Christmas recitals

On December 12th, Megyn and Ally had their Christmas recitals. They were both amazing!!

Megyn is really growing into a beautiful dancer. Her arm lines are so pretty and she smiles the whole time she is onstage. She is very graceful. This somewhat surprises me because at home Megyn is constantly tripping, falling down or hurting someone (by accident). I love to watch her dance though. Starting in January Megyn will begin the older level dance class where she will do some acting and singing as well. The summer recital will be fun to watch!

Ally continues to surprise me during the recitals. She is normally so reserved, but during recital time she is ready to go and steps out of her shell. She smiled the whole time and shook her hips like a professional!! Ally remembered a lot more of her dance this year and her timing was dead on! My niece Grace and Ally's good friends Sophia and Magdee were also in the recital and they all did so well!

Then for the finale, both girls danced with Jeremy. This is such a great part of the recital! The girls went to all of the practices with him and then they practiced more at home. The instructors love Jeremy because he is one of the only dads that truly knows what he is doing so they put him in front. Ha! Ha! I think he may have missed his calling!!

As for the me, I was backstage with my sister-in-law Ann and my good friend Annabelle. We stood on the side of the stage (crying) watching everyone and (crying some more) waiting for the chance for us girls to go and shake it on stage (ha, ha). Afterwards, we gave the girls flowers and went for a late dinner. The girls were lucky to have their whole family there to watch, including Abuelita (who turns 100 in February). I was so proud of both girls--I can't remember how many times I teared up!! Ok, enough about the recitals!!!

Halloween and Thanksgiving

It has been a while since I last blogged. For those of you that do not know, I was hospitalized for viral meningitis in October after returning from visiting Jeremy's family in Illinois. It has been a long recovery (4-6 weeks!), but I returned to the gym last week. It is a slow and humbling process to get back into shape after being sedentary for so long, but I am up for the challenge! Unfortunately, my doctor felt that it was too risky to compete in the triathlon on Thanksgiving so I pulled out. I did go, however, to support my two friends (Alisa and Susan) who did compete and were amazing! I am hoping to join them on the next one. Thank you again for all of the well wishes, cards, food, phone calls, texts, housecleaning and help over the last month and a half. I appreciate all of it more than you know!
Anyway, here are some pictures of the girls on Halloween and Thanksgiving. Megyn was Padme Amidala from Star Wars and Ally was a black kitty. Megyn loved being Padme and so did I since this is the first year that she wasn't a princess. I loved it! No curling of hair or itchy dresses!
Thanksgiving was at my dad's house this year so there are a few pictures of that. The only way I could get a nice picture was to promise them that they could be goofy in the next picture. Thank goodness for the digital age or I would have had a lot of prints to toss! Enjoy and I will send more updates soon! Hope all of you are well!

Megyn's First Triathlon

Allright. Here are some pictures of Megyn practicing for her first triathlon and the actual race day. She really improved her physical skills throughout the training. When she first did the run portion during practices, she ran too fast and ended up having to walk. On race day she paced herself and ended up running the whole distance! I should mention the distances for each portion--the run was 400m, bike 1 mile and swim 25m. Her bike to swim transition was the most amazing for me to watch! After biking for a mile (and already running) she got off her bike, stripped down and sprinted(!) to the pool. We were so proud of her! I almost lost my voice screaming for her! It was so much fun for her that she wants to do another one! She had a great time with friends and has inspired Ally to want to compete in it next year. The only part that was tough was that she had to wait two hours for her age division to go. It was pretty hot out and waiting made her feel really nervous. It was a great day and we enjoyed watching her give it her all. For those of you that do not know, I am also competing in my first triathlon on Thanksgiving Day. It is a sprint triathlon so it is considerably shorter than a normal one, but it will still be challenging for me. It will consist of a 2 mile run, 13 mile bike ride and a 400m swim (in November--what was I thinking). I am nervous but excited and will keep you posted. Until then, enjoy the pictures of Megyn and her friends. I will pass on any messages you leave for her.

Hi everyone!
I have decided to start a blog in order to make it easier for me to keep everyone in the loop. No more long emails (if I remember to even send them :)). Feel free to look around and leave messages. I will keep it updated as much as I can. For those of you that do not know, Megyn competed in her first triathlon this past weekend! We are so proud of her! I am going to post pictures and comments soon! Hope all of you are well!
Stacy