Another video... 2006 Nutcracker on Ice Solo

Well my last post's video was a hard act to follow. But check this one out....


This is the video from our last Nutcracker on Ice. Lexie was the clown doll. She was adorable. I bought the doll dress. Lexie didn't particularly like what they had in wardrobe. And when I saw this dress - I knew she had to wear it. Everyone said it was the best clown doll dress they had ever seen. Hopefully whoever plays the clown doll this year will be able to fit it. I painted her face, the same way I had painted her face when she was a clown for Halloween in 2001. With hearts on her cheeks and blue tear drops down her cheeks. Did I say she was adorable yet? Anyway check out my old videos. Still no videos of my skating. But I promise to share videos of my skating if the show goes on this year.

I Got My DVD!!!!! 2008 State Games

Pre-Pre Test Track Freestyle event Champion!!!!

I want my DVD

It has been almost 3 whole weeks and still no dvd from State Games. I keep checking my mailbox everyday.. nada. It is all I can do to not send email to complain. I know the order form said allow 2-4 weeks for delivery. I just didn't think it was really going to take four weeks to get here:( Remind me not to order anything again that needs a month delivery time.
Argh.

While I wait for my dvd I'm going to be sharing some thoughts about some skating related movies. When I started this blog I mentioned something about reviewing some movies and telling what I think. I think I'll start with Blades of Glory. What a funny movie. Quite vulgar though. I wouldn't (if I were you) let my pre-teen watch it. But I'm not -you that is- and I already did. I had no idea. She watched it with me the first time I saw it. As we tend to watch movies together unless they are scary movies - then I wait until she is in bed. Anywho nobody reviewed it first and told me it was inappropriate for children. I've been seeing a lot of Blades of Glory popping up lately. Pictures from the movie made their way onto the calendars at our rink. The movie was shown at the skating camp an online friend's children are attending.
You ever notice how in skating movies nobody ever does anything in their programs (just fluff)? Like for instance Chazz Michael Michaels did 2 jumps in his program one of which was a split jump which my daughter's coach tells me doesn't even rate any points under IJS. And he did 3 spins. Everything else was just skating around doing nothing. I don't know about you (or your kids) but my daughters' programs are and have always been packed full of stuff. Her last years program had 2 solo jumps and 3 jump combinations. Seriously. Also what about the short/long programs in this movie. Hello everybody at the senior level has to skate 2 events. And dance has to skate 3 events. And we all know thanks to Johnny Weir that you can't tie in figure skating at the senior level. And even if you did tie (like in lower levels of figure skating) if there were 2 first places the next place would be third. And senior mens doesn't allow vocals in music. Vocal music is only allowed in dance. Unless it is a showcase. Which was more what Jimmy & Chazz did. But that wouldn't get you a gold medal at the Olympics. Okay - yeah I have fun picking out the mistakes in movies. There are a lot in this one.
Just don't expect it to be remotely accurate to figure skating. Take it for what its worth as just a funny movie. And don't let your kids watch it. Lest they embarrass you doing the Chazz Michael Michaels dance in public.

I drew a pattern

Now to get back to something skating related. Last week I drew a pattern. I actually watched Lexie skate something and sketched it out on a piece of paper. Waltz eights has been one of those things that she hasn't worked on a whole lot. She skated it to pass Freeskate 3 a little over a year ago. And she skated it some during a few times where we had planned to have her test Pre-Pre moves finally. At this point she is planning to take the test in August. She was going to take the test in May but I had to cut back the lessons due to some unexpected financial issues. At any rate, lest anyone think shouldn't she have already learned a waltz eight. And shouldn't I actually have a real diagram somewhere for reference? Without me having to try and draw something myself? I swear patterns make absolutely no sense to me. I think I kind of have the idea behind some dance patterns like dutch waltz and cha cha but only because I've seen them skated enough that I can begin to relate to a bunch of lines on a piece of paper. But I certainly don't think I could look at a bunch of lines on a piece of paper and transfer that to ice. So for me to see something skated on the ice and think I could translate it to paper from my head is huge. I was very proud of myself - even if it wasn't a whole bunch of complicated lines.
So here is my attempt....

