March is here!

Here we are, 2 full weeks into my Spring session at Tiny Toes and I finally have some time to sit down and write!  I have been busy with new kiddos, the Brambleton ribbon run (coming up this weekend), recital costumes and managing my big kids and teenagers and prepping them for competition.  Such is the life of a dance teacher:)
This session has been the biggest and best yet!  I have 85 students enrolled and more and more inquiries each day for our next session!  Love to see all the smiling faces each and every day - I really do have the best job in the world!  Kayden has been taking some of my classes and will be in our recital this year on June 19th!  Here's the costume for her class:

I have been running a lot for the Brambleton Ribbon Run 5k that is this weekend!  It's supposed to be Sunny and 69 degrees on race day!  Perfect for a nice run and to spend some time outdoors!  Tiny Toes and True Athlete Performance will be sponsoring a moonbounce for all the kiddos too!  Fun for the whole family! I have been running a lot more lately and hope to beat my last 5k time.  I am actually starting to enjoy running (with the help of my iPhone)!

Just finished ordering all recital costumes today.  What a job it is - I have SO MUCH respect for those that have an entire dance school to order for! Whew! I was pooped after organizing and ordering 45 costumes!  Picture Day is this Sunday too, for our TTDA Yearbook.  More smiling faces this weekend!

I signed Kayden up for Gymnastics classes again!  They start this Friday at JW Tumbles in Ashburn.  She really has enjoyed the last few times we went.  She's not really into the "structured" circle time just yet, but I think that will get better as she gets a little older.  She just wants to run around and play on the equipment as soon as she sees it!  Will post more pictures as we have them from class!

I have been getting some good business expansion vibes lately and will post more as soon as info is official!  On another note, I am happy to announce that my South Riding location will be transforming an entire dance room into a Princess Palace!  All of my ballerinas will be SO happy to be whisked away into a magical kingdom to twirl and tap until their hearts are content! This should hopefully be done by the summer time.

Kris and I had a date night last week with some friends and tried out Caliente Mex-Sea Restaurant.....delicious food!  We all agree that it will be our summer hangout spot.....indoor/outdoor bar and seating, great selection of food and drinks, and close (even walkable) location!  a Winner!!

We are trying to plan our summer vacation this year.  So far, I think we've narrowed it down to the last week in June and I think the Outer Banks. Checking out some houses this week. We have a trip to Boston planned at the end of the summer with some friends too.  Looking forward to getting back up there and visiting with Kris' buddies!

So, that's our life in a nutshell.  Emphasis on the nut.  I feel like we're both going a million miles an hour but in the bestest way possible! 

That's it for now:)

~The Johnsons

Getting back to normal

The snow is finally melting, and life is getting back to normal (whatever that is!).  I am gearing up for my Spring #1 Session at Tiny Toes which begins next Monday.  This week I am finishing up my makeup classes from the snow storm and working on a marketing plan for next session.   In March, we have costumes to order for the June recital, shirts to order for the Brambleton Ribbon Run that we're sponsoring, and a Picture day for all of my adorable little dancers! All while choreographing and cleaning dances for my big girls and getting them ready for competition.  March will prove to be a busy month indeed.
I volunteered for my first Saturday evening church service last week and I was blessed to be in the 3-4 year old room....we had 8 little ones that wanted me to feed their baby dolls and teach them a ballet class Tiny Toes style!  Even the boys enjoyed it:)
Kris began his bootcamps at the studio last week....we have about 35 signed up right now between my dancers and our Biggest Loser contestants!  I am still sore but really looking forward to Friday's workout again.
This week, I put together our Birthday Party guide since I've had a lot of ballerina mommies requesting parties! Yay! I hope that these will grow as the months go on.
Last week, I officially became "published" with an article on the IAMModern Kids' blog!  Looking forward to writing more for them and some of the other avenues that are interested in my perspective!
My exciting news of the week:  I had my first interview with the Leesburg Today about Tiny Toes!  Hope to see a writeup in a week or so about the company, its role in the community and the unbelievable growth that we've seen!
Did I say growth?  I meant explosion!  We have 85 little ballerina princesses scheduled to join us at Tiny Toes this session! I couldn't be more excited!!!
Since this is a ballerina kind of post this week, here are some pics of my favorite Trina in Training:)

Love,

The Johnsons

Snow My Goodness!

