Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We hope you all have a wonderful holiday remembering our Saviors birth! We leave for New Jersey early in the morning. We will try to post while we are there!

With lots of love,

Melanie, Brian, Stephanie, Taylor, Kerri and Maddie

HaPPy bIrTHdAy MAdIsoN!

Madison turned nine on the eleventh of December. It's so amazing that she is already that old, the baby of the family isn't that babyish ( or whatever) anymore. Madison, thank you for being the best youngest sister EVER! You are such a joy to be around. And we love to laugh and be silly with you. Even if someone does end up hurt! Ha ha! You are an amazing dancer, and we can't wait till we get to see you dance in NATIONALS!  Soon you will be a official "double digit midget" just like the rest of us! one more year baby! We are so thankful that God put you in our lives to be our sister.  WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Headed for WORLDS 2009! by Taylor

Yup... the headline says it all, We have a couple excited world qualifiers! We drove to Orlando, Florida on Thursday morning. Our grandmother and good friend Alexis came as well to cheer the girls on.  It was a long tiring drive, but we finally reached our destination.  Jonathan Hunt stayed with us the first night in the condo, we told  some stories and ate some pizza, then the "hangin out" was over. The next day was filled with the clacking of shoes, screams of happiness, girls dressed in makeup, wigs, crazy dresses, running around, and the boredom of sitting around for HOURS! Steph danced on Saturday, she danced beautifully. And she got.......... (drum roll) 4TH PLACE! Out of 124 girls. Ya, I know AMAZING! And yes, she did start to cry. =D So do ya'll like her new dress? 

Now for the little Moochie. Ok, before I say anything else, doesn't she look adorable in that dress? Not only was she in the top five, but she was definitely the cutest one out there. Yes, people that's right, she got 4TH PLACE TOO! She was so happy and surprised. The girls' whole school did great as well. Jonathan and JJ Hunt made Worlds too, and both got third place! Great job to ALL the An Cor Rud dancers!

A Crabby Weekend!!

Last weekend, our parents went to Charlottesville for a little get away/ anniversary trip. Meanwhile Jessica and Brian Crabb were our "parents" for the weekend. We had a blast with them! Some crazy things happened, and mainly because of Brian!!! ha ha!:) Here are some highlights....

Jessica painted all of our nails. Brian made a deal with Kerri (who didn't want her nails painted at first), and told her if she got her nails done, he'd let somebody paint his toenails....so Madison volunteered and his toenails were painted sparkles and then hot pink!!! =D Thanks Brian putting up with it! hee hee

Maddie and Maddie....... yes, the Crabb's dog's name was Madison (caused a little confusion sometimes=D). They were BFFs in no time!! ha ha!
 Our honorary Mom and Dad for the weekend!! We really got into the "family spirit." Brian kept calling us "his little girls" or "his kids"!
Look at all those pink nails!!!
Another one of Brian's tortures! just kidding, it was actually a really good movie (except for a few dumb parts!). After watching this and a few Disney shows Brian announced "we're going to watch something MANLY!" So we flipped back and forth between Disney and Survivor Man!
Brian's Ramen Noodles.... yes he made them himself. They weren't TOO bad! Ha ha!
Sorry, a little disturbing, Brian came to the rescue and crushed a spider that was on the wall with Jessica's Bible. He then left it there!!! Ew!
PIZZA!!!!!!! We also had enchiladas and chinese food while they were with us. We made sure to pray for the Italians, the Mexicans, and the Chinese on each night!
Some of the girls made a soda drink consisting of coke, sprite, cranberry juice, and hot sauce. Brian actually drank all of it (we didn't want to "waste" it!)!!! 
watching some more TV!
Brian came up with the brilliant idea of  moving around the downstairs! So we moved the kitchen table into the room with the piano, and moved the couch into the kitchen, and the armchairs into the living room!! Whew! It took us a while, and we had a few problems, but it all turned out OK!!



 So, all in all, it was a CRAZY fun weekend. Brian was constantly teasing us and making us laugh! We had so much fun watching girly movies and painting our nails with Jessica! You're the best honorary parents ever!! (ha ha) We love you Brian and Jessica!! THANKS!!!

Sweet Memories...

Last night we all decided to do some scrapbooking.... a once in a decade activity! =) We were going through are millions of boxes of old pictures and were constantly yelling out, "Oh my goodness look at this one!" "Mom look at your hair!" "Awwwwwwe!" "Did I really do that?" "I'm throwing that one away!" " I can't believe how LITTLE everybody was!" and an occasional "That one's going on the blog!" So here are some really random pics that we liked. (there were a ton more, but we just picked a few- again, random- ones.)

The two book ends!
   Trip to California! We miss you guys!
History coop.... a one-of-a-kind class! =D
Science coop!.....and the weather dude?
Winners of the Best Family in Virginia Beach award! ha ha!
Beach house 2004!!!! WOW!
My little Austie!!! (this is steph by the way)
Busch Gardens with the Hunts....what were our parents thinking!?!?
Nursing home concert. Look at those TINY violins!!
Apparently we went to Krispy Kreme for Kerri's 7th Bday! =)

Hope you enjoy!

Maryland, and yet another day of bringing home some trophies!

This past weekend our family went to Maryland to visit our dear friends the Hugheses (and yes, that is how you spell it). We also had another Irish dance competition. It was SO fun being able to hang out with the Hughes family, and meet all of their new friends! Some of the events that took place included:

-Stephanie falling into the lake... no joke!

- Taylor, Stephanie, and Rachel getting "lost" in the woods.

- Almost losing my dad's cell phone--not my fault; it fell out of my pocket while running down the hill!:)

-Madison got into the second highest level in Irish dance... she was SO excited, and she did GREAT!!!!!!!

- The whole gang watched Ballet Shoes. Hey it's pretty good, but sorry Matt and Ry for putting you through it!!!:)

Anyway, you get the basic idea; it was a fun-filled weekend, and we had a blast with the Hughes Family!!!! And congrats Stephanie for getting 3rd in your Open Champion competition!!!!!! I will post pictures soon!!!!!

Pictures to Go with the Last Post

Here are some pictures from the Rhythm of Ireland Feis. See our last post for all the details.