Motivational Monday's

I'm going to try something called Motivational Monday's... I find so many quotes that I love and want to share... this seems like the best way :)

Here's the first:

It requires less character to discover the faults of others, than to tolerate them.

-J. Petit Senn

I love this quote.  Unfortunitely I have some trouble at times taking good old Senn's advice... I hate when people chomp their food near me; It drives me bonkers when people wait til the last minute to do thing; I dispise when people are inconsiderate of other people.  Honestly this list could go on forever... and growing up I'd make sure that EVERYONE knew when I disagreed with their faults because I'd point them out and try to convince them they were in the wrong.  As I'm growing up, I'm trying to be more tolerant... it's just not something I'm great at, but I'm putting this quote at the forefront of my mind at least for today. 


My mom always told me "If everyone were as great as you Kimberly, you wouldn't be special anymore"... I hope I'm as smart as her someday :)


Hope that you have a wonderfully motivating Monday

ATB should really stand for AMAZINGLY TALENTED BABIES!!!!

If you know me at all, you know that the weeks leading up to the first competition season tends to be a little rocky... I scream and yell and cry A LOT.  This year was different... it was still stressful, but I was so excited to see how far the kids had progressed and how ready they were for the competition. 

We traveled to Cedar Rapids (which my kids were super mad about because they thought we were going to See The Rabbits), and competed our 63 dances of track and elite dancers.  We won diamond after diamond and placed in the top 5 over and over again.  Every time I thought the kids couldn't dance any better they proved me wrong.  I have never been so proud! 

Honestly they danced super well, and the awards were awesome, but the best part of the weekend was seeing how all of the families came together.  We all sat together, ate lunch and dinner together, laughed and celebrated together... it was something I've never experienced before: pure excitement for being there.  There was no drama, no crabbing, it was honest to goodness a celebration for the entire team's accomplishments. 

Here's a picture of our RIDICULOUS team at the awards ceremony on Sunday night... they're so dang funny :)

As I returned home late Sunday night, I celebrated our team and prepared for this next weekend in which we have yet another competition.  Although I'm certain exhaustion will soon set in, it's so worth it to see these kids soar to new heights.  I LOVE MY JOB!!!!

Here's some more pictures of the weekend:

Here's our gorgeous elite team (well most of them are in this picture...) We unfortunitely didn't get pics of all their costumes because they were in a different costume every other second.  They won Diamonds for all numbers except 2 and placed in the top 5 for small groups and WON senior large group for their dance Fame.  The outfit they're in here is Tangled Up In You.  They were all AMAZING!

My God Put The Rhythm In Me kids... they're the funniest, silliest and most hard working kids ever.  They performed this piece with so much passion and heart, it honestly made my heart overflow with joy to watch their hardwork pay off... they're SO great!

My children were SO well behaved this weekend... Sam was dressed as a cowboy, running around with the girls and having the time of his life.  Maicey thought she was such a big help to Mama... I loved every moment of spending the weekend with them.  A special thank you to my husband Rob for making it a possibility to have my inspiration and support team with me during the weekend... it made it so much better to have them there to celebrate with me!!!

This is our Kayla :)  She just came to our studio a few years ago and she has brought nothing but sunshine to our lives since.  she works her tiny little butt off every single day she's at the studio and it sure has paid off.  Miss Kayla won overall junior solos doing her gorgeous lyrical dance to Cinderella.

The name of this duet is "divas"... I'm not so sure I could have come up with a more appropriate name for a duet with these two sas-a-frasses.  Kayla and Paige are 9 and 10, and they are dancing a duet that many 17 and 18 year olds couldn't do.  They have a natural God given talent and a work ethic to go with it. 

Me and these terds made a bet before they danced that if it was up to my standards I'd go get them ice cream.... They won Junior Duet overall, so I guess I better get them to DQ asap... 

Once these three terds heard about my promise to Kayla and Paige they threw a fit.  I'm telling you these girls have been dancing with me since they were like 5 years old.  They're now 15 and amaze me every single day.  I adore watching them perform this trio "Nothing Compares 2 U" because it's so graceful and passionate and beautiful.  It's also very serious which cracks me up because when they're not competiting, you'll find them making fools of themselves in a hallway somewhere :)  I guess I do owe them ice cream as they one Senior Trio...



So that's Symposium weekend in a nutshell... it was amazing in every way possible.  Who's ready for round 2????   Let's get it ATB!

Knock, knock...

