ADC Fierce Season 3

Karrick had his dress rehearsal for his 3rd season of competitive dance at Wheaton Academy.. This year he has a duet and 3 group dances. The boy just comes alive while on stage. 

This dance mom is ready to hit it

Jade, such a phenomenal dancer....love to watch her.

 Would kill for those abs

And it's on to middle school

 I cant believe my little boy is heading to Middle School in the Fall. 

He was pretty emotional during the clapout. K-4 line the hallways while Pomp and Circumstance plays over the PA system. The 5 th graders parade through the halls while everyone claps. Once outside the kindergraten doors each 5th grader receives a balloon and they all release them together. All these kids that have been together since Kindergarten. Karrick is my only one to attend one school for k-5. He had such a great year, his confidence level has soared(I credit that to competitive dance) made great strides socially, was undefeated in chess club, blew through 8th grade math and moved onto Algebra.

My little mathematition scored a 270 on the Map Math test, 200 is average for a 5th grader. 270 is in the 98 % for a high school Sophomore. Karrick has the highest score in the history of his grammar school (that his teacher knows of)

Million dollar Smile

 Today Karrick got his braces off!!

At his orthodontists office they throw a little party for each kid when the braces cone off.

A bag of all the forbidden chewy sticky candy is all the rage. Since Karrick is such a rule Nazi it's an extra treat for him. He does not break the rules, so he hasn't had anything forbidden in 13 months

Luck would have it that Karrick has his 5th grade pictures next week

Our 9 days on the Jersey Shore

 We just spent 9 days on the Jersey Shore with 80 plus dancers and parents.

Karrick and I stayed in a quaint little motel across the street from the beach.

The week was spent hanging out with friends at the pool, beach, water park, amusement park and  arcades

Karrick danced a total of 4 times in 3 days, so we had a lot of vacation time.

They did great taking 1st place in 2 hip hop routines in their division and a 3rd place over-all.

"How We Do" was chosen to compete in the special Saturday battle rounds. They didn't place but it was a huge honor for these kids

ADC seems to have the largest group of boy dancers that I've seen so far. They work well together due to the family mentality and non-stop group outings throughout the year. They have become a tight group of kids and it's reflected on stage

My first year as a competitive dance mom have been great. We have a great group of moms that really care about all the kids

Karrick was chosen to receive the award for Showtime. They pick a dancer after the routine that they feel 'brought it" up on stage to accept the award. Well Karrick was thrilled to be chosen. It also meant he would be in charge of that trophy until it is safely turned over to the studio for display back in lombard. Needless to say the cute little blond boy dancer received a lot of attention going through the airport

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed my Dance mom role and cant wait to continue. 

Karrick just love dancing and has really come a long way this year 

Our retro motel played Casey Kasem countdown from the 70's. Brought me right back to summer's at  our local pool  40 years ago

  

Can you tell where I missed with the sunscreen?

 A private catered lunch on the pier

Such a Fun fun week!

TJ has a new hair style. Just when you thought he couldn't be any more good looking. Love the short cut. Im really over the longer hair. TJ had 2 auditions, one independent movie and 1 independent TV series. Both called for 18 and over. He was offered a smaller featured extra part in the movie (they called him to audition for the lead, a nerd but said he looked too cool) which we declined because it was a SAG project and 1 more SAG and he will be required to join the union at 3K. If he has to join SAG it has to be a worth it role financially. The TV series he is still waiting to hear. It's a gritty underworld crime series and Im not sure he is old enough. Still have hope...it's also a non-union role, so anything they would offer would be great!

I received a call today from TJ's agent, after 5 years they want him to be exclusive, so we will honor that. My guess is he is turning 18 and an entire new world of opportunity will open up for him. The magical age where you are an adult on the set, in addition to getting a lot of attention in the acting world and lets be honest he is freaking beautiful. They are his Mother Agency and signed him on 1st 5 years ago. He is with 2 other agencies but we will opt out

This past week was just a ton of fun. It totally felt like summer to me. Having a 5 day weekend helped. 

Karrick's best friend Ryan moved to Arizona 2 years ago and comes back to visit every year. Karrick could barely control his excitement. Ryan stays with us for 2 days and they pick up right where they left off. 

Karrick had a dress rehearsal for his Dance recital and Ryan came to watch and was able to see Karrick hip hop!

Karrick also had pictures for tech classes-recital. (non competition routines)

I took a bunch after out in the parking lot. Karrick is so happy when he is dancing. 

This summer for intensive he starts new classes: break dancing, funk tap and contemporary in addition to hip hop , turns and tumbling  

 Saturday was recital...I didn't take any pictures.

Sunday Karrick and I went with a dance mom and dance friends to the Lyric Opera to see

Flying Bach

It was fantastic! It is great for Karrick to see men (break) dancers. It's great to see the result of hard work and what you can achieve if you take the turns, contemporary and tumbling classes etc. I keep telling karrick "look at the big picture". He isn't a fan of tumbling because he totally lacks upper body strength.

In time I tell him

Fun fun week!

We leave for the Nationals Sat, just Karrick and I. We are heading to the Jersey Shore with his team for 9 days

My little man is looking pretty cute!