Confessions of a Blogaholic

Part II of "My life through my iPhone.                    Saturday was the Marcos De Niza Homecoming!  Kassie and Aaron had a blast!  I was able to finish Kassie's ballroom shoes on Sunday. It was spirit week for Corona del Sol and on Monday it was TV character day.  She dressed as Blaire Waldorf from Gossip Girl.  Corona had a bon fire on Thursday, and the Pommies performed a hip hop routine.  Here is a picture I stole from Instagram. On Saturday evening, the kids decided to carve pumpkins.  Here is Nachito and Chanel getting ready to carve. Kassie and her friend Amanda did some carving too!  These may not be great posts, but it's a start. 

Here I the first post of "My life through my iPhone". I will publish a week of iPhone pictures. It will at least record important, and maybe not so important things in my life. It's a small start, but at least it's a start. Kassie was asked to Marcos De Niza's Homecoming.  I took a snap shot of her dress from the site I ordered it from.  She picked purple.    The Homecoming dance has a masquerade theme.  These are the masks that I made for her and her date.  I took a picture of them so that I could text it to her dates mom. I was asked by the Mountain Pointe Spiritline's captain to make her team pink breast cancer awareness cheer bows.  I made the rhinestone ribbon too!  I forgot to take a picture of them, so I found a picture of one on Instagram.  So....I took a screen shot.  Kassie has a ballroom competition coming up in November.  Her instructor told me that I had to rhinestone her heels.  So, I did...

I can not believe that is has been more than a year since my last post.  It really is amazing how time fly's.  So many events that have not been documented.  Life has been super crazy lately, and it feels almost impossible to post to my blog.  I find it sad, because as I was going through my blog, there are so many memories that I have by reading it.  That was the whole point of starting a blog.  I think of all of the things that I missed, and how in a few years, I may not remember them at all.  Had I been posting to the blog, they would be there for me to reminisce.  I can't promise myself that I will start blogging daily again.  I can say that it is my goal to at least add a weekly post.  I was going through some blogs on my reading list, and one of the blogs I follow had a great idea.  A weekly post called "Through the eyes of my iPhone."  I am going to copy her, and do something similar.  It should be fun, I am super...

Back in August when Kai started talking about her 8 th grade formal, I could never have imagined what a big deal it was going to be. Then January came and the talk of dresses and shoes started. I noticed that her friends were having the same conversations on FB . She would look through websites and magazines. She went back and forth on dresses, but one Sunday she found the dress of her dreams. My friend was with us, and she convinced her to try it on. She did, and she fell in love. I had already ordered her the dress she thought was the one. So I did not let her buy it. She talked to Buddy about it, and he thought about it. Then my friend called Buddy and convinced him that she had to have the dress. Kai in the mean time had started to gather yard sale items from her room and around the house. She asked Buddy to help her with a yard sale so that she could use the money to buy this dress. The following week, I went and bought the dress. I came home and hid it in an old su...

Buddy will be celebrating the BIG 40 this year! At first I was not going to plan a BIG celebration because it would be a month before Kai's BIG day. Well, now that things have changed, I decided that he deserves a BIG celebration for the BIG day. It was initially going to be a BIG surprise party, but I have a teenage daughter that couldn't keep her BIG mouth shut. She overheard me and a friend discussing some details, and she told Buddy. A few months ago, I was reading one of my favorite entertainment blogs. Hostess with the Mostess and she had the best vow renewal theme. It was the theme from the movie The Hangover. I immediately decided on that theme. That is our ultimate favorite movie. We can watch it every single day. Buddy and I don't ever like the same movies, and I mean ever. For some reason, this movie we both like. I made Save The Date cards that I will be sending out through e-mail and FB messages. His party is in August, but I am hoping that a lot of our frien...

I created a widget to countdown the day until Kai's Quinceañera on my sidebar. I haven't had the heart to take it down yet. Just like I haven't had the heart to cancel the church, the reception site, the 14 person live band and 8 person mariachi. I haven't even canceled the block of rooms that are saved at the hotel yet either. Maybe I'm hoping for a miracle, but it's not looking very good for us. After all of the debating about whether to make her a Quinceañera, she finally agreed to let us plan her one. She knew how much my mom wanted her to have one. Then there was the decision to make. Phoenix, or Douglas? Buddy wanted it in Phoenix, I wanted it in Douglas. Obviously our families wanted it in Douglas. So, we finally agreed. It would be in Douglas, at the church that we were married at, and the reception at the Douglas Country Club. In September, I made a special trip to Douglas to sign the contract for both the church and the Country Club. My sister and I sp...

