Gentry's Farm & Pumpkin Carving

Per our new tradition, Chels and I went to Gentry's Farm for the second year in a row. This year she took two of her best friends, Kennedi H & Kennedi R! Though we were a little pressed for time, the girls still had a great time! They ran from one place to the other the entire time!haha. After the pumpkin patch, the girls went to a dinner party. When they were done with that they came back to our house for pumpkin carving & a sleepover. This was Kennedi H's first time to carve a pumpkin! We were so excited to share that experience with her. I think that the pumpkins all turned out great & we all had an amazing time!

DC Sleepover/Picnic 2009

Last month DC had its annual company picnic. This year, the Junior Company had a sleepover the night before. They made t-shirts to wear to the picnic & they also made shirts for their new sisters. This year is Chels' first year to be a big sister!! She was beyond excited when she found out! Here are a few pics from the sleepover & picnic. Big thanks to Mrs. Kelly for hosting the sleepover!

Happy Birthday!

Well, my sweet baby is 11 years old today!! It makes me sad to think that these last 11 years have gone by so quickly. In just 7 short years, she will be off to college! I know that it is crazy to think of her leaving home when she is only 11, but it will be here before I know it...and definitely before I'm ready to have her go! But, I will say that these have been the happiest 11 years of my life. I was only 19 when I had her, so I had to grow up very quickly! I can tell you, though, that I wouldn't change having her for anything in the world!!! She fills my life with such joy & adventure...on a daily basis! So, Chelsea, I hope that you have the most incredible birthday. I love you with all of my heart! You are the best thing that I've ever done. I'm proud of you and proud to be your mommy! Alaboo!!!

Masquerade Competition 2009

This weekend was the second dance competition of the season! It was SO much fun! Our studio had never been to this competition before, so we weren't totally sure of what to expect. But it turned out to be a blast. During breaks, the judges would throw Mardi Gras beads into the audience...which of course was a complete hit with all of the kids (and grown-ups, too)! Chels' trio got a Platinum (the highest possible score) and received second overall! They did AMAZING! All of her dances did, actually. Here are a few pictures from this weekend!

Starquest

Congratulations to Chelsea and all the DC dancers!! This weekend was the first dance competition of the season. It was at the Acuff Theater here in Nashville, TN. The majority of the dances did not compete at this competition. Chelsea only competed her trio and one large group. Her trio received a platinum award (two points or less from a perfect score...the highest award possible!) and 3rd place overall. First and second place went to our studio, too!! Great job, especially since this was their first time to perform and their teacher had to be out of town! Large group also got a platinum and 1st overall!! It was a great weekend and I'm so proud of Chelsea and all her dance friends!! Here are a couple of pictures of Chelsea and the rest of her trio.

Christmas 2008

This was such a wonderful Christmas!! Chelsea went to her father's for Christmas Eve. Now that she is older, she spends the night there for Christmas Eve so that she can be there for her brothers when they wake up to Santa's presents. Then she spends the rest of the time with me. Since she was gone Christmas Eve, I had little to do...so my family and I went to Chili's for dinner. That doesn't sound very Christmasy..but you couldn't imagine how packed that place was! Then we went home and played games. I think Chelsea had a really good Christmas. She got lots of great gifts from her dad and stepmom. She even got 2 frogs from them...though those have to stay at daddy's! All she really wanted was a juicy purse...which she got. She is actually hugging it in one of those pictures!! My favorite gift of all time was from Chelsea. She made me a scrapbook. She spent hours on it all by herself. She found all of the pictures and put it together. The only help she got was from my mom...and that was just to buy the scrapbook! It was so touching that I cried the entire way through it!! I'll never cherish anything more! After presents, we went to the movies. All in all, we had a wonderful day. It was a great way to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ!

DC Skate Party

Every Christmas, Chelsea's dance studio hosts a party at the Brentwood Skate Center. This is only for the company kids. They get to hang out with all of their friends, which is always lots of fun. Each company also performs a Christmas routine. They all dress up differently, according to their company's dance. This year, Chelsea's team, the Juniors, danced to Santa Baby. They were to wear anything red & green and a Santa hat. My personal favorite were the Seniors who dressed in footed pajamas!! They looked soo funny! After the big finale, they find their big/little sisters and exchange presents. My Chelsea's sister, Chelsie, gave her a stocking full of goodies. My Chelsea gave a build a bear reindeer with light up antlers and her voice saying "I love you, Chelsie." We had a really fun time. DC is like our second family, so we always love getting together with everyone.