And guess what Lexie was correct - I did not get it exactly right. And then I found an actual diagram online.

Oh well, I'm still proud. A pattern almost made since to me. I think I'll stick to knowing my jumps and spins and let the coaches handle helping her learn the patterns. **sigh**

Baby pictures...

The reason why I hadn't gotten around to sharing any baby pictures is because I wanted to give Lexie's winning State Games and the big hair cut some time to be center stage on the blog. But in honor of my other baby graduating high school this weekend I thought I'd share this one...And give some kudos to Matt. Of all my nieces and nephews I've always been closest to Matt. He is my favourite brother's oldest child after all. My brother and I were always close as kids and even after he moved out we still remained so. When Matt was born it was liking having my own baby. I babysat him every single weekend from when he was born until I went away to college. My brother and I used to negotiate days for whose turn it was to watch him on Friday or Saturday night and alternate which nights we got to out on dates. If I babysat on Saturday night for my brother and sil to go out then they watched him on Friday for me. For five years it was like the child had 3 parents. Of all my nieces and nephews I think he is the most like me. Maybe it is because we have the same Chinese zodiac if you believe in things like that. While not all the snake attributes apply (I'm certainly not rich or lucky with money) I do find that most fit me pretty well.

It really is a great feeling to have a little kid look up to and admire you:) Here's a secret that Matt doesn't know. When I graduated from high school I got a certificate for perfect attendance in High School. My brother and sister-in-law told him when he started kindergarten that if he had perfect attendance all through school that when he graduated he would get a certificate like the one that Aunt Renee got. (Note I got mine for high school 10-12th grades). Matt had perfect attendance from Kindergarten through twelfth grade. That's a LOT of days of school. And he isn't getting his certificate now because they said he missed a day in first grade:( I don't guess there is anyway to prove that he didn't... unless my brother and sil had kept all his report cards. Which I'm pretty sure they didn't. He was always so proud of his perfect attendance and never missed a day even if he was sick. I never had the heart to tell him that my certificate was only for high school. Anyway, great big kudos for perfect attendance and graduation.


****UPDATE 06/14/08*****
Matt got his plaque for K-12 perfect attendance today. It just took my brother having a little talk with the superintendent. As you can imagine we were all so proud of him.

And now for some more baby pictures....

The Hair Cut

So Lexie and I have been talking about this day for a long time. Probably the seed was planted when I cut my hair for Locks of Love. I absolutely despise long hair. Letting my hair grow out 10 whole inches was about one of the hardest things I've done. But because I did I was able to give my hair to someone who didn't have any. That was a while ago and we've been talking about what I did and why. My niece gave Locks of Love shortly after I did. And then Oprah did a show on Beautiful Lengths a few months ago. Lexie and I talked about the differences. For those of you who don't know Locks of Love gives hair to children who don't have any because of a disease that they have such as alopecia. Beautiful Lengths supports real hair wigs given by American Cancer Society to women with Cancer. And both are wonderful causes to support with your gift. Locks of Love now requires a minimum of 10 inches. Beautiful Lengths accepts donations of 8 or more inches. There are various other differences in their policies for hair acceptance. Lexie's hair was a little layered. And while it reached 10 inches tip to tip at the longest area most of her hair was probably only 8 inches and not usable by Locks of Love.

She probably would've had to cut her hair another 2 inches shorter to give a workable donation to Locks of Love. As Lexie's hair has gotten longer and longer it had become more difficult to manage. We were both getting frustrated with the tangles and combing it several times a day to manage all the knots. So we decided that we would set a date of cutting it after State Games. And it was every bit as hard to wait to cut Lexie's hair as it was for me waiting to cut mine.

I never pressured her into this decision. It was a choice she made on her own. She is so proud. As should all the children, the women and the men who give their gifts of hair to either of these wonderful causes.

See posts below for some pictures of the competition.. and I'll be posting video in the next few weeks.