Well, of course today is all about love... it's a silly Hallmark holiday meant to make the chocolate, flower, and card companies millions of dollars... it's a silly holiday that I LOVE.  I love it because I love my husband.  So, today's post is dedicated to the Love of my Life :)

Rob and I met on the first day of college at St. Ambrose.  My roommates and I were organizing our new room and we heard a knock on the door... My sister got to the door first and opened the door to find a shaggy haired, blue eyed, boy that stuck his hand out and said "hey ladies I'm Rob".  He was walking up and down the hallways of the dorm trying to meet EVERY single woman on our floor.  We all giggled and told him our names, shut the door and moved on.  The next morning, I found myself sleepily walking into Intro to Theology at 8am, finding a seat, and 2 minutes later hearing "hey Kim".  I turned to see Mr. Blue Eyes starring back at me.  We also came to find out we shared our Tuesday/Thursday 8am class Creative writing class with Nancy Hayes (who Rob lovingly explained to people she had "rays of sunshine coming out of her ass").  As the semester progressed we studied together, hung out on weekends, and just genuinely enjoyed spending time together either with my roommates when we were trying to study, or his roommates when they'd do ridiculous things like "the gallon challenge" or throw pennies out the windows at people :)  We'd quickly become best friends... I realized over Christmas break that I missed him.  That was sort of weird for me, because I had also started dating a new guy at that point.  Long story short, that "new guy" turned out to be an idiot and Rob made sure to remind me of this any chance he got.  At Easter when i'd finally come to my senses and broken up with him, Rob was planning to spend Easter alone in the dorms... my mother of course said that wasn't an option and he came to Easter dinner with us... just as friends of course.  Not even a month later (with some interventions from my mother and sister) we finally admitted we were in love with each other. 

11 short months later he told me during our daily walk that "he never wanted to walk without me by his side again" and 18 months after that I became the happiest wife in the world.  Now, 9 years after that wonderful day I met my husband I am so thankful for every moment I have with him.  We've created two precious children, a home that we love, and more memories then I ever dreamed possible.  It just goes to prove that you never know when love will come knocking at your door...

Embarassed party of 1!

Since Sam was born in May of 2006 my husband and I have argued over when he'll go to school... will he go when he has just turned 5 and be the youngest in his grade or will we hold him and send him when he's already 6 so he will be the oldest?  My husband and father have both convinced me that holding him is the way to go.  I'm not sold on the decision, but since they're both early summer birthdays and went through being the "baby" of the class, I caved.  SO I did get him to agree that Sam needs to go to a good PreK program next year so that he's not bored and has something that is consistant in his life.  We have called every preschool program in the QCA getting information, schedules and pricing.  While we're on the subject of pricing, let me mention quickly that they are charging more for a preschool education then I pay for my energy bill every month... it's CRAZY.  Sorry about the tangeant- on with my story; so on Tuesday night we went to Lourdes Catholic School for the early childhood open house... as we were leaving we had stopped to chat with some people when I noticed Sam examining the HUGE crucifix hanging on the wall (very lifelike I might add)... Let me stop here and explain the religion status in the Munn home.  We are Christian, religious people, that were all baptized in the church and believe that there is a wonderful power greater then us.  We are also unfortunitely a family that has way to busy of a weekend to get to church on a regular basis.  We read our children Bible stories and discuss the true meaning of Christmas and Easter... Okay, now on with the story... So as I see Sam staring at this crucifix, I start to worry that he's going to say something inappropriate but before I can even lean in to explain, he loudly asks "Mom, who's the guy and how'd he get all those ouchies?"  MORTIFIED is an understatement...  Although I was embaressed at the time, as I've thought about it, I realized, he's 4.  I don't think he needs to know what a horrible event that was in all the details... All too soon he'll understand why that "guy" got all those "ouchies" but for now I just stuck to the response "Jesus got all the ouchies because he loved you"... beautifully enough that was all Sam needed to know.

My "aha" moment for the week...

Anyone that knows me, knows that I have "aha" moments that cause me to step back and realize something important quite often... I think it's because I tend to move through my days, completeing tasks, working, being a mom and wife, and simply trying to get to the next day then all of a sudden AHA... when I actually stop and think about something and how it effects EVERYONE, it very clearly makes sense in my world.  The first AHA moment that I can remember is when I had first opened my studio and I had 2 or 3 moms upset with a particular decision I made, so I changed my decision and caused 40 parents to be mad at me... AHA Kimberly, you're never going to make everyone happy, so don't try.  Do what's best for the majority and move on...  Since then I've had dozens of them, in parenting, business, and marriage; it's how I have shaped my adult world in essence...

So my moment this week was while I was teaching my classes last night.  I teach a class of young teens (12-16 year olds mainly), and many of them have been my students forever.  We've been having discussions with many of our students the past few weeks about "pushing themselves" and "believing in yourselves" as we do EVERY year with tons of students that have seemed to plateau in their growth within the dance world.  Well, last night, I had to be pulled away from class for a moment to answer a question for my office assistant, so as I was chatting with her I was also yelling out stretchs for the class to be doing.  As I watched them stretch I heard quiet conversations about school assignments, giggles about what kids were wearing to the game the night before, and a variety of other "normal girl behavior".  They were doing the stretches I asked them to... but for some reason I was frustrated with them.  I couldn't put my finger on it for quite some time, but as you may have expected all of a sudden AHA... I figured out what was bothering me.  These girls that I have been teaching for years, were doing what I asked them to do... that's all they were doing.  They were doing just enough to get by, and for those of you who know me, that's never enough.  So it is becoming my personal mission to push EVERY student and teacher in this studio to not do what they're asked to by me, but to do everything they possibly can every day. 

I'm sort of hoping to create some AHA moments in other people's worlds too...