The official reading today in Leesburg was 34.5" for our February 5-6 Blizzard! Kris spent a good part of Friday shoveling to get ahead of the mounds of snow that came Friday night into Saturday....then spent Saturday morning digging out what Mother Nature so kindly left for us.  Loudoun County Schools are already cancelled for Monday and Tuesday and we're supposed to get another 10-12" Tuesday night.....I hope all of this settles down before next weekend when I head to NYC:)

Kayden currently measures 33.5" tall....this snow storm had  her beat! But not in spirit!  Friday night, we went on a family walk around the block (around 11:00 PM) and Saturday she kept pointing outside and saying "walk!" "walk!".....she loves the snow! Sliding around in it, digging with her shovel, eating it! I can't wait till next year when we can take her skiing!!

Our nighttime walk Friday night!

The Biggest Snowballs Ever!

Kayden loves to catch snowflakes on her tongue!

Helping us dig out!

34.5" !!

Besides all this snow business.... Kris and I had a really fun and productive weekend!  Saturday Kris and I (mainly Kris) worked in the basement - he hung the drywall where the fireplace used to be and fixed the ceiling.  Same with the Bathroom where we had the leak. Today he threw the mud up and tomorrow he'll sand....should be ready to paint by the middle of the week....just in time for the next whopper of a storm!

Our neighbors Terry, Regina and Maia came over last night for dinner and a baby date!
Kayden and Maia both wanted to dress up as Cinderella and I was HAPPY to assist:)

Looking forward to another exciting week in Princess land:)

~The Johnsons

It's Dress Up Day!

So I guess one of the benefits of Mommy being a dance teacher to little girls is that Kayden gets her pick of pink, fluff, tutus, fairy wings, wands, tiaras, and dresses to try on at her whim. I happened upon the Disney Store closing sale yesterday at Dulles Town Center to find an enormous selection of Cinderella dresses at $15 a piece. Anddd...they just so happen to work with my summer camp theme this year so away to the counter we went...12 dresses in hand:) Of course we had to pick up some other Disney paraphanalia...I mean, it was all on sale...right? Here are some of Kayden's adventures this morning dressing up as Cinderella, playing with her tinkerbell bracelet and necklace and drinking from her first big girl cup (Cinderella of course!).

Drinking from my first Cinderella Big Girl Cup!

My New Tinkerbell Necklace and Bracelet

Cinderella Kayden

And there goes the Princess

I hear that the Children's Place is having a crazy $2.99 sale....may have to check that out today to get ready for next winter. She's already a 2T so I think I'll be looking for the (gasp!) 3T's.....Ahhh where did my baby go?

Well, the week came and went...just like they all seem to be flying by anymore! Kayden went to swim class and loved it again! She practiced going underwater and sang a lot of the songs (in her own little language). She's repeating almost everything we say to her and her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds! She's up to about 50 words and counting! Oh yea! She's counting! She can say One, Two, and Three!
The "terrible twos" are also starting to creep up on us.....she's being fussy about eating, sometimes not wanting to take a nap and having random outbursts about absolutely nothing!
Above is a picture of our once good eater, picking away at food she used to love! What the heck!?

I had a good meeting last week and should know more this week about the future of TTDA! Also have had some interesting requests for TTDA to grow in some unconventional ways...more to come on this as well!

Kris had a long and stressful week, but keeps plugging away. His company got their first royalty check for the lacrosse DVD that they made - about 50 have sold already! woohoo! Their soccer video has finished production and should be out on the market within a month or so!

