One of the many things...

....I haven't posted about.

The girls most recent dance recital.

....which was in May.

I don't know why I keep acting surprised about my lack of blogging...I'm soooo shocked at being a slacker! ha!

I love Aube and Bella's dance teacher, she's such a sweetie. And the company does a great job at putting on a recital. They've had it, for a few years now, at this renovated theater in "downtown" GP. I love being able to watch the girls on stage! They both did so well this year...no fears or tears.

Their ballet number this year was a combination of both age groups....danced to the Wizard of Oz Munchkin song and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" {insert tears here....love that song}.

It was such a special treat to see them dancing together!

Aubree moved up to a bigger class this past year, so she did 3 numbers, just like Bella did.

All dressed up in their tap costumes.

Sassy pants.

The girls wait for their turn in the side stage area....this neat little ramp where they have to be uber quiet.

It's the nervous hallway.

I just sit and cross my fingers....hoping that there are no tears. And as soon as it's their turn, I dash away, running fast as socially acceptable thru the back halls of the theater, so I can see my girlies perform!

We had a special treat this year! Miss Stephanie's son was old enough to perform! 

That little dude is so adorable....especially in his suit and tie, smack dab in the middle of 12-15 girls. 

But he wasn't shy....and he knew his moves better than all of them!

Aubree in her Jazz costume (A-DOR-ABLE! holy shimmy shimmy shake that tooshie).

I need to post a video of it! 

And for some reason, I didn't get a pic of Bella in her Jazz costume. Timing was off, I guess.

I love having girls in dance! They took the summer off, and miss it so much! 

I can't wait till they can get back into it. 

It's so fun to be a mom of girls. To be able to get all dressed up and girly with them.

And it's a blessing to get to see the differences between them and Jax. Both have their ups and downs.....and it's definitely not easy, but totally worth it.

{Dancing Queen}

Bella's dance recital with her new dance studio, Innovative Dance Inc., was this past Saturday. It was a whole day affair! Dress rehearsal in the morning, lunch, then a short nap, then back to the auditorium for the show! Their group was so excited to perform. I love this age...when they have the confidence they need to remember the steps and get out on the stage and {SMILE}. So fun!
While we were waiting for their turn before dress rehearsal began....the girls started "practicing" their routine. No encouragement from moms needed....

"Castle on a Cloud" was their Ballet number.

They were the perfect ballerinas!

Look at that cute little toothless girl!

I'm so proud of her and the progress she has made.

I just HAD to post this picture....the karate-chop ballerina in the back....yes ma'am!

Their Tap number was called "Mom, I'm a big girl now".

Little sassy girls!

Bella's teacher is Ms Meghan. She is so much fun! And....a professional ballerina. We were priveleged enough to see her perform a pointe solo at the recital. So neat!

When we needed to switch dance studios, my friend Shannon suggested the studio her daughter was going to. Natalie is on their competition team, so she and Bella haven't had any classes together yet. But we are so glad to have found a new place to dance, even tho we will miss Miss Stephanie dearly {can you tell I'm having a hard time letting go??}.



Ahhhh....mommy can rest, now that the recitals are over! At least for the month of July!!

{Diva}

This past Friday was Aubree's dance recital. The second one she's been in and her last with the dance studio we've been with since Bella was 3! But she will be moving over to the new dance studio with Bella, and adding a tumbling class....we're so excited! But we will miss Ms Stephanie with all our hearts!
Aube looked absolutely adorable and was SUCH a good example to the other dancer's in her class. She had a bit of stage fright the day of....and I told her she was the oldest in her class, so she had to be strong and remember the steps, so the other girls would follow her example!

Ms Stephanie holds the dress rehearsal the night before the actual recital. It's so good for the little ones....they go out on stage, get to see the lights and check out the big ole stage.

I love the setup of the Uptown Theater, where they've held recitals for the last 2 years. It feels so professional and fun! It's hard to keep those little feet still when they are waiting to perform....lots of "shushing" going on!

Aube was very patient between numbers....as long as I kept the crackers and water coming ;).

Adorable! I can't say it enough!

Aube has this little friend, Sarah.....her mom and I swear they are twins! They are the bestest of friends and it's easier to have them playing together at one of our houses, then to have one just by themselves! Sarah and her family came to watch Aube perform. She was so happy to see them!

