Greenway Secret Santa

For the past five years I have been lucky enough to organize the Secret Santa at work. We leave gifts in the mailboxes and today our Elf (Patti) delivered the  final gifts. It is so much fun and I look forward to it each year.

Our 16th Annual Santa Party

My sister  held her annual Santa party on Saturday, December 13th. 

We had used the same Santa for the last 10 years and we were upset when we could not locate him. We tried for weeks and finally had to locate someone new and hoped for the best.

 Santa arrived and was amazing. He called each child up, posed for lots of pictures, talked to them and entertained everyone.

 Caeli put on her reindeer costume from Halloween and entered with Santa. No one knew who she was. 

 When Santa called her name she took off the hood (she said it was so hot inside).

 She helped hand out the rest of the gifts. 

 Kianna with her best friend, Brettlyn.

Madi, Caeli, Arianna & Samantha

 Caeli with some of her dance friends. Arianna had never sat on Santa's lap and her mom was thrilled to finally get a picture at 14.

Our annual family picture.

November happenings

November has been a busy month and it just flew by. Here’s a glimpse of what we have been doing.

Caeli auditioned and joined the Encore Chorus at her school. They held their first concert on November 5th. They sang and danced and it was a very enjoyable evening.

Lorraine, Caeli & Kianna took part in theWalk to End Alzheimer’s on November 8th.
It was a beautiful day and we walked three mile through downtown Phoenix in mom’s memory

I say walked, but Kianna danced, leaped and did cartwheels most of the way.

Caeli attended the November master class with Alexa Anderson on November 13th. She has danced with so many great teachers this year.

The girls had fun making their traditional apple pie for Thanksgiving. They are both becoming great cooks.

 We continued our November tradition of building gingerbread houses.

 The girls worked on them for a long time and each knew exactly how she wanted her house to look.

Lorraine's dear friend, Kiki joined us for dinner. Pam had to go in to work early and missed dinner. 

 I love the finished houses!

Halloween 2014

 Because it has been so warm in Phoenix, we waited until Thursday evening to carve pumpkins. Pam and I went over to Lori's house and had fun watching Caeli and Kianna. The girls had decided what pattern they wanted to do and did the entire job by themselves.

 I love how much fun they have doing everything. Kianna had done a math project at school and was given a second pumpkin. They had made a haunted house after school.

The finished pumpkins.

Kianna made the  bat and Caeli did the monster.

We met again at Lori's after school on Friday. After dinner the girls dressed in their costumes. The girls carpool with the neighbor across the street. They love the movie "Frozen". Caeli dressed up in a reindeer costume as Sven.

 Kianna was Olaf

 Getting ready to leave.

"Sven, Anna, Olaf and Elsa"

They went Trick-or-treating in a large group from the neighborhood. They had a great time and got lots of candy.

Nationals at Las Vegas

July 7, 2014

The girls had a wonderful year of dance. The studio that they dance at attends National competition every other year, and this year we were lucky enough to get to go. We left our house early Monday morning and headed to Las Vegas. We arrived shortly before noon and went to the Excalibur hotel.

Our room was not ready so we walked across to the Kids Artistic Revue Competition. It was held in the MGM Hotel.

 We had to walk through the New York, New York hotel. We loved all buildings that reminded us of New York City. At the entrance they have a Statue of Liberty made from thousands of jelly beans.

 We headed across to the MGM and ate at The Rainforest Cafe.

 The burgers were delicious! We finally located where the competition was being held. We decided to walk down the strip. It was a VERY long walk to the Venetian Hotel. It was beautiful.

 We went upstairs to The Grand Canal Shops.

 The shops were beautiful and we walked all over.

 Kianna loves to bake and one of her favorite shows is Cake Boss. We knew that Buddy opened a store and quickly found out where it was.

 Pam had contacted the show and arranged for one of the bakers to come out and speak to Kianna.

 She told her all about her job and then asked if she would like a special treat.

 As you wait in line to enter the shop, there are glass windows and we were able to watch her baking in the kitchen. Finally it was our turn and we ordered some of the yummy pastries in the store.

 The baker brought Kianna out a box and posed for pictures. (There were two cupcakes and a cookie in the box.)

 Kianna with one of the cupcakes.

We crossed the street and walked back to our hotel. We were able to get into our room and unpack.

Tuesday, July 8th

Kianna had an early check-in at KAR. She was up at 6:00 am. Caeli helped her with hair and make-up and at 7:30 we headed to MGM.

 Kianna, Capri and Paige performed their trio, Charle's Angels.

 The girls waited on stage for awards. The earned a National 1st Place.

 We walked down to the M&M Store.

 The store is four stories high and every item they sell is M&M's.

 The girls selected backpack purses in the store.

 When we got back to the hotel we went to the pool.

 It was hot and the water was cool and beautiful.

 We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Buca Di Beppo.

 We then went to the arcade and the Hershey Store.

 The Statue of Liberty is made of solid chocolate!

Bottles of chocolate syrup (Banks)

Wednesday, July 9th

This was the only morning that we did not have to get up early. We took it easy and then headed to the pool.

 Kianna tried out the water slide

 Kianna enjoyed the water slide, but the water was freezing and she chose to swim in one of the other pools.

 We went over to New York, NY and walked around.

 There are lots of restaurants in the back. It is set up like areas of New York City.

 The girls loved seeing the fire escapes and the phone booth.

 They had a New York style deli and Caeli said it was the biggest Reuben she ever had.

 Everything was delicious!

 We had to arrived in Vegas early but the rest of the dance company had to arrive on Wednesday (Group numbers started Thursday). At 5:00 we met for practice.

 The boys were given hats and the girls got headbands.

Mini, Junior and Senior Dance Companies

Thursday, July 10th

Kianna was up early again to perform two numbers.

On our way to perform

 For the Boys (National 1st Place) and Bathing Beauties (National Top 1st Place and Strut You Stuff Award) were performed today.

The girls took turns going up to collect the awards. Kianna got to up and accept For The Boys.

 We ate lunch and went to the Coca Cola Store.

 The girls were ready for a break and went back to the hotel to swim.

 Samantha came over to swim with Caeli and they went to dinner together. We walked around and met Caeli.

On our way back to our room.

 

Friday, July 11th

Both girls danced Friday morning. Caeli got up at 5 am to get ready. We were out of the room very early.

 Their first dance was Latin Party (National Top 1st Place and Sizzlin Style Award)

 Then they were both in Hova (National Top 1st Place). Caeli also danced in Walking Dead (National Top 1st Place) and Rock of Ages (National Top 1st Place).

A picture of the five top line dances. Hova took 4th place overall and Latin Party took 5th place overall.

 We took a tram down the strip to The Bellagio Hotel. The girls loved the chocolate fountain as we walked in.

 They had the most beautiful gardens.

 We walked around and looked at everything.

 Family

 We went out on the Strip and walked to Bubba Gumps

 Waiting for a table

 They have the best seafood.

Caeli ordered Shrimp Heaven and ate all of it.

 Kianna's dish was served in a boat.

 It was a fun dinner.

 We walked back to the Bellagio.

 We waited for the water show to begin.

 We got to see two songs performed. The first was "Viva Las Vegas"

The second was "Proud To Be An American". Perfect way to end the week.