While I hate that summer is coming to an end and the hectic life of school is fastly approaching us, I am ready to get back to a routine. We have been so busy this summer and unorganized. It’s like a mad dash to finish the required reading and summer packets before the first day of school. I don’t know about y’all, but we started out strong, but by that third week, we had completely gone off schedule.

With school back in session, extracurricular activities are back: fall sports, dance, cheer, all the things that keep your afternoons and evenings busy. My boys are soccer players, however we will be taking this season off and trying new things before we start middle school sports next year. I’m sure you all know by now that I am a dance mom. We are starting our 13th year of dance and third year of competitive dance. While we always talk about sports like football, soccer, basketball, softball, all the ball sports, we never talk about dance. Dance is a performing art, however these girls are in better shape than most football players. The conditioning and hours of practice these girls put in is crazy, and it is all for three minutes on stage for one number. Now last season, we had eight numbers, so it was cray-cray on competition weekends.

In this issue, we gathered all after-school and performing arts activities for you and made a comprehensive listing so you can plan for the school year. We also took a deep dive into competitive dance and competitions. I really think Abbey Lee has built a bad reputation for dance moms and dancers alike. I wanted to show the more realistic side to competitive dance. While it has its ups and downs, some of these moms I have made friends with over the years are amazing, and our team is one big family that supports one another on a daily basis–on and off the dance floor or backstage.