Jamie's 60's Themed B-Day Party

Jamie's 30th B-Day Party

Sept. 19th we celebrated my high school friend's b-day. For those of you who know her, Jamie (Vandenboom) Givens has turned the big 3-0. Her hubby threw her a 60's themed surprise party. We had a great time experiencing an era we never had before :0 We all got dressed up. Christian was of course going around and flirting with all the ladies. I mean, he did look nice, so who could blame him?! Jacob set up a "photo booth" where we could take pictures. Here are a couple from the party. I will upload more when I get them.

Christian's Birthday

Christian's 2!

Well, the little boy is 2 now. It wasn't quite the extravaganza as last year's party at the park. Without family and friends around, it would have been a small celebration. We decorated his door with streamers like my mom used to do for me every birthday. There was something so special waking up to a streamered doorway. Probably cause my birthday was in the summer and I never got my locker decorated, it was like my at-home locker :) He seemed to love them and kept running back and forth through them.

We served him toaster strudels with two candles for breakfast then we all went on with our day. Chris and I had work and he had preschool. That night we got his new favorite food, cheeseburgers, for dinner and presented him with what we thought would be the favorite gift of the year...a new basketball hoop. He LOVED it!

A couple days later a present from Papa and Grandma Passaglia arrived at Wal-mart and I went to go get it. Our present was trumped. They got him a table that had a car track in it. This kid is obsessed with cars. Every day all he does is play with his cars. Papa and Grandma won the present of the year this year, but I'm deteremined to win next years ;0 j/k

Here are a couple picks from that morning. I will try to upload more when I have them accessable.

Christian's School Newsletter - Sept.

Groovaloos!

Last Friday Chris was invited to a dance production with Johan. It was so weird how it happened. Early that day I was driving to Genevieve's school (as I thought about going back, but not a resident yet - too expensive). As we were driving we passed a theater that said "Groovaloos." Now, I've been following the Groovaloos for awhile now. In fact, last time I lived here I looked into taking a workshop with them, but never did. Johan has a friend that is in the group, who funny enough is actually married to a girl Vieve and I used to dance with at Oasis church. Chris called me after the show and said - "I'm buying you and Vieve tickets. You guys have to see this!"

So - that's what he did. Sunday the fam went to Oasis for church, which is so comforting to be back at, then Vieve and I headed to the theatre to watch the show put on by the Groovaloos. OMG! I don't think I can ever express to you how AMAZING this show was. Chills - tears - screams - way too many emotions in 2 hours for me to process. It was so inspiring, Vieve and I left like "why are we giving up on our love for dance?!" I'm still having a hard time processing everything it meant to me. I HIGHLY recommend it. They are heading to NY next, then doing a tour, so please check out the website and see if you can make a show: http://www.groovaloos.com/
The main thing that I think I left with was - if you love it, it doesn't matter what you look like, it's that you're doing what you love. I think as dancers we are so critical of ourselves and other people that we forget sometimes to just let go and enjoy the fact that we can move and that a passion to move was birthed in us. There are a couple dance options coming down the line that I'm looking in to. 1) Oasis is having auditions in October for their dance ministry - maybe 2) Genevieve is choreographing for a student showcase that I could audition for - maybe 3) There are 10,000 dance studios in the area that I could take class at - maybe 4) I could go back to school for dance - probably not, but maybe

So - there you have it - the maybes are back on the table. I'm so glad I have options again, now I just have to get off my butt and do something!