Jumping for Joy...

It's that time again...my little dancing queen started her 2nd year of dance today. This year, we decided to try out a new place.
Brooke has school on Thursday, so I picked her up at Mrs. Rocket's class and then we quickly got dressed for ballet. She changed into some new pink tights and a new peachy-pink leotard. (Exactly how many PINK leotards does one three year old need?) She was READY to DANCE! She did a twirl or two and showed off her outfit at school to anyone and everyone who looked her way. We eventually made it to the car, and headed over to Joy's Dance Company for the Thursday, age 3-5, 1:30PM, ballet and tap class.
Upon arrival, we were disappointed to see that Miss Joy's new studio was not even close to being completed. Thankfully, a few sweet friends warned me ahead of time, so I didn't totally faint right there in the parking lot! The Haunted House sign (because that is what it used to be) was still on top of the building and the place looked like a construction zone. The only thing missing was my little ballerina's hard hat!
Miss Joy met us at the door and assured us that when the place is finally completed, it will be absolutely beautiful. I tried to squint and visualize, but was having a hard time. I also tried to tell myself that it isn't about the building, its about the teaching! So let's get this show on the road.
Miss Joy finally decided it was time to begin and Brooke jumped right on board. I helped her put on her new pink ballet shoes and she had a seat in the circle with the other girls. Miss Joy and her helper, Miss Victoria led the class through stretches and a few silly exercises. The dancers seemed to be having a great time as well as the teachers. First, they danced as a large group all around the room. Each of the girls were precious to watch as they did their own thing. Can you find my Brooke? She certainly has the grace of a swan!
;-)
Next, the ballerinas sat patiently on the floor while each took a turn with some one-on-one instruction. I was really impressed to see how each of the girls were so patient as they waited their turn.
About halfway through the lesson, it was time for TAP! Miss Brooke insisted on putting on her shoes...ALL BY HERSELF! This is when the lesson took a turn for the worse...the construction dust combined with the new taps made for very slippery circumstances. Brooke just stood there and played with her ears. I called her over and found out that she was scared to dance for fear of slipping down. And poor little Corinne fell several times, so I took both of them outside to rough up their taps on the concrete. After all that, the floor was STILL pretty slippery. Even so, Brooke went ahead with her tapping and did pretty well. She wasn't gonna do anything to mess up getting a lollipop at the end of the lesson!
On the way to the car, Brooke and Elizabeth posed for a quick picture. Sweet girls! Maybe this could be the before picture and hopefully the studio will have a prettier front in the near future.
After the picture, Brooke informed me that she doesn't want to come back to Joy's!!!! She said that she wants to dance with her old teacher, Mrs. Robin. Hmmmmm...interesting!
What's a mama to do?
Thankfully, I didn't pay the tuition today and she is still enrolled in her old class.
Now if we could just figure out what we're gonna do before next week rolls around!?!
Jumping for JOY...not exactly!

The Real Recital~Corky Bell Dancing Across America 2008~and the Perfect Princess Day!

Brooke's Dance recital was scheduled to start at ten and we were supposed to arrive by nine fifteen, but a few of us decided that, that was way to early. Instead, we arrived just minutes before it all started. We found our seats in the balcony and watched a few numbers. After a while, we decided to head back stage and get ready.

On the way to the dressing room, we saw Michelle G. and we waited a few minutes to watch her and Gigi do the mother-daughter number. They are great dancers and their costumes were super cute too!

We finally made it back to the dressing room to get Miss Brooke in costume. Thank heavens the teacher purposely picked one that wasn't itchy cause my girl does not do itchy!

Let me check myself and do a little twirl in the mirror. Yep I'm looking good...oh wait don't forget my feather, mommy!

Now I am definitely ready!

~Mrs. Robin~ their teacher, giving a pep talk right before lining up on stage.

Watch Ballerina Brookie up on the big stage. (She is the 2nd dancer from the right.) She did GREAT if I may say so myself! Her Mommy and Daddy are soooo proud.

Here is Brooke getting her bouquet of roses after dancing so well! Thanks to Mrs. Sarah for picking them up at Cosco and arranging them so nicely. Aren't they beautiful?

The girls sitting on the stairs of the BJCC waiting for daddy to bring the car around. Dancing sure makes your feet tired and makes you hungry too. How about some lunch?

Back in the car, the dancing fairy left a special present for Brooke because she danced her best at the recital. It was a "Ballerina Barbie" and of course she LOVED it!

After the recital, we headed to Brookie's favorite lunch spot~Chick-Fil-A~ We finished just in time to go over to Carly's Perfect Princess Party at Sweet and Sassy. Here is Brooke getting her hair and make up done.

Brooke has never been to a big girl 5th birthday and she didn't know quite what to think about it all. The makeover, runway show, and the line dancing might have been a little much for her right after her recital.

