Happy Easter

 The Easter Bunny arrived at our house today!  The kids were up before Chadd and I, and for the first time ever they found all of their Easter Baskets and then came and got us.  This means that we did not get to capture the hunt on video, but oh well.  This years Easter festivities were all around kind of a flop.  We just ran out of time.  We went up north to the water park on Friday night.  We did Easter eggs on Saturday when we got home from Duluth.  I did last minute shopping for Easter baskets until 10pm last night and we never got the kids' pictures with the Easter Bunny.  But, the smiles on their faces this morning made up for any guilt that I was feeling about not keeping up with our normal traditions this year.  One thing I made sure to do was sift powdered sugar onto our cardboard mold of two huge bunny feet at our front door.  The kids always love to see that the Easter Bunny left his bunny prints behind.  This is a tradition that is easy to keep up with.  I always love going to church on Easter Sunday.  Unfortunately, we were not able to make it to church either this year.  We have had the stomach bug in our house and it has really taken a toll on all of us.  But, the kids and I talked about what today truly means...beyond the candy, baskets and eggs.  The importance of today is that Christ is risen!  I feel so glad that my children know the importance of Easter and why we celebrate this day. 

Sidebar: My camera lens has broken on my camera and I am stuck using my old Canon point and shoot.  It is not a horrible camera, but once you are used to the images you get from a DSLR camera nothing can compare.  I looked through my photos from today and was horrified to see that almost nothing is usable.  I took so many pictures that I thought were turning out great, only to find that they were all blurry.  Even though the images are not the greatest, you can still see that a great time was had by all.

 We had Easter lunch at my aunts house at noon.  It was a delicious meal, followed by amazing desserts and an Easter Egg Hunt.  My younger cousins stuffed and hid all of the eggs for the little kids(mine and my sisters)to find.  Avery, Bennett, Bria and Connor had such a great time!

I hope that you all had a very Happy Easter and were able to celebrate that Christ is risen indeed!

Honesty is the best policy...or is it?

I have been thinking about this topic for quite a while now.  Honestly, it is a very tricky subject.  What concerns me is that somehow I believe we have become a society in which honesty is no longer the best policy...for various reasons. That really scares me.  What have we become as a society when it is no longer "acceptable" to simply tell the truth?  What is it that prevents us from being honest in the first place?  Have we really become so comfortable with the lies that we tell ourselves that the truth seems simply too much to bear?

I will fully admit that in my younger years, I was not so honest.  I remember lying at age 5 to my parents when asked if I was the one who wrote on the wall.  I remember being untruthful in third grade when I stole someones pencil and got ratted out by the neighbor boy who saw me do it.  I remember lying to friends in junior high and high school and feeling the affects it can have on a friendship.  When I went off to college, I vowed to become a better person.  I knew that I had serious issues with being truthful and I wanted to change my life around so that I could be a more successful adult.  It was really my "new beginning."  I have worked extremely hard and I can honestly say that I am truthful 99% of the time.  There is still that 1% of gray area that I am not sure how to navigate based upon my life experience thus far.

I have learned that most people do not want to hear the truth...no matter how you give it to them.  I have been asked direct questions before, answered them truthfully and had a not so great reaction from the person who asked the question.  People don't always take honesty that well, and I admit that I can be defensive when I feel like the way something was said to me was rude...it is human nature.   I have worked on my delivery numerous times, but it just seems so frivolous as perception is reality and the other persons thoughts/feelings will ultimately determine "the way I said something."   It gets so frustrating to me.  Even when you are trying to do the right thing, you end up a villain because the other person was overly sensitive to the way you said something even though they are the one who asked in the first place.  I also believe that there is a fine line between honesty and rudeness and often times people mistake one for the other.  I guess it comes down to how you behave after the truth has been told and the defensiveness that may accompany it that counts.  Of course people are going to get defensive, no matter how you word something...but isn't it worth that uncomfortableness in the end?

I am raising three children.  How do I teach them anything appropriately when there are so many exceptions to rules.  My daughter recently told a friend that she did not like her haircut at all.  She said it without any malice, but I am betting that the other little girl had hurt feelings.  How do I go about teaching honesty when there always seems to be a consequence for telling the truth.  It seems backwards and it is.

Our kids are raised to believe in the Tooth fairy, the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and Leprechauns when in reality none of these things exist.  How can we expect to teach our kids about life and truth when they grow up being lied to?  For arguments sake,  I am only playing devils advocate here because these things are traditions in most people's family...but have you ever considered the message that we are sending?  This is the conversation I am sure I will one day have: "Mom, I heard that Santa Claus is not real.  Is that the truth?" "Well, what do you think honey?" "I think that you are Santa Claus and that he doesn't really exist." "You are right.  Daddy and I pretend to be Santa Claus each year because he doesn't really exist." "But, you told me he was real mommy!" "Yes, I know we told you that Santa Claus is real honey, but it is just something adults tell kids to make holidays more magical." "That is a lie mom."  "Yes, that is a lie." "Well, you told me that lies are bad!"  "Yes, I know lies are bad."  This conversation can go on and on and on.  Honesty is tricky!

Another subject that deals with honesty is the RSVP.  It never ceases to amaze me at the responses or should I say lack of responses I get when I send out a party invitation.  Once again, this is a perfect example of how backwards things are.  If I send you an invitation, I am not expecting you to come.  But, I do expect you to respond accordingly.  That is common courtesy and respect.  I witnessed this on my wedding invitations.  The response card was stamped!  All you had to do was fill out if you were coming or not and put it into the mailbox.  Simple.  I think so many people are afraid that they will offend the host with a "No" that they fail to respond or act as if they never got the invitation.  It floors me!  Why can't people just be honest?  Why are we so afraid at the way someone will take our response that common courtesy gets thrown right out the window?


