Grace's 1st Dance Recital

Grace has been in a ballet/tap class at preschool for the past school year. I remember putting her in back in September and wondering if she would even make one class without crying and getting scared or embarrassed. But, she has loved it and surprised us so much with performing at each of her two performances this year (one back in December and then her big dance recital). We are so so proud of her!

As the spring semester went on, they practiced their two recital dances almost every week. Her ballet dance was to the theme song from Zootopia, "Try Everything" and her tap number was "Walking on Sunshine". And, they got their dance costumes back around January for their recital and they were so cute!! Bright yellow with colorful sequins. In March, they had their dance pictures and had a mini rehearsal at the studio during class. My friend, Elizabeth, whose daughter Hannah was also in the class, gave me a "bun form" and it changed our life as far as getting a great big bun on top of Grace's head. Her hair is so fine that I wasn't sure how that was every going to work. But, a bun form was the answer! So, we were ready for her big day!

 The week before the recital was Grace's next to last dance class and "trophy day". So, at the end of class, they performed their dances for us and then were presented with their trophy for the year. It was really cute; then we took a class photo of the girls. Then, as they are splitting up to leave, one of the teachers asks for Grace, Hannah and another little girl to come over to them. Very quietly, they put a medal on each girls neck and hugged them. I wasn't sure what was going on, but when I realized the medal said "outstanding student", my heart exploded. I was so proud of Grace! I know that this is just a fun preschool dance class and all of the girls are precious and I don't know that talent really exists a lot at this level, but I was still SO proud of my sweet girl for getting this extra little accolade. And Grace was so excited when I got a chance to explain what her medal was for. She couldn't stop holding it and showing it to me, the people at walmart after dance class, and then anyone who would ask her about it at Atticus's baseball game that night. She wore it all day. When she asked me why she got it, I told her it must have been because she was a good listener and followed instructions well. I had no idea, but I want her to know those two things are most important for her teachers. So, it was a fun day!

 2 of her 3 teachers were Katie and Caitlin (Melissa was her other one)

The next week was recital week. GG came to town earlier in the week for Atticus' lego birthday party, so she and the rest of our family went to Grace's recital on May 4th at Rudder on campus. Grace didn't seem nervous at all, until I dropped her backstage. But, her teachers are so great with them AND there were coloring sheets, so she was good to go. Both dances the girls did were great and Grace did a great job. It was funny because their teachers were off to the sides doing the dances too and Grace remembers some, but usually still follows her teacher's moves. So, she is mostly looking towards the side. But, for being on that big stage with bright lights and a dark audience, I was just so so proud of her! I picked her up backstage afterwards and she was so happy. We went back to our seats and they had intermission. We were told that we did not have to stay until the end and I thought she would be ready to go. We take pictures outside and then she tells me she wants to stay and watch the other dances. So, GG, Grace and I stayed. She had her fingers in her ears at the beginning of the night from the loud music, but by the end, she just watched and watched and never lost interest. I was so glad she liked watching too!

 

 

 

 

 And then she did a bunch of silly poses!

 

We got home, ate Chicken Express and then our little dancer did a big toy setup and then fell asleep.

 

 

It was such a fun dance year and I thoroughly enjoyed taking her every week and getting to visit with my two dance mom friends, Elizabeth and Lisa. Here we are at our last dance class day a week later. And here is our Grace on her last day of class this year too!

 Lisa's daughter is moving up to an older class and Elizabeth is moving to Austin, so I will have to find someone new to visit and laugh with each week next year! 

What a great dance year!

The "6-4-1" Birthday Party

Get ready - this post is super long and full of pictures! Since all of the kids birthdays are within 6 weeks of one another, I had this big plan back before Christmas to have one big family party for the kids that we could put on people's calendars way in advance and have everyone come into town for. I know that we do not live close to anyone to just have a little "day of" dinner and cake, so I thought this would work great. Well, it did work great! But, we missed many of the family members that could not be there. However, it was fun and it was dubbed by Atticus as the "6-4-1" party, so maybe next year we can try for a group "7-5-2" party! ha!

Since this was Everly's first birthday, and we'd celebrated the other two already with their requested theme, I decided to do a theme of "Some Bunny is Turning One" for Everly. We had this party on May 5. GG made this cute bunny banner and put tails on cups and wrapped silverware to look like carrots and it was all so cute! We had the pools out to let the kids swim; we ate snacks and grilled chicken and pasta salad for dinner and then we let the kids blow out candles again and sang again. I decided to get creative and theme their cakes, so that was fun! Now, I just need cake classes. I can get creative and make them look good, but now I want the BEST recipes for cake and icing to make them pretty and the most delicious. I think one of my cakes dried out when I froze it and then decorated it and another one stuck to the pan. But, they were delicious! Here is the day in pictures:

 Atticus helped write on the food tents.

 

 

 

 

 

Water balloon fights!

 

 Present time!

 Of the many things Grace got, she got this ballerina jewelry box. She loved it! She also got books, movies, a designer dress (fun Ana!!), a purse with accessories, jewelry for her jewelry box, dress up accessories and Snow White costume, rubber boots, a My Little Pony that she has been asking for, and lots of other fun treats!

 Atticus also got lots of fun things including some dress up items, a Star Wars board game, books, movies, a big London coloring activity (he LOVES London), and other goodies. I've already forgotten all of the fabulous gifts!

 Then, it was Everly's turn. She got some books, a musical zebra accordian (that is seriously one of the cutest toys ever! She loves it!), cute clothes, and lots of other fun toys!

 We headed inside for dinner and it was delicious!

 

 And then it was time for cake!

 

Grace's cake was two layers of white cake with buttercream icing with Shimmer and Shine on top.

 Since we had so much cake, I decided to just let this bunny cake be Everly's "smash cake" instead of making a tiny one for her. This was a funfetti cake with buttercream icing.

 And Atticus's cake was a layer of chocolate with regular chocolate icing with lots of Star Wars ships on top. Why is chocolate always my favorite? Also, side note, we used all of the leftover cake from cutting out each one and made cake balls. We had SO MANY cake balls!

 So, at this point, I wanted my annual "mom and dad with kid and cake" picture. So, we tried it and the one above is the best we got. Everly saw cake and WANTED it! She loves all food, so this was not a surprise, but she happened to get a finger taste of icing before we could get situated and realized it was delicious. Plus, she knew from her actual birthday day what icing tasted like, so I think she remembered.

You can see how well are attempt to keep her out of the cake, was going, from Ana's view!

 And I guess I was trying to get a group shot of them, but we must have taken her cake away for a minute because girlfriend is NOT happy. 

We sang Happy Birthday to her and she just kept on eating! 

 

And we sang again to Atticus & Grace. It was fun to sing 3x to these kids that night.

 I think we started her in the high chair but it was becoming a mess, so we moved her to the top of the table. My original plan, had we gotten to cut cake outside (but it got dark too fast), was to just put heron the ground and let her go to town and then hose her off at the end. But, the table worked just fine. She ate and ate and ate and then drank and then we had to take it away. Her little tummy was so full! But, she was so stinking cute!

 

 

 This girl was a full, adorable mess. This was my favorite part of the party - watching her go after that cake! 

 After a bath, Everly played with her new toys and then got to snuggle up with Ana for awhile.

 The next morning, Ana and Charley and Grandma and Molly all came back over for breakfast and visiting. The kids played and dressed up and eventually after everyone left, our exhausted crew fell asleep!

Here is our Sleeping Beauty.

It was the most fun, wonderful weekend to celebrate these 3 kids! It feels like party time never ends with all the birthdays so close, but every single one is very sweet. I love being a mama to these little kids and I know they will grow up fast! So, themed parties, fun cakes, lots of presents, and lots of fun is ok with me for as long as we can do it! Happy Birthday you three!