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Dancing into My Heart

My girl, Estelle, has become quite the dancer this past year. She decided to stop taking tumbling and move on to dance classes. This was inspired, in part, by watching the Westlake Dance Company perform at the high school where Spencer was taking some dance classes. She progressed quickly in her tumbling class and is flexible and graceful. 

We were too late for her to audition for a team, but I found a studio that would let her compete on their beginning teen team. She enjoyed it, but her skills and her motivation surpassed most of the other members of the team. She learned a contemporary solo dance from a neighbor, Sara Fike. It was a beautiful dance and Estelle placed at every competition, taking second twice and first once. She was told by at least one judge at every competition that she should move up to a different level. Since this was her first year dancing she competed with the beginners. Her tumbling skills definitely helped her. She also learned skills by watching YouTube videos on her own. 

In addition to beginning a dance team, she also began her time as a middle schooler and teenager. She started out the year on top of the world. The transition from elementary school went smoothly for her and she excelled in all her classes.

She made some new friends, but also had to deal with some "girl drama." I was proud of her as she tried to remain friends with everyone. Some of her friends are dancers and they all tried out for the middle school dance company. Estelle was one of only one to earn a spot on the team at first. I'm so proud of her because she was competing against girls who have been dancing for years. She did have one friend, Emily Durrant, who is a gymnast but tried out be invited by the teacher later to join. It will be fun for the two of them to dance together. They get together at each other 's houses to make up dances and brush up on their tumbling skills. 

This summer and last they taught dance and tumbling camps for young kids in the neighborhood. They did a good job and took care of all the advertising, planning, and executing the camps themselves. They earned a little money to help out with their dancing goals. 

We are in the process of doing some rearranging in our home. All the girls decided it was time to sell their Legos and pursue other interests. I was hoping they would earn a bit more money, but they are gone and no one is sad. They have been in a basement room that doubled as Destry's office for a few years. It is a large room and has a laminate floor in it. Estelle would like to use it for dance practice and other camps perhaps throughout the year. 

Last fall when we got new carpet we destroyed the old, heavy, oak entertainment center that we had been using as a bookshelf. The books have been boxed up and stored under the Lego table. I bought some new bookshelves and put them upstairs in a room I now call "The Library." I have been dreaming of a library for years and now I have one. It is in the room that has served as my office and also housed the piano.

It now houses my mom's piano that I inherited and the new bookshelves as well as a comfy reading chair. It is the happiest room in the house for me, but this post is supposed to be about Estelle so I will return to her. :)

We are going to move Estelle and Sarah downstairs and have an office upstairs for both Destry and I. The boys were invited to move upstairs and we'd move all the girls down and have a downstairs office in one of the boys' rooms. They declined, so they get to share with two of their sisters. Emma will be the only kid on the main floor. Estelle is eager to get the project finished, but it requires a fair amount of furniture moving and repainting. I'm hoping to have it done in a week or so. 

Estelle is one hundred percent a teenager. We both have moments where we push each other's buttons, this is nothing new really, its just that now she does it with teenage angst. When we are not bugged with each other, she is delightful. I love her enthusiasm and zest for life. She likes to be kept busy and is looking forward to school and dance starting again soon. Everything seems to be easy for her, school, making friends, tumbling or dance. Whatever she puts her mind to, she gets done. 

She is struggling with her identity and spirituality a bit. Her confident days of know exactly what she wants and not caring what other people think are over. I hope the return soon. She does have goals set, but she definitely cares about what others think of her. I embarrass her just about every time I open my mouth. I delight in this ;) Everything is "weird" or "awkward." I completely agree that she has become both of those things. 

She has a good, kind heart and I pray every day that she will work through her challenges. She has questions, which I encourage. I hope she seeks the answers from the proper sources. She struggles going to Young Women's. There are some issues with girls that are hard and may be a topic of another post. She says she doesn't feel the spirit. I tell myself that she is experiencing normal growing pains. I love her so much and have faith that she will become the woman that God is molding her into. She has so much to give and I hope that some day soon she will see that herself. 

This dancing girl is such a huge part of my heart and life. I'm lucky I get to be her mom!  

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