This is not the ALDC

No reason to try to back up and say what all has been going on so I am just starting fresh for what all went on today.

Today was Mattie's first AOK tournament of the year, Texas Karate Heat Wave in Duncanville. She was ready.

OK.

Well...

I do need to back up a little,

but just to Tuesday.

As we were getting ready to leave, she asked me if she could to Self D a the tournament on Saturday.

Whaaaaat???

I've already signed you up!

You've never done Self D before!

Do you realize you only have like one day to practice?

No I didn't say any of those things to her, I said I would talk to Shihan and see what he said.

Well of course he said he would get her ready.

Wednesday night we left early to watch the Harlem Globetrotters (fantastic as usual!)

Thursday, her dad picks her up so she would have to be done at 6:00PM, but they will get it done.

At 5:45PM I remind him she is leaving in 15 minutes. So he get Drake to help her.

It's going great, but by the time they get organize it only leaves 10 minutes?!?!

Thank goodness, Buddy said he had an errand to run and he could leave her for another 20 minutes!

YAY! A little more time! So a total of 3 minutes to practice! Goody!!!

Sparring practice on Friday runs long and we have got to get out of town for the tournament on Saturday, so still just the 30 minutes from the day before.

We all get to the tournament and Drake grabs Mattie and her helpers and they go through it two more times!! WOW! This should be good!

I don't like going into a competition unprepared but that was happening today.

It's Junior Self Defense which means She will not only be competing against some older kids, some are literally twice her age!!

They call names to make sure everyone is there and she will be the last to go! YAY! Such a huge benefit!!

Once she goes, she does great! Not very smooth, but she remembered everything she was supposed to do.

We had talked with her about having to compete about the older kids, so not to get her hopes up about winning. And also that the others had much more practice time than she did.

So imagine how excited we all were when they called her for first 3rd!!!

What does this have to do with the Abby Lee Dance Club (ALDC)? A lot!!!

"Dance Moms" is one of my guilty pleasures. I don't know why, but I love to watch.

It's like a watching a car crash. It's awful, but you just can't look away.

Those people do more yelling in one hour than all the competitors did combined today. But I just love it! Abby Lee Miller is the dance instructor and the girls are competitive dancers. Each week they learn new routines to perform the following weekend. And the girls are very good. I just don't understand why they have to learn something new each week. The ice skaters in the Olympics this past week have been performing those routines for probably a year. It takes time for perfection.

So the other night, Abby Lee had a duet that she only spent 15 minutes with and when they performed, they placed 2nd. She was livid!!! Why??? They had 15 minutes of practice and placed 2nd! I think that's pretty good. I can't imagine not congratulating a child on an accomplishment, especially if they haven't practiced it for very long!

I was ecstatic over Mattie's 3rd place win!!!

So happy for her and all our kids that were in that division. There were 8 competitors, 4 from AMMA and AMMA took the top four spots!!!! WOW!!

Congrats to everyone that competed today!!!!

And I promise to be better at posting!!

So until next time,
God Bless.

US Karate Championships, Mesquite 06-25-11

Oh, it is taking me so long to get caught up on these tournament posts! But I'm getting there.

If you read my blog much, you'll notice this is her first tournament after this incident! I'm still having trouble fixing her hair so it looks cute but stays out her face during competition, but just like these posts, I'm getting there.

This tournament in Mesquite was a fun one. Loved the location, very easy to get to and plenty of room to move around in. We started the day with our normal routine of breakfast at the hotel with lots of eggs, then it was off to the tournament.

The two doodle bugs waiting for kata to start.

Getting ready to bow in. She really is improving, but so are the others. Nice finish She tied for third and had to do her kata again to break the tie so we were pleased with a good 3rd place finish. It could have gone either way, but she prevailed this time. And we have a plan to help her continue to get stronger in her kata, but I'll address that a different day.

On to sparring.

First round, her friend Cameron from Midland. She fought a good round and when the two minutes were up
they were tied and it went to sudden death
and he got a really good kick on her and won. So another 3rd place finish. She had fun at this tournament with Rayven and Hazel. I'm still not sure what the teachers are going to do with these two next year! Both of their transfers were approved so the will be starting kindergarten together! YAY! Next tournament

The US Open in Orlando!

It's going to be fun!

Until then, God Bless!

November First First

The first weekend in November found Mattie May, Katie and I with some free time. Katie remembered about Kids Workshop at Home Depot and we thought Mattie May might enjoy it. And we were right.

