Courtney's Dance Recital

We spent Saturday at Courtney's dance rehearsal and then the recital later that evening. She did a great job dancing and you can tell that she dances with every part of her body, mind and spirit. She was in 4 routines and had a couple of quicker changes that she was initially a little stressed about, but all turned out perfectly. As last year's Overall Dancer of the Year, she got to present this year's award to her friend and teammate Erica Johnson. She was so proud of Erica as she has worked hard all year and is so dedicated to the team. Courtney also won a special award of her own. She was selected as the Ballet Dancer of the Year for 2008. Her ballet has really come a long way this year and she has improved her technique so much! Anyone who knows Courtney knows that moving around a lot comes naturally to her, it is a little more work to keep the movements as slow and exact as ballet requires. She is becoming very graceful and it has been fun to see her grow in her abilities as a dancer. While ballet is not her favorite (lyrical and jazz currently hold that spot!) it is the foundation of everything in dance so she knows it is important to continue to improve her ballet skills and the rest will improve as well. She also takes a ballet class at the Newberg studio and was invited to dance en pointe starting in the fall. We are not sure if the schedule will work out yet with all of her commitments at the McMinnville studio, but she was excited to be considered ready for pointe work which requires lots of foot and ankle strength as well as balance and flexibility.

It was a fun recital and all the girls worked hard to put on a wonderful show. We get to take a week off and then classes start up for summer again.

I will have some pictures of the recital on the site soon.

Lions and Tigers and Dragons, OH MY!

Well, Courtney went this week to visit the middle school to check things out for this fall when she will officially go from being a Newby Tiger to becoming a Duniway Dragon. I personally am scared to death of middle school and all the changes (some good, some bad) that it brings. Courtney however is so excited and totally ready to be a 6th grader. We met several of the 6th grade teachers last night at a parent orientation and got a tour of the school and a briefing of all the things Duniway has to offer. There really are a lot of things that will suit Courtney there. They have a drama club, volleyball club (which she has decided is something she has to try out), a good leadership program for upper classmen that she is excited to be old enough to do in another year, etc. So much more freedom and the best part according to her: "We can actually wear flip flops and chew gum!!! How cool is that??" Well, apparently, that is pretty cool since she is so excited about it. The teachers were all very nice and welcoming and the programs all sound so fun that I can almost get excited about middle school. Then I remember, oh yea, this is when the fun times begin (or continue as the case may be)...girl moments, girl/boy moments, moodiness, attitude, and the list continues. I am hoping that we will make it through as well as my mom and I did. We didn't always get along then, but we are closer than ever now. I will keep hanging onto that hope and know that Courtney is a remarkable girl, with strong values, a good heart, and many talents and maybe, just maybe we'll come through it all okay.