Miss Majorette of the Southeast!!

We had a busy weekend this past weekend! After muffins with mom we got all packed up and headed to Savannah for the Southeast Regionals baton competition.  This is Cohen's biggest competition of the year.  This year's competition was starting on Friday night with the modeling events.  Cohen only had to model one time for the title portion she competes for but we still had to be ready and at the school by 6:00.   I can't leave out the yummy lunch stop we had on our way down.  We took a very short detour to the town of Washington, GA and had lunch at a home cooking restaurant called Cade's Cooking.  It was so good!  I have a feeling we will be making stops at Cade's for any other trips that may take us that way.

We got to our hotel around 4:30.  We were excited to see that Cohen's friend Mya was right across the hall from us.  Cohen got ready for modeling and we headed to the high school.   Since Cohen was only doing the title modeling we would be able to leave as soon as she finished.  The results for her wouldn't be announced until the end on Saturday.  But...she was over halfway down before she modeled so we were there for a couple of hours.  After she finished we headed out for a quick supper before heading back to the hotel to try to settle down for bed.  Cohen & Mya were having fun at the competition and had to get a picture of them on the podium.

Saturday the individual competition didn't start until 12:00 so we got to sleep in!  That is always a plus in my book.   We got everyone ready to go and headed over to the gym for a long afternoon and night of competing.  Cohen started with her strut, followed by marching, solo, and her 2 baton.  Since this was the regional competition she was competing for the overall title, the regional title in open events, and some regular open events.  Just to clarify the difference in the open events, in the regional events it is just twirlers for the southeast region.  The open the girls can be from anywhere.  Most are usually the same but that is the difference.  The title of Miss Majorette of the Southeast is a combination of scores from the portions of competition...modeling, strut, and solo.  So Cohen will perform her strut and solo 3 times...open, regional open, and title.  Confusing but that is why our day can be very long.  You do that for hundreds of girls and you have an all day affair.  Cohen had an awesome day where a lot of hard work and hours of practice definitely paid off!   Here is a run down of her day:
3rd Place Regional Strut
3rd Place Open Strut
1st Place Regional Marching (0-6 Southeast Regional Marching Champ)
1st Place Open Marching
1st Place Open Solo (out of 13 girls!)
1st Place Regional Solo
2nd Place 2 Baton Regional Solo
2nd Place 2 Baton Open Solo

AND...at the end of the day the title winners were announced.  We were so excited, speechless, and surprised when Cohen won the 0-6 Beginner Miss Majorette of the Southeast!!  She was the first place winner of the solo portion of the title and those individual winners were announced then the title winners were announced.  She got to be on that podium after all!  I can't thank Miss Amy enough for all the hard work she has put into Cohen.  I have to share this.  When Cohen came off the podium she had a trophy, sash, crown, and these artificial yellow roses.  She looked at me and said, "Mama, I got the beautiful flowers that I wanted."  When she had gone to one of her lanes earlier in the day with Miss Amy she had spotted the table of awards that must have held these flowers too.  She wanted those yellow roses!  I thought that was so precious.  It was a very exciting night for her to say the least.  With this win, Cohen has qualified to compete at nationals which is held at Notre Dame in Southbend, Indiana.  We have some decisions to make for sure!  We are definitely considering it though since it is such an honor.  All the girls at ATRM did an awesome job and came home with a lot of trophies and medals!  Hard work pays off and I am so proud of Cohen and all the ATRM girls.  We are blessed to be apart of such an awesome twirl family!

Cohen was trying to teach Kate how to make a "kissy" face.  Oh Mercy is all I can say.  

Regional Marching Champ!  Did I mention she loves to be silly??!

Hubby may hate this but I can't resist...I've mentioned just how long these days can be.  Hubs would rather poke both of his eyeballs out than sit in the gym all day and watch.  He loves to watch Cohen but the other thousand girls he is not so excited about.  He took Kate & Bryce to a small zoo and then to River Street for ice cream.  It was good for them to be away part of the day.  When he is at the competition though he happens to get into it just a tad.  At the end of the night when the last few open results were being posted I happened to see this and of course wouldn't have dared to resist this photo op...yep, that's him the lone man in the back checking out what's being posted.  Its ok to be a proud Daddy too, right?!

1st place title solo...and its always a perk that Nicole Jensen hands out awards!  Not only is she UGA's feature twirler, but she is also the College Miss Majorette of America

Cohen & Lexey

Cohen & her awesome teacher Miss Amy

A very tired but proud Mommy!

We got to spend a little time on Sunday in Savannah just walking around on River Street and eating a quick lunch.  I wanted to get back to see my own Mama on Mother's Day.  With it being Mother's Day I can't help but post a picture of my 3 little blessings.  These kids are my world and I love each one of them so so much.  This year I get to add "boy mom" to my list and I couldn't be happier to have this new little man!  I'm also so glad to be a "girl"mom and I love my 2 girls.

While we were shopping in the candy store Kate found a half chocolate covered dog bone...yes it came home with us, and no she doesn't eat them, she just has a fascination I guess.  I know that Dooley is going to thank her later! ;)

We had our Moms over to grill out once we got home.  We finally got the porch all clean and can start to enjoy eating on it!  Summer is almost in full swing here!   I did snap this picture of Devin (my oldest nephew) and Bryce.  A lot of people think Bryce resembles Devin.  They are 2 cuties if I do say so myself.  Lets not even go there on how grown Devin is getting...(*sigh*)