Wearing her apron just like Lolo and Mommie used to.

She glued...

and hammered...

and glued and hammered some more until she finished her

nice little spice rack.

Cute!!!

The following weekend found us on the way to Midland for her first karate tournament. We didn't know what to expect from the tournament or from her because this was actually a first for all of us. It was a lot of fun. She participated in kata demo, kata and sparring. Kata demo was first and I think I was the most nervous of any of us. She had never done this and I was afraid she would freeze, goof off, cry, or any other number of things we've seen children do when they perform for the first time.

I was very pleasantly surprised. She got out there and looked like a pro. As a matter of fact, the two women standing next to me asked how long she had been doing tournaments and couldn't believe this was her first. And when they asked how long she had been in karate almost called me a liar when I told them just over two months! I thought she was amazing.

She didn't place in anything but just the fact that she was out there trying after such a short time of learning was enough for me.

Kata

All her "awards" for participation. She was happier about

Po as anything else.

I missed the kick, but you see the result.

Getting some encouragement from the sidelines.

She has since worked her way up to purple belt and will be going to her next tournament this weekend. This time she will be in kata, sparring, and breaking. I can't wait. She is doing a great job and learning something new every day. And most days we still have trouble getting her to leave the dojo. Maybe they'll move a cot in there for her!

Tomorrow, December!

God Bless!

Quiet Weekend

Hello Monday!

I had a truly quiet weekend this past weekend and it was nice...for about five minutes! I do miss my family when they are gone. I think it's this only child thing I've had going on all my life. I don't really like being alone. But it happens sometimes and I try to enjoy it.

Friday night, was Daddy/Daughter Date night. I wrote about that in my last post. I think they both enjoyed themselves.

Saturday was when the quiet really set in. Frank went hunting axis deer with some friends and didn't come back until Sunday. Katie spent the day with friends and Mattie May was spending time with her daddy's family. It was just me and the dog, and he spent the weekend outside enjoying the sunshine. So really, it was just me. Thank goodness for the noise of the television.

What did I do? Well, there is always laundry to be done. I can't imagine having more than four people in a house. People that do, their laundry piles must be enormous because mine are pretty large.

I also spent a lot of time at the computer. OK, really I spent all of my time at the computer. Last week my picture CD's from Disney came in plus I had pictures from Mattie May's belt test last Saturday that needed to be cleaned up. After I got those finished and prints ordered, I got back to work on our Disney scrapbook.

Scrapblog has merged with Mixbook and I am having a hard time with the changes. I had gotten real good at putting my layouts together in SB. I seem to be having a hard time getting the new stuff down. I think the one thing I miss the most about SB is the free hand cropping tool. I have so many things I wanted to use to make my own stickers for this book and now I can't do them. It had me down for a bit, but I moved on to something different - making a movie!

Traci made a movie for our grandmother's 90th birthday out of old pictures and home movies and videos. I had always wanted to try it but never took the time. As I was playing around with something on the computer, I found all the information she had sent me and decided to get to work. I have fallen in love! I hope to get it finished this week. I think making movies is going to be my next full time project. I can't wait to get some old pictures from Mom and see what I can do with those.

The only thing I really need now other than time just to get it finished, is music. Disney music. I don't have any CDs that are just Disney music and I would love to have that as my background for my movie. I found a lot on iTunes, but it will cost me a fortune if that is what I decided to do. Mattie May will have a lot of tunes on my iPhone to listen to if I end up going that route. If any one out there has some CDs of Disney music that I could borrow, please let me know! I would be greatly appreciated.

This coming weekend won't be so quiet for us. Tournament season starts! Fishing and karate. Mattie May has a karate tournament in Duncanville this Saturday. She is ready for it. Sunday, Frank and I have a fishing tournament at O.H. Ivie. I am ready for that too! We are definitely going to be rushed going to both, but that's OK.

Also, Sunday, my family is getting together to celebrate Mattie B's 95th birthday! WOW! She is such a very special lady to all of us. She is a February 28 baby and was born in a leap year! Thank goodness she came on the 28th! Because we will be fishing, I may talk Frank into taking two vehicles so I can enjoy the celebration. Mom says that I shouldn't worry about it, but it isn't everyday your grandmother turns 95! I am so blessed to have her, not every 48 year old can say their grandmother is still with them!

Until tomorrow,

God Bless!