Why is this legal?!

I've never claimed to be the best studio owner in the world... I've also never claimed to teach the best technique in the world, but I'm telling you after the past few weeks of judging at various cities throughout the country I look like I'm running the Joffrey Ballet around here.

First and foremost the unprofessionalism is astounding... I've witnessed students wearing one shoe on stage, tights that were ripped, hair flying in their faces, and people wearing costumes that appear to have been ordered 9 years ago.  As a teacher, your job is to prepare your students for something bigger and better then what we are.  If you think that the Rockettes are allowed to walk on stage with one character shoe on you're nuts...

Next, B-A-L-L-E-T.  It's simple people... all you have to do is require that they take it.  I'm sick and tired of watching people with sickled feet, no turn out, and pirouetting the wrong direction. 

Choreography- Again, I don't claim to be the best choreographer in the world- but I'm telling you there's times that I see these children doing choreography that is worse then something Maicey Munn could construct with all 3 years of her life experience behind her.  I also want to state that hip hop is not in fact a style in which you just shake your ass on stage.  There is actually technique that goes along with it... I know that's a new theory for some so go ahead and take a moment to process that.  I just can't fatham allowing my child on stage jumping around like a goon... but apparently tons of other parents see no problem with it! 

And lastly, it is not okay to allow your students to dance to a song such as "DINOSAUR" (where they actually say the words "you look sexy with your oxygen tank"), or "Raunchy" (I can't make this up people... it's honestly a song title).  It's also not okay to allow them to dance in a hot pink costume with skulls on it and no tights when they're 8 years old.  On the tights debate: I don't wanna see your business while I'm watching you dance... it's just wrong.  I hear all the time "you wear less at the beach", yes you're correct friend, but I don't usually do leg hold turns in my swimsuit... do you?!

I've always said I think it's interesting that you have to go to school and get a license to cut someone's hair but to be a studio owner all you have to do is find enough people that believe in what you're doing... that's a scary thought isn't it?  Some of these studio owners should be convicted of robbery...

Alright, had to get that off my chest... Going now to teach dance and spread decent technique through the world :)

Motivational Monday

Is it really Monday again?!

All you need is love.

John Lennon & Paul McCartney

After a long weekend away from my family I just couldn't find another quote that fit better.  I love my job, I love my husband, I love my children... what is there to complain about??

Happy Monday!

Thankful Thursday

As promised... part 2 :)

Although Sam taught me what it felt like to love a child... Maicey taught me that loving a second child was not taking love away from the first.  Somehow the magic of love allows your heart to multiply itself and all of a sudden you love two of them more then you ever dreamed you could love one.

Maicey Kay Munn entered my world on January 18th, 2008 at 11:59pm.  She's stayed true to that "hold out to the last minute" personality to this day.  She's the child that let's you get to "2 and a half" when you threaten "If I get to three you're getting a spanking!", she's the kid that lags ten steps behind you in the grocery store, and she's the child that can make you forget how mad those things make you and melt your heart with her sweet smile and bright blue eyes. 

When Maicey was born she shook up our world in a way that I hadn't ever experienced.  I, for once in my life, wasn't in control of the schedule, she was.  She would wake up in the morning and foreshadow for you the entire day... we always said she either comes off the pillow with angel wings or her horns emerge from her head.  My mother has always told me that my doctor when I was a little girl told her "she's not stubborn, she's simply 'persistant'", well I'm finding that trait a bit frustrating with my 3 year old :)

I'm so thankful for Maicey for so many things.  For being my hopes and dreams of a ballerina baby, for allowing me to put her hair in ridiculous bows, for smiling at me when I'm having a bad day, for teaching me how to be okay with my schedule not working out everytime, and more then anything for teaching me that persistant children bring more tolerence, patience and joy then anything else in the world!

Just another thankful Thursday...

Another Motivational Monday...

Parents often talk about the younger generation as if they

didn't have anything to do with it.

