of things-to-do but Marlie wanted to play softball and Doug made it happen. 

Marlie was lucky that she had really great coaches this year.  Coach Christie and Coach Jason led the charge and did a great job with the girls.  Marlie learned to catch this year and mostly played 1st base.  She made several outs at 1st and was so excited when she did. She hit the ball well too and was one of the fastest around the bases.

But most of all she was super cute and tried so hard.  She would yell how many outs they had in the field and always cheered for her teammates when they were hitting. I love that she loves being out there and how much fun she had with her coaches.  I'm not sure how much longer we'll be able to manage multiple activities but I know she'd love to play again next year!!!

Thanks to Dad for helping at practices and games and for teaching Marlie all she knows about softball!  Lord knows Mom can't catch a ball unless it's a really large beach ball!!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!!!

So my Mother's Day might have been a bit different than others but we had a great day and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way (well if I could have fit in a nap that would have been nice!). We left the house at 8:00am for Matt's baseball game and the boys kept winning so we didn't get home until 8:00pm!

The morning started off great.  Coach Matt led a great devotional for the team where he talked about Mothers and that boys should always love their Mothers!!!  It was great.  The boys gave each of their Mommas roses and it was time to play ball!

The Hooks won 3 games on Sunday to win the tournament championship!  We played some great teams but our boys fought hard the entire day.  Matt was the first one to line up for the awards ceremony and looked back at me and shouted "Happy Mother's Day Mom"!  Too sweet.  So proud of these boys and proud to be a part of this group of Moms...

Hoppy Easter!

We stayed home for Easter this year.  We had been traveling so much and last minute Doug had a meeting out of town on Good Friday. Kids were bummed that they couldn't go to see their cousins so we had a few friends over and had a great time!

We had a really good and spiritual Good Friday.  We started the day at St. Martha's church where Marlie and her friend Lauren did their First Reconciliation.  They were a little nervous but were all smiles when they came out. 

After brunch at the new Egg & I in the neighborhood we had an Easter egg hunt at our house. The boys gave me specific instructions to make it hard for them so I did!

The girls found all their eggs and the boys almost gave up because they couldn't find all of theirs and couldn't think of where else to look!!  They told me to make it hard!!! Afterwards we colored eggs and waited for the Patton's to come over to do another egg hunt with cascarones.  I had a ton of cascarones and Gayle brought some too, but I forget how old our kids are now and they found them and cracked them in about 5 minutes!  It was awesome!

I love this series of pictures. We are down to a few eggs left and Matt & Brady are in a standoff.

 Caden & Cole sneak in to run interference and as they do Marlie goes after Caden!

 This is my favorite action shot. Love the smile on Matt and Cole's faces. 

 They had fun. Next time I'll get 10 dozen cascarones so the fun lasts longer!! 

To end the night we went to Pappas Seafood House for dinner and then to Second Baptist to do the Stations of the Cross.  It was a really wonderful day. Amen! Happy Easter!

Dance Nationals!

We got home from spring break on a Tuesday and had to turn around Thursday to head to Ft. Worth for Marlie's dance Nationals! It was a bit crazy but totally worth it! 

Marlie started the weekend dancing her solo.  I had been trying to talk her out of doing her solo at Nationals.  The floor is small and slippery and I knew she wouldn't be able to practice beforehand since we were skiing!  But she begged and I caved.  We got up and went downstairs to warm up and run through it a few times.  Her friends Lauren and Lexi joined us and she was excited to have them watch.  We got dressed and came down and went to watch the high school girls perform. We were watching them when Marlie was supposed to go on (yikes) so we ran into the other ballroom and she was up!  She wasn't nervous at all. As she was waiting on stage to perform they were playing music and she was dancing.  She danced the best she's danced all year! Her friends were there to cheer her on and she had the time of her life! We got to see Clara dance not long after Marlie and she did so well too!

And we got to take a pic with Mrs. Stacey who started the studio years ago.  She is amazing, angelic and a great role model for all of us!

Marlie got to watch Ms. Avery dance just before she went on.  I think Avery inspired Marlie to dance well. Avery is such an amazing dancer!

Lauren and Lexi were so sweet to cheer Marlie on.  It meant a lot to Marlie having her friends there and I think it's what made her smile so big throughout her performance!

And last but not least, a very proud Mom and Dad.  We wished Matt were here but he stayed home with Nene so he didn't miss his baseball tournament!  He would have been so proud of his sister (but might have jumped out of his skin watching dance for 2 straight days!).

After all the fun we headed back to our room to get ready for team jazz!  This was a super cute dance but the hardest for the girls since they learned it sort of last minute.  They were a bit off during their performance but placed 3rd overall.  I love these costumes and Marlie's big smiles!

One more team dance to go and we're done for the day. Team contemporary was last for Friday.  It's a beautiful dance (my favorite) and the girls did great! They placed 1st and were SO excited!

We slept in Saturday.  Only 1 dance today so it would be an easy day! It was time for the Ninja Turtles to go out and Shell-Shock the crowd!  They did great and as always the crowd loved it. They placed 3rd for hip hop and the girls were so happy to get a trophy! This is the girls favorite dance.  

We took a long nap and then jumped out of bed so we could go watch Marlie's friends Lyla, Lexi and Lauren do their final dances.  We got to the convention center just in time to hear them announce the solo finalists.  In Marlie's age group (1st-3rd grade) there were 5 finalist.  We did not expect at all for Marlie to place. We had plans with everyone to go out for dinner as soon as the girls were done.  But guess who's name they called? Marlie Maziur!  Marlie and I looked at each other and she said, "Mom they just called my name!" We couldn't believe it.  I texted Clara immediately and asked her what to do!  All the finalist had to re-dance and we had about an hour or so to get ready. I was trying to show Marlie my excitement without also revealing my shear panic!  This means I have to redo hair and makeup, get dressed and she has to dance again!! AHHHH!

Once we got ready we headed down to find Clara.  She has made finals too along with several other of our high school girls.  We found them hiding, stretching in a back hallway and Marlie was probably most excited about just being here with them getting ready. 

She was ready to perform again and everyone was there to cheer her on.  My sweet friend Jaime had saved 2 seats right upfront for Doug and I. At this point I was just so crazy proud of her for making finals that I just wanted her to go out there and have fun.  And she did.  My heart had finally started beating normal by this time and I think this was the only time all year I wasn't nervous for her. 

Thank you to all the sweet Moms and friends who cheered her on.  I can't imagine how hard it is to go out there and perform for over 2 minutes by yourself.  But these people cheered before, during and after and honestly that's why she did well. We had a fun dinner afterwards with Lauren and Lexi before heading to awards that night.  Marlie placed 5th and we couldn't have been more excited.  To be a 2nd grader and place at Nationals is awesome!

I was exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel (midnightish) but Marlie and Dad were still happy and full of energy!  What a fun weekend!  Marlie I'm glad you talked me into letting you compete at Nationals.  Congratulations my sweet girl!