Dance Xplosion

Yesterday was a very longggg day of competition, but Kylie did a good job!  She was the first one on stage for the day with her solo and then after lunch she performed her duo with one of her favorite friends Maya.  When we got to award we were all surprised that the girls were given a special judges award!!  The judge said that they loved the number...that these two girls were totally in sync...never looked at each other so he knew they must practice a lot :)  In addition Kylie received an Extreme Gold & 8th place overall for her solo and Extreme Gold & 4th place overall for the duo.  They were happy as you can see below.  Now its shifted focus to recital, but still a lot of work before they go onto their first Nationals in July!!

Pioneer Valley Tournament

Noah and the team did really well again this past weekend.  Noah didn't participate in team fighting this time, but his team took 1st place again!!  For individual awards Noah took 1st in forms & 2nd in sparring.  It was close on the sparring...2 to 2 and his opponent landed a punch before Noah.  Really proud of our little man...here is the happy guy:

St Patty's Day, Races, Birthdays, Easter, etc....

Ok so I'm way behind as usual :)  Lets see what's happened over the last month...

Below is a shot of our crazy leprechauns all geared up for school:

The following weekend Kylie participated in her first race.  They were holding a 5K in town to raise awareness for distracted driving.  No...she didn't run a 5K, but she did participate in the Kids Run which is a mile around a lake in town.  Here are all the participants posing with Miss Connecticut Teen before the start:

She was able to run it in just over 7 mins!!!  I was shocked!  She came in 4th place and received her medal from one of the other beauty queens waiting at the finish for them:

She was mighty tired and not really wanting to entertain a picture:

 

There is another kids run next month that both the kids want to do so check back to see how they make out. 

Next....Kylie's birthday.  Here is the birthday girl all decked out in her chosen outfit:

She was so excited and had a lot of fun with all the family & friends that were able to make it.  The top item on her list this year were Lego Friends and she managed to get EVERY set.....speaking of which....she finally put the last one together with her brother yesterday.  We have a town!  Here are a few other shots from the day:

The following weeked we were partying again.  It was Cayden's 3rd birthday & Easter.  All we heard all morning on Saturday was...is it lunch time yet (because Noah knew we were going to Uncle Matt's around lunch time).  It's amazing how quick all these kids are growing.  Here are some pics from the party:

Birthday boy blowing out his candles

and whacking the pinata

MARIO!!!!

Little cousin lovin....awhhh!

Uncle Matt trying to keep up with Noah

How high is your jump split?

Kylie touching her feet to her head while jumping

After the party it was back to Joanne's to do some egg coloring with cousins and Aunt Tina & Joey handed out some goodies they made:

All edible...and it didn't last long :)

The next day was Easter.  The kids woke up at Gramma's to see what the Easter Bunny brought them then we got changed in the afternoon and headed to Nana Sicko's for Easter Feast (as Noah calls it):

Our little ham

Pretty girl :)

Noah's job - fill the bread basket

Kylie's special lamb made out of butter that she bought from church for dinner

Kylie's job - pouring the toast

Thanks for yummy dinner Nana Sicko

The cousins

The family

Eggs we colored in CT

Alrighty...I think that is basically up to date.  Soccer started this past weekend.  Noah has a tournament this coming weekend and Kylie has her first belt test the following Friday & a dance competition on Saturday...stay tuned!!

Mass Central Open

What a day yesterday.  We got up to the tournament early for some last min demo practice.  Noah was soooooooooo nervous, but in true fashion he absolutely rocked it when it was time.  The team as a whole did a great job and I'm sure will only improve as the year goes on.  They got 4th place in this tournament with only .05 seperating 2nd thru 4th place...talk about close!  When we got to the individual competitions there were 28 kids in Noah's division this time...insane!!!  They split the group in 1/2, but that still left him competing against 13 other kids.  He usually does pretty well, but this was by far the hardest competition he's had yet.  I'm so proud of him.  He was able to pull 3rd place on the forms.  For sparring he won his first match, but barely lost his second match which means he didn't place.  He was a little disappointed because he thought a couple of the points should have been his, but he was a great sport about it.  Here are a few pics from his form & him happily at home with his trophy :) (we'll try to get the demo loaded up to smugmug at some point this week).  Anyone that is able to make the tournament in town on June 2nd will be in for quite a show!!!  Highly recommend!!

Team Excel lined up for scoring

Scores for demo

Concentration on form

Kick during form

Happy boy home after long day

Dance Competition #2

So proud of our little girl.  After struggling with a pop-up stomach bug Friday she was still able to pull out one of her better performances on Saturday.  For both her duo & solo she received an Elite Gold!!  She also received an invitation to be part of the Elite Performance Dance Team at Nationals in July.  It's a great opportunity for her to work with choreographers and meet other girls her age...plus they get some "goodies" for participating as well...so we'll see what comes of that.  One more competition for this year in April and recital isn't too far down the road...how the time flies!!

Karate Belt Testing

What a night!  The kids worked extra hard at tonight's test, but it paid off.  Very proud of our tired, but happy 7 Gup Blue Belt!!!

Football Banquet

Last night Noah had his football banquet for last season.  His team was undefeated last year :o)  They ran a highlight reel with plays from last year for all the various groups and then handed out some gifts/awards to the kids.  Here is a picture from this morning with Noah wearing the shirt & shorts they gave him, plus an equipment bag & his trophy: