How did this happen???

I am not, nor have I ever been a cheerleader. In high school my friends and I had entire cheers we would do at the cheerleaders mocking them. Perhaps this was because I was raised by a feminist who made it clear that being on the sidelines was not an option- we were to be on the field- not cheering for the boys. [sidenote: said feminist was herself a cheerleader once] Oh and the "on the field" part was never really my thing. Perhaps it was because I have never had the cheerleader body or temperament- but I don't think that is the case so let's not go there.

Why do I bring this up? Do you know who is a cheeleader type? Jessica. Often she prefers cheering on her team than actually playing. She loves making up cheers- she loves showing spirit. So I swallowed my prejudices (well I tried) and I signed her up for the all day cheering program. Girls grade 1-8 were invited to spend the day with the HS cheerleaders and learn a cheer or two and have fun.

Here is Jessica's own cheering squad. We brought the DS hoping to keep Justin in check but alas he would wait for the entire gym to be silent and then turn to me in his loudest voice and ask a question about his game- awesome.

So first the big girls showed off.

And the little girls cheered for them after every trick...

Then each grade got up to perform a cheer and a dance. Jessica is on the far right.


Oh yeah- love this. This is the end of the dance.


Old habits die hard it seems. While watching the groups perform I was talking to a friend and making just a few comments. Her husband turn to me and says, "you are not ready to be a cheerleading mom". Um, tell me something I don't know dude!

And Jessica? She loved it. Already talking about next year. She missed the part about how she could sign up to be a cheeleader for the pee wee football teams next year- no idea how she missed that info.....