being a dance mom is exhausting

Do you watch "Dance Moms" on Lifetime? I do, you don't have to tell me how badly it represents the whole competitive dance community. It is so trashy sometimes. I know a lot of people do and they say, "how can you watch that train wreck?" The sad part is, those moms exist. I have written about them before and I won't do it again, just trust me, they're out there and they are way scarier than any teacher who might be screaming at your child during tap rehearsal!

Saturday was Zoe's first competition. We spent the whole day dancing, changing costumes, applying makeup, hiding to nurse a baby, oh that was just me! Is it me or do I look like a linebacker in this new shirt? I only got it to make Zoe happy. She loves the whole competition thing, from start to finish and I knew she'd think this shirt was so super keen. She did and then she said, "when are you going to get a matching jacket?" That girl is such a diva.

I had Big Tall Hubby take this picture. It is cracking me up. I was holding Asher and then I said, "take one of me and Zoe" and then Asher just slowly peeked his head around Zoe like "you-hoo! I'm right here!" Poor fourth child.

Please ignore again, my growing out hair, it is a disaster. I am just pretending that it doesn't look so terrible by not looking in a mirror all day. Seems to work ok. Until I have to put on lipstick.

Zoe loves the whole dressing up part of dance. I do too except I wish we could get away from all the nutjob moms who are mean to their daughters or stressed out and then stress out my child.

Isn't she a beaut?

I love slicked buns. So dancer-y. Yep, just made that one up.

The suit costume is for her tap routine: "Working Day and Night" by Michael Jackson, they scored a "high silver" which is weird because I thought they rocked it out. Totally.

Here she is all ready for jazz. This is the first time she has ever got to wear her hair totally down to dance. The girls love it. They think they are so "it."

This song is "Blame it on the Boogie" by Michael Jackson. (We are paying tribute to him this year at our studio- the big girls are doing a bunch of his songs.)

I miss those days of big fluffy tutus and feathery costumes. I love the ones they have for this year but they just look so grown up.

Their jazz routine received a "gold" ranking and second place overall. Pretty good for their first time. It's a good thing I'm not a judge, like I said, I thought their tap was a stronger performance. I think the judges just liked the go go boots. Hee hee!

There was a lot of drama during the day. Maybe I should contact Lifetime for a Dance Moms Cincinnati franchise? It is so sad to see how the moms of the sweetest girls turn into the biggest lunatics on the planet for competition day. I try to avoid them and of course Zoe is always "mom, can we go sit with ____ and watch" or whatever. It helps to have a baby to tend to all day, it's a good excuse to stay out of the looney's ways. The best part was watching my girl dance. She shines up there. It makes all the craziness worth it, especially the long hours.

This is a backdrop the kids can stand in front of. The competition people are big sticks in the mud, doo doo heads, and they won't let us take pictures of the kids on stage during the performances. You have to buy the professional ones. I do sometimes but they are costly. I like having the action shots better than these posed ones. I have some really cute ones of her team but I felt kind of weird posting other people's kids on here.

This week I plan on recovering from our marathon day Saturday. Asher and I both came home sick on Saturday and I think it is going to take us the whole week to get well. We also had two house showings this weekend, grr so I don't have much on my "to do" list this week.

my things to do this week:

• recover
• get well
• find all the things we stashed away for the last minute showings
• get out taxes ready to drop off
• take Asher and Tanner for their pictures, had to reschedule from last week
• avoid all the drama mamas at dance, I need a vacation from those crazies

my menus this week:

• soup, lots and lots of soup
• I also plan to make homemade poptarts
• Zoe wants to make lemon cookies too, I hope we can find the time
• probably spaghetti
• probably some kind of chicken in the oven

I did not make a menu this week. I really don't feel like eating. My poor family.

Have a great week.