Recital!!

It finally arrived . . . . DANCE RECITAL!   As I have mentioned here multiple times, I have mixed feelings about dance.  I love that it makes Gracie so happy and seeing her run around giggling and dancing with her buddies is great.  However, the nutty "dance moms,"  the long hours and extra practices of recital week, buying coverpriced costumes undoubtedly made by a six year old in China and getting the crazy hairdo done correctly . . . . well, I'm less than excited about those things.

But seeing your kiddo on stage at TPAC with a huge smile on her face?   The BEST!

G was really excited that all over her grandparents were here to see the show, too.  And despite rolling out of TPAC a little before 9  pm with an exhausted ballerina in the backseat (and that was leaving after her second routine and skipping out on the finale), she still mustered enough energy to ask for ice cream.

I gave her an IOU.

Ballerina girl

Over three hours spent at dance recital dress rehearsal.  I'm exhausted and a bit crabby.  Thank goodness for this . . . .

because it's pretty hard not to smile when you are looking something so sweet and genuinely happy.

Happy for Sunday!

Never so glad to see Sunday!

We got up yesterday and went to the Farmer's Market in Franklin.  The kids are obsessed with the Italian Ice stand that has started coming this year so it was lemon ice all around.    Gracie had a swim party at 11 and she was thrilled to see some of her school friends--and eat pizza and cake!    I tried to put her down for a short nap afterwards, but she wasn't interested.  I managed to doze off, but I was the only one. 

At 4:00 it was off to TPAC to start getting ready for the recital.  Bassam, his mom and Matthew came later and I met up with them in the audience once the show got started.    It was an awesome (but long!) show.  Although I'm completely biased, I think Gracie did fabulous in both her dances.  She sat with us after her first dance and loved watching the other dancers.   Matthew was less excited about the whole thing and Bassam let him bring his DS (and headphones) to keep him occupied when his sister wasn't on stage.   

Although seeing my daughter and her friends on stage is awesome, I couldn't be happier that recital week is finally over! 

Made it through Thursday!!

I have never been so glad to see Friday.  Mostly because Thursday was so incredibly crazy.   Yesterday was a fine balance of getting kids the places they needed to be, picking one up early, having my in-laws pick up the other and then getting downtown to spend 4+ hours at TPAC while they ran the dress rehearsal for Gracie's recital.  

Thankfully everyone survived! 

The dress rehearsal went very well.   I thought it ran much smoother than last year and we even got out a little early.  Gracie happily collected another trophy and a certificate for perfect attendance.   She did great in her two routines and is in the front row for both (next to Alex, of course!).    They have the moves down pat--which may be how they scored those places, although there are girls in the back who are awesome, too.    Thankfully, we had no costume or hair issues.   She was pleased as punch that they tracked down a red/orange mass of curls for her hair (color name--SALSA!) and wore it with no complaints.

This is a huge improvement from last year.   It was the wrong color (she repeatedly called it "that brown thing"),  which somehow made it hurt more to put it in.   In short, she didn't want to wear it . . .and made sure everyone knew it.  Then for good measure, she tossed it in the donation pile for Goodwill after the recital.   Not sure how that was received at the collection center, but she was glad to see it go. 

As much as I complained about the faux hair last year, it does look awfully cute from the audience.     Of course, last year I wasn't in the audience.  It was  a "Mommy and me" dance.   This year there is a "Daddy and me" dance.  Bassam should thank his lucky stars we weren't in that class!

I brought a big quilt and a box of those little princess dolls you dress and snap-on dolls which kept my daughter and most of her class occupied in the dressing room while they were waiting (and clean--backstage floors very dirty).  

Since it was dress rehearsal, I was able to sit up close and record the routines and take some pictures.  They actually don't allow photographs or video during the actual recital, so it was good to get that out of the way yesterday.

Looking forward to Saturday and seeing the performance.   But will be equally glad to see the week over and done.

Ballerina!

