Ballet Season Finale

Yesterday was a busy day around here as we had two big events marking the end of a couple of our weekly commitments (for now), ballet and cubscouts.Actually, this whole week has been incredibly busy and I have tons of pictures, but this post is all about ballet :)

The fun started Friday with a dress rehearsal. This is a huge production and I'm always amazed at how well everything goes. Miss Sandy knows what she's doing :)

My dad surprised us about an hour before it was time to leave so he had the opportunity to see her in her costume.

 Then came the big day!

Meemaw Diana joined us :)

The second we arrived at the "Green Room" she found friends :)

So sweet! Mackenzie, Megan, and two of Margot's girls, Erin, and Paige. Lindy was already in the backstage area getting ready for her first number. 

Then the performances began:

 The girls were so pretty! They looked like fairy princesses. What more could a girl ask for?

All the dancers did a great job! It was a really good show! Margot, thank you so much for introducing us to Miss Sandy! We have loved every minute of it. And your girls did a fantastic job! I can't wait to get the DVD so Megan can see :)

 After she performed, we were off to Nicholas' cubscout graduation!

 But not before one last surprise from a doting sister ;)

In the car on the way to Nick's graduation, Megan held tight to those precious flowers and said many times how they were her favorite color and her favorite flower. Finally my mom said, "She must know you well!" and to that Megan replied, "She's my sister." That might have been my favorite part :) 

We Tried to Talk Them out of It

Today did not start great. After two months of getting the kids to three games of basketball every Saturday, we really didn't want to go back. We wanted a morning of rest! But the Upwards Award ceremony was today. We tried to talk them out of it. They would get their award in the mail if they didn't go so no big deal, right? The main problem we had with it was that they don't do all the age groups at once like some of the other churches do. The basketball program is too big. They can't fit everyone into their sanctuary at the same time so they schedule each age group separately. And we have three out of four of the age groups. Which means we're there all day....again.

But Brandon really wanted to go. And his time was first....9am. UGH

But I'm so glad we went! Even though it was raining and completely yucky outside. It was a great event. They had a guest speaker from the Harlem Globetrotters!! He was such a good speaker! Seth Franco was the first white boy (his words!) on the team in around 60 years. He only played with them for a year then was forced to quit because of an injury. But God has opened so many other doors for him. It was inspiring to hear his story and see him reach out to the kids about his love for Jesus. The kids loved him!

One of the things he said really stuck out to me. We should worship God with our gifts. No matter what those gifts are we should always remember the Giver of all gifts and use them to glorify Him. Inspiring!

 He was so funny. This is what was going on beside me while Megan was with her team:

I know they're a bit blurry. They were laughing so hard all the time!

 After the program, he autographed whatever for the kids. Brandon had him sign his jersey.

Megan decided she wanted to attend in her time slot. I knew that would happen ;) It was all good though. The kids all got duffel bags with Upwards on them. Megan's now has Seth's autograph :)

I've spoke before about how much we love Upwards. It never lets me down :) We tried to talk them out of it today, but I'm so glad we didn't :)

Rehearsal Night

I wasn't going to post these pictures since they are so similar to the actual recital pictures, but I was sitting really close and I thought it was so cute how she kept looking at me. Plus I love the black curtain as her background. The girls show up so well! So I'm papering my blog with our little dancing girl again!

Megan, you did a great job! I'm looking forward to next year!

Dancing the Night Away

This evening, we wrapped up Megan's dance classes for the year with a lovely recital. She had a great year!  It was a little touch and go this winter when she got a bit bored but as soon as her costume came in (it's always about the dress, isn't it?) she was excited again.

We ran into Bill and Margot's daughters, Lindy and Erin, backstage and of course I had to get a picture ;)

Lindy was so very cute about helping Megan and saying encouraging things to her each time we ran into her during rehearsal and tonight for the performances. You can just tell she's a wonderful big sister :)

I am really impressed with these pictures! Since we are a slightly bigger than the norm family we were in the nose-bleed section ;)

This one is still zoomed a bit. See how high we were?!? Megan is in the back row here second from the left:

She had a surprise waiting for her when we got home. I was actually intending to give it to her right after the recital but I left it at home...of course ;)

These little teddy bears are dressed identical to the girls! How cute is that?!? Megan was so very excited! That little bear is now snoozing the night away right next to it's precious little owner :)

Looks like we will be taking ballet again next year :) And it looks like we'll be adding tap to the itinerary! Thank you, Margot, for suggesting such a wonderful dance studio!

Indulging Her Inner Princess

I'm a shameless copy cat.

Last week, my friend, Angi, took beautiful pictures of her lovely daughter dressed in her ballet recital clothes IN HER YARD! They were gorgeous (and Greer didn't get dirty!) so I tucked that idea away to use this week when it was Megan's turn for picture day for her ballet class. I'm so glad I did! (Thank you Angi!)

Megan was so very excited to get all dressed up and to wear make-up. Kristen painted her fingernails Monday night. I swiped a little pink on her eyes and cheeks and some mascara (she didn't even blink!), and when we got there, I put some pink lip gloss on her. She truly felt like a princess :)

I had so much fun indulging her little-girlness :) It doesn't stay that way long around here. I'm sure today she'll be out digging in the dirt ;)