Family Christmas Dinner

After the skate party, we went to our aunt's house for our family Christmas dinner. I think the total was around 30 people!! That's a lot of relatives under one roof! We had a really good time seeing all of our out-of-town cousins. Plus, the food was amazing! Chelsea, Little Kayla (we have 2 Kayla's in the family!!), & Morgan all did a little skit for the true meaning of Christmas. They told what each tradition stands for...like the Christmas tree & the star or angle on the tree. It was really sweet. Little Kayla even dressed the part of Santa! We had a great time with our family and it got us all in the Christmas spirit!

Ballet Dance

Last night, Chelsea's ballet class performed a routine from the Nutcracker. They just dressed up in pajamas to represent being Asian. Apparently they were supposed to be men...which totally freaked Chelsea out! They did a really good job and had a lot of fun. This wasn't meant to be a very technical routine for them...they were simply supposed to act silly and have fun. They all laughed through the whole thing!! The pictures didn't turn out very good, though. They are far away and a little blurry...but you get the idea. Chelsea is in the white top and green pajama pants. The woman with her is her ballet teacher, Mrs. Jennifer. She does work with the Nashville Ballet as well as Chelsea's studio...so she always teaches them a part of the Nutcracker at Christmas.

Christmas Dance

Chelsea helps teach a 5 year old combo class at DC Dance Factory on Wednesday nights. This is a huge honor for her because usually only the older girls get to help teach. Plus, you have to be invited to do it by the teacher. Chelsea enjoys this class so much. She has really gotten to love the kids and they love her too. Last night they had a little Christmas dance they performed for their parents. Chelsea has to do the routines with them so they know what to do. Here are pictures of Chelsea dancing with her class. She had to dress up "Christmasy" too!

Christmas Band Concert

Last night, Chelsea's band held their Christmas dinner/concert. It was a really fun night. During dinner, the children were able to perform for the parents. In order to do this, they had to audition for the band directors. Some children danced with their friends, others played their instruments. Chelsea and her best friend Terah made the cut to perform a duet with their flutes! They did an amazing job and I was so proud. Then we went to the gym for the concert. All three levels of the band performed. Since Chelsea is only a 5th grader, she is still in beginning band. However, she and Terah do share the honor of first chair!! To those of you who are familiar with bands, first chair is a huge honor. It means you are the best player of that instrument in the band!! Here are some pictures from last night...enjoy!

Snow day

Well, Chelsea finally got her first snow day of the year!! Of course, there really wasn't much snow...but we tried to make the best of what there was. We went for a walk around the neighborhood & played on the playground for a little while. Chelsea spun around on the tire swing forEVER!! It made me sick just watching her. Hopefully the next snow will be a really good one...but this was a good starter!

The Grinch on ICE

After the convention and pool party on Saturday, we went with 2 of Chelsea's friends to see the Grinch on ICE. It was really fun. The Kennedis...as we like to call them...had never been before. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes. To keep the girls entertained, I took pictures of them "begging"! haha, they had fun acting silly. It was incredibly cold in the building, so we didn't stay for too long. Everything in the building is sculpted out of ice! There are even ice slides that are really fun...but cold on the bottom!! The girls went down the ice slide 2 times each. They couldn't go more than that because the line was too long and they got too cold! But, it was a really fun night.

NYCDA

This weekend was EXTREMELY busy! Chelsea had a dance convention called NYCDA, New York City Dance Alliance. It was held at Opryland Hotel. This is a two day convention. Chelsea danced all day Saturday and Sunday! Needless to say she was exhausted when she got home last night! She did a really great job, though. She really worked hard to learn each routine. I think she learned a lot. I'm proud of her hard work this weekend! Here are some pictures from the convention. Saturday, one of the other girls had a pool party for her birthday! That was a fun way for them to all relax after a busy day.

