Our Little Dancing Queen

"You can dance.  You can jive, having the time of your life.  Ooh, see that girl, watch that scene, diggin the dancing scene."  Ok, now for the group therapy session, sing it out loud, who has the best melody, who knows the song?  Why, yes, I've got a diverse bag of tricks.  And no, tricks are not just for kids. 

As I composed the title for this blog, my mind drifted and I imagined Kaitlin dancing to this song with a big grin on her face having the time of her life.  I'll have to let her listen to it, not sure she has heard it.  Anyway, I so easily digress. 

To the point of blog.  On Monday, Oct 4th, we had gone out to dinner after soccer and were returning after dark.  I had met the rest of the gang at practice, thus we were in two cars.  As I made my way to the drive way, I noticed that Christine had positioned her van to shine the lights in the yard.  To my surprise, someone had put a sign in the yard.  My immediate thought was Christine had surprised me and put the house up for sell - LOL.  The sign read "Dancer of the Month."  Kaitlin has been named "Dancer of the Month" from her dance studio.  What a thrill and great accomplishment for her.  YAY for KK.  We immediately parked and went running out to the front yard.  Kaitlin was so excited and jumping around giggling.  We are so proud of her.  This is her 3rd year in dance and at times, she hasn't enjoyed it as much this year.  More structure, twice a week - she's on the beginning competition team.  To her credit, she has stuck with it and this was the shot that she needed.  Kaitlin loves to dance and dancing has been one of our fun activities many times in the evenings when dad returns from work. 

She didn't know what to say about the reward but was beaming from ear to ear.  She immediately had to call mawmaw and pawpaw / nana and pops.  It's so fun living through your kids!  Great job Kaitlin - we love you. 

The BIG KICK

Kaitlin and William have teamed together on this falls soccer team.  A 5-6 league with the same church league that they have played (New Hope).  To set the stage, this is his 3rd year of soccer.  Each year, he has gotten progressively better.  He loves getting out and running the field, he probably runs more than any of the other kids.  He is not very aggressive and can be passive at times, thus the long periods of running.  Many times, it's away from the ball.  To his credit, he's been working very hard and practicing his kicks.  We've spent a lot of time discussing a number of focus points that ultimately are great life lesson's:  Never give up, always do your best, stay positive and good things will happen. 

Tonights game - 4th quarter (maybe period in soccer - Daddy knows nothing about soccer).  William is on a 1 on 3 break away.  He dribbles the ball through 2 defenders, winds up and boom........  He SCORES, He Scores...  Straight down the middle, passes the goal tender and nothing but net.  The crowd (Mommy, KK, Madison, MawMaw, PawPaw and Daddy) erupts and go nuts.  William's first goal.  His reaction was priceless - he turned around to run back to mid field, teammates flanking him, giving him five.  Not much reaction from him - he was stunned and pleasantly surprised.  Finally, he looked over with a big grin on his face.  Priceless.  Must say, man, I'm lucky I had my sun glasses on.  My eyes filled with tears of pure joy for him.  A big moment in our little man's life.  You could instantly see the new found confidence in him from the goal.  It will be interesting to see how the rest of the year goes.  And what a valuable lesson... His first words after the game to me were "All that practice that I did yesterday helped my kick."