I recently had to end a friendship because of a lack of honesty.  I had been friends with this person for over three years.  I believe that being honest in a friendship is so very important.  It saves you from resentment and hurt feelings, and it is what ultimately makes your relationships strong and prosperous.  Unfortuantely, not everyone shares the same ideology.  While it was a very tough decision for me to walk away, it is what was neccessary.  Her and I were never going to share the same thoughts and opinions especially when it comes to friendship because she wasn't willing to be honest with me.  You live and you learn.


Obviously, I am still working on all of this.  I don't think that there will ever be a time in my life when I am not striving to be better.  A better person, a better friend, a better wife, mother, sister, daughter...I feel like there is so much to learn and there is ALWAYS room for improvement.  I feel like this subject is definitely worth being addressed.  I want to be surrounded by people who can be honest with me and more importantly with themselves.  I want to raise children who know right from wrong, who can be honest without being hurtful and can respect themselves enough to know when someone or something is simply not worth the effort because relationships are sometimes not mutual.

Why are you not honest?  What is it that prevents you from feeling like you can tell the truth?  What are your reasons for not wanting to hear the truth?  Is lying an inherent trait or is it a learned behavior? Is it self preservation? Is it part of being human?  I am sure that everyone can answer these questions differently, and perhaps not answer them at all.  In any event, this subject has been on my mind and I would encourage you all to take a look at your lives and your current behaviors.  Do you believe that honesty is the best policy?  Are you being honest?

Dance dance!

This is my beautiful little baby comp dancer on the day of her very first competition.  This weekend was our first experience with competition.  Well, at least Avery's first experience with it.  I grew up dancing and vaguely remember what it is like to be a competitive dancer.  It was very interesting being on this side of things.  A dancing parent plays multiple roles and while it was an awesome experience, I will have to say that being a dancer is much more fun. 

The competition was called Hall of Fame and it was held at Roy Wilkins in downtown St. Paul.  It was a crazy maze inside the place with little to no direction on where to go.  It took me an entire day to figure out where the girls' dressing rooms were.  Each time that I had to go back up there I was confused.  Perhaps it is just me and my old age!  Avery did both her jazz and tap routine on Saturday.  Since we needed to be there two hours early (10am) and then stay until awards(4:30pm) I decided to leave the twins home along with Chadd and allow them to attend a birthday party that they had been invited to.  In hindsight, I am SO GLAD I did that.  We went up to the dressing room and got her into her jazz costume.  They are little Zebra's complete with a Mohawk made out of tulle.  It is an adorable costume, but terribly itchy for the girls.  It is a good thing that they were running early because we had a lot of little girls who were very unhappy wearing that costume.  Avery spent the majority of the weekend with her leg held up like that.  If you think I am exaggerating, think again.  It became a problem at dinner when she refused to sit in the booth and chose to stand in the aisle with her leg held up like that! 

Their next routine was their tap number.  They dance to "Ma, He's making Eyes at Me" and they wear little white dressed with a headpiece that looks like a veil.  It is an adorable number and Avery gets to do a solo with the little boy Austin.  That costume is thankfully less uncomfortable than the jazz costume so there were far fewer complaints.  They did a fabulous job and it was time to watch the show and wait until awards time. 

I think it is astonishing that the dance studio that used to win all first place awards when I was growing up is still the same studio who wins all the first place awards.  If you know dance in MN, you know the name of this studio.  They are absolutely amazing to watch. 

My mom, dad, sister, brother in law, nephew and best friend all came to cheer Avery(and Chadd)on.  A big thank you goes out to them for showing their love and support.  It means so much to us. 

The awards system is very complicated.  Their are four tiers.  Platinum, High Gold, Gold and Silver.  Then, within each category, you score a place.  It is very confusing at first, but by Sunday evening I think I had it down.  The judges score the dance and based upon your score you land in one of those four categories.  Then, you get ranked against all other dances within that category.  Our 5 year olds were the only 5 year olds in their category so they got first place and their score landed them in the High Gold category.  I was so proud of these little girls for dancing their hearts out and getting High Gold for their first competition.  Instead of ribbons(like I got as a kid)each girl gets a pin that said High Gold Hall of Fame dance competition.  Pretty neat if you ask me.  I have a bulletin board that we can display all of our pins on now. 

After dinner, Avery and I went back to watch some more dancing.  It was so much fun to relax and watch the show and the other dancers up on stage.  Saturday night proved to be a late one.  Thankfully we were not scheduled to dance until 2:50pm so I was able to let Avery sleep in a bit.  While I was getting her ready for day 2, I was able to let her watch the live stream and she got to see some of the older girls doing their solo routines.  You have got to love technology!

Avery and her friend Sophia in their cheer leading outfits for the dad/daughter line.  I sent Avery to the competition with Chadd and I was going to meet them later.  The girls all got their costumes there on Sunday morning.  When I showed up, they were dressed up and practicing in the hallway and I was so impressed with their darling costumes!  Once again, I had to tell Avery to put her leg down so that I could shoot this picture! ha!  She is crazy flexible but she needs a new pose!

Oh look!  A new pose!  Ha, ha!

This is Jenny and Avery.  Jenny is a senior at our studio this year and she has taught Avery along with Miss Heather.  Avery truly adores her as do all of the little girls.  She is such a great role model for the girls and we are so lucky to have her as our assistant teacher.

Chadd was all geared up and ready to go for their number, "Football Hero."  It is so awesome to watch 35 dads dance with their girls up on stage to show their love and support. 

I am so proud of my darling daughter and my husband.  It is an amazing thing to watch and I couldn't be happier with the studio we are at and the friends that we have made.  Go Studio 4!!!