The Times Dispatch Blogs

My girls are now six and two and a half. They are both in dance class. They love it. Shelby started last fall, and after watching Shelby in class and doing some of her dances, Alison started this spring.

With my husband and me never being ones to be in front of big crowds, we were a little worried how the whole recital thing would turn out. First, we had Shelby’s first recital in December. Would she go on stage, would she freeze or would she cry the whole way? She did great. She surprised me by actually smiling and doing her moves really well. She couldn’t wait to be on stage again.

Then Alison started lessons. Sometimes she would dance in class with her group and then other times she would be in her own little world and not do anything.

In June, we had both girls on stage. So I had to worry all over again. I was not worried at all about Shelby. I knew she would do as great as she did before and possibly even better since she had been there before. But what about the temperamental two-and-a-half-year-old who screams at the drop of a hat and who won’t do anything you want her to? How is she going to do? Will she get out there? Will she just stand there?

Well, of course, Shelby got out there and danced and smiled. Alison had to be coaxed a little at first, then she started shaking her stuff. She had the audience laughing with each great big twist that she did. She did great. In one dance she even had to stop and tell me as I stand backstage “Look, Mom, I’m dancing.” I gave her a great big hug after each dance and told her how proud I was of her.

They both are asking us when will it be time to go to dance class again. We tape the dance class and the recitals so they keep in practice. They love it. Thanks, Miss Amber.

--
Discuss this post at LawCo. Talk

The 2007 edition of Hooten’s Arkansas Football is out now. The magazine is loaded with lots of coverage of the Razorbacks and the SEC, as well as ASU and other Arkansas colleges, but Hooten’s is probably best known for its in-depth coverage of Arkansas high school football.

Of local interest, the Hoxie Mustangs were predicted to finish third in Conference 3A-3, behind Harrisburg and Corning. The conference was named as the second toughest in Class 3A.

Mustang running back Alex Ward was selected to the Sonic Class 3A Super Team.

The Walnut Ridge Bobcats were picked to finish fourth in Conference 2A-3. Bobcat quarterback Tyler Meadors was listed in the Unheralded Stars section for Class 2A.

Discuss this post at
LawCo Talk

Weather is an amazing thing and though you can hear story after story about how strange the weather can sometimes be, there is nothing quite like experiencing it.

Last Saturday night, June 28, my husband and I, along with our son, Conley, and Jason’s cousin, Leah, her husband, Billy, and his daughter, Hayle, were pulling into Portia to attend the carnival when the skies opened up.

We decided to head back to Walnut Ridge and get a bite to eat and see if the rain would let up when Jason’s phone rang. It was his brother, Anthony, calling to say that the roof had blown off our neighbor’s barn, where Jason, Anthony and our neighbors’ horses are kept.

This is where the strangeness of weather comes in. We pulled up to the barn and the entire south side of the roof was demolished. Whole sections of the roof had been lifted and dropped, one on top of a pickup truck.

Meanwhile, the empty blue barrels, lined up in the riding arena located directly behind the barn, were untouched. There was no damage to any of our homes or other property. Other than a few limbs down in the roads, which is a common occurrence in the mildest of storms, you wouldn’t even know a storm had been through except for the scattered debris that surrounded the barn.

My husband’s aunt recalled her mother telling a story about a storm that came through and took the roof off their house but left a teacup sitting on a fence in the yard. There is no doubt about it — weather is an amazing thing.

Discuss this post at LawCo. Talk