Getting busy

Typically, winter is a slower time of year for my family. There aren’t a lot of extracurricular activities going on, it’s cold so we are staying inside more and the holiday celebrations are behind us.

This year, however, we seem to be up and out a lot more often. For the first time, my youngest is on the dance competition team which has brought with it extra practices, rehearsals and this weekend, her first competition.

I have been prepping by getting all of her make up, costumes, accessories, “Secret Star” gifts, snacks and everything else needed to competition ready to go. I don’t like to be rushed and have the possibility of forgetting something, so planning way ahead of time is my comfort zone.

A couple of weekends ago she had dress rehearsal, which was a great time to practice the make up she would be wearing along with applying her fake eye lashes. I have had plenty of experience with fake eye lashes, I wore them when I was in competition. I even had glittery, rainbow colored lashes for one dance. Putting them on my daughter, however, was completely different and the perfectionist in me had to be beat back knowing that what was on her eyes was more than good enough. It may be been a battle and I did have to buy new glue, but we got there.

I was very nervous to watch her dance because I had not seen her perform with her group. She was adorable in all of her costumes and did a great job dancing. With a couple of weeks to brush up before the competition, I knew she would be ready to go.

My oldest daughter doesn’t have any new activities but did throw us a loop when she came down with a high fever for several days. Luckily, the first day school was canceled due to weather but she did have to miss her Valentine’s Day party and was stuck in bed for close to four days.

Some of the busyness I brought on myself when I volunteered to bring treats for each of the Valentine’s Day parties for my girls. Instead of going the easy route, I decided cookie pops in the shape of hearts that were arranged like a flower bouquet were the way to go. Thankfully, my mom stepped in and baked all of the cookies and I used our day off school to put the treat together. The girls did their part by decorating the cups the cookies would go in and shaking sprinkles on for decoration. They turned out great, all 120 cookies in 40 treats but next time I should take it a little easier (but I probably won’t!)

The other event currently taking over the house is craft show season. This year, the spring show at the Varied Industries building at the Iowa State Fair was pushed back a week to the first week in March. That worked out great for me since the first dance competition is the week before. But, like normal, I am sewing, gluing and crafting every spare second I have to get ready for the show.

I have a lot of new items this year, including two varieties of rompers and taco leggings, along with new Easter prints, and I am starting to get really excited for the season to start.

Sometimes it would be nice to just have downtown but I wouldn’t trade any of it. I know my calender is probably only going to get fuller but making memories with my family is more than worth it.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at jpierson@newtondailynews.com