Took Gracie to ballet today and in an effort to get the girls used to an audience, they invited the Moms (who are otherwise banished to the lobby where they can watch rehearsal on undersized tv's mounted high on the wall) to come in and see the girls practice one of their recital routines.    Recital is still over a month away, but I must say, Gracie did good (says totally biased Momma!!)!  She seems to have a knack for remembering the moves, so she has been placed in the front row.    I never took dance, but safe to say, I would have been more of a back row chick!   Anyway,  click HERE to see her dance!   I took the video on my iPhone which has surprisingly good resolution.  Unfortunately, when I attempted to upload it here, it took a zillion years (and never finished).  So, I did some editing on Windows Movie Maker to make it a smaller file and of course the quality is compromised., but it was such a sweet dance, I had to share!

p.s.   I was trying to avoid YouTube, which is how I ended up using videosprout.com.  I'm not super impressed, so if anyone has any other suggestions, send 'em my way. 

Put on notice

As we sat around TPAC this afternoon/this evening for nearly 3 HOURS during the ballet recital dress rehearsal Gracie said to me, "No more pictures. I don't have any smiles left." Luckily, I got a couple smiley ones before she put me on notice.

What's so hard about fake red hair?

This is not my best day on record . . .

On the positive front, today is Matthew's last full day of school. He jumped on the bus with a present and homemade card for Mr Mack (the bus driver) and couldn't wait to get to school. He was dressed for "Knights and Princesses Day," excited about what the day would hold. Hello, don't you love the AC/DC shirt with the knight cape?

In the meantime, Gracie and I headed to ballet. Regardless of any possible missing sensitive chip I may have (by the way, thanks for the support of my lack of sniffles, friends!!), I really think ballet is just not our bag. Okay, it's not MY bag. Today we got the last of our recital necessities including a stupid looking poofy mass of curls that you are supposed to pin on top of your daughters head. As if that wasn't dumb enough, Gracie's is not red. Nor is it orange. It is brown with some reddish undertones. Not even close. Her teacher had found the perfect color match in the fake hair company's swatches, but since found out they don't make this particular hairpiece in that color. Why not? Because no one orders it. Well, there is now one very irritated mommy and one unhappy 4 year old who takes exception to that logic. All this comes out this morning---and recital pictures are this afternoon. While I have made my displeasure known --I have a feeling more will be shown at pictures, especially if snotty ballet mom comes up to me one more time and suggests I put a bunch of gel in Gracie's hair when I pull it back so it looks dark and matches the hairpieces. Ummmm . . . I don't think so. And by the way MIND YOUR OWN FREAKIN' BUSINESS! Hopefully the dirty look I shot her conveyed that message, but if not, I may need to use a more direct method of communication this afternoon.

Why does this hair thing have me so upset? I have no idea. And it is making me mad that I'm mad about it.

After ballet, Gracie and I headed over to Kenrose to help serve up snow cones to the kindergartners at recess. It was a surprise for all of them and Matthew was so excited to see us there! We served up all 120 kids and then a huge rainstorm came along. Gracie (not a fan of thunder) started wailing and we made quick departure for home. Of course to do so, I had to run out to the very last parking spot in the lot in the pouring rain, pull the car up, dash up to the front door and get Gracie (who was waiting with the secretary) and then get her in the car. Safe to say, I was soaked, although Gracie managed to stay reasonably dry. She is currently vegging out in front of the TV before we start getting ready for our pictures at 3:30.

.

I'm trying hard not to let my grumpiness get the best of me. So far as I can tell, being grumpy takes twice as much energy as being happy (or at least content). I probably have enough to do without expending energy being grumpy at fake hair, snotty moms and thunderstorms.

Wired wrong?

Back in 2005 when the world ended (you know, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston splitting up), Jennifer Aniston was quoted as saying that as far as her husband was concerned, "there was a sensitivity chip missing." I think he had posed for some family-like photo shoot with Angelina Jolie right after they had announced their split or something.

Seriously, I have a point to make. And yes, I can make valid points based off crap I read in People Magazine.

My point is, I think I might be missing a sensitivity chip.