~Haim Ginott

I really don't even think I need to explain this one or why I love it...  Keeps you in check as a parent :)

Thankful Thursday's

Today's thankful Thursday and next weeks are linked together... I don't want anyone thinking one of them is more important than the other... I'm simply going in birth order!!!



One of my favorite pictures of Sam on his 2nd birthday. 



Sam Michael Munn changed my life on May 13, 2006 unlike anyone else ever has.  I didn't know the ways I could love until I met this little man.  When he was born, I was instantly in love with his sweet little face, his gorgeous eyes, and the sweet baby sounds he made.  Even after 3 full days of labor, I would have lived it all over again a thousand times to get to know the love he brought to me.

As he grew, I fell in love with the way he mispronounced words (helicocker, boops, and lellow were my favorites), I loved to watch him do his first dance recital (even though he didn't move a muscle on stage), and I adored seeing how he became a big brother with ease... and taught her how to love too.

Now as a busy 4.5 year old, I love to see him play (and excel at) every sport imaginable, I love to see him figure out problems on his own and how you see his eyes light up when he figures out how to write another letter, and nothing in the world fills my heart like the words "I love you to the moon and back 1101002001 times mommy"

Everyday I'm thankful for my children, but today especially I'm thankful to Sam to teach me how to love, how to appreciate, and how to give myself so selflessly to someone.

Just another thankful thursday :)

Motivational Monday :)

"I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure- Try to Please everybody."

Herbert Bayard Swope

You know, I have no idea who Herbert Bayard Swope is, but I'm guessing he was a dance studio owner to have come up with that profound quote :) 

Honestly, this quote is something I wish could be something that was easy to live by.  Most people are natural "pleasers".  We try so hard to keep everyone happy that we often end up making everyone upset... especially ourselves.  We live by a rule in this business... please the greatest amount of people in the long run.  That last little part is most important because if you're only looking at pleasing them for the moment you're work will never be done.  It's not an easy quote to live by, but if you can get a grip on it it makes your life a lot easier to live.

Happy Monday friends...

Thankful Thursday

Last week's Thankful post is tied to this week too...

Katie and I riding Space Mountain in DISNEY :)

You see I've never known my parents without my sister.  She is only 13 months older then I am and I've been told that when I was born, Katie was sitting at home on her play phone talking to me about how I was her best friend... she was one smart 13 month old :)

I was due on her birthday, December 27th... I was born on January 21st.  I decided that we were so special we not only deserved our own day, but our own month.  I wanted to be good and sure we never had to share birthdays :)  Other then a birthday, we don't have many things we don't share.  We grew up dancing together, only one year apart in school, sharing friends, clothes, we cheered together, we even went to college together.  We were so close we even became college roommates.  Until my honeymoon when I was 21 years old, we'd never been away from each other more then 5 days.  Katie was crucial in my relationship with Rob, she is the god-mother of my first born, and she is still my best friend.

Katie and Maicey at her wedding rehearsal, June 4, 2010

Katie's personality is much more laid back then mine... she tends not to get upset easily (unless you mess up her organized drawer, lose the cap to her favorite pen, or rip a piece of paper out of her notebook without getting all the "frillies" out too), she gets things done in her own timeframe (makes me crazy), and she takes time for the important things in life way more then I do.  I'm really trying to act more like her in that aspect of her world.  She is a school teacher and the way she talks to her students could make me laugh for hours.  She also still teaches at the studio with me, and is a vital asset to our team here.  The best job she has though is co-coaching our high school dance team, Platinum.  Each year we find great comfort in knowing we'll be going to camp together in the summer, state in December, and Disneyworld in February.  It's "our" time without kids and husbands to get in the way of our "reconnect" time.  On the other 355 days of the year however, it's all about our families... we spend a ton of time with our husbands and children playing and laughing all together around a bonfire, mom's pool, or at my house over a few glasses of wine. 

So on this Thankful Thursday I'm so thankful for my sister.  We lead our own lifes, and we're so different from each other... it's just that together we're better people.