Baptism

Chelsea was baptized yesterday!!!!! It was one of the proudest days of my life. It was all I could do not to completely lose it! Chelsea was baptized by Pastor Daniel Bell at Christ Church in Nashville, TN. This was a decision that she made entirely on her own. I have always felt that a child needs to understand what being baptized means. I wanted Chelsea to WANT to be baptized and to dedicate her life to Christ. It was not a decision that I needed to make for her. I am SOO proud of her for making such a life altering decision! She has dedicated her life to Jesus! No mother could be prouder!

Halloween 2008

Halloween night was lots of fun! Chelsea's brothers, dad, and stepmom all came over to trick-or-treat. A friend of ours and her two boys also came over. Chelsea was a Leprechaun and her brothers were Batman (Gavin) and Robin (Gaige). Gavin is only 3 and Gaige is close to 2. They were all really cute. Chelsea seemed to have a really fun time running house to house with her brothers. "Batman" kept trying to beat up the older boys that were with us....it was pretty cute. All in all, it was a good night!!

Band Concert

Last night, Chelsea had her very first band concert! It was really good. All of the children were much better than we had expected. They have only been playing their instruments for 8 weeks...so to be able to pull off a concert is pretty incredible. Chelsea is second chair flute! Her best friend is first chair. Chelsea seemed really excited to play in her first concert. She did an amazing job, too! So, congrats Chelsea. I'm proud of you! Oh, when I spoke with her band teacher, Mrs. Waters, after the performance, Mrs. Waters informed me that Chelsea was very talented!! That is quite a compliment!

Kayla's party

Ok, so as you will see, this was one PACKED weekend! On Friday night, Chelsea went to a slumber party at the Embassy Suites in Franklin! There were 20+ girls there!! Then, on Saturday morning, we headed to Chattanoog, TN for our cousin Kayla's 10th birthday party. Of course, this isn't the cousin Kayla we have mentioned before!! We have ANOTHER cousin Kayla! As you can imagine, it gets really confusing because we all are really close to both Kayla's! Anyhow, little Kayla's party was at a park. It was a little chilly, but still a good time. Her parents had set up a volleyball net, so we had a good time playing with that. Chelsea played Kayla a special "Happy Birthday" song on her flute! She practiced the song for a couple of weeks. Her band class isn't even to the part of their book yet...so it was more advanced for her. She did an amazing job playing the song and I think Kayla really appreciated all of Chelsea's hard work! It was a really fun party and it was good to see all of our Chattanooga family!

DC Halloween Party

The second we walked in the door from Chattanooga, Chelsea had to get dressed for the Halloween Party at DC (her dance studio). I was even painting her nails green in the car on the way home...and mind you, I was car sick!!! Not fun! Anyhow, we had just the right amount of time to get dressed. Chelsea was a Leprechaun this year! Her costume was just adorable...if I say so myself. Of course, we couldn't have it just plain like we bought it....I had to add rhinestones to it too! It turned out perfect. Chelsea had a really fun time at the party, as usual. She painted a pumpkin, got a tattoo, and danced around with all of her friends. At the end of the night, they announced the costume contest winners. There were several great costumes. In Chelsea's category (age 10 and under) there were quite a few runner ups....but there was only one BEST COSTUME OVERALL WINNER.....and that honor went to CHELSEA!!!! This is her 3rd year to win best costume! However, in previous years, they name several winners....but this year, they only named one overall winner...so that was a real treat! Chelsea won a basket of candy and a webkinz!

Gentry's Farm

After church on Sunday, Chelsea & I headed out to Gentry's Farm in Franklin, TN. We had never been there before, but I had heard it was a fun place....and it was. Chelsea & I had a really good time wondering around the farm together. The weather was just perfect for it, too! We got lost in a 4 acre corn maze....we went on a nature trail...we went on a hay-ride (though there was no hay in the wagon!!) & got to see a field of cows and 3 homes that have been lived in by the Gentry's for hundreds of years. Chelsea even got to meet Mr. Jimmy Gentry himself!! There was also a pumpkin patch were you could pick your own pumpkin. It was a little picked over, but it was still really cool. The pumpkin I carved came from that patch! Chelsea opted to buy 2 larger pumpkins that had already been picked. All in all, it was a really fun day!!