Last week, the girls in Gracie's ballet class got their costumes for their upcoming recital. The teacher asked us to hang around so the girls could try them on. Gracie put hers on, did a little twirl and off it came. As we left, I noticed there were 5 or 6 ballerina mommies crying about how beautiful their babies looked or how it was just so emotional that they got their costume for their very first recital. Are the girls beautiful. Heck yes! Each and every one of them. And the costumes? They are very cute--but in the end, an overpriced mass of tulle and Lycra that they will wear on stage for approximately 4 minutes.

So this week, the Mommies had to go in and practice with the girls. Yes, we actually have to go on stage with them (a story for another day). It is a very sweet little dance they do and I know it will be just lovely, but when we finished, on came the water works again. Boo hoo.

And what I want to know is, what am I missing? I can cry with the best of them and over things that don't warrant a single drop. I see these moms sniffling and I basically want to laugh. Okay, I'll admit it . . . . my friend Linda (Alex's Mom) and I did laugh. Not at their tears, but at the fact that we couldn't muster an ounce of emotion for what is clearly a big milestone for some of our fellow Moms.

Love my kid and know she'll knock 'em dead at the recital . . . but if I'm not shedding a tear, don't think I'm any less proud!

Finally Friday

Busy, busy Friday . . . but I can't complain, because after all, it's still FRIDAY. Our weekend only holds ONE soccer game, there are no birthday parties and best of all, it's MOTHER'S DAY! Yeah!

Gracie's class had "water day" today, as well as a pizza party. Water Day festivities were scaled back due to water restrictions (no sprinklers), but they did splash around in water tables, tossed water balloons, etc. Over at Kenrose, Matthew had International Day. He reported they learned about "5 really big countries--Brazil, India, China, Japan and France." Since when is France a "really big country?"

After school we had a make up swim lesson then a bit of play time with the Renn and Bennett --who is now sporting a full arm cast after breaking it during soccer practice last night! We finished off the night by taking Gracie to get her head shot for ballet. Her recital is coming up in June and includes a program with each girl's picture. For having a 7 pm appointment after a very full day, Gracie did amazingly well. This was the photo we chose for the book. We left the appointment with a disk containing the photos on it, but they need a little adjustment on photoshop! :)

Super Gracie

I'm convinced that tutus hold some magic power. What may look like just a mass of tulle, ribbon and sparkles is actually more like Superman's cape --it gives you super powers. Although in the case of a tutu, it gives you the freedom to dance and play with complete inhibition. Gracie has been known to pull one on over jeans and a dinosaur shirt and magically she is transformed into a princess who can twirl with the best of them -- instead of a rough and tumble little girl with grass stains on the knees of her pants.

After ballet today, Gracie and I took the dog out to play in the yard and enjoy some sunshine ourselves. I was going to snap some pictures of our daffodils (that emerged before the last two snows--I'm fairly sure they've stopped in their tracks) and found myself instead mesmerized by Gracie prancing around in the yard, dancing with her own shadow. She couldn't have been happier.

To be 3 and wearing a tutu . . . .

Shake it!

I took Bassam's mom to Gracie's ballet class today as at the end of practice, the girls were going to perform a little Christmas dance! So cute!! The girls were asked to "Christmas up" their usual ballet-wear and they did a little number to "Up on the House Top." Gracie and her BFF, Alex, did a great job! My favorite part was when they turned their back to the audience, put their hands on their head and did a little booty shake. Hysterical!

Grandma treated us to lunch afterwards and Wolfgang Puck Express in honor of the performance, too! Whoo hoo!

My little ballerina!

Today sweet Gracie had her first ballet class! In some ways, it's kind of like her Jump, Jazz and Roll because they throw some tumbling and other things in there, too. But the main emphasis is ballet. We are taking the class with her best friend, Alex, and they were two peas in a pod!

Mommies are relegated to a waiting area (so no pictures of the actual class) although they have televisions on that spy in on the studio, which was fun to watch! You spend your time guessing what the teachers are saying, since there is no sound! However, one of the teachers told me they were "flying like butterflies" and the girls called out places they would want to fly like "in the trees" or "at the park." Gracie apparently said "We're flying to Chick Fil A!" That's my girl.