She did love dressing up like a princess, but her favorite thing at birthday parties is ALWAYS the CAKE! It was a chocolate from Edgar's...YUM!

You would have thought that we had enough partying for one day, but later this evening we had to have a Pink Princess Party for Mimi's belated birthday celebration. We made Princess crowns and had Turtle ice cream cake.
Brooke & Bailey gave Mimi a new 6 piece set of American Tourister Luggage for her present. She has never had luggage that piggy backs and has wheels. WOW!


And Daddy even got in on all the princess fun. Shhhh don't tell anyone! (Notice his crown says Mommy~Pretty appropriate considering his role in the coming week!)

Special note to Wendy***It was a full day of fun, but one thing we did not get to do was go to Alivia's Shower! We were so upset to miss it, but we just had a time conflict. We are very excited about her arrival and can't wait to give her and big sister Abby a special gift very soon! :-)

~Bailey Seven Months Today and Brookie Ballerina Rehearsal~

Today is my Bailey's 7 month birthday! She is such a sweet baby girl...have I mentioned that I just love her to pieces. She continues to do all types of amazing baby stuff, but she is always adding a few new tricks. She has been able to hold her bottle for quite a while, but insist to do it every time now. It is so cute to watch her feeding herself. She is such a big girl!
She is also quite the "talker!" She is rarely ever quiet and loves to say, "Ahhhh da da da da bbaaahh1!" I think see has a real future in communications. I am also working on teaching her how to patty cake, and say bye-bye, just to name a few. Unfortunately, she is now teaching herself to rock back and forth on her hands and knees and could start crawling at any second! That is something I am NOT encouraging...remember I like my babies content riding on my hip or sitting on the floor playing. Mobile babies are so exhausting!
In honor of Bailey's seven month birthday, we had a full day planned. ;-) It was Brooke's last day a school, so we dropped her off and headed downtown in the pouring rain to a doctors appt for my stomach surgery. After being 30 minutes late and waiting almost 3 hours, we left the hospital without even seeing the doctor. It was not the most exciting or relaxing way to spend my last mother's day out or a very fun way for my baby to spend her 7 month birthday morning either. Oh well!
After we picked up Brooke, we headed to run an errand or two and then we met up with a few of her dancing friends to drive BACK downtown. Brooke's dance recital rehearsal was scheduled for 4:00PM at the BJCC.
We arrived downtown to daddy's office without a hitch and then he walked us over to the rehearsal. He got us settled in to wait our turn to dance and he went back to work. Little did we know that our wait would be a deja vu of this morning! Being that Brooke and the girls in her class are the youngest in the dancing school, we thought that her routine would be first, but NOOOO, we were number 17A. That means they had about 45 dances before Brooke! Each dance lasted about 1 to 2 minutes, so that put us waiting for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours! At first, I was really ill about it, but after things started rolling it was kind of fun!
Brooke and her girls got really into watching all of the routines and danced along with each number! Daddy came back over after work and was just in time to watch the "I'm Special" number. It was finally time for 17A and my girly was so ready! Here she is dancing. She gets distracted towards the end as usual, but she finishes big! Watch here: (Brooke is the 2nd from the right~ big red bow)
After our number, we jetted over to Jim and Nick's on 11th Ave and got a table for sixteen. We had some yummy chow (as Penn would say) for dinner and some nice fellowship with a few dancing friends. So fun! A great time was had by all. Even Bailey thought that it was a great 7 month old celebration for her as well! We got home after nine and I rushed the girls off to bed. We all have to get some rest cause we are scheduled to be at the zoo tomorrow at 10:00AM with our playgroup.
The real recital is scheduled for Saturday, so I will post after. Stay tuned...

She's a dancing Queen!

Today was Brooke's first day of dancing school! She is taking Level 1 tap and ballet at Corky Bell School of Dance in Alabaster.

She was very excited to put on her new black leotard (not real fond of the tights, though) and seemed to have a great time doing her thing. She was especially pumped that Serbanna (Savanna R.) is in her class and that Mrs. Robin gave out suckers at the end! I hope her enthusiasm continues considering that Mimi and I have bought SEVERAL new leotards and tights. And the darn tap and ballet shoes cost more than 60 bucks combined. I hope she doesn't hit a growing spurt before the end of the year! ;-) I'll be in big trouble with the hubs!

I tried to watch Brooke on the closed circuit television provided for the mommies in the waiting area, but I was distracted by the other mommies and by the fact that everybody decided to wear pink and black and it was hard for me to recognize my Brooke. I think I saw her lay on the floor a few times while everybody else was NOT, so I don't know what that was all about! She seems like she will have to work really hard on her coordination skills this year. I just hope that this dancing adventure will be a fond part of her growing up and making special memories as it was for me...oh how I miss my dancing days!