Mayfest

This dance season, we switched Bella to a new dance studio. She has loved every minute of it.

Both her and Aube have recitals coming up at the end of the month, but Bella got to have one extra performance at Mayfest.

 I'm pretty sure Bella is the oldest in her class....since she will be moving up to Level 2 next year! But if not the oldest, then the tallest. They were all standing around waiting for the performances to start...and this picture made me laugh. She stands about a head taller than everyone else, except maybe one other girl.

 All the pretty girls, all in a row!

 Their Tap number is called: Mama, I'm a big kid now. It's too cute. I was so proud of Bella, she {halfway} remembered the steps. And she even smiled!

 One of the girls who has been with Ms Meghan for a few years did her pointe solo. It was so pretty! We missed seeing Ms Meghan perform at the end {had to feed the chirren}...she is Bella's teacher and is a classically trained ballerina.

 Their Ballet song was Castle on a Cloud. They did a really good job on this one, too....kinda lost the momentum towards the end, buuuuut we love them anyways! 

So proud of our Bella! She still remembers her first recital when she didn't dance the bumble bee dance....but she has come so far since then!!

Bella's Jazz Routine "Hair"

The booty shorts. Bootybootybootybooty....

Bella's Tap Routine "I Like to Fuss"

Aube's Ballet Dance

See how Aube is looking back? lol...I was standing back there the night before but was out in the crowd for the real thing, but of course, she thought I was there! That's why mom's belong in the crowd!

Bella's "Lion King" dance

Aube's "HEY YOU" Dance.

Sneak peek.

The girls recital rehearsal went SO WELL tonite, I was amazed. I love situations like this where they prove me wrong...that's what I get for being a pessimist! Some of the other mom's and I were laughing about how this dance thing is FINALLY paying off. Yikes...no wonder my parents never put any of their FIVE girls in dance, it's outrageous.

Bella's dance class.

I took a whole series of pictures like this. I love how it shows Ms Stephanie off to the side, showing the girls what to do. The girls just love Ms Stephanie!

Bella and her little group got a kick out of watching the "big girls" doing their dances. Bella would run up to me all excited saying that when she got "older and taller" she'd dance like that too!

The boys got to come and watch too :). James got a great video of Bella's practice ballet song. Of course, the little dude got a little cranky after that...so hopefully we'll get video of all FIVE dances tonite!

They got all their pictures done, too. It's not easy to get a bunch of toddlers to keep a pose! And it's not easy to keep Aube's hands off her hair!!

The older girls, on the other hand, LOOOOOVE to do a little posing! In their booty shorts, too...I think they enjoyed saying "booty" more than actually wearing the shorts! Bootybootybootybooty....silly girls

My girls.

Totally worth it.
Hope they are still as excited to dance the real thing!

Getting ready...

Bella and Aube have their Dance Recital this week. Tonight is their rehearsal...and Thursday night (7pm, Uptown Theater, free, if you're interested!) is the big day. I'm so excited for them...and am crossing all fingers and toes that they actually DANCE. I'm envisioning the worst, but I'm sure they will do fine. Bella danced last year and she's the shyest of the shy. They've practiced hard...Aube has two songs with her group and Bella has three....ballet, tap and jazz. We have their costumes all ready, complete with tutu's, booty shorts and boa's! Ü

But of course, we have to do our own little 'prep' here at home.
A little stretching.

Some practicing in front of an "audience"....notice the two chairs with babies at the bottom of the picture:

Practice makes perfect....

We've also been practicing hairstyles. With Bella, its easy...she's got that massive head of curls that I wanted SO bad growing up. So it's always fun to play with her hair. But Aube...she's not so fun. We keep her hair short because she looks like a ragamuffin when it gets all long and stringy. And even with it short, she has a constant case of bed-head hair. I try to get her to let me put it up, and she will let me...but then 10 minutes later, she's taken it down.

Well, for the recital, it needs to be up and off her neck (even tho Miss Stephanie did say it would be ok to keep it down since its short).  But I wanted to try something different....so we tried pigtails. And she kept them in!! All night! In fact, she kept getting up after bedtime because she wanted to "fix" them.