It's A Wrap!

Friday was Katharine's last day of the five week Texas Ballet Theater senior summer intensive. The day was dedicated to one technique class followed by two two hour shows of most of the dances the students learned over  the course of five weeks. Besides ballet technique they had class in repertory, variations, pointe (which is separate from technique), Broadway, jazz,  modern, character, latin, pilates and musical theater. Besides that, Katharine also enjoyed a field trip to the Fort Worth Stockyards, a pool party and an afternoon at Burgers Lake with many of the dance students.

I didn't take many photos this year, and Katharine didn't, either.

 At the end of the day, Katharine still had enough energy to take a few pictures in the backyard.

 Many times, a stop at Smoothie King was necessary to refuel after a long day of dance. Their principal and our fellow car pool driver Ms. Lyndette never failed  to ask the girls where they wanted to go before driving home. This picture shows Katharine with her friend Lauren. 

 Afternoon at the lake.

 I zoomed  in on this group shot. Katharine is standing in front of her principal's daughter Shaye, who just go accepted into the professional division of Texas Ballet  Theater, the next step closer to being in the company. Katharine really looks up to this wonderful young lady.

 All students, teachers and artistic director Ben Stevenson at the end of the second show.

group picture of the green level with their Broadway teacher, fabulous Melanie Hodges-Malone

Pierced

Last month Keira finally got her ears pierced.

This was inevitable- out of all our kids she loves wearing jewelry the most.

The studs stay in until the end of the year, so I expect Santa to be bringing on some bling.

Braided

Kassidy's hair is usually too short to do anything with, but Iria managed to work some braids into the back.

She was so happy with it.

180

We counted up Kassidy's cars tonight.. at least the ones that we could find :)

The Good Life

Bored? Build a Board Game

The kids were complaining about being bored today, so I suggested that they each create a board game that we could play.

Lukas's game is called "Dragon Hunter". It has lots of monsters and traps. Keira helped out with the rules for the treasure chest while we were playing.

Keira's game is called "Dog Walk", which came with a rule book (of course) and 10 miniature dog playing pieces, each a different color.

Kassidy's game had something to do with buying ice cream and bringing it back home.

261

I was in the car yesterday, and Lennon claims that he has had 261 assists since he moved to the midfield position last year- which includes games/practices/camp/backyard play/and any other time that he has played soccer.

With any other kid I would call BS, but Lennon is just quirky enough to keep a tally of such a thing.

Morning Rush Hour

While Katharine is out photographing, the other four have been playing these elaborate car games as of late- with a literal cast of hundred.

Kassidy has a lot of cars!

Mornings through the Mesh

This is a familiar sight that I have when waking up in the mornings- looking through the window and seeing Katharine working on her doll photography.

Click the link for her instagram account and "follow" her if you want- teenagers love when that happens :)

Dollywood

Lounge Chair

Sherman likes to lay back and get his belly rubbed by the ladies (and then men, I'll admit).

X-Kids, Part 2

Clearly, Keira has discovered some crazy photo filter on our phones.

Tea with Katharine (and a few folks who didn't want to be photographed)

Here are a few more pics from the Seattle trip as I catch up on the blog.

We all had afternoon tea (except for me, because I don't like tea) at some fancy schmancy hotel. 

Their lunch menu was great as well!

Parting Shot

Katharine and I visited my parents in Seattle last month, hosted by my brother Craig.

I didn't get many pictures during the trip, but I managed to coax a selfie out of everyone before we boarded our planes.

Fox and Friend

Here is a pic of Lennon and Fox at the game last Monday.

Fox was already showing a bit of sun from Day 1 at Barca camp, but that didn't stop the posin'

Barca Camp

Lennon attended Barcelona camp this week with his friends Preston, Fox, and Drew (from Andromeda soccer).

Each day's session was 6 hours long, but if you think they got tired the four of them were apparently still playing soccer at 10 PM on Friday night when they slept over Fox's house.

Here is a pic from right before they started:

And here is one after the closing ceremony:

Lennon had a great time, except for the part where he had to roll down his socks and tuck in his shirt to conform to the school's uniform policy :)

Kids Day At The Peacock

Today we were invited to a show at the Peacock Theatre, which is located inside (!) the house of Randy Pitchford, the president of Gearbox Software. Yeah, its a BIG house.

And there was also big talent. 

The first act featured a troupe of clowns and acrobats named the Circus Freaks.

The second act featured Scott Land, a marionette performer who works in Vegas (and had just performed at Dick Van Dyke's 90th birthday party),

The kids had a blast, and it was such a great opportunity to experience this kind of artistry.

Take a bow!