I made some progress in the loft this week - all cleaned and organized! And I'm all ready for my taxes to be prepared for both businesses. On deck for this week: Organizing eBay items and getting our home finances in order.

Hope everyone has a great week and gets a lot accomplished!

~The Johnsons

The First Week Came and Went.....

.......and we survived! The first week at Tiny Toes was full of wonderful little ballerinas, new and returning! So good to see everyone again and get back into our routine of classes! Kris has stepped back into another busy winter training at his 2 locations in addition to traveling to schools and organizations. He has also hired a bunch of interns that started this week so he has been busy working with them to get them up to speed.
Kayden is really starting to put together two word sentences and is adding "please" when asking for something (yay! finalllly!!). Kris took her to swim lessons at Ida Lee on Saturday and she loved it! She was taking direction from the teacher and actually kicking her legs and paddling with her arms! I am hoping this doesn't detract from her love of ballet haha! (A new word of hers this week!!)
Friday Kris and I went out to P.F. Chang's in Fairfax thanks to Taylor and Hilary, two of my dancers, who so generously gave us a gift certificate for dinner. We really enjoyed spending some time together, away from computers, phonecalls, iPhones and Blackberrys. Afterwards, we met up with an old friend of mine, Sarah Davis - it was wonderful to catch up and reminisce about old times! I hope to take some dance classes again with her very soon:)
I definitely need to get back into the classroom....really missing being challenged physically and mentally through dance. Teaching the babies at Tiny Toes is wonderful and a stress-reliever. As rewarding as teaching my older and advanced students can be, it leaves me drained and frustrated at times. I need some classes to spark my creativity and re-ignite my love for dance!!
Up this week:
-Looking forward to meeting up with Val Cavalheri tomorrow about Tiny Toes and Kayden's Closet photography!
-Have some more financing meetings for Tiny Toes - Friday is a big one!
-Should have a design meeting - tbd
-Researching Teacher conventions and figuring out where my trip will be for this year.

Kris and I sat down after another amazing Church service at Cornerstone Chapel and had our monthly Johnson Household meeting. This really helps us get on the same page about monthly goals in our businesses, personally, and financially. We're both very excited about January!

Looking forward to warmer temperatures this week and getting some answers by the end of this week:)

~The Johnsons

New Year for the Johnsons

Well, Here we are! A new year filled with new ideas, resolutions, ambitions, hopes and challenges. Kris and I have a lot of expectations for this year and cannot wait to get started on our projects! We really enjoyed the holidays, spending almost a week in IL with Kris' family and a few days in VA with my family that came to visit and ring in the New Year. Kayden made out like a bandit - now we're challenged to find space for it all! She is really enjoying Santa's, Mom-Mom's and Nana's gifts and amazing us day after day with all of her mini accomplishments. She starts swim classes this Saturday with Daddy - should be fun since the kid LOVES the water!

Here are some of our goals and resolutions for 2010:

Do more with Less
- Create healthy meals on a budget (We do a pretty good job of this now, but really digging deep to fine tune our diets)
- Get creative with leftover foods
- Re-purpose current furniture and unused items in the house

Become a bigger part of our church, Cornerstone Chapel


Be the BEST parents to Kayden

Grow and Grow with our Businesses
- Tiny Toes is growing each session and I have some big decisions to make about the future of the business this year.
- TrueAP is busier than ever and is creating more partnerships than they ever though they could...expanding to several locations and reaching more of the NoVa market.
- We are both eager to tweak our marketing and customer service skills to make 2010 the best year for our businesses!

Workout!
- Or at least try to incorporate it into our day.....I'm home with a basement full of workout stuff and Kris works in a Gym setting.....I mean really, neither of us have an excuse!

Take one trip to a new place this year

Re-kindle bonds with old friends

So that's it! Our short list of some of the things we'd like to tackle as a family :) Looking forward to a prosperous, happy and healthy New Year!!

~The Johnsons