Not so much of a Blogaholic. I almost feel the need to change the name of my poor little blog. It has sat here deserted with no updates and no pictures. I think about it everyday, yet I can't seem to find the time to come back to it. My intention for my blog was to document so much of our days and lives. And yet, I have let months go by without one little entry. There is no way my mind can remember everything that has happened since my last post. So much missed. The majority of Kai's 8th grade year, and the majority of Nachito's 5th grade year. Not to mention how many holidays and important events I have missed. Trips and of course Birthday parties. Somehow I need to find the time to record these events, and even if I have to back date them, I will document them at some point. This week is a tough school week for the kids. AIMS testing for both of them. Today they both felt very good about how they did. Nothing much has changed in Kai's world. She still dances, still c...

Kai ready to board the Subway going to China Town to look for hair accessories. Kai and Kolton taking a Pedi Cab on our way to explore the YMCA. She wanted to see where she would be staying a few weeks later. Kai, Maya and Kolton in Times Square Kai, Ariana and Tatum in front of the biggest Forever 21. I had a headache just from walking around this place. It was crazy.....four floors of clothes.

Kai competed her new solo in the morning, and then she was free for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We took a walk to Central Park again, and just relaxed. In the evening, we went to the Top of the Rock and enjoyed the view. The best was to see the Empire State Building lit up with Red, White and Blue. It was gorgeous. On the fourth of July, the girls all had to compete. All of their group numbers were on this day. We were done early, and we went to dinner and then walked over to the Hudson River to see the fireworks.

In New York, there is never any down time. When these girls are not busy dancing, they want to go shopping. This particular day was no exception. The girls wanted to go to H & M. We decided to walk there. Big mistake, HUGE. It was so hot on this day. New York was having record heat, and it was pretty miserable. After shopping for a while, we decided to head back, and to our surprise, we could not find a Taxi driver that would take us ALL back to the hotel. NYC has a maximum rider limit and we exceeded it. They can only take four people at a time, and their were six of us. Finally one of them took pity on us and took us to the hotel, but asked the girls to duck their heads if they saw a member of the NYPD . It was pretty funny, because of the holiday, they were almost at every corner.

This was quite possibly the happiest day of the whole trip. It was the night of the Mini/Junior Gala. For the first time in TDA history, they earned four spots in the Galas. Money, Money in the Mini division, Steam Heat in the Junior division, Can Your Hear What I Say in the Teen division, and The Fight in the Senior division. In the past, they have earned up to three spots, but all four was amazing. When we get to NYC, all the studios re-compete numbers that they have competed at Regionals. Each division has easily over 100 numbers. The judges pick the top five numbers in each division. On Gala nights, the five numbers go head to head and compete for the top prize. The top prize is called Critics Choice winner. When we went to Nationals in 2007, TDA had two numbers that made the Gala. Kai was in one of those numbers. Although they did not win, it was still an honor to have made the top five, and had a chance to dance in the Gala. When we went back last year, TDA had three...

This was our last and final day in NYC. The last day is always bitter sweet for us. Both Kai and I LOVE NY and it's very hard to leave. Kai, however wasn't to sad. She knew that she would be back in a few weeks. We started out our day early and headed to Soho for a day of school shopping. Both Tatum and Kai managed to do some damage in a few Soho stores. On our way to go shopping!!! Kai at her favorite store in Soho, TopShop! This was also the day for the Teen/Senior Gala. It was such an exciting night. We had Vicki in the top three for Teen Outstanding Dancer, and Cory in the top three for Senior Outstanding Dancer. Vicki danced beautifully, it was truly breathtaking. She ended up 1st runner-up. Cory also dance amazing and he won the title of Senior Outstanding dancer. It was another great night for TDA. We went out to celebrate, and the only restaurant we could find open was La Famiglia Pizza. We filled it up pretty fast. Danni, Mary, Maya and Kai celebrating M...

Every year the kids at TDA get ready for their annual dance recital. This year was no different. On top of getting numbers ready for competition, they also learn some recital pieces. This years recital was a lot of fun. All the kids did an amazing job. Tatum, Mary and Kai on their way to Chandler Center for the Arts they just might like the camera.... just maybe. Kai and Miss Fabiana Kai and Tatum getting ready for the show Kai and friends