Dancing Girl

So, we arrived back from Spain (Ah-mazing) and went straight into ballet mode.  As you may remember from last year, the recital is no joke.  Last year the line was a mile long just to drop off your dancer and I swear the recital was over three hours, which is nuts considering we are talking about three and four year olds, some of whom make up their own dance, pick their nose, or face the back of the stage through the entire performance.

Luckily this year the studio smartened up and divided the studio into two performances.  So the entire event was much more manageable -- and enjoyable.  Last year I was terrified to drop my baby off -- this year I had no problem dropping off my confident four year old at the dress rehearsal.
   

 

The above were taken on Saturday -- the day of the dress rehearsal.

By Sunday -- the day of the recital -- my confident girl crumbled a bit -- and the nerves set in:

She cried when I dropped her off and asked me to please stay with her.  I held her as long as I could until they adamantly demanded that no more mommies could be backstage.  And then I told her I had a special trick for her.  I whispered in her ear that if you pretend that everyone in the audience is in their underwear, you will no longer be nervous!  Such an overused silly trick -- but what do you know, she thought it was the best idea ever!  She was so excited about this little trick.  When I tried to mention it again she frantically covered my mouth and said "No mommy!  This is just OUR secret!!"

And then this happened:

She had a blast on stage.

They danced to "It's In His Kiss."  A little risque for this age if you ask me... but it went right along with the Sleeping Beauty theme.

 She found all of us in the audience and even stopped to wave.  She told me later that she was laughing because she was picturing all of us in our underwear.  I told her I hoped my underwear was at least pretty.

 

We celebrated with all three "moms" with frozen custard at the Dairy Godmother.

And yes, we'll probably do this all again next year.

Popsicles on the Porch

This is becoming a nightly occurrence.  And oh how I love these kids.

An Indiana Weekend

One last post, and then we're off!

We spent the first weekend in May visiting my forever best friend Erin in her amazing home in Indy.  They have a great neighborhood and tons of kids around.  Cooper and Ella were in heaven!  But the best thing was getting to snuggle her sweet little girl, Harper.  She is such a doll and has this cute, sneaky little smile that just wants to make you eat her up.  I only wish we were all closer so E, C and H could play together more often!! 

Cooper's breakdancing moves.

